The virtue of being selfish.
“People that don’t laugh are not serious people. To be serious you need to laugh. Those people that appear to be always serious are fake serious. They are always acting.” — — Gianluca Vacchi.
Methuselah opened her eyes with the glimmer of a smile in them. She was reimagining what transpired the evening before when she experienced the highest pleasure of being a woman. In a moment, she searched for the man who stole her consciousness. The one who ravaged her in every possible way. The man who stays to his ground no matter the drama she evokes. The man that inspires her heart. The barbarian, Ethimus.
The barbarian stays wide awake, standing at the cliff of the shore. Bare-chested, with muscles like an ox, and serious staring eyes. Ethimus is looking at the looming storm heading from the north. The place, this barbarian wishes to conquer. The place, his mentor, Seneca, instructed him to conquer, Nordkach.
There is a book called, “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli. It is about Machiavelli’s observation of why nice people are not competent and fail to inspire the audience. The majority of us are nice, but let’s observe, what a nice guy is missing here. By no means am I advising anyone to become a jerk.But to use the qualities of dishonest men.
Have the competence to use manipulation, when needed. The problem with nice is they are limited to the social construct of pretending to be nice.
“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.” — Niccolò Machiavelli
What is it about a man who is selfish?
The social construct reminds us to correct him. Hand him lectures about being selfless and benevolent. Being selfish is brute, offensive, and not nice. But if you lift the curtain and look at the person, Being selfish is a virtue.
Now, why do I say that?
The ancient symbolism depicts the two entities to create harmony. Ying and yang, shiva and shakti, adam and eve. If you carefully interpret it, it reveals a secret about a constant ebb and flow between the masculine and the feminine aspect of an individual or the macro cosmos. It is the rule that mimics the demand and supply in economics. This is the flow of energy within every system, from simple to complex.
What does selfishness represent?
It represents the clarity in what one desires and the raw pursuit to possess it. This is as honest a man can be. He knows what he wants and pursues it, if it offends or even harms someone, so be it. This trait means the man is resourceful, has boundaries, and has a clear goal.
This man is superior to the nice guy who tries to sell his niceness in expectation of niceness in return. The problem with a nice guy is that he is nice. He cannot speak his true words because they might offend someone. He does not have the liberty to walk away from a bad partnership even if it harms him. This nice man will accumulate passive aggression and explode at any moment. This man is a ticking time bomb.
The barbarian has a clear conscience. He kills to survive. He is unapologetic about his actions. He will not tolerate people crossing his boundary. He is a free man.
