“Nobody’s Perfect” and Other Garbage Idioms

Everyone always says “nobody’s perfect” to somehow arouse in you the feeling of freedom to experiment or try something uncomfortable. But I’m sick of that cliché. Why use the word “perfect” in such a way that is untouchable? Language, after all, is made by humans for humans. You are a human being—you have to learn and try things. That is perfection in my book. Human beings are not static. Nor do we reach a kind of state of perfection like the Eastern mystics talk about. We live in a world of values that we have to choose every day. And I feel the same way about morality.

To be moral does not mean to be omniscient or all-knowing in order to be good. Another one of my pet peeves is when people say, “Morality isn’t black and white.” Well, Ayn Rand would tell you that it most certainly is. And here is how: It’s true that there can be some gray actions on a day-to-day basis. However, the culmination of those actions and the motivation behind each of them leads to being moral (good) or immoral (bad) as a whole person. An individual is made up of values, and those values can only be achieved and kept when they are identified and morally achieved. For example, if you want a greater sense of self-esteem, then you practice really hard to ace a test, truly learn the subject matter, and get that good grade. If you want to damage that sense of self-esteem, then you cheat on the test, not learn the material, but still get an A.

I have “made it.” I am happy. I have a wonderful, supportive husband. We hope to have our own children soon. I have a beautiful home to live in. I have fresh food and water to eat and drink. I am almost thirty and healthy in body and mind. Yes, I may want an updated wardrobe or neighbors that weren’t living so close to us, but that’s just “icing on the cake.” They are wants and not necessities. How did I get here? Was it hard? Was I ridiculed? Yes…but that is, unfortunately, what it takes today when you choose to be good.

I spent most of my time in school refusing sexual advances, avoiding physical fights, and not attending parties where I knew that drugs might be involved. Instead, I spent my waking moments attentively in the classroom, ferociously reading at home, and eventually finding school friends whom I could readily learn with and be around. Once I graduated, I found myself in my first normal nine-to-five job as a receptionist. And that is when my moral choices became more complex. After the first year or so, I began to get fidgety, then I started to resent my job. I felt like I woke up there and fell asleep there most days, especially on those cold, dark winter months… I learned the ins and outs of the job by that point and I needed to move on. I should have moved on earlier, but the “golden handcuffs” of the money were on. So, I began to search out innocuous things on the internet at work when no one needed my assistance. I started with taking typing tests and then searching for other types of work, all reasonable things, in my mind, to look up within the framework of my receptionist job. I was making myself better for the job at hand—continuous training, I told myself. But then I landed on the idea of transcript proofreading from home. From home…oh how I missed my haven of books and culture and not having a long commute shoved in a public bus with everyone else who worked in the city. I stayed sardine-shaped at work, my spine poking out through the skin to shield myself from the outside world.

Soon enough, I was sitting at my desk in another place entirely. I was no longer just the receptionist but a proofreader-in-training. Whenever my time was freed up, I was on their computer taking tests, learning about frequently confused homophones and transposed words. I printed off pages to work from since I didn’t have a printer at home. But the slope got more slippery in my head. I faked smiles and laughs and worked just enough to squeak by. And then I began to feel guilty. I was now having to make choices that left me either feeling used by the company or ashamed. These were some of my thoughts (see if you recognize some of these daily compromises you make in your job): Well, my boss didn’t tell me I’d have to stay this late, so I deserve the ten cents worth of paper. Or, this client on the phone was angry with me for no reason, so I should get an extra five minutes to eat my lunch today. Or, X always gets in late, so I’m going to arrive late just for today. And these kinds of calculations were constant. It was as if I was on this endless tightrope between making moral and immoral choices. Their policy was clear about not doing personal work during business hours, which probably included taking their paid-for paper and ink, taking extra time off, and arriving late. I knew what I was doing, but my own unhappiness made things seem even…fair.

I should have left earlier than I did, but I waited until I finished the proofreading program and started building up my business so that I no longer had to make tough and often poor moral decisions every day that I could feel were progressively eating away at my soul. I missed feeling the simplicity of just saying no to things in school and then following the schedule that was set by my parent and teachers. I no longer had that option. Life as an adult was my own, and I needed to spend my time wisely, make up my own schedule, and end up a lot happier than I was feeling in those days. As soon as I had a few clients under my belt, I resigned from my position.

