Freedom & Selfless Acts - The Illusion. (An Original Thought)
Hello Steemit,
Often I wonder about this, is there truly freedom or the ability to act selflessly in the world, in the precise sense of the word.
Freedom - the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved / the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.
Selflessness - concern more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own.
Starting with freedom, because why not? Are we truly free to think speak or act in the way we wish, when all of our thoughts come from ourselves, our programming, our conditioning.
Societal pressures, financial, friends family and peers, our need for shelter, food, even love and acceptance. They all contribute to shaping our behavior, the way our thoughts translate into actions in this shared environment.
The only way to be truly free is to disregard all of the above, act in an enlightened state, consider the micro and the macro, is in my opinion to lose the flesh that you are 'trapped' within, and free your mind from the shackles that bind.
While you are bound within your body you will always be driven by base urges such as the above. On what level are you experiencing true freedom?
Now for selflessness, how often have we considered giving to another without any possible gain for ourselves. To me this is an almost impossible act, we give to another to feel good about the act of giving, this fuzzy-vibe we gain is a net-benefit for the individual, and therefore it is not selfless to give to another due to the feelgood that goes along with it.
For example the soldier who jumps on the grenade to save his fellows, he is acting out of a preservation of the many (his many), in some ways the continuation of his species, his ideals and his way of life, which is being driven at the end of a cannon at another society.
The person who donates to charity just to claim it back on tax, this is a zero sum game, you are giving only to receive back in return. Again, what seems to be a selfless act actually ends up being rather selfish when the perspective is pulled out a little further.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be selfless, I think it is a beautiful glorious thing to be considerate of the many over the few, I just ask dearest reader, that you consider your motivations for that selfless act.
Perhaps ponder on exactly why you are donating to charity, or exclaiming your freedom at the expense of another, instead of pushing currency at the problem, try donating some of your time, buy the unfortunate a meal instead of handing over coin or give some consideration to the other side of the coin.
Just a thought. If you have any input I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
Peace, love and empowerment to all of you dearest readers. <3
Special thank you to @creativesoul, @dswigle and @unspeakableme for assisting me with this.
Beautifully written! I'm thinking of a few acts of selflessness on my part throughout my life. They seemed to come from the pain I felt from seeing the person or animal is such a horrible situation. Maybe it wasn't actually selflessness, but subconsciously just a desire to alleviate that pain that I felt.
Interesting to contemplate.
Indeed, it is interesting to dig through the layers of what motivates us to do the things we do.
Thank you for sharing. You are too kind. <3
my head goes boom! @sammosk are these simple words? then limit yourself to these, please! :)
Hahaha, I'd love too, this is perfection. Thank you for sharing. <3
As always, your beautiful mind shines through. You're a deep person and your thoughts I will always value. Cheers, my friend! Great work as usual.
I can only do what I can do, you are a beautiful soul as well and a true friend. <3
Absolute freedom and absolute selflessness are unattainable goals in this universe.
Intention is the difference between selfishness and selflessness and is always measured on a gradient from one person to the next.
I choose not to be measured by others' yardsticks.
Excellent!!! More power to you. <3
Nice post please guys follow me :(
I upvote you [lz follow resteem good posts to you
lol
you are not even following me!
lol
i giggled too. :)
The same thing happened to me the other day:
"I upvoted and followed, you follow me."
I checked and they weren't even following me! haha
I bet they didn't even upboat! sneaky sneaky!
it kinda triggers me a bit, not gonna lie. haha.
I know, right??
Thank you! Your words. Your words. Reading this makes me want to reexamine my own intentions for my Random Acts of Kindness. It happens to be one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Does it make me feel better? Hmmm. I like to make others feel the joy, so I guess t would be fair to say that it makes me feel good – to feel a part of their happy.
However, I have no intention of giving that up because it is so much a part of who I am. Kindness counts.
I gave you my pitiful upvote, but know that it should feel bigger because their was a lot of feeling in it. :)
Resteemed
It is not the intention to stop people from giving, merely to evaluate the reasons behind it.
I hope you continue to engage and deliver the best random acts you are able to give. Kindness does indeed count. Much <3 and thank you for sharing!
Oh, I realized your intentions, but, did not verbalize mine properly. In my head, I was reevaluating. Thanks for the great read!
Its no problem, feel free to edit your post!
Never! :) I trip over my fingers all the time. No use in pretending I can think in a straight line.
Everything is cyclic <3
Even the universe.
Wonderful message here <3
Looking for the motive behind selflessness is important for understanding the effect that our actions have on ourselves and the people around us. Acting only because of programming, the conditioning of our environment or the expectations of society does not help anyone. I am still working on freedom from certain shackles of my mind and learning to think in the micro and the macro which seems like a good philosophy. Your thoughts always make me think outside my current views and the lesson is a blessing.
Beautiful sharing, thank you so much for commenting. <3
I am so happy that my simple words have touched you in some way.
dances
♥ ❤
<3333!
Beautifully penned Sammo! This one hits hard, look forward to seeing what comes next!
Like a good workout! Keep fit doctor. <3
I have been researching this topic too, and find it very interesting. It is done studies showing we might not have free will. Which means that our decisions are determined before we decide conciously.
Some even go to the lenghts to say that these studies put sticks in the wheels for religions w/ free will. But I don't think it's that simple. And we don't know for sure if this govern all our behavior, or just some parts like; if you want milk in your tea or not.
source: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/what-neuroscience-says-about-free-will/
I like milk in my tea, just no sugar because you are all sweet enough. <3
Thanks for sharing, I'll be interested to see a post on your thoughts if/when you put them up!
Much love and steem on. <3