I hear many people argue how selfishness leads to greed, or that being greedy is part of being selfish. I just have to say that “greed” and “selfishness” are not the same. These are “words of value” and are based on ideas and information that were instilled in our heads when we were younger as something known as “basic morals.”
As it grows and changes, it finds that these words of value no longer seem to fit, and instead of providing a foundation from which we can learn, they begin to hamper progress. If you learned that being selfish means not doing for others and that selfishness is bad, then your whole life will be taken advantage of and used by those who have realized that it is okay to be selfish with yourself.
However, this basic idea of selfishness takes precedence over the definition of love. What this means is that if we are selfish with ourselves, we can never love. This is also false! If we are selfish with ourselves, we seek what is right and true for us. In this search, we can find that person who is right for us and we love him because he gives us the feelings that we seek for his satisfaction.
Greed is a feeling for materialistic “things”. Egoism is a feeling for oneself.
In today’s society, we have many misconceptions banged into our heads by “parent voices” condemning and patronizing us into submission. When we begin to love ourselves and live for ourselves, we associate that feeling with the negative connotation of selfishness.
Redefine the meaning of your words of value. Don’t just accept a value word as an absolute value because it comes from someone else who feels they “have it all together.” While they may have it all together in one area of your life that you see, they may find themselves in confusion in some other area of your life. Learn to redefine and trust your own values based on your own reasoning ability.