I am a radical believer in the fact that in our lifetimes we reveal ourselves to ourselves everyday, so our knowledge of ourselves may not be evident to us ever. To those of you who have a hard time saying no to others, to those of you giving up your own happiness and well being so another person can give you the time of day, to those of you who restlessly strive to give and give (in whichever manner/ aspect) and afterwards feeling the drain and dread of naively self-sabotaging your own beliefs and values, you belong in the selflessness category of excessive virtue.Īchieving the golden mean of outlook calls for a mastery of senses and perceptions. But what if you acted completely selfless? What if you indulged in a life of unconditional giving? Well, according to the golden mean, a radical virtue is just as detrimental as a radical vice… This sounds incredibly counterintuitive at first, as virtues indeed suit our natural tendency of utilitarianism so deeply vetted in our behaviors, yet we forget the fundamental right of self-assertion and self-belief. Thus, not having the respective selflessness factor that would bring you to the closer, middle ground of the “golden mean”. Tip the scale to the selfishness you are acting in your own self interests making you egotistical and uninterested with the state of others with your actions. To put it in a rather black an white, simple matter, let’s take the vice of selfishness and the virtue of selflessness. Too much of either carry severe consequences.

Aristotle famously asserted his idea of “the golden mean”, where virtues and vices we all have remain on a linear spectrum one in which each part of our tendencies, whether virtuous or vicious are layed upon a scale.

Nihilistic optimism