Self Interest

A farmer whose corn always took the first prize at the state fair had a habit of sharing his best corn seed with all the farmers in the neighborhood.

When asked why, he said, “It is really a matter of self-interest. The wind picks up the pollen and carries it from field to field. So if my neighbors grow inferior corn, the cross-pollination brings down the quality of my own corn. That is why I am concerned that they plant only the very best.”

Know Our Interest

After reading the story, who felt that what we have taught not to be selfish needs to be rethought. Unless we know our interest we cannot take the right action. Our present moment action creates our future. If we have not taken into consideration our interest we will not be able to create our reality. We will live our life in misery.

Our misery is not because of others or due to any circumstances but it is due to while taking any action we are not seeing our own interest. We are always seeing the short term gain but not the growth. Our short term gain is from our selfishness and our growth is from Self-Interest.

How is self interest different from selfishness?

Self interest:  Having a primary concern for one’s self. This may include doing things for other people in order to improve their perception of you, or doing things for other people because you expect it to at some future time return something to you, or anything else that you think in the long run ends up being better for you.

Selfishness:  Having an interest in only one’s immediate interests.

I think the difference is in scope.  Self interest often pays off over time with some amount of immediate sacrifice, while selfishness is intended to minimize sacrifice and maximize current payoff at the expense of the future.

Are greed and self-interest the same thing?

Self-interest simply means that a person is acting according to his own values, whatever those might be. He is seeking the basics of human survival, food, clothing, and shelter, maybe luxuries, personal relationships such as love and friendship, knowledge, truth, or even acting on compassion and kindness, so long as it is genuine and actually his own feelings.

“Greed” is defined as the desire for more than you need, with “need” being poorly defined, or defined by third persons who are not involved. How much does a person need? Who can decide, except that person?

Learning from the story Self Interest: Know Our Interest

Experience Learning

One who is selfish his focus is only on what he can receive and one who is self-interested is focusing on giving.

In the story the farmer says that I am giving seed of corn to see that my crop is of better quality. This is the law of universal. If you give and share what you have, the universe will return to you in multifold.

Always share and give best you have to others. Don’t expect anything in return. You will be always surprise that how universe can return to you in multifold. If you expect in return for the same person he can return to you what you gave or little bit more or less but not in multifold.

In Universe everything is in abundance. It can return to you in multifold. Give and focus on your own act. Like farmer. After giving the seed he never waited for any return from his neighbours. But he was working in his farm and when the crop was ready it was the best quality and in quantity.

The Secret to Abundance: Give What You Want to Receive:

In a world where there are very few absolutes, the act of giving is almost fail proof in its capacity to raise our vibration and magnetize greater abundance into our lives. This quote by author and former NBA champion Bill Russell explains in words both beautiful and concise exactly why this is so: “The quickest way to receive love is to give it;” he writes. “The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.” Of course, this wisdom applies not just to love, but to happiness, energy, and abundance in all its many forms.

Why is it that the fastest way to receive anything we want more of in our lives is to give it to someone else? Because the act of giving raises our vibration (the frequency generated by the sum total of our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and desires), and places us in an ideal state to receive the very experience that we created on behalf of another.

We live in a universe in which people and events are magnetized together by virtue of how similar they are in energy. “Like attracts like” is the essence of the all-powerful Law of Attraction. When we understand this law, we realize that the same quality of energy we generate for others, we also generate for ourselves.

The act of giving shifts our mindset from one of lack to one of abundance. It is a declaration to the Universe that we have more than enough – time, attention, money, energy, happiness, and every other type of resource – to share. And this powerful declaration, done for the sake of another, actually increases the level of abundance we experience within ourselves.