Altruism-worthiness

Here’s a story, true for some, or many.

I am a musician, and I started music to express something inside me. And I listened to what I recorded and it gave me joy and pleasure. I was being selfish, I was making music “for me”. And because it gave me joy and pleasure, I thought it was good, and I wanted to share it. So I tried to find other people it would please. Perhaps still I was doing it for me. But there is an altruism in seeking an audience, and I was becoming altruistic. Though the world put no barriers in the way of me doing music for myself (I could afford my guitar and laptop, and I was allowed enough leisure time to do what I did), it put large barriers between me doing my music for other people. The world said “You are not worthy of benefiting other people by your music”.

No, actually, it didn’t say that. It didn’t even say that much. It was silent toward me.

Altruism is living for others, and the other person has to trust you for it to go well. You can’t force another person to trust you. There is always a formulaless aspect to trust. But there’s another side to it where you can make yourself trustworthy, by attempting to find the right way to be and to act — to earnestly seek a formula and live it.

Altruism is not just found in the creative fields, but also in other leadership fields. We want to “change the world”, “make a difference”, “do good”. But the world doesn’t always count us worthy of doing that. We may still be rejected as altruists, but at least we can do our best to be “altruism-worthy”.

How can we become “altruism-worthy”, trustworthy to live for others?