Selfishness

SUN., JULY 29, 1984, 7:11 AM
FARM, STUDY

You know, o son, that this term and what it represents is the antithesis of spiritual maturity. Its connotation is a focus on self as separate from Me, from others, and from the total environment AND a desire to develop and advance self at the expense of others. This sounds pretty bad… and it is. Are there no positive values to selfishness? You should know Me well enough by now to know that where I am involved there always can be some value. Hear as I tell you about selfishness.

As I have told you many times, a rhythm including the yin/yang principle is the essence of life. That is, one quality, no matter how “good” it is always needs some mixing with its apparent opposite. A single color, no matter how wonderful, is more so when in company with others. A single musical note does not have the value that you hear in the variety that make up a song or a melody. Even sunny, beautiful days become boring… and eventually destructive of life… and the rainstorm renews and revives.

Now, how does this all apply to selfishness? As long as you remain a self, an individual soul, then some exhibition of selfishness is desirable and necessary. Selflessness is still the preferred approach to life, just as sunny days can be preferred over stormy, gloomy ones, but some selfishness is healthy.

Remember that I said you should love your neighbor as you do yourself. This says, rather directly, that it is good to love yourself, which is a form of selfishness, and it implies that you cannot love others MORE than you love yourself. So selfishness becomes a means by which you can love others more and thus serve Me in better ways. The process is reciprocal, you see. As you love others, you, yourself, become more loveable. As you love yourself, for loving others, your capacity to love others increases… a process which, practically speaking, has no end to it.

If you think of yourself and benefit yourself (other forms of selfishness) in order that you might be more effective in helping others this is selfishness for a good purpose. The motivation must be genuine, of course, and I know this… and you often do, too. Any person of developed spirit is aware of the balances within self. Such persons know that the fundamental purpose of life is to serve Me, often through others and also know the balances between selfishness and selflessness in their own lives. Only the spiritually immature are truly not aware of their motives.

So, there is nothing wrong with amassing money (as long as the process does not directly harm and deprive others) so long as it is used, finally, much more for the needs of others than for self alone. Continue to be frugal in relation to yourself and be generous toward others. There will always be more uses for money than can be possibly realized, so make choices and leave the consequences to Me.