Happiness, and the lie of altruism.....

Now, those who are aware of the Beard, and some who are not, will know that our hirsutely faced wisdom speaker is not a believer in altruism... not to say that he does not believe in doing good, and helping others, even at the expense of personal gain.. oh no.. but the whole idea that we can somehow go against nature and do things that help others and bring no benefit to ourselves.... let me explain.... first of all, I believe that altruistic acts simply don't exist... all acts are acted for benefit.... pure and simple... the problem is that we are so used to seeing ourselves as individuals, and (for some strange reason) something special, that we fail to understand that when we put ourselves out to benefit others, we are doing it, conciously or subconciously, to benefit our species.. and whta benefits our species ultimately benefits the individual...

If nothing else, performing an act that helps another but inconveniences yourself causes others, not necessarily the beneficiary, to become better disposed to the helper.. this then increases the amounrt of help that the helper could possibly receive in future.... so the act ceases to be altruistic, regardless of whether the person involved sees it as so...

But lets be honest with ourselves... there are not many of us who do not have in the back of their minds some ulterior motive, no matter how well hidden... for most of us its some vague belief in some afterlifely reward... personally, I'm honest enough to admit that i only help others because I accept that its a species survival trait, and that I always get something out of it... I end up feeling happier... and that to me is a good enough reason...

Or is it? Personally, the Beard has always been at least slightly Macchiavellian in his outlook... I'm a definite believer that the good end justifies the means... and if people get helped, does it matter that the person helping is doing so merely for his own kicks?? Well, some of you out there probably think that it does matter.... and possibly it does... but, be honest... if you were stuck in a ditch, would ou refuse a hand out from someone who admits that he's helping you simply because it makes him feel good?! Is that better or worse that helping someone because you are paid to? Apparently so... I was told a while ago that helping people in exchange for money is at least "honest" in a way that helping for kicks isn't.. which I think says all you need to know, at least on that subject...

And on the subject of subjects, the Beard admits that while he is a fan of prounouns in the subject, he somehow objects to them in the object... but that's by the by... suffice it to say that the Future Mrs Beard is now winging her way back to the arms of Beard, and the Beard is feeling happier by the minute.... so he'll sign off now, pausing only to say that until all our subjects are objects, and our means are end justified, Wisebeard Salutes You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!