Do you think intent mitigates the value of a good deed?

I’m not sure if I would say mitigate, yet I do feel that it changes what one can get out of volunteering. I will say that even though it starts out ‘all for me’ it eventually changes as you see what you can do for others.

Isn’t all volunteering done, in some way or another, to make the giver feel good? Even if it’s something you didn’t want to give up- in the end it feels good. Humans love to do things that feel good. Feeling good is even one of the biggest draws groups use to drum up volunteers.

Would it somehow mean more if the person volunteering didn’t enjoy it? I think if the person didn’t get some sort of enjoyment from it then that energy would transfer, and be perceptible, to the person receiving the help. Somehow that would make them feel bad. I know I am uncomfortable accepting anything from someone who doesn’t want to give it to me. I’d feel like a jerk!

As you said, your motivation is self-serving; so your work is essentially self-ish instead of self-less, which is more rewarding. (You must let go of it in order to attain it kind of thinking) Study Seva and you will see.

I’m of the belief that the truly good act (there’s a phrase for that I’m forgetting) is a rare occurrence. Doing something for a reward in and of itself isn’t as selfless and noble as many would like to believe. Doing good so you can be rewarded, in my book, lessens the good because it begs the question would you have done it without the reward. A good act should be done because it’s good. BUT that doesn’t lessen the value on the behalf of the receiver, and it the end, that’s what’s most important.

A good deed is a good deed whether it is self-serving or not, and the fact that people analyse it and labels it as self-serving may well discourage the enthusiastic helper to be less helpful when they find out that people regard it as a selfish act. It is rather like criticizing someone for taking presents to another’s house when they visit. The fact that it gives the giver pleasure should not diminish the pleasure given to the receiver. I find people who analyse things in this way to be highly destructive.

The discovery that “making others feel good makes me feel good” is the first step toward a greater discovery: “my well-being is not disconnected from the well-being of others”. And that, in turn, is a step toward a much greater insight: “there really isn’t much to that separation that I perceive between myself and others”. Now you have true morality.

If you stop at that first discovery, well, you’re still probably a bit better for it. But it’s not the end of the journey.

Whatever motivated the act of volunteering, the volunteering itself leads to growth and inspiration of people.

If you do a good thing for a selfish reason, then the good deed is worthless to you. If you do something good out of guilt, it doesn’t make you worth any more. You can’t buy your way into heaven. True goodness only comes from deeds done purely for the beneficiary.

@Saskatoon Great answer! Couldn’t agree more.

Whether you do something because you’re feeling charitable or because you want bragging rights doesn’t change the fact that you were there, you did something, and you helped someone, and no one in the world can look down on you for that.

I don’t really care why people volunteer or donate money – because the end is important in it of itself (not true of all in life)...however, if I wanted the person doing the volunteering to gain meaning out of it, the only true meaning is by truly wanting to help others and not because you want to help oneself.

Oooo! I have a friend who insists that there is no such thing as altruism. Everybody has a motive, even if it’s the good feeling one gets from helping others. Can I drop in a couple lines about giving from Kahlil Gibran? I feel like he has the right of it.

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

_There are those who give little of the much which they have—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.
It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors’.

You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers… and you are all receivers… assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.

Well, I think Gibran ROCKS!

You are fooling yourself if you think you can do ANYTHING not for self serving reasons.

You are a human. It’s how you work.

@jackm Agreed. I don’t think it necessarily follows that if there are selfish motives for doing something that you don’t and can’t feel good about the selfless reasons to do it as well. Even though I’ve done community service as an obligation for school and to be an active part of my community, I did enjoy helping people and making a difference in my community. I don’t think that’s negated by the fact that the primary reason I was there was selfish.

According to most arguments against altruism, it’s all in the brain. There is a pleasurable feeling generated by chemicals in the brain when you do something you perceive as ‘good’ or otherwise you wouldn’t do it. Using that as a guide, there is no such thing as a non selfish act.

I do not subscribe to that theory, however, because I feel that the altruism takes place first, followed by the pleasure, unless you can want to count the anticipation of pleasure as a contributing factor.

If I work in a soup kitchen just to pad out my college application it really doesn’t make any difference to the guy who gets the soup. That value – the work done – is absolute.

Some great stuff here. If we are talking about doing a deed BECAUSE we want to feel better about ourself, that would be self centered motivation (deed secondary to goal of satisfaction) To do the deed because we see a need and can fill it, I see as more self-less.(deed primary goal; satisfaction residual) (imho) Neither are bad in of themselves; its just a matter of checking ones’ motivations if it matters, and maybe it doesn’t As it has been mentioned, it may be inseparable..

When I first joined a 12-step program; it was suggested we try an anonymous deed. The recipient was not to know who did it, and we were not allowed to tell ANYONE what we had done or for whom. All we could say was “yes, I did a deed” Needless to say the search for an opportunity was tough, and completely self centered.

The thing to avoid: making someone the victim of your gift…

Well regarding your example, if you’re helping others who desperately need that help, whatever it is you get out of it (satisfaction or as way to make yourself happy or whatever! is irrelevant – the fact is you’ve helped someone and it means a lot to them.
Also, i don’t think ANYBODY does anything at all without wanting to do it for some reason of self satisfaction. No matter how small the reason may be, they’re doing it because it makes them feel better is some way, eg they feel they’re serving a good purpose, or they’re glad to do their good deed for the day, or it lightens their load of guilt in some respect. Everybody does anything because they have something to gain from it.