Evolutionary biology. Altruism is explained by kin selection (Hamilton) and reciprocity (Trivers). Strategies of conditional cooperation prevail in the long run over pure selfishness (Axelrod).

Pathological altruism. Studies (Oakley et al.) describe forms of helping that harm both the helper and often the recipient: burnout, codependency, compassion fatigue. This is the scientific equivalent of "self-harm."

Empathy and self-other overlap. The scale of inclusion of the other in the self (Aron) and the empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson) show that the more the self/other boundary becomes flexible, the more spontaneous the help is and the less it is experienced as a sacrifice.

Ego-related emotions. Anger, jealousy, and envy activate the threat and stress response systems, with measurable physiological effects. Research on well-being (Dunn, Aknin) shows that deliberate giving increases the well-being of the giver.

Limitation. Science describes mechanisms; it does not decide on a "single feeling" or on fulfillment.

Hinduism

The six inner enemies (arishadvarga) — desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and jealousy — correspond almost directly to the impurities in the text. The Isha Upanishad (6-7): He who sees all beings in the Self hates no one. The Gita (6:29-32) invites us to judge the joy and sorrow of others as our own.

Buddhism

The four sublime abodes — loving-kindness, compassion, shared joy, and equanimity — replace the opposition between selfishness and self-sacrifice with a single, all-encompassing love.

Judaism

Leviticus (19:18) unites self-love and love of neighbor.

Martin Buber contrasts the living "I-Thou" relationship with the "I-It" relationship, which reduces the other to an object.

Christianity

The seven deadly sins (pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, sloth) overlap with the list in the text. Saint Paul: without love, "I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Islam and Sufism

Sufism aims for the effacement of the ego (fana) in the One; Rumi: "Lovers have only one religion: God." The transition from the suffering ego to the peaceful ego corresponds to the columns of the text.

Sikhism

Five thieves (desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride) dwell in the body; the Name drives them out.

Two paths seem to clash: one that wounds others to gain something, and the other that forgets itself to the point of self-harm in order to serve. Yet, as the day progresses, they draw closer, for both treat love as a quantity to be distributed, whereas it is a unique, indivisible feeling. Taking from another or withdrawing from oneself, in both cases, breaks the unity that contains us.

In this light, the ego is not an enemy to be vanquished but a repository for impurities: anger, jealousy, hatred, lies, envy, perversions. These are not the essence of being; they are the dust on the mirror. The egoist feeds them by aggrandizing themselves; the excessively altruistic person feeds them differently, by denying themselves, sometimes with a secret resentment.

There remains the middle way: to love without taking and without losing oneself. Neither conquest nor self-effacement, but fairness. When love flows freely, the giver and the receiver are no longer two separate beings, and giving ceases to be a sacrifice.

It is there, in this state of fullness, that the answers manifest. Not won through effort, but revealed when the agitation recedes. Fullness lacks nothing; therefore, it has nothing to take, and nothing to subtract from itself in order to give.

Perhaps the question is not "me or the other?", but "where does what I take for a separation begin?" At the end of the day, the gaze settles, and we see that we have never ceased to be connected.