The other day I considered the fact that my reticence to lower my own wellbeing for an increase in someone's wellbeing who was higher than mine was comprised mostly of jealousy and/or selfishness. So where does it come from? Well, that's the age old question: nature or nurture?
Is it really human nature to be jealous and selfish of those who are more fortunate than we are? When I think about it, it might be. Consider those people who are NOT selfish and jealous, such as Mother Theresa or Martin Luther King, Jr. (although some might argue me on the latter). If indeed it is human nature to be selfish and jealous, then these two would have not been so due to nurturing, and it seems like they had very nurturing upbringings. Mother Theresa was raised a devout Roman Catholic, and the religion does lend itself, if followed truly, to a sacrificial, non-selfish, non-jealous lifestyle. (Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Theresa for more info on Mother Theresa, she's a cool cat). Dr. King was also raised as a devout to a christian religion (in his case, Baptist), and so he learned to be self-sacrificing, loving, giving, etc.
This is an interesting theory, but it doesn't really have any credence to it since I'm just speculating. Tomorrow I'm going to pursue a nurturing view of how we become selfish/jealous.
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"Well, that's the age old question: nature or nurture?"
ReplyDeleteBoth. You need to integrate your knowledge if you don't see that.
"Is it really human nature to be jealous and selfish of those who are more fortunate than we are?"
No, but it is required by man's nature that he be selfish.
Mother Theresa was a miserable woman who used her selfishness to barely subsist. She spread her misery to many others.
Martin Luther King Jr was a great and selfish man. It is not selfless to fight for a cause that one believes in.