SELFISHNESS

Cougina frequently talks to me about selfishness. He seems to alternatively portray selfishness as the most desirable and the most undesirable quality on the hermetic path. I hope that our discussion of selfishness will be helpful to you.

First, working definitions:

self - What is traditionally defined by depth psychology as the egoic identity, self identifies itself with the individual body/mind.

SELF - What is traditionally referred to as Higher Self, SELF identifies itself with the whole, including every other living being (human, plant, rock, etc.). Although all beings are not yet connected, SELF knows that this connection will happen eventually, and seeks to assist it.


self wills for the good of self, i.e., the individual body/mind, whether one’s own or that of another.

SELF always wills for the good of SELF, i.e., the whole, rather than for the good of the individual body/mind. This includes all individual body/minds, one’s own self, loved ones, strangers, etc. Those familiar with Jung will remember that he emphasized that SELF cannot be all good. This makes sense when one realizes that our concept of good/bad is traditionally viewed in terms of individuals.


Another definition:

greed - The unbalanced dominance of selfishness for the egoic self.

On the hermetic path, it is desired to balance selfishness, like all other oppositional concepts. That is, we desire a balance of self-directed selfishness and SELF-directed selfishness. When Cougina rails against selfishness, he is referring to greed. On the other hand, total SELF-directed selfishness is not desirable. We wouldn‘t be around to work for the whole for long. I remember Jung writing about a book that his SELF wanted written immediately. He told his SELF that he was taking a break from writing, because if he was dead the damned book certainly wasn’t going to get written.

Another definition:

pure self - The aspect of self that maintains balance between self and SELF.

The concept of pure self is similar to the observer concept with which many of us are familiar, with the caveat that pure self is an active decision maker as well as an impartial observer. It is this pure self that the hermetic cultivates, in order to maintain balance.


THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE AND COUGINA