After reading the interview with Bahram Elahi on altruism on this website, I was struck by the idea that “Those who care about their process of perfection should include the practice of altruism in their spiritual program”. In my first post, I tried to understand what altruism really was and how to tackle this practice in a daily program. Now I would like to explore the second half of the question: why practice altruism?

There is more to Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) than the American icon we know today. A printer by trade, he became famous as a gifted inventor, a scientist, a civic activist, a statesman, a diplomat (he was the first American ambassador to France), and the author of several essays on matters ranging from politics to marriage or the game of chess. Now, besides having invented the lightning rod and counting among the Founding Fathers of the United States, Franklin led a personal quest into the spiritual roots of morality—an aspect of his life which is perhaps less commonly celebrated.

To do good, as we all know, is not only helping, supporting and comforting others. It is also and above all doing it with as selfless an intention as possible, by trying to put aside our own egotistical interests. I say “as selfless an intention as possible,” since experience shows that perfect selflessness is an ideal hardly ever attainable. Making this an absolute condition for a truly ethical act, may hinder our motivation for something that we know is out of our reach anyway. To speak of acts as-selfless-as-possible is not only to recognise that what seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition

The Ostad Elahi Foundation for Ethics and Human Solidarity (Fondation Ostad Elahi – Éthique et Solidarité humaine) recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary. In the address he delivered in Paris on that occasion, Prof. Bahram Elahi reviewed the objectives of the Foundation, emphasising the fact that their inspiration is directly drawn from Ostad Elahi’s thought—one “centred [...]

The purpose of life? To reach perfection, Ostad Elahi answers. To lead your soul to maturity, a state in which you perfectly control your impulses while respecting your very nature. A state that is the prime condition of inner freedom. Granted, perfection is to be attained, but how? Through action, Ostad Elahi insists, and he reminds us that in this matter as in many others, “practice makes perfect.” For while thinking and talking may awaken the desire to change and may help us find ways that can lead to this change, contemplating a virtue is not enough to actually develop one. It is imperative that action take over from words and lead to practice. But not just any kind of practice.

The Sunday mornings of my childhood had been blessed by the wondrous events of the life of Jesus Christ – unreal though they seemed. In later years, having burnt my bridges, while I found myself confronted with inner tensions and outer aggressions, excerpts from those sacred texts came back to me and I realized how [...]

Overcoming Jealousy, Beatrice Guernier & Agnes Rousseau, 2006 The psychological suffering that jealousy engender is like a burning sensation that slowly eats away at our hearts. That jealousy is a negative feeling is not a matter of dispute: jealousy makes us bitter about another person’s pleasure, causing us to secretly hope for his failure and [...]

Shifting perspectives, Olivier de Brivezac & Emmanuel Comte, 2007 The present book may be likened to a Zen anecdote: the real problem lies not in your life, but in the way you perceive it. Just change your point of view. Of course, that is much easier said than done, for the majority of our troubles [...]

Medicine of the Soul, Bahram Elahi, Associated University Presse, 2001 In the latest volume of Foundations of Natural Spirituality, Bahram Elahi, M.D., continues to build upon the analogy between the physiological processes of the human body and those of its intangible counterpart, the soul or “psychospiritual organism”. Juxtaposing the science of medicine with that of [...]

“Hell is Other People” pp.3-4 The present book may be likened to a Zen anecdote: the real problem lies not in your life, but in the way you perceive it. Just change your point of view. Of course, that is much easier said than done, for the majority of our troubles stem from the fact [...]