Is helping others just a form of ego preservation?

[Makkatya]

Basically I like to help out other people in various ways. Helping others with emotional problems, a blind person across the street ect..

Is this only a game which my ego tries to preserve the "mr nice guy" illusion for me? Can I help without selfishness, if I have an ego?

[Dhana Choko]

It usually is a part of it. It is very important to recognize it and see that in ego. Then you can see through it and be free of it.

[Ayla]

If this question comes... you must look into it. 

It usually is not ego. It is human nature. 

[denselayman]

when it comes not from ego, it comes from unresolved trauma or actual kindness off heart =]

[xLugia]

For most people i would say yes, since most people live with the image of identity in their head and they want to live up to it, they help out so they can get validation from others / impress others as being the "nice guy". It is still better than being completely self-centered and not care, its just that motivation comes from validation seeking and not from pure right action.

Selfishness depends on the way you define the self. Ego means you define yourself as separate entity from your environment. If you have no ego activity, that means that you realize that environment is part of what you are, and by helping others you basically help yourself, since others are also part of you. So by definition even without ego it is selfish, but then selfishness as a word is meaningless since everything is part of the self. 

[nbolt]

While helping others is a form of ego preservation in lower consciousness humanity, once you completely let go of the self, unconditional compassion and love become principles of the highest order, so don't worry, you still have good things to look forward to  : )

[Emerald]

Being a sentient being (or a living organism in general) entails self-interest. There is no way to escape self-interest in a genuine way, even from an enlightened perspective. However, the enlightened have dis-identified with the separate self and thus realize that the self encompasses everything in existence. So, from an enlightened perspective, helping others IS self interest. However, make no mistake that any attempt to be helpful is influenced by self-interest. But it is just as self-interested NOT to do it, so go ahead and help... but be mindful. Notice how your desire for selflessness is self interested.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Emerald @ The Diamond Net

[Bob Ishida]

11 hours ago, xLugia said:

So by definition even without ego it is selfish, but then selfishness as a word is meaningless since everything is part of the self. 

Agree. There is no such thing called 'self' from the beginning.  The concept of self is just an illusion almost all of us want to have. Only thing that exists is just a whole. So there is no such thing called 'others' either.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Bob Ishida
add my answer to the first question & Grammer