Is Greed Good? Is There Virtue In Being Selfish?

"Greed is good" is perhaps one of the most memorable lines to emerge from the movies of the 80s. It was uttered by the character Gordon Gekko, a predatory corporate raider, to his young protege, Bud Fox in the 1987 movie, "Wall Street". Even to those who haven't seen the movie, the Gekko character has come to symbolize sheer amoral greed.

Another significant movie where the principle of self-interest is strongly highlighted is the 1948 film "The Fountainhead", based on the novel of the same name, by Ayn Rand. this was produced from a screenplay that Rand herself had adapted and starred Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal. However, unlike "Wall Street", which portrayed the darker side of self-interest, "The Fountainhead" expounded Rand's theories of egoism in an heroic light.

First published in 1943, the novel became a best seller by word of mouth. It was the story of an independent, crusading architect, Howard Roark, and embodies Rand's personal philosophy of ethical egoism - of acting according to rational self-interest.

Egoism is a doctrine that holds we should act so as to promote our own interests. This is contrasted with Altruism which, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia, holds the criterion of morality to be the welfare of others.

When I first came across Rand's ideas some years ago in her much smaller work, "The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism" (1964) - "The Fountainhead" is a fairly hefty novel - I was both horrified and fascinated. The ideas challenged many of the basic concepts I had been taught throughout my life; ideas which underlined the absolute virtue of being "unselfish". To be accused of being selfish was a terrible putdown!

Notions of love, kindness, generosity, helping others, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", and the like, had an obvious merit - if we all acted kindly towards one another, we would all benefit.

Yet the concept of 'rational self-interest' continued to have some appeal as I gained more experience of life and attempted to reconcile it with other principles, in particular in the way our thoughts and actions impact on the world around us. I began to see a closer connection between what we do and what we get - "We reap what we sow" - and that this had a stronger and broader application than was commonly understood. For instance, the notion of forgiveness may be followed with some difficulty by those who've been wronged but regard the instruction to have divine origins and should therefore be followed.

Yet, considered in the light of 'reaping what we sow', failing to forgive - carrying a grudge - has been the at the heart of enormous grief and misery, including feuds, wars, vendettas, terrorism, as well as personal conflicts with family members and friends.

In other words, it makes good sense not to hold grudges against others as that diminishes them and they feel obliged to retaliate. It makes good sense to treat others with kindness, compassion, appreciation and generosity for that empowers and uplifts others and creates a world that we can experience directly - one of warmth, peace and harmony.

In a world that is dynamic - constantly changing - we will attract those who share our attitudes and values. Those who consider kindness to be weak will move away to spend more time with brutish friends; however, those who appreciate the warmth of kindness will be attracted. Treating others well is in our best interests, if that is what we want - to live in peace and harmony.

Recognizing that we have the power of creating those personal worlds that reflect who we are, also brings with it a responsibility: taking control of our own lives. We cannot say "I will treat people badly and set that aside - only my good works are to have an effect on my personal experience." If we do not consciously choose to direct the way our lives develop, we still continue to reap what we have sown; we still continue to impact on the world around us but what we receive is the default - we respond to what we receive, the good and the bad, but distance ourselves from the source of what we get. It is somebody else's fault that misfortunes have come our way. It was never our intent that we are constantly short of love or money; that we are exploited and disadvantaged.

Taking personal responsibility for our own lives places us in the position of being able to shape our lives in such a way that we like what we get. We are able to create for ourselves the sort of world that we want to experience. We are attracted to those situations that will benefit us, according to what we appreciate. We move away from situations that displease us and don't match our values. We shape our lives by developing those attitudes and values most likely to benefit us and then follow our feelings according the results we receive.

Taking personal responsibility for our lives places us in the position of being able to help others in a way that will benefit them. By demonstrating that following this approach has been to our benefit, we can lead by example, show others that "this works for me - try it". Instead of merely offering fish to feed others for a day, week or month, we teach them to fish and feed them for a lifetime. That is true altruism.

Ivan