Very on point, especially on the religious buffet and Spinoza; I also like the moral flywheel imagery of self-first, then others.
I do believe despite our need to help ourselves we are inherently moral. The lack of complete understanding that there is more that exists outside of and past our own lives is what causes us to think in a zero-sum way, making us focus on either the self of the other, when they are in fact one in the same. It's more mindset and philosophy that get us to that level of enlightenment, but that is obviously held back (though, sometimes propelled) primarily by our own egos and immediate physical needs.