What's your biggest motivation behind helping people?

Humans are very complicated beings and despite them being a he most intelligent creatures on earth, they still have a hard time understanding themselves and one another. I have often seen people help others for various reasons that suit them. It is in our nature to do things that are beneficial to us in the long run, I am not saying that everyone is selfish but what if that's what I am saying?... That everyone is selfish?

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There's something I have been noticing about people, especially those who practise a form of religion and believe in a god/God. It's the month of Ramadan so Muslims are expected to worship God more than they do other months, as a muslim myself, I prayed into the morning. There's a special type of prayer that's held in the last ten days of Ramadan where Muslims pray from midnight to the early hours of dawn. It is called Tahajjud or Qiyamul-Layl.

I attended the tahajjud and on returning home among the crowds, a lot of them stopped to hand over money to homeless people or beggars which as we can all agree, is a good thing, infact it is encouraged to help people whenever we're presented with the opportunity to do so and this is even more encouraged during ramadan because it's a good deed and they are going to earn God's reward for it! Now I couldn't help but think, what if God doesn't promise rewards for good deeds? Would a lot of people still help others out? Those people who had helped those beggars by giving them money might have prayed during the tahajjud and are giving alms so as to hasten the reply to their prayers. They give, but is it really for the chief sake of helping others or to get rewards from God or to hasten the reply to their prayers? I think it's the latter. If so, then isn't the intent behind a subtly selfish reason?

Don't get me wrong here okay, I am not saying that we shouldn't give alms ot provide assistance in whatever form dp that you can get more blessings from God, I mean we all do so... At least I do so. I help people so that God will see the good that I do and bless me with His favors, what I am saying is that giving for giving sake is hardly the chief reason.

So, what if you're an atheist or don't believe in a God? Does that mean that mean that you don't help people because we don't believe that some supernatural being rewards us for our good deeds?

That's of course not true, I know atheists with generous hearts, they never miss the opportunity to lend a helping hand whenever they can, so why do they do this? I asked an atheist friend this and his reply was, "it makes me feel happy because it's the right thing to do and it's human nature to help. When I am sad and offer a helping hand I instantly lit up". Okay so does that mean that if he doesn't feel happy helping others then he wouldn't help? I did not ask him this of course. If he helps people because he feels happy about it then isn't the happiness his? Doesn't it points back to him? His happiness?..... Others help people so that they can feel good about themselves and think, "oh I am not even such a bad person" and that gives them peace of mind and a sense of protection, still it is their own.

Those of course are not the only reason we help. They are many reasons people choose to help but all of the ones I know eventually point back to the benefit of the person doing the giving, if not directly then indirectly. There's always an underlying benefit we get whether we are aware or not.

We say we help people because we love making a difference, we love seeing smiling faces and tears of joy when we help people, we love being the reason other people get better, but be honest with yourself here: most of the good things we do are done to maintain some sort of identity we have built around ourselves and we can't bear it if it starts crumbling so we have to keep it strong. It is good to be good. I strongly believe that once a person tastes the sweetness of goodness, he would do anything to keep tasting it!

Selfishness has been made to seem like a bad thing by most people but you know what? Selfishness is very good as long as you do it in a way that doesn't harm others or profits only you. When you both benefit from it, it isn't a bad thing. Even in some instances, when you're the only one who benefits, it still isn't a bad thing, like in a situation where your peace of mind is at stake, you do things to protect it even if it means leaving everyone behind as long as you don't hurt them, but you've got to analyse this carefully to be sure that it isn't your fault and they are the ones hurting themselves, not you. So guys, be selfish if need be. Be selfish in a good way.

These are all thoughts that come into the spinning wheel I call my brain, I hope you see where I am coming from. I am not saying you must help for the sole reason of helping cause even I don't do that sometimes. Keep helping the way you've been doing, it doesn't matter if you derive happiness from it as long as others benefit from it. In the end, life is mostly symbiotic.

Thanks for reading,

Yours Layly,

❤❤❤