PUTTING others before yourself or performing actions for the greater good have always been taught as a noble mission.
It is a milestone of success for society when it comes to human development. But eighteen-year-old Arif Imran brings challenging perspectives to deconstruct the values of self-sacrifice through his book, 'Altruism: Out the Window'.
The true state of human nature?
Be prepared to read an opus that forces you to delve a bit deeper into a hitherto unacknowledged topic.
The 102-page book (inclusive of visual charts to help understand the rationale) was published in 2020. It highlights the misconceptions of self-sacrifice in hopes to redefine our understanding of where “the concept of true altruism does not exist.”
“Every action is driven by a cause to influence. Whether it corresponds to (own) material or emotional benefit,” said the young author when met to discuss his book recently.
“Each of us has got a certain level of interest in whatever we do. Even the best of people, such as saints, have their motives. It may happen to be good in the eye of society, but what drives them into action is an interest to serve for themselves,” he added.
According to Arif, despite having to expand on the subject matter more scrupulously, "it [the book] is nothing as grand as one may make it out to be. I was just trying to find the truths of the world, observing situations around me.”
“The thoughts (collected and shared) are purely my philosophy, motivated by a – supposed – feeling of frustration. It's not much of collecting my quarrels but more of using the keyboard to egress my thoughts,” he said when asked about his writing process.
“As a child, I was often told being selfless is a virtue and that you must always help other people (even at the expense of yourself). Every single time I bring the topic up to discuss, people remind me of the same narrative. If you are selfish, it is a moral crime.
“So, I look at the concept of altruism deeper and the result of that (aside from what has already been shared) can be found detailed in the book,” he added.
As a teenager, Arif does not seem to shy away from heavy discussions – plain in the first few minutes of the interview. It is clear, the wunderkind author simply wants to pose the question: “Is it right to sacrifice yourself to help others?”
“It puts you in a precarious situation where you need help yourself and as a result, someone else must sacrifice themselves to save you. In the end, no one benefits from it and this allows for a vicious cycle to take place,” said Arif.
Articulating his thoughts further, he shared his philosophy on the matter.
“Many people would advocate that it's good to be selfless. But the truly noble act of selflessness does not exist because of certain self-gratification at play.
“If such is the likelihood that is driving your actions, then you cannot say you are selfless if it feeds self-interest,” he added.
When asked if he looks up to known philosophers and/or writers: "I'm familiar with figures such as Socrates and Plato and their convictions. While I do have stuff that I agree with, there are some ideas that I also dispute.”
“Apart from all the reading, my inspirations came from a lot of debates with my dad. I would often sit and think of any topics and philosophical concepts just for the 'debates',” said the law student. He admitted that he gets a thrill out of the engagement and looks forward to every session.
His father, who aided with the editing and chaptering of ‘Altruism: Out the Window’, is a senior lawyer and founder of Rakyat Penyelamat Negara (RaPeRa), Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos.
“I have always been writing since young, not for publication but simply for the heck of it. About a year before releasing the book (being 16 at the time), I was already jotting my philosophy about the topic, but they were just in point form. It took about two to three months to compile everything together in a proper format. It was then we started looking at it seriously,” he shared.
Empowering the thinkers club
Arif is currently completing his second year in law school at HELP University. He has a year to go. “I do not necessarily want to practice it as a career, and quite frankly, have not given much thought to other opportunities once I graduate.”
"I took up law because I find it to be an interesting subject. A lot of philosophical concepts go into the making of laws. Currently, a topic that is being contentiously debated is on the death penalty. With jurisprudence in mind, this interests me quite a lot. For instance, we know that murder is wrong, but when you look at the death penalty in place, does killing a person because of retribution make things right?
On youth being more attracted to digesting social media, Arif believed "philosophical texts will thrive because our present times (with the saturation of information dissemination) has allowed for the lines of right and wrong to blur.”
So he and his friends equally take part in the sharing of philosophical opinions, proclivities, sensibilities, or just plain speculative guesses? “Nothing forceful. Whenever friends tell me that the topics I talk about are heavy or deep, I would just stare back with a blank face because from my perspective, it’s very logical and simple.”
But, “I love my computer games,” Arif said. “Not the typical Dota or any first-person shooters that many gamers today would regard as proper PC games. Mine are more chat-based than actual fights or action.
“I play Minecraft where there is this thing called factions (to create, join one and fight or raid other factions). Without going into detail, the game encourages players to work in groups to reach a common goal, enabling us to form some sort of community,” he said.
Going back to the fresh-faced teen’s philosophical take on the topic of altruism, where he discussed whether being credited as selfless – as opposed to self-proclaiming it– to be tolerable: “As a compliment (and out of goodwill) I would say it isn’t wrong to take and accept it. Of course, you can either look at it simply or have a bit of thought by way of understanding the motive behind – but you don’t necessarily need to go that far.”
"Quite frankly, every action has an intention. Some not entirely bad, but if a person is trying to get something out of it on account of being altruistic, that is when you need to examine further.” – The Vibes, January 23, 2021
*'Altruism: Out The Window' is available in Borders Malaysia and Kinokuniya bookstores.
