Do acts of kindness have a selfish motive?

**Shana** · 08-13-2018, 04:23 AM

We say kindness doesn't have a motive. We speak of selfless acts of love.
So in short, we consider kindness to be selfless. Something that does NOT have selfishness in it.
But if doing something to a person makes you happy, then you do have a motive, right?
For example,
If you give your food to a beggar who doesn't have food, you'd be happy to see him/her eating that food, and that somehow makes you feel better about yourself, doesn't it?
So every kindness has this extra 'feeling good' element which comes under selfishness... Am I wrong in this?

**Bhavya** · 06-05-2019, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Shana

We say kindness doesn't have a motive. We speak of selfless acts of love.
So in short, we consider kindness to be selfless. Something that does NOT have selfishness in it.
But if doing something to a person makes you happy, then you do have a motive, right?
For example,
If you give your food to a beggar who doesn't have food, you'd be happy to see him/her eating that food, and that somehow makes you feel better about yourself, doesn't it?
So every kindness has this extra 'feeling good' element which comes under selfishness... Am I wrong in this?

I wouldn't say that you are wrong but you are thinking in a different way, according your thought yes kindness is a selfish act.From my point of view our happiness depends on our actions ,So our act of kindness is the reason our happiness not the satisfaction or happiness of others.Hope you can understand my point.