UNMITIGATED SELFISHNESS
Contents:
This clarifies the moral and practical core of effectiveness.
Life is conditional; thus, every effort to sustain and advance it, or to undermine it, is a real effort toward or against life and its potential. Life is finite; thus, time is the most fundamental resource in pursuing life, and thus, how time is spent is fundamental to its sustenance and advancement, or to its degradation or destruction. Life is the source of values and the ultimate value; thus, that which sustains and advances it is good, and that which undermines it is evil. Note here what “good” and “evil” mean: “good” is, in essence, the affirmation of reality, of that which is and can be, while the evil is, in essence, the indifference to or rejection of reality.
The question, "Why affirm reality?" is invalid: you either do or you do not, i.e. you either affirm and respect it or you do not, keeping in mind that there is nothing to affirm and respect other than reality. The choice of whether to choose life or not is axiomatic; there is, literally, no meaning in not choosing it, while choosing it is the source of meaning, as it is the only choice rooted in reality, truth and purpose.
The form of life depends on the living entity’s nature, and thus, human life is a conscious, volitionally-driven existence. In other words, given that a human is fundamentally a volitional being, the only form of life that objectively affirms, sustains and advances a volitional being’s existence is one that is not just a nutritive or even conscious existence, but an existence where one is both alive and finds life worth living, i.e. able to sustain life and able to grasp the potential to sustain life (note that in the long run, the sustenance of life also requires the advancement of life, i.e. the advancement of knowledge and capability).
Concrete values are the basis of life and its pursuit, which means, as in knowledge so in values, concretisation is fundamental. This means, in practice, that life means nothing if it is not actually lived, i.e. if values are not actually experienced and enjoyed in the moment, not just as a reward or a relief but as the ultimate experience and expression of life itself. Here, it is key to note the nature of human’s volitional existence: a human’s values are integrated whole that involve both actual values and the pursuit of potential values. The pursuit of potential is non-negotiable for a volitional being; without the pursuit of potential, there is no exercise of volition, and thus, no volitionally-driven existence. Thus, the concrete affirmation of life is not the sacrifice of the actual to the potential or vice versa, but an integration of one’s pursuits to the concrete experience of values. In other words, concrete values are the ultimate aim of pursuing potential, and concrete values both fuel and are fuelled by the pursuit of further potential.
I live my life not first for my own sake, but only for my own sake. To this end and only to this end do I value other humans, organisms, entities and systems. My reason: as I am part of this world, and as this world is integrated by the laws of identity and causality, to live in this world for my own sake requires me to grasp how I exist in an integrated context, i.e. with respect to both the natural world and other humans.
Subordination of my life to duty, appeasement, whim-worship or evasion, is an utter sacrilege. I accept no greater good above my good, and no greater purpose above the fullest flourishing of my own life lived as a volitional being. I respect obligation out of the values that align with my long-range interests, which includes interests such as: (1) trust among people, particularly those who are important to me, and (2) value for my own intent and well-meant words, which reinforces my trust in myself and my self-respect (to see the importance of self-respect to a rational, volitional being, see: Self-Respect).
In short, I hold, as the greatest virtue, an unmitigated selfishness that identifies and integrates truth, value and purpose. For this, I accept no compromise, no concession and no contradiction whatsoever.
Unmitigated selfishness has two core aspects in practice:
Effectiveness refers to the quality one’s purposeful actions must have, namely that they must (barring accidents, exceptions and errors) achieve values in reality. Concrete value refers to the metaphysical basis of life, namely the concrete (i.e. actual) realisation of values and valuable potential. Ineffective action is one that does not tend to achieve values, and values cannot be achieved unless one acts to concretise them; thus, these two aspects are intimately tied.