Does helping others merely become a means of helping ourselves?

 

“Doubts like these can arise when we think more generally about the place of altruism in the meaningful life. When asked what the purpose of life is, many will say that we are essentially here to help others. This is what allows us to break free of the pointless cycle of eating to live, living to work and working to eat. By helping others we escape the narrow and limiting concerns of our own private existence and partake in the greater good of helping those outside it. But when helping others becomes the source of meaning for our own lives, does helping others merely become a means of helping ourselves?”