the most basic is regarding carnal activities: when we're hungry, we eat. when we're tired, we sleep, when we're horny, we sleep (with a spouse), etc... i doubt anyone can disprove that such carnal activities do not satisfy the self.
Now, for a more subtle and indirect example, someone may work apparently self-sacrificingly, even to himself, to benefit let's say orphans in africa, this action gives him "joy", "satisfaction" or even "happiness". it varies from person to person, but for a particular person, the act of not being charitable or philanthrophic, cause more hurt/harm to his personal sense of morality, happiness, etc... or in other words, cause harm to his soul (defined as the combination of mind, will and emotion). so his simple act of charity is to allievate whatever discomfort within his soul and is done to benefit himself as the benefit to his soul is greater than the deficit in his resources, be it time or money.
Another example would be love. people when in love, often say that they would do anything for the happiness of the other party, even at the expense of themselves, that they'll be happy. E.g: "if he's/she's happy, i'm happy." isn't this clear enough that you are doing an activity that will indirectly bring you happiness. so treating a loved one to a meal is due to the same root cause - to bring yourself happiness, as treating yourself to that meal (sometimes more so, sometimes less so, varying person to person)
examine yourself, you know this to be true. so where do we progress from here. does it mean that we are to be entirely selfish and be overly focused with ourselves as we go about doing anything? no. since we know that every action is done with either a direct or indirect benefit to ourselves, hence we do not have to be so concerned with ourselves in the equation, releasing more space in our focus for everyone and everything else. why not focus on benefitting more people (be it physical flesh - food, money, etc.../soul - happiness,etc.../ or spirit - spiritual ministry) while benefitting yourself, and make the world a better place.
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sorry if it was rambling, incoherent or out of point, i just had to get it off my chest. anyway just saw this picture and wanted to post this here in view of my ORD!
(LtoR)Ivan (my Armskotemen)
Chin Yu (My OPS Officer)
Shao Hui (Wo de qing ai)
Me
Ramanan (my super messsy bunkmate)
(Not in pic due to copious amounts of alcohol: Joseph, CPT Jethro ) (Not Present: Adley, Jacky, Weiming, Liqian, Andrew, Wallace)
can take this as my ORD celebration lar. had fun. don't think i will do this willingly anytime soon. :)
