THE VIRTUE OF BEING SELF CENTERED

When I had read Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD at the age of 19,I was mesmerised with the protagonist's (Howard Roark) audaciously unique "Constructive Self-centeredness" which he seems to use as an emotional shield for survival. He fought the hard times under which his country reeled during The Great Depression, and the never-ending inner conflict that tore him apart days in and out. And he had only one friend-his own self, and the interaction gave him newer visions and refreshened hope as his years passed by.

At that age,every man tends to bask, to varying extents,in a spell of self-appreciating glory of Idealism with a tinge of grandeur (one that almost person indulges in unintentionally (though one can't connect with any form of rebellion even remotely (the rebel without a cause)
and questions the contemporary relevance of certain intra-social practices that brazenly defy his idealistic philosophy (which is mostly branded with unintentional dogmatism).

I was no exception. Even as I marvelled at the protagonist's gritty defiance, I couldn't quite support his constructive self-centerednessas, confusing it it with Selfishness. Over the years I have realised that making friends with one's own self and keeping it amongst top most priorities cannot be qualified as a negative trait at all.

Being selfish is a different domain altogether. It can only pull one down, and the selfishness quantitatively increases in degrees every time one strives to stand up. out of the moral rot which erodes one's rationality and analytical power. Unfortunately circumstances provides the base of the ease with which man keeps on faltering again and again.

Selfcenteredness gives man a painstakingly developed proficiency with which he can function better with dynamism-a prospect which can only be good for humankind. Selfishness renders a man inertness as far his responsibility towards his own fellow men is concerned.

I have often perceived that man fails to differentiate between self-centeredness and selfishness (and I have been no holy exception on that either). I guess the reason for that is a subconscious instinct of opiated ignorance that has its seeds in a social folly called irrational clinging on traditions when it loses its relevance with the changing times.

As a result the collective consciousness and its sensitivity of any given social, ethnic or religious community degrades to worse levels, when actually it should be evolving,with time, to reach higher standards. An all-pervading confusion seems to keep man in a state of inert stupefaction, and one can see the result if he takes one good look at the global scenario around him. Stagnation and inertness continue to co-exist with meaningless bloodshed, corruption, poverty, illiteracy, inequality, hypocrisy, and exploitation of man by man.

One needs to develop,carry,practice and preach a sensitive,finely tuned Balance in his friendship with himself,as the line dividing self-centredness and selfishness is very,very thin. One of the greatest struggles of our lives is achieving this Balance. We find ourselves being torn between family, friends, workplace and our desires.

The dilemma could be described as the search for balance between the head, heart, hands, or reason, emotion and action.
All three human dimensions play one of the most significant role in our lives. We need to have the right balance between them. The head asks,"What?".The heart asks,"Why?".And the hands ask,"How?"

Time is fleeting away. It's time for us to ask,"WHEN?".

Sent from my BlackBerry®Smartphone ------------------------------------------------------
Dr.Anirban Chaudhuri, MBBS
Consultant Physician,
Mumbai, India. ------------------------------------------------------
"It is important to just listen for a while instead of speaking." -- My teacher ------------------------------------------------------