More threads by kant

kant

Member
I think there must be some thing in me that contantly pushs me to have sinful, selfish thoughts. I want to be good, but i can t change myself.
how can i be a caring person?
 

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
I am suffer from my evil thoughts

I think the more likely problem is that there is something in you that causes you to label your thoughts as "evil" or "sinful" or 'selfish". Finding out where this comes from and using CBT techniques to restructure your thoughts would probably be helpful.
 

Daniel E.

daniel@psychlinks.ca
Administrator
I am suffer from my evil thoughts

Regarding so-called selfishness, people like Oprah have a point when they say that individuals should put themselves first so that they can have more energy/stamina/ability to help others.

BTW, like kant's above post, the philosopher Immanuel Kant used now antiquated language like "evil" though he sometimes purposely avoided this:

Natural inclinations, considered in themselves, are good, that is, not a matter of reproach, and it is not only futile to want to extirpate them but to do so would also be harmful and blameworthy. Rather, let them be tamed and instead of clashing with one another they can be brought into harmony in a wholeness which is called happiness.

--Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Book 2 (1793)

Of course, more modern philosophers like Ayn Rand and Nietzsche are more liberating than Immanuel Kant:

Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.

--Ayn Rand, "Introducing Objectivism" (1962)
 
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