On Unconditional Love, Part III: Selfishness

This is the third blog inspired by a passage I read of John Galt's radio speech in Atlas Shrugged. Part I is here and Part II is here.

A well-heeled trick of the lovers of the Morality of Death is mis-defining "selfishness"- especially in regard to what they say is your moral obligation to give unconditional love to those and that which are unworthy of such a gift. I'd like to present a more rational definition.

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You are likely familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (Here's a good commentary about it.) If you understand the pyramid, you know that unless your basic needs are met, you cannot progress to the next level of individual fulfillment. The key word here is individual. Cheating, by mooching off others or looting their achievements for your unearned benefit, doesn't count. Although it appears that some of these needs can be met by stuff that is given to you - and that is exactly what the poverty pimps and social engineers want you to believe - you cannot achieve successful progress unless it's achieved under your own steam.


Notice one of the basic needs - right above the needs common among all animals, is morality, a distinctly human trait. Morality is also found at the top of the pyramid - when one has reached the pinnacle of individual success and achievement.

Every quality in the top level of the pyramid - the ultimate fulfillment of the individual - springs from reason, a rational, thinking mind. You cannot create by accident. You cannot solve a problem by ignoring it. You cannot accept "facts" without thinking - they do not even become facts unless and until evidence is first examined, then tested, then results of what is learned are synthesized.

You must choose between life and death. It must be a conscious choice, using your mind - not your heart, which eschews reason - weighing your options and anticipating the consequences. There are standards to meet - objective standards beyond your immediate gratification - a moral imperative to value your life if you expect to survive, and a moral responsibility to make the most of your life if you expect to thrive - not through the charity of others, but by your own effort. That is rational selfishness.

The fruits of your individual achievement - happiness as a result of living by your uncompromising standards of self-respect - flow outward from you. Others who respect themselves will value your self-respect, too. There is no violation of rights among self-respecting humans. That is the reward of your rational selfishness and theirs.

Those who do not respect themselves envy and revile your achievement and cannot value your self-respect; they exist under the Morality of Death, and choose death - their own and yours. If you let them. That is the contagious lure of evil, one you must re-learn to resist and reject.

In a previous blog, I wrote about the intertwined conscience and consciousness. When you work to create something - anything - it's usually for compensation of some kind, whether it's simply for self-satisfaction or doing the work for which you get paid. For example, if you are in business for yourself, the built-in incentive of a monetary reward for your work is attained only if you simultaneously value your personal achievement - taking pride in what you produce and making it the best it can be because it reflects your character - and you acknowledge your responsibility to yourself to be the best you can be. That high personal standard does not permit the compromise of creating an inferior product.

See how they are linked? Using the example of the self-employed is just a clear illustration; the principle that the quality of your character (conscience) is connected to and comes through in the quality of what you produce (consciousness) is the same whether you build airplanes or flip burgers.

The well-formed conscience doesn't come from government nor from a misguided sense of obligation to perform for "social good." Whatever social good comes from your imagination, your creativity, and your productivity is the result of your quality work, not its primary purpose. The well-formed conscience comes from pride in your effort and your resolve to be and do the best for yourself, and then take one more step beyond. That is the ideal cycle of human evolution: explore, learn, discern and analyze what is learned, apply it, and explore some more. The bounty of your "Self-First Best" emanates outward from you and builds and brightens those around you who share the resolve. That is the Morality of Life.

Corrupted "self-first only" is what breeds the misery we experience. "Self-first only" is the devastating betrayal of your responsibility to yourself. It starts with compromising your standards a little, getting used to the discomfort, and compromising some more, until you no longer feel the pang of guilt over your own self-betrayal. That is the Morality of Death.

Those who exist under such a soulless code are the first to accuse you of being selfish for putting your self-respect above their emptiness, your survival above their comfort, your self-actualization above their abdication of their responsibility to care for themselves. Who, in reality, is selfish?

To treasure what is worthless, to demand what is unearned, to extort another's wealth, to expect one to furnish another's comforts, to blackmail one's virtues to support another's corruption... and to convince the victim that he - not the moocher and the looter - is evil and selfish unless compliant, is the ultimate crime of man against man, of man against himself. Who, in reality, is selfish?

Part I: Unconditional Love
Part II: God