Is there any selfless act?

[Urbanized Greyhound]

OP : Another fantastic discussion thread bro !!! would love to comment , but I 'll see other members views first ....

 

[Skies]

In Titanic, Jack sacrificed himself, was not that a selfless act?


Anyway, I think there is selfless act, but you have to change the definition of selfless.

Like: Suppose I am not very rich but I want to I help Japanese (for tsunami) by donating them some money secretly (suppose by doing overtime I have managed 100$ just to donate/help them), not for getting any reward in afterlife, not for get back anything from them, not to satisfy myself too, and not for getting back any kind of things, then I must say that is selfless act. There the matter is I will feel satisfied after helping them, even though that was not my prime aim. Here I just helping them just to see them in miserable situation.

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

Here is an example of a truly selfless act. Wish there were more like him in society

http://www.defence.pk/forums/general-images-multimedia/105152-amazing-pakistani-teacher.html

 

[desioptimist]

All our actions have reasons and these reasons decide whether actions are selfless. Peopels do good because they feel good after doing something good..doing good bring good result for you so you get benefits after doing something good lol

You are right in your assesment. We are genetically programmed to be altruistic. For a social animal it is essential for survival as a species( not individual).
It is found not only in human but other social animals too.
Biological Altruism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

Yes of course. The mere fact that you're alive today is a testimony to that, since your mother could've let you die so many times during your initial days just by not timely paying attention.

There's a reason they're demi-gods in Islam.

I believe only love of mother is close to unconditional love but i think that children s are part of mother. She kept them in her womb for many weeks. She get develop special emotional bond with them. Mother get restless when her kids are restless. She cannot sleep when her kids are in pain or if they are crying so self interest is there as her happiness is in the happiness of her children. Why women don't have same feeling of devotion or love for kids of other peoples? Again many parents have expectation from their children that they will look after them when parent will become helpless in old age just like parent showed their love and care for their helpless childrens when they were infants/younger

So to answer your question she could have let me die but then she would be sad or felt guilty after doing it so she did what gave her happiness/satisfaction which was getting the honour to become my mother

 

[Dalai Lama]

I subscribe to this line of thinking:

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

In Titanic, Jack sacrificed himself, was not that a selfless act?

Nope it was not selfless..many peopels do kill themselves for sake of their love because they cannot bear the pains to live without their lovers

yway, I think there is selfless act, but you have to change the definition of selfless.

Selflessness is the absence of self. It is no more possible to act truly selflessly than it is to act without a self at all. In order for human beings to act truly selflessly, they would have to be completely oblivious to their own existence and again let me tell you self interest is not selfishness

Like: Suppose I am not very rich but I want to I help Japanese (for tsunami) by donating them some money secretly (suppose by doing overtime I have managed 100$ just to donate/help them), not for getting any reward in afterlife, not for get back anything from them, not to satisfy myself too, and not for getting back any kind of things, then I must say that is selfless act. There the matter is I will feel satisfied after helping them, even though that was not my prime aim. Here I just helping them just to see them in miserable situation.

Your this act of charity is not selfless act as you are getting some form of personal benefits out of it but this act of charity is not selfish either as you are not doing any harms to anyone else. People often do good deeds for self-glorification, for attention, for recognition, or even just to make themselves feel like a better person and to have a sense of fulfilment.

 

[modern_newton]

Truely selfless acts are few and can even become fewer if we examine deep motives and level of societal interaction

 

[Respect4Respect01]

IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW BIG HEART U HAVE,