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Entry: Against Unselfishness Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/against_unselfishness#18300 Post contents: About selfishness, we may be facing what Chesterton calls "the paradox of courage", that only those who are not afraid to die can save themselves. So it is that only those who can overlook their desires that can achieve them. It reminds me of a Tanya Huff story, based on the Shoemaker and the Elves fairy tale, in which a hardworking mechanic is given a chance to achieve her heart's desire, but realizes that it comes at the cost of enslaving an alien race. She gives it up, then setting the alien race free. The next day she sees that the aliens have given her the blueprints to achieve her heart's desire. Sent at: 2008 09 08