Yet
to an unbiased judgment it would appear plain that a man must be
interested in what he is doing or he would not do it. A
physician who continues to serve the sick in a plague at almost
certain danger to his own life must be interested in the
efficient performance of his profession -- more interested in
that than in the safety of his own bodily life. But it is
distorting facts to say that this interest is merely a mask for
an interest in something else which he gets by continuing his
customary services -- such as money or good repute or virtue;
that it is only a means to an ulterior selfish end. The moment
we recognize that the self is not something ready-made, but
something in continuous formation through choice of action, the
whole situation clears up. A man's interest in keeping at his
work in spite of danger to life means that his self is found in
that work; if he finally gave up, and preferred his personal
safety or comfort, it would mean that he preferred to be that
kind of a self. The mistake lies in making a separation between
interest and self, and supposing that the latter is the end to
which interest in objects and acts and others is a mere means.
In fact, self and interest are two names for the same fact; the
kind and amount of interest actively taken in a thing reveals and
measures the quality of selfhood which exists. Bear in mind that
interest means the active or moving identity of the self with a
certain object, and the whole alleged dilemma falls to the
ground.
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