Many times I’ve wondered what are our true reasons we behave as we do. Is it our purpose in life? What a purpose in life really represents? Is it going for something or is it running from something? Based on what we decide how should we act in every moment?
I’m proposing a theory based on two feelings: pleasure and fear. I think that most of the time we act so the outcome brings us some sort of good feelings or because the outcome can spare us some bad feelings. For example, why do Christians act as they do? Most of the time, it’s because they fear God’s punishment, and that punishment can bring them lots of pain. Or maybe they don’t act because of the fear, but they act for their soul to go heaven where everything is perfect and they’ll feel perfect, so those actions can bring them closer to happiness.
It may sound like a selfish approach, but isn’t that right? When we help a homeless person, we do it for that person to feel good or maybe we do it because helping someone makes us feel good? Why do we go to work each morning? For money, I know, but how do we feel when we get those money? What do we need them for? To buy food, pay the bills and take care of our families, but do we really need that car? Do we really need that apartment or house? Do we really need that new phone? Aren’t those just things that make us feel good? Isn’t taking care of our family making us feel good? Isn’t love just a way to prove ourselves that we do matter for someone else and that makes us feel good? Isn’t it a way to counter our fear of being alone?
I might be wrong, but I think that we act based on our survival instincts, pleasure feelings and fear. We are the most evolved beings on this Earth, but we still act in a selfish way. Can you give me a selfless example?