Are personalities a bad thing to have?

Originally Posted by Avalokiteshvara

On the surface the answer'd be no, but wouldn't having one mean that any action is at least partly ego-dependent? And wouldn't that mean completely selfless acts were impossible, implying that true compassion can only exist after the self has been eliminated?

No.

A person can be altruistic while still having personal interest in philantrophy.

As compassion is a human trait, it's seen in the filter of human behavior, meaning compassion with selfishness. I guess you could say the highest form of compassion is when you elimiate the self, but that's not "true" compassion in the way that all other acts of compassion are somehow false. And if the end result is still the same, then they aren't inferior, either.

I guess someone like you could view ego as a challenge, something that takes great effort to overcome. If everyone was born without one, and didn't aquire one through the course of life, then that's too easy.

Furthermore, the weakest among us really could do with keeping their selfish traits, you ought to think. What point is a bunch of poor starving people refusing to eat because there are other starving people too?

Jam it back in, in the dark.