Not everyone needs to quit their jobs and work for themselves. I’m sure there are plenty of people who love their jobs and are challenged enough on a daily basis to not start feeling resentful. But the moral degrees game, I believe, is very present in the “corporate world” today. Thankfully, when we do not cloud our emotions with drugs or alcohol, we have an easier time getting a clue about what we are doing—not only to the company we may work for but to ourselves. If you feel bad at the end of the day, then how have you spent it? Have you made compromises all day that only attacked your self-esteem and, thereby, your long-term happiness?

We are not static creatures. Every day we make moral choices, but we can make them easier or harder to choose. For instance, brushing your teeth comes automatically now since we’ve been doing it since childhood. Yet, it is an act of choosing life. You are taking care of your oral health to live another day healthy on earth. You have the option to skip it and risk cavities and all the deterioration of the body that follows, but that by definition is immoral since Ayn Rand states that “Life or death is man’s only fundamental alternative. To live is his basic act of choice. If he chooses to live, then a rational ethics will tell him what principles of action are required to implement his choice. If he does not choose to live, nature will take its course” (Philosophy: Who Needs It?). A dead man doesn’t need morality.

So was I behaving poorly in my receptionist job? Toward the end, I would say yes, I did immoral things. However, it was the good, moral choice that made me resign and not continue to suck off the money teat forever while just giving the minimum of my efforts to my job. I regained the tarnished bits of my self-esteem by leaving and venturing off on my own. Do I make “easy” money now? No. Do I make as much money yet? No. But am I happier? Yes. Am I still perfect after learning from such an experience? Yes.

We all live atop the scales of justice until our final breath is taken. There are days we will make mistakes and there will be repercussions. But we must have the courage to address the emotions that come with an immoral decision in order to be good. Clouding, hiding, submerging those feelings and the reality of the situation, which, sadly, so many adults do who don’t understand the way out, can only lead to the destruction of the soul. Bad, immoral, imperfect people are those who know that what they do makes them feel awful, they may even know it is immoral, and continue to do it anyway—in the face of reality. They refuse to change when all evidence suggests they must do so to continue living. They begin to become walking billboards for death, not life. Forget brushing my teeth, forget clocking into work on time, forget keeping my child fed, forget that the gun is going off into an innocent person’s body because life has no meaning for me. I am the absence of life now; I am death. It is not an irrational spiral that stirs people on the outside to shout “Madman!” It is a man who has lost his sense of morality and progressively allows the disease to weaken his values down to dust.

I believe that most people are good, perfect beings who would benefit from more of a culture that advocates paying attention to our emotions—not hiding them. They can oftentimes help detect a bad decision before reason can come in to explain. Books, especially literary fiction, are also saviors for their honest look into people’s good and bad decisions and the outcomes they face from them. I believe that morality can be learned and a good, perfect person should be open to its serious study. They will learn that there are varying degrees of values on a person’s set of priorities, and the more attuned they are to them, the happier they will be with a clearer vision of their goals in life. Perfection is all about making mistakes and learning from them. That struggle to understand cause and effect is what makes man quintessentially human.

***

Links: http://www.aynrandlexicon.com; https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Who-Needs-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451138937

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Views Expressed Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of American Wordsmith, LLC. Please also know that while I consider myself an Objectivist and my work is inspired by Objectivism, it is not nor should it be considered Objectivist since I am not the creator of the philosophy. For more information about Ayn Rand’s philosophy visit: aynrand.org.

On Judgment

This month’s topic is on judgment and its use. Judgment, in particular, is required when growing up in a culture that constantly preaches not to judge while choosing to uphold the activities of the lowest common denominator, namely school dances.

I don’t know if every school has dances like the one I am going to discuss, whether public or private, but I would be curious to know, so feel free to share with me. This was certainly the climate when I was attending my public middle and high schools in New York and then in New Jersey. The first actual nightclub that I went to was in D.C. while in college, and it was clearly the inspiration for such school dances when I was growing up.

My first school dance was in the sixth grade when I would have been at the tender age of eleven. At eleven, I walked into a gym that was dark, loud, and downright frightening. I had never seen such a place before. The music was blaring, so much so that I covered my ears to protect them. Girls were behaving strangely around me and telling me that I was dressed up wrong. Guys were doused in horrible-smelling cologne and gel spiked all the hair they had on their body at that point. Teachers looked the other way while boys met girls up close and personally; I had never seen “grinding” before. The lights from the DJ disoriented me as I turned around looking for the familiar faces that I knew in the daylight, the faces I sat beside every day in the classroom. Where were they, or what, exactly, had they become in an instant?

