Of Egoism

Egoists are often different from self-lovers; though neither are great minds, they don’t think alike, but are poles apart. Self-lovers of course care nothing but their own interests; yet in order to benefit themselves they have to read others, if they be not of the common but basest sort.

Among the selfish, the less developed sort are always the most conspicuous, and easily discovered, who audaciously express their avarice or crook every course to their own ends. These inferior self-lovers are not necessarily sophisticated; they may as well look before their leap no further but one step, and yet calculate it with utmost accuracy. But they are still the weaker sort because however accurate their calculation is, they still focus on their own interests, want broad vision, and have the temerity to overtly hurt others.

The stronger sort selfish minds step from their own positions, which are in this terrestrial world and base, toward the position of omniscient God, which is in Heaven and lofty; this is exactly the pilgrimage that ancient saints take; yet they are retained by their unjust spirits half way, whereby they are above those invisible hands, lure and lead them to their own secret ends. If purged from dark souls by the dawn of universal love, these shrewd minds can progress further and faster than other pilgrims, for they have seen and taste both the bright and the dark sides of the universe; yet they may as well be devils, for the equipment of a acute mind for an distorted soul is no less than the opening of the Pandora’s Box.

Then speak of egoists; they are of divergent veins. The essential part is not that he necessarily cares nobody but himself, or dares to profit from others’ wounds; but that he assumes that he himself is the sun, which myriad stars of the universe rotate about. He doesn’t always overlook others’ scars, he always ignore others; he doesn’t necessarily hurt others to benefit himself, he often unconsciously hurts others without any benefit to himself; he has trodden all the roads on the Earth, he only walks his own way; he has been in conversations many times, he cares only his own say. In simple words, he is the eye of the sky, shines and sees the whole world, spares the night and embraces the day, and in his own glory he rarely notices anybody. In fact only he himself turns around himself, stays where he was, thinking he has been making progress all the way.

Egoists are not all of mean character, but may be morally admirable in the common’s eyes; they can be gentle and modest, friendly and kind, or educated and elegant; they can be as well sensitive and sentimental, futile and sensational, or pessimistic and cynical. The masque of their behaviours and emotions, which covers their own underlying logics, deceives not only others’ eyes, but also their own minds. Yet they are not destined to be failures of God; there are always open windows when the door is close. Certainly they’d better, if it is possible, break through the illusions, and march toward the truth; with former attentive observation of their own thoughts, they may dive deeper into humanity, and discover the way the world works; yet even if they can’t, it doesn’t matter, as long as they’ve found something to look into, for though their view is narrow their force is strong, and their fortitude is great, which bulwark their progress in a certain field. But it is a pity that most egoists have their eyes veiled by their own complacence. For them, seclusion is a good nest to ensconce themselves, wherefrom they may either peep into the world whenever they intend to, or dream their own dreams whenever they will.