The case against selfishness

The way we treat other animals is based on a variety of factors: upbringing, cultural and societal norms, and education, to name a few. Whatever the reasons, people who mistreat animals often don’t care enough about them to behave any differently. More often than not, this is tied in to a self-centered view of life, where our own goals and aspirations take precedence over everything else. We’ve been taught to "look out for number one" our whole lives, so it’s natural that we turn a blind eye to the suffering around us. While there is nothing wrong with focusing on ourselves to an extent, we should also strive to be more conscious of the suffering around us, and take concrete steps to alleviate it. A self-centered way of life might seem fine, but it is ultimately pointless in that it is a wasted life that could have been used to improve the world in which we live.

I have always stressed the importance of helping. The reason that I stress the importance of helping animals, in particular, is that I believe that our current relationship with them is an enormous ongoing problem for the world that we live in. This (mis)treatment, whether it be killing millions of them daily for our food or clothes, abusing them for our sports and entertainment, or simply ignoring their suffering on the streets of our cities, is leading the world in the wrong direction. Negativity causes more negativity. It’s a simple case of cause and effect. The current treatment of other animals can be remedied by taking a step back from our selfish behavior and thinking about all the suffering we are causing. It starts with the realization that no sentient being, human or otherwise, wants to suffer and die. Animals were not put on this earth to serve us. Thinking that they were is the epitome of selfish (and faulty) thinking. They were put here to see if we could all coexist peacefully, and as long as we don’t change the current way of doing things, we will not be able to.

Realizing that it’s not OK to hurt and kill other living beings is the first step. Thinking about this, really meditating on it, should ideally lead you to empathize more with the other animals suffering around you. You should then act on this realization, and do whatever you can to help these animals. You should help even if you don’t feel this empathy. Active helping is the best way to broaden our focus, and to start making a difference in the world. The actual act of helping innocent beings is so positive it is almost therapeutic. It is the antithesis of the popular (and misguided) hedonistic approach in which see the world as something that we can use and abuse. The more we move away from this hedonism and selfishness, the better our chances to truly improve the world we live in.