Courtney Tiberio
asked
Bud Harris:
How can selfishness be a sacred thing? I was raised to believe that selfish is one of the worst things you can be!
Bud Harris
I too was taught that selfishness was bad while I was growing up. Then some time around midlife I finally began to hear the idea that if you don’t or can’t love yourself, what you do for your neighbor may not turn out to be all that great. I also realized that many people accused me of being selfish when I wasn’t doing what they wanted me to or when I wasn’t fulfilling their expectations. As I decided to look into selfishness more carefully I defined “sickly selfishness” as the kind of selfishness that is egotistical self-centered behavior that is demanding and exploitive of others. On the other hand, I defined sacred selfishness as just the opposite. Sacred selfishness means making the commitment to become a person of depth, and substance whose very presence brings life and vitality to the people around them. Sacred selfishness is based on increasing self-knowledge and our engagement in life which will give us the foundation for truly loving ourselves, our lives and other people.
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