Matthew McConaughey is many things. He’s an Oscar-winning actor and a New York Times best-selling author. At one point, he considered becoming a gubernatorial candidate in Texas candidate but decided against it. His social media allows us to see he is also a bit of a philosopher.
Earlier today, Matthew McConaughey took to Instagram to discuss selfishness and selflessness in a video.
“You know, we love to make a binary contradiction of what is selfish for me and what is selfless for others,” Matthew McConaughey began. “I propose we don’t make those a contradiction. I propose there’s a place where what we do for ourselves, selfishly, can also be what’s best for the most amount of others, selflessly.” McConaughey makes a valid point here. You can’t pour water from an empty pitcher. You’ve got to take time to fill it up before you can pour it out for others. In other words, you have to take time for yourself if you plan to effectively help others.
Matthew McConaughey Digs Deeper into Selfishness
“I propose there’s a place in the decision-making paradigm that what we do that is best for the most amount of others is also the most selfish choice for us,” Matthew McConaughey added. Then he gave some examples of things that he does that are both selfish and selfless at the same time.
“If we think about life as an infinite game, if we think about if we have children, we think about the next generation. Doing things to invest in their future. Isn’t that quite a selfish act? It is for me, as a father, for my children. It is for us as parents, it is for us who have a long view – if we can tap into it – of ‘Hey, how can we leave this place a little better than we found it?’ It’s a selfless choice the most selfish choice and vice versa?”
This Isn’t McConaughey’s First Philosophical Post
This is far from the first time Matthew McConaughey has used social media to share his philosophy on life. For instance, when he celebrated his 53rd birthday last year, he took some time to share some deep thoughts about the day. “[It] took me exactly 53 trips around the sun to realize that right now I’m as young as I’ll ever be, and as old as I’ve ever been, here in the honey hole between already and not yet. Amen,” he wrote in a tweet.
McConaughey also waxes philosophical during interviews. Before parting ways with Wild Turkey, he shared some deep thoughts about Longbranch Bourbon in an interview.
“Different drinks give people different frequencies for their creative thoughts,” he said. “Sipping some Longbranch…if I’ve got some ideas, letting them come to my mind is on par with the feeling I get when I’m behind the wheel of my car driving somewhere. Not when I’m driving, because I’m not drinking and driving. But that feeling of driving on an open road is a relaxing feeling. It helps creative thoughts come to me very easily.”
