If the evolution of humans is to proceed beyond the restrictions of vanity and self-interest, it would seem that to act, think and speak selflessly is the very path we should be pursuing. There are several other reasons that selflessness is the correct path. Insignificance amongst the masses, the pursuit of false image and gratification, lack of identity, lack of any sort of meaningful life. All life can be lived out under the acceptance that one is already dead, and has been dying from the moment they were born. Humans have little or no control over their deaths, and approach it with trepidation and worry. The aim of life is death. What occurs beyond death is irrelevant, and the world is filled with stories and myths to explain and comfort those from the last unknown.
To accept death is to live. All aims are secondary to this, and all pursuits should be done using the body that is already dead.
If one accepts one is already dead, then all pursuits are more likely to be selfless.
From Ha Gakure or ‘Hidden Leaves’
‘…when your thinking rises above concern for your own welfare, wisdom which is independent of thought appears. Whoever thinks deeply on things, even though he may carefully consider the future, will usually think around the basis of his own welfare. By the result of such evil thinking he will perform only evil acts. It is very difficult for most silly fellows to rise above thinking of their own welfare.’
Fourteen Twenty 
i agree completely, physically man has evovled far enough(this is debateable) and so now the next evolutionary steps mankind will take will be of the mind, the outlook, and interaction with not just the physical world, but the “meta-physical”.
we can only grow inside once we have learned to grow within the confines of our world. that’s deep enough for now…
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sorry, too many mistakes in the last post… I can’t spell it seems…
That is the only way we can advance. We protect our weak, our disabled, our elderly (not that I disagree with that). As far as physical attributes are concerned, our society has become very tolerant. The next great revolution will be in the mind… if we still have a mind through all the exposure to self-centered consumerism.
However in David Gemmel’s ‘The Jerusalem Man’ series (I can’t remember the specific book) he considers that protecting the weak will propagate weak concepts, weak ideas, and those people will eventually move into positions of decision making in society, meaning that eventually those ideas will be detrimental to its existence, inevitably causing its downfall.
In ‘Childhoods End’ by Arthur C. Clarke, he theorises that mankind is not ready for the stars, that a new species will emerge. I think it’s an interesting idea, because I wonder whether mankind in his present state is capable of handling (mentally) the sheer enormity of the tasks required to re-colonise another planet.
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