Human Nature and Selfishness

Selfishness is a modern luxury.

It seems to me that for large swathes of our evolutionary history, being too selfish could get you killed directly, or indirectly through excommunication from the tribe.

And I'm not sure what the implication is to the present.

Perhaps we have latent psychophysiological potential for decreased selfishness due to selective pressures. I don't think we understand the degree to which the apparent characteristics of human nature are actively modulated by environment.

I often find this section of prose by Emma Goldman gives cause for reflection:

Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy name! Every fool, from king to policeman, from the flatheaded parson to the visionless dabbler in science, presumes to speak authoritatively of human nature. The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature. Yet, how can any one speak of it today, with every soul in a prison, with every heart fettered, wounded, and maimed?

John Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities?

Freedom, expansion, opportunity, and, above all, peace and repose, alone can teach us the real dominant factors of human nature and all its wonderful possibilities.

So what is the true potentiality of human nature? And what would life be like?

If I'm truthful it's clear that in some respects I take things to selfish excesses. And of course, it feels good!

I always found this quote by St Augustine funny, and apt

Lord make me pure but not yet

It's one thing to contemplate being a better person, but another thing to be one.

Ultimately though, selfish pleasure doesn't seem to uplift the spirit as do compassion, understanding and love.

Not my usual selection, but the message of peace and equality resonates strongly. One of the aspects of modern culture that I'm in most awe of is the use of music to peacefully spread revolutionary ideas across the globe.