The virtue of selfishness?
Finally I get some time to actually sit down and do what I like the most. Converse with the one inside - my self.This time though is probably the best time I could pick to open up. The best because of the intense mental turmoil I have brought upon myself. No one is to blame and like always no one is to gain. It happens once in a while when something happens in your life that alters a critical entity in you viz. your thought process.
To me this has come in many forms and this time it is in the form of one amazingly original, simple, charismatic philosophy calling itself objectivism. It stems from this work of fiction that I read by Ayn Rand. Apart from the splendid literary aspects, this book throws so many questions;so many that you have to answer till you can feel at peace again. And one of the fundamental ideas proposed is summed in this phrase "THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS". Offending at first glance but once you understand the fine print you realise how the social fabric has managed to glorify selflessness and abhor selfishness. How every human being is evolving with these instilled in him...
So why am I in turmoil? Very simply because I have already made several of the "mistakes" underscored in this work. I have already let go off a huge part of my ego. I have also followed the flock; the flock lead by whom??! It was only mere coincidence that I had to stumble upon the movie "The pursuit of happiness" at the same time. And my already dizzy head went on a complete spin.
The bare fact is that so many of us have compromised on our dreams. So many of us wanted to be painters, artists, architects...A lot of things EXCEPT for what we are doing right now. We are living a life with the constant fear of public opinion. Public opinion is a fuel to some of us. But what we have ended in degrading is the SELF. What about your own happiness? The real happiness with its roots in your ego-satisfaction. It has been berated and forced to oblivion in the pretext of selflessness as a virtue and a third person's acceptance as your sole recognition of achievement. Why should not "I" be selfish? Answer this and answer it convincingly...your pursuit to happiness will find a definite path...
posted by Unknown @ 3:11 AM
