Selfish lead? (6)
I believe the answer is:
forego
'selfish lead?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with fundamental existence as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'selfish lead?' is the wordplay.
'selfish' becomes 'fore' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'lead?' becomes 'go' ('go' can be a synonym of 'lead').
'fore'+'go'='FOREGO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forego that I've seen before include "Manage without" , "Surrender" , "Go without, give up" , "Go without (desirable thing)" , "Go without or precede" .)