Shaun Gilly wrote:
> Yes it's true that there a selfish people running companies, but my hunch
> is that the businesses don't do so well in the long run, and certainly
> don't compare to the real giving companies. The beauty of the system, is
> that even in their selfish pursuit of profits only, they still are solving
> problems at some level.
>
> Finally, if you understand that at some level, we are all interconnected,
> then selflessness ultimately benefits the giving individual as well. Thus
> a fine line between selfishness and selflessness exists.
Shaun--
I enjoyed yours (and others) weaving on this thread. Just sharing some
thoughts from a leader from the past--his name, Marcus Aurelius.
"Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody,
the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things
happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But
I who have seen the nature of the good that is beautiful and of the bad
that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to
me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the
same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be
injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I
be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for cooperation,
like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower
teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is
acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away."
(from Meditations, II).
I sometimes think that wisdom is the name for that line between selfish
and selfless behavior. The wisdom that perceives the interconnectivity
between us. The wisdom that sees "we are made for cooperation." I ponder
my selfishness each day that I use exhaustible resources,or choose a path
for advantage sake. I find myself skeptical of choices seemingly
selfless, when I feel pleasure in giving to others.
I am a transactional person, unable to divest myself of those sentiments.
Does this denigrate my efforts at selfless behavior? I don't believe so,
but it does give me room to grow and improve myself.
Doc
-- "Nothing can be meaner than the anxiety to live on, to live on anyhow and in any shape; a spirit with any honor is not willing to live except in its own way, and a spirit with any wisdom is not over-eager to live at all." --George Santayana
Richard C. "Doc" Holloway Visit me at <http://www.thresholds.com/> Or e-mail me at <mailto:learnshops@thresholds.com>
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2361 Phone:01 360 786 0925 Olympia, WA 98507 USA Fax: 01 360 709 4361
Your partner for developing skills and behaviors congruent with your vision, mission and strategic plan.
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>