by Marlene Bricker

Created on: April 21, 2009

At this time is humanity capable of true benevolence or is it simply self-interest in disguise? How is it even possible to make this discernment? That is the true question. Who am I to discern whether one is benevolent or one is acting for his or her self interest?

Each one of us can only investigate this issue from our own perspective. That is what I will attempt to do. It seems as though right here on our planet all of us have huge desires. We want everything and we want it right now! We want good jobs, beautiful homes, excellent educations, great leisure activities, and wonderful relationships. We want great food, great bodies, and great lives in general. The world is our oyster and we want to enjoy every morsel. And, essentially, to get what one wants when one wants it could potentially harm others. However, that is o. k. here because it is every man for himself.

Or, is it? Even if one desires everything for himself, he still wants to feel good about himself. As importantly, or maybe more importantly, he wants others to see him as good or generous or benevolent. So, he figures out ways to not feel so guilty about all he has and all he does. Does that make one benevolent?

The only way one can be truly benevolent is to give without one little bitty morsel of caring about the outcome. It would be as though if I gave you a million dollars or one dollar, there would be no difference. If I receive pleasure of any kind by bestowing to you, then it would not be benevolent. What a bleak picture this paints.

I actually tried a little experiment on myself. Every act I did was evaluated. I asked myself, "What did I get by performing this act?" Sometimes it took a while to figure it out. Yet, it always came out that I was rewarded in some way by the results of what I did. Then I had an idea. I figured out a way I could do a benevolent act. I would do something really great for someone and not let a single person know what I had done. Surely that would make me capable of conquering a benevolent act. All of a sudden I began to chuckle. I realized how great I would feel by doing this act and keeping it a secret! It was at that moment I realized by my feeling good about the act, clearly negated any chance of the act being truly benevolent!

Based on my personal findings, I believe that benevolence is self-interest in disguise. Before humanity can be truly benevolent we need to change. We need to understand what it means to care for another. However, it certainly cannot hurt to continue to try and experiment right here in this very moment in time.

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