Knocking brain series
The Mukafa’a Economy
Mukafa’a — Reward. Are we that altruistic?
And a soul will not die but with the permission of Allah the term is fixed; and whoever desires the reward of this world, I shall give him of it, and whoever desires the reward of the hereafter I shall give him of it, and I will reward the grateful. — Ali ‘Imran, 145.
It’s 2 hours to the call for Jumaah prayer. Sitting in this slightly chilled office, my thoughts went back to the night before, when we were supposed to celebrate the end of a 6-month long tenure in an event at KLCC. It was nothing short of glamorous, the event I mean, not the 6-month attachment to the industry. The attachment was a fun experience, but I digress.
The 3rd floor of the world-renowned KL Convention Centre filled with people looking super dashing and super important. The theme for the event that night was ‘Medieval’, and I came dressed as a peasant. Why you asked me? Well, I thought that there might be a lot of people wearing knights in shining armour, kings and queens for this sort of event, so I went for the less obvious option. Blue baggy clothes, brown baggy pants, black leather belt with huge buckle in front. You know, the sort of attire the merry men of Robin Hood would wear. It was my first time attending an event this prestige. It was also my first time coming to an event that has a theme.
Everyone else? Black suit, black ties, looking super clean. Eyes were on me. Smiles, smirks, the usuals. Never before have I had the opportunity to push my self-confidence further. Last night, it reached new heights.
The event marked the end of a 6-month industry attachment programme, where 40 over young academics were selected and appointed as fellows from all public universities, and placed under the wings of CEOs of local and international companies. Among the big ideas behind this programme is to inculcate the idea of ‘volunteerism’ among fellows.
Coming from the French word volontaire, volunteers implies ‘a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task’ (Google Translate, 2019). It’s a common word, but in common practice, we don’t really ‘freely offers’ something without something in return. Nada. Don’t agree with me? Keep on reading.
We are prosocial beings, by default. Or so they say. I find interacting with other people tiring, awkward, and sometimes requires more brain effort than it should have been. I always envy those who really have a great personality, can go straight to other people and greet, spark a chat, and be awesome. I can’t. Tried several times. Result? More awkward silence than I could ever care to remember, silence only to be filled by the sound of crickets (or was the sound only in my head?).
I’ve publicly stated that I am an introvert, only to be laughed back and stared in disbelieve. Why? Because the Hafiz you’ve known to be a prosocial, outgoing, and funny guy is actually a skin that I’ve learned to put up when I am around other people. I treasure socialisation and aware of its benefits, and I also treasure the alone, me-time where I can be myself, relaxed, and be truly connected to myself (read: slacking off). Ask my wife, and she’ll say that I am a shy person. Haha. I know the importance of being able to ‘extroverted-ly’ project myself, hence the skin.
Within the literatures on prosocial behaviour, there is a concept that is not really alien to us, yet we find it really hard to embody/embrace: altruism.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness — Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have always been fascinated with the altruistic nature of human beings. In fact, I’ve dedicated part of my PhD thesis trying to understand the nature of this mental construct (http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/81938/). Page 42 of the thesis explains the altruistic construct of ‘help’ and ‘prosocial behaviour’ that appears to be among the central elements that make an online community ticks.
An interesting insight from Trivers (1971) when he said that for every action, there is ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ ratio. Let me explain the relationship between these two concepts in order to better illustrate it:
Cost: To help a student in need of a lunch money, it’ll cost you few ringgits. Benefit: Students will (arguably) be forever indebted to you.
Cost: To help students with his/her lesson planning assignment, it’ll cost you your time, energy, and mental capacity.
Benefit: Again, your stature among students will be taken to a new level. Students will forever chant beautiful verses describing how kind you are, and be passed down from generations to generations.
An act of kindness may not seem to have an immediate need for reciprocity of benefits, but there will be something (not necessarily material) in return. This is us. Our very nature depends on it. You can say that you are an altruistic being, working selflessly for the benefit of others, but little that you know (or intended), that altruistic act of yours will have benefits in return whether you like it or not.
It is like a financial transaction. Buying an item in LAZADA means that it’ll cost you an X amount of Ringgit, and in return, your item will be shipped to you. You’ll wait patiently, while praying that the item doesn’t get damaged while in transit. You’ll get a dash of Dopamine when the item arrived safely and securely at your front door. Sounds familiar? Hehe.
It’s applicable to our academic life too. Working hard to get that AP or full Professorship? That’ll cost you your time with family, friends, money, mental prowess, etc. In return, you’ll get that AP (in due course).
So, is there such a thing as ‘altruism’ then?
Reference:
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46(1), 35–57. http://doi.org/10.1086/406755
