ANARCHY!!!

All this talk about selfishness and following inspiration is NOT a case for anarchy.

I don’t believe our True Selves desire a lawless existence. As a citizen of the U.S., I quite enjoy opting in to a law-abiding system society. This participation is True Selfish because I enjoy the serenity that stems from the everyday sense of safety & security.

That said, I don’t believe that dystopian anarchy is the inevitable end state of these philosophies.

Left unrestricted, I believe people possess the natural instincts to give to each other, love each other, and contribute to the collective. I believe all of us are inherently good, at our core, when we’re operating as a blank slate.

Sometimes our fears & insecurities just get in the way. For example, why do people steal? It’s not because they enjoy the taste of guilty. It’s because they believe that they don’t have enough already. They feel insecure financially.

But that act of stealing doesn’t feel good. So, it’s NOT True Selfish at the end of the day.

Alternatively, when I give, I feel good. Giving is tasty.

So, it’s selfish to give. It’s selfish to share. It’s selfish to love. All of these selfish acts service my True Self AND the Collective.

Yesterday, I was running on the streets of NYC. I watched a car run a red light in order to try to get where they were going more quickly. It was a selfish move from my perception (granted, I didn’t know their justification). But, in the midst of afternoon traffic, they blocked the intersection for everybody, including a school bus. Their decision to be selfish was a hindrance to all the commuters around them. And because it was New York, all the cars started honking.

The honk brigade was like the Game of Thrones scene where everyone's yelling at the Leverage Leader: “Shame! Shame!”

I couldn’t see the driver’s face. But I’m gonna assume they regretted it. Given the opportunity to live this life a Second Time, I'm gonna assume that when the light changes, they don’t go for it.

Because making a Taker move harms the Collective, and the Taker is the one who’s left feeling like s**t at the end of it.

(And yes, I am speaking from personal experience on this.)

Goes to show that being True Selfish requires honest discernment:

If everyone adopted the mindset of being Taker Selfish, then, of course, our society would descend into destruction. But that’s not the case I'm makin’.

Instead, I believe that everyone would be more inclined to love others, if they started by loving themselves a bit more. And loving oneself starts by being True Selfish.