Altruism is Irresistible

1370: 

We need to discover if altruism can work for us, at first privately and then collectively.  As individuals, we need to take the initiative without waiting around for others to go first.  It’s up to us to bite the same bullet we accuse others of not biting.  It’s up to us to find out if our initiatives are safe, then go ahead and enjoy adopting them.  We have to be happy taking on more than our fair share of responsibility (which in truth is the most satisfying side), and it’s not a matter of who does more or who is guiltier, who’s more culpable or more capable - the repairing-ness of altruism shines brightly enough here, because it’s going to be the one thing that transforms violence.  It gives humanity a different type of motivation, which will take us into the future and help us gear up for an entirely different type of world.

         

However, big repair needs big numbers of people, armies of advocates, not just a willing few.  Today the army is growing but slowly.  Humans drag their heels because it seems like such a big step to take.  This is a very big personal step, to go vegan and then start to advocate.

         

For each advocate there must be the energy source and motivational force, strong enough to withstand anything thrown at us.  We have to transform the way we function as individuals, the way we think and act, to set off a certain type of chain reaction.  Vegans are hopefully trying to inspire people by making altruism irresistible.

         

As a force for transformation, altruism might just do the trick, but there are dangers, one of which being that we advocates get carried away by ‘the idea’.  And we forget the principle of thinking about others before, not after, we think of ourselves.

         

If this idea is to work, it must ‘go to the feeling’; it must be comfortable enough within us for us to 'do' it.  Altruism is potentially strong enough to dissolve our value judgements of others, and in so doing it allows us to step aside from violence.  And if that means being not quite so pushy or not being so righteous, or not being so right, then so be it.  Ego-bruising at worst; this is not about us. It’s about the animals, okay?

         

Our eyes are so well trained that they’re usually focused on the main chance.  Opportunity.  Altruism suggests a revolution in our thinking, no less.  If we’re willing to accept a different sort of reward, then it comes in the form of seeing others also acting altruistically.