Absolute Altruism or Selfish Selflessness

Over the course of my mission, the general focus of ‘the work’ has seemed to me at times, incongruent. The focus on not being selfish, which in of itself it admirable, but not at all possible. (See Communism or Law of Consecration). There is a notion that we as missionaries and even members of the LDS church should not do what is in our ‘best self-interest” because doing so would be wrong. I may be diving into mere definitions, but generally when we are doing what is right, we have selfish motivations.

Selfishness play a role— a necessary and beneficial one—in missionary work and in life in general. We strive to reach our goals to better ourselves, that is selfish. We want to have fun on p-day and unwind and prepare for another week of missionary work, that is selfish. All the things we do are in our ‘best self-interest’ or we would not be doing them. The standard should not be are you suffering and going against your own needs, but should be: Do my actions helps others and benefit more than just yourself—which is where altruism can play a part. We try and act selfless, but our motives will always be selfish for anything. Like faith and doubt, selfishness and selflessness is a coupled process and how we harness our natural selves by trying to better ourselves.

I Would say—religiously—that selfishness is the common motivator for most people. The plan of Salvation is selfish, we do the right things in order to gain a reward. It’s selfish to want to go to the highest degree of heaven. It’s selfish to want to become like god. It’s selfish to merely obey to obtain blessings. It’s selfish to want to be with your family for forever. It’s selfish to come unto Christ so you can obtain ‘rest’. Our desires and actions will always follow our ‘best self interest’ as we perceive them. The gospel is the way which we believe we can obtain those things that we desire. Even when we serve in the best interest of others, that means we ourselves deem helping someone else as in our best interest.

That doesn’t mean we don’t act in ways that bless others. We may go on missions because we have been asked to by a prophet (obeying a commandment to obtain blessings) and to satisfy social pressure (recognition as a good member of the church), and because we desire to serve others (a selfish need to view ourselves as good people). But, the results are that people are helped and blessings come to others—as well as ourselves—when we do so.

We act selfless based on selfish motives. And if our selfish desires help us and others, then they aren’t bad at all, their vital to progress on a mission, in the gospel, and in life in general.