That is such a great question! I had to dig around in my mind for my answer. I hope others will give their opinions because it is such a fascinating question and one I realize I have pondered for a long time.

My core belief is that we should each serve ourselves. No one knows us better than we know ourselves so no one could do a better job at fulfilling our needs and desires. To serve another is to have to "guess" at their desires, which creates extra work and would rarely be 100% accurate. It is totally inefficient.

I like to think of this with the analogy of a tree. If we are each a tree, our ultimate goal is to grow to such health that we bear fruit. Our fruit is a by-product of our ultimate health and achievement - our fruition! It is what we give to others and what can actually feed others. Therefore, it is in our best interest to make sure we get enough water, food and sunlight to come to fruition.

When we give to others from anything other than our fruit, we are giving of our own wood. It is like cutting off a branch. This is detrimental to us and useless to another. If water and sunlight are abundant, then what we need we will take and what we don't need will naturally be available to and assimilated by others. This leads to another imperative: Take only what you need! There is enough for all if we take only what we need.

Now, where egotism crosses the line into being wrong is when we cause damage to others in order to satisfy our needs. If we have to take from someone else and it causes them harm or suffering, then that is wrong. I believe this is why we have had to developed compassion, so that we can learn not to harm others. When we go too far with compassion though, we not only avoid harming, but we begin trying to serve others. This takes us full circle and we stray now from the efficiency of serving self and creating the ultimate product of our own fruit.

Overdeveloped compassion in the end creates another problem because not only do we sacrifice our resources for others, but we now are actually ROBBING the other person of realizing their own needs and fulfilling them. We are taking away natural consequences, which are their right to receive in aid of learning. For example, if you give someone a new car, they can never appreciate it as much as if they earned every dollar it would take to purchase it. I'm sure we all have our own examples of this. Giving to others actually robs them. IMO.

Imagine in the end everyone learning (through many reincarnational lives) how to live according to these ideals of balanced compassion and self-promotion so that we each become a brilliant fruitful tree! If a person's belief system can embrace the immortality of the soul and the concept of many honing lifetimes in which we learn to become masters of life (fruitful trees) then there is no need to fear mistakes or death. It's all a virtual reality lesson for our eternal soul in how to be physical and master it. FMPOV (from my point of view).

In the end it boils down to balance -- Taking only what you need and without harming others, and giving only what you produce.

I love my tree.