Mess of Ulterior Motives
It is a frightening thing when you really study the motives for your actions. Actions are affected by emotions or desires, our emotional response to things depends on our character and value system as does what we desire. Obviously this is much simplified but the fact remains that the true impetus for your emotions is hard to find but when you do it is almost always an ugly sight.Many people through history have pontificated that “there is no such thing as an unselfish act” and upon inspection of myself I can only agree. Even the people I love I do so expecting something back from them in return; a feeling triggered by a smile or a kind word. So deeply runs this unspoken expectation that even when faced with being ignored completely accidentally, we are prone to respond with feelings of anger, self-doubt or many other emotions depending on our character, which in turn could result in one of billions of actions we’d rather not have ever done (including bottling up those emotions).
The truth is that we love everyone with a hook. Human love is a spoilt, impure, self-ridden, form of manipulation. We are a mess of ulterior motives and what’s worse is that we’ve managed to convince ourselves that we’re ok. That when we’ve found a symbiotic situation with someone where we both love each other in a mutually manipulative way that somehow we’re better than the guy who beats his wife. No. It’s simply that that mans character has been shaped by different circumstances. It’s most likely he watched his father beat his mother, promising himself he’d never do that but finding himself in that place anyway. Our inbuilt placing of ourselves before others is a universal trait of humanity, however it manifests itself.
I suppose some people would say ‘What about people who die for others? What possible selfish gain is there for them?’. To that end I would quote Jesus in John 15v13 – “Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus understood the principal and eventually put it into practice. So there is hope. Human beings are capable of loving properly. All the stories of heroes who make it into legend involve self-sacrifice. Something about it captures the aspirations and the respect of the human soul. The question is…can I learn to sacrifice my desires for people who I haven’t even met before. Jesus did. I haven’t even managed to do it for my friends. Thankfully God loves me in such a way that he is willing to forgive me for no gain of his own. He asks nothing back off me, but is aching for me to follow him. To allow him to teach me His ways. Is there such thing as a selfless act? I’m betting my life on it.
Agree/disagree? Think I’m nuts? Let me know.
posted by Matt Heaton @ 11:21 pm
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