Giving to someone and helping them without expecting anything in return is indeed incredibly difficult, and even impossible.
While doing whatever deed of giving or helping that you are doing, if you think that by doing so you insert a positive force into the world, then your self-esteem, the greatness of your action, will increase. The key is to think that you want to make the world a better place by bringing more kindness to the world.
If, however, you think that you will gain something in return from your good deed, even something as small as a “thank you” or a smile that gratefully acknowledges your altruism, then you are doing business at the same time. In other words, you end up feeling good from the returns you gained.
Once again, the key to learning how to give without expecting anything in return is to exercise the thought of how kindness needs to enter the world through your thoughts and deeds, i.e., that you want the world to become a better place.
We would be wise to organize ourselves so that we think more about how to do good deeds to others, and how to bring a positive and kind energy to the world.
By nature, we are egoists who always seek self-aimed benefit for our actions. So we should seek how to give pleasure to our egos by doing good for the world. It is positive to respect yourself for giving to the world.
However, in a society full of values that prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others, we need a supportive environment to calibrate ourselves so that we can indeed respect ourselves in our giving to the world.
If we succeed in making ourselves more and more giving in such a way, then the world will change for the better. We will suddenly start seeing a lot of good in the world replacing the negativity, hatred and divisiveness that we see increasing today. It all depends on how we look at the world: If we adjust our intention to be as a positive giving force in the world, then the more we change to become more giving and considerate of others, the more the world will also change for the better.
Based on “News with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman,” on February 18, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Featured in Quora