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Originally Posted by Freelancer  Yeah I'll be sure to first shoot lightning out of my ass before I say a word. That way they know whats coming. 
Pride isn't necesarrily negative, it could be though. The thing is that if your proud of something you did not achieve then yes pride is negative and will destroy you. If your proud of who you are at the core of your being it will strengthen yourself and lift you even higher. If you take responsibility for your own life at look at it objectively then any pride that comes from this will lift you up.
If selfishness is evil then 99.99% of the people alive are evil, do you believe that?
Ask anybody if they are willing to give everything they own away with nothing in return (not even the satisfaction of knowing it is used for good). If they decline they are selfish, is this bad?
Now obviously you can take selfishness to far, you are still dealing with other people and you need to take them into consideration. However this should only be done based on your own judgement for your own enjoyment, not some guilt forced on you.
I can't claim ownership of this idea, personally I got it from Ayn Rand. I just removed some parts from the rest of the philosophy. |
I wasn't trying to argue that selfishness is bad as some kind of universal truth that I wholeheartedly believe, I'm saying it's very often a subconscious belief that people hold because it's conditioned by society or parents, and I happen to be one of those people. I am working on eradicating that belief at the moment. All I wanted to express in my response was the idea that very often pride is something that people with self-esteem issues struggle with because they have come to believe that it's a selfish and negative thing - it's not a belief they necessarily want or choose to hold, it's one with which they've been raised and struggle to overcome.