Selfishness is such a capacious phenomenon that can manifest itself in the most unexpected ways, often even when it seems to us that our actions are not about selfishness, but about love for ourselves and the world, we are often mistaken. One such misconception is altruism. we will talk about it today. First, let’s look at many people’s favorite WikiAltruism (lat. Alter - other, others) - a concept that conceptualizes activity associated with selfless concern for the well-being of others; correlates with the concept of selflessness - that is, with the sacrifice of one's benefits in favor of the good of another person, other people, or in general - for the sake of the common good.. In some senses it can be seen as the opposite of selfishness. In psychology, it is sometimes considered as a synonym or part of prosocial behavior. Sounds kind of logical to the mind = to the ego. What is the content of such a brilliant form? Helping other people is great if you do it with awareness. Social interaction is the most difficult practice in all schools and areas of spiritual development. It is difficult because there is a very fine line between help coming from the heart and the desire to “collect bonuses in the heavenly office.” Help coming from the heart is serving people. In yoga this is called seva. A person consciously serves people. setting specific development goals for ourselves in this assistance. For example, pacifying pride, the ability to manage emotions, overcome disgust, etc. He is focused on solving his own problems efficiently, which is why his interaction with people is honest, clean and beautiful. All his motives for helping are internal. When a person is immersed in ego, then his altruism is also a practice - the practice of receiving love from the world. They are focused on feedback from the world, which will help them distract themselves from internal experiences colored by negative emotions, such as pain, grief, and resentment. fear. Many egoists help because they believe that by helping others they are distracted from their own pain. By helping others, they are sure that good things will definitely be returned to them, that when someone will help them too, etc. In this case, helping the world is rather psychotherapy itself. Let's return to the definition of altruism. Selflessness is to deny the self. The Self is the ego. Selflessness is the practice of overcoming the power of the ego over a person. If a person knows how to love himself and is in a state of awareness. If a person is immersed in the ego, then selflessness is akin to self-destruction, abandonment of oneself, sacrifice (victim position), which are often accompanied by the fear of being left alone with oneself and one’s pain. Sometimes it feels so bad inside, and there is nothing left to lose (everything is lost), that it is better to sacrifice your life to someone, just to stop feeling this pain inside yourself. By helping others, we always help ourselves. But it’s one thing when we fill the world with pain, it’s completely different when we fill it with love. The same form, filled with different energies, brings different results. Help filled with messages of ego-altruism is a manifestation of egoism as a lack of love energy within. Help filled with love is mercy and peacemaking. And this is different. Create peace inside yourself and outside!! And yes. do everything in this life for yourself. I will be glad if my articles prove useful to you in the practice of your life! Thank you for your “thank you” that you say by clicking on the “thank you” button" ))