You're Always So Selfish
date: 2/5/2026
February 5th, 2026, 21:00. The weather is cold. It began snowing outside as I write this. Cold is my favorite part of everything, because it doesn’t overwhelm. It numbs. Like serpentine venom. It numbs and sings a lullaby to you, and once you sleep you never wake up. People call each other selfish every day. Out of pettiness, out of projection, out of… hatred. But they don’t see that everyone is selfish. And it’s no “only majority” or “minority” issue. All of us. Are. Selfish. The definition of selfish is someone who seeks self-interest over anyone else in any action or decision. For example, I befriend a guy in a university environment because I need help with studies, not that I care about him, but that I care about my own wellbeing. That’s selfish. But this illustration itself is simply a superficial glance at the idea of selfishness.
You cannot be pure and selfless. That idea alone is a contradiction of human nature. And no human mind can exceed human nature. The snowflakes fall rather beautifully. I should probably take a picture of this later. Anyway, as I was saying. You cannot be selfless. Allow me to demonstrate. When you help an old lady cross the road while you’re late to some occasion, no matter how much you claim the act comes from a “pure heart” and altruism, it does not. The whole idea of altruism is that you are doing something that does not necessarily serve your needs or even sacrifices your needs for those of others. This is exactly why altruism is impossible. When you help that old lady, the benefit is not necessarily material; it can be metaphysical too. A need in your conscience, deep inside the subliminal, emerges, and the only way to scratch that itch is to engage in supposedly “altruistic” behavior. So the first priority (sometimes the only one) is satisfying your own conscience or feeling good about yourself. The outcome—whether the lady crosses the road safely or anything else—is a secondary priority or merely an external consequence. I prefer to call it external consequence, as the term itself detaches the surroundings from the person, as it should.
You may appear altruistic on the outside, but inside lies selfishness so deep that even you cannot see it. This, by all means, does not mean that all actions you perform are immoral. As I have explained, selfishness is not necessarily immoral; it depends on what effects you are willing to let your surroundings be exposed to. It looks as though a weak fog hangs in the air thanks to the snow. I’ll check it out once it reaches an adequate level. Perhaps around 2 a.m. It’s never too late to enjoy the cold.