I would say yes but not all times. You can gain by feeling good about helping people or feeling superior to those you help or perhaps you increase your personal or business cache through benevolence. Disinterested benevolence does exist of course but I would say it is in the minority. Which is why religions make such a big thing of it.
No. I know plenty of people who are willing to help others with no thought of what they will get in return, including me. What a cynical point of view.
It depends on what level of consciousness one operates by.
If someone is only looking for the next instant gratification, they will not even be able to comprehend what can be of value that is not right in front of their noses.
If you let go, you let God in. If you look to see what God is offering, you have lost the gift.
You must give and just do it for the sake of being kind and let it go. If you keep it up, ultimately doors open unlooked for, opportunities arise that are more of a loftier path to follow and that path cannot be seen by the overly- wealthy and those seeking to be greedy to get wealthy.
If you have peace of mind? You need little. You enjoy your moment-to-moment existence, which, ironically, is mostly what people are spending and working and trying so hard to get. Peace of mind. Just being able to look in the mirror and feel like you had a good day because you respected and loved everyone, is quite a rich life. And it is everyone's just for the taking.
Well, if that's true then who cares if they are trying to gain something from it, atleast they're helping others. Anyway, I would help others just because I'm very empathetic. I suppose many other people who help others are the same.
I think genuine altruism exists and is far more common that is portrayed in our media and the arts.
Zoologists now have proof that altruism exists among all mammals and many birds, and that it is at least equal to the forces of competition as a driver of evolution.
We can see generousity developing in the two-year-old, when for the first time she proffers a bit of her poo as a gift to Mummy. She really means it -- with the intent of offering her own creation as a gift. We can see altruism in the eight-year-old boy who uses a leaf to rescue a bee from a pond, and places it in a safe place where its wings can dry out.
Buddhists would say that even if the donor gets the benefit of feeling virtuous, giving practices the emotional skills of not clinging, not cultivating greed.
It's not for nothing that we often feel deep pleasure when we help others. The release of feel-good hormones when giving is built into our DNA.
We are a social species. We are interdependent and have strong emotional needs for acceptance, understanding, love and belonging. Giving without expectation of return, and keeping no mental account-book, is a big part of what helps make good relationships work.
And what would we do without the volunteers who sort the second-hand clothes, or cook the meals for the homeless?
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 11, 2018 10:31 PM MST
Well, generally speaking someone who does good to / for others has some payoff for themselves, even if it is just the (quite appropriate) knowledge and satisfaction that he or she has done the right thing or what he or she thinks is the right thing.
(Of course, the basis for my comment is that we are incapable of directing our will to doing evil without at least thinking that we are choosing to do a good on some level---and you can read what's within these parenthesis on a take it or leave it basis---it just makes sense to me.)
