Altruism as a Path to Happiness

Philemon and Baucis providing food and shelter for Zeus and Hermes, disguised as peasant travelers. Engraving after Rubens.

At Coach.me, we’ve been talking about altruism. Tony wrote about it as a path to success here. I’m interested in it as a path to happiness.

To be altruistic, you puts one’s concern for the welfare of others above other considerations—including yourself. The opposite of this is selfishness.

Altruism is a good thing, for lots of reasons (unless it is taken to pathological extremes…