***

Each year, I went to the next homecoming dance, believing that somehow a new grade meant more mature peers. Boy, was I wrong. It took me until I was seventeen years old and had worked my way up the high school food chain before I wrote this piece (even though I regrettably never sent it in). 

Our Nightclub Dances Must GO!

I have gotten into Peer Leadership and Teen PEP and these leadership roles have made me question how our school could better represent itself. My inspiration for change came from our Homecoming dance and several middle school dances beforehand. I believe that our dances are inappropriate and do not represent this school or any other school well. If you have ever been to a dance you would see kids ‘grinding’ in almost complete darkness while supposedly ‘dancing’ to extremely loud pop/rap music that no one can actually dance to. These dances begin in middle school and promote, to put it bluntly, sex. The music is also extremely loud as stated before, which can harm a student’s eardrums. I remember my eardrums buzzing for hours after I got home from dances. All I have to say is where has our culture gone? Our principals (and not just at LHS & LMS) seem to have ‘given up’ on enforcing school appropriate dances. I can understand that school officials feel that this is what most teenagers like and they’ll complain if you take away their freedom of expression but this should not be tolerated. I know many of my peers who would like their dances to be 80’s movie-esque. I know teachers who refuse to chaperone anymore because they feel uncomfortable allowing the kids to act in this way. If students learned how to dance then I believe that more of them would come and enjoy the dances. Learning how to dance is a great thing that our generation is missing out on. We are missing the whole point of what a dance is: a place to socialize and show off our moves not a place to sweat like pigs in the dark and dry hump to bad, booming noise. Excuse the vulgarity but I really do believe strongly in this. Kids are missing out on a great cultural past time.

I have never had fun at any of the dances I have been to which means that something just isn’t right. I’m not saying that students must stand a foot apart and sway to 50’s music, but I do think that we have toppled over to the other extreme. We are a SCHOOL, not a nightclub. I also realize that many teens like pop/rap, however, it seems one-sided and unfair to the students who like other kinds of music. The DJ’s should have a variety of music in order to expand students’ horizons and, as a result, teens can learn to respect other kinds of music. We could have jazz, R&B, swing, blues, classic rock, classical, anything! Just being exposed to different dances could also benefit the students because dancing is great exercise and so much fun. Learning dance steps from other countries could also become a culture experience (which International Alliance has already shown us). We could have break dancing, waltz, jitterbug, swing, and tango, whatever you can think of.

This is what dances everywhere have succumbed to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6t_rdl5zNg&feature=related  (This is a typical dance: crowded, blasting music, grinding, swaying like a dunce or jumping like one…I’m getting nauseous just watching this. Plus those are just 8th graders!!! What are we teaching them?! We are undoing all of the endless hours of abstinence messages just by allowing these types of dances to occur every month in LMS)!

Here is my vision. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-OG0EyJyV8&ab_channel=BoxofficeMovieScenes (Please notice the comments at the bottom. Just clean fun).

Now that’s a HUGE difference and it has only been 26 years since 1985! Clearly something is wrong and we have culturally demolished ourselves.

My plan, (if you and the school officials think it’s possible), would be to get a petition signed by a numerous amount of students to change our dance system, possibly after talking to the Board of Education, and create an experimental dance hosted by a school club/several clubs where high school students could come, dance, and then vote on whether or not they’d like to change our old dance habits. Then, if enough students enjoy it the school could change every dance to this new system. I know the question has popped into your head about how exactly we will teach around 300 high school students to dance…but this is what I am thinking. I would like to add dancing to our physical education program. So along with the required weight room and swimming units we should also have another in dancing. I still haven’t quite figured out if we could pay for a teacher, (I do know of a great ballroom dancing couple who work very close to LHS), or we could just buy dance videos to play on the TV in the aerobics room. After learning a few new moves hopefully the enthusiasm for real dancing will return and we can all live happily ever after… Thank you for listening and please get back to me about whether or not this is even possible.

***

I was eighteen when I wrote this next piece for one of my first college literature classes.

The Atheist’s Sermon

How silly you look. How young. You’re not a real college student. Simultaneously attempting to calm my nerves and get ready for the party, I slip into my elegant dress and shoes. This was the only “clubbing” attire that I owned. Trying to escape the nerves wrapping themselves around my brain like thin vines, I stealthily step out of my room and into the residence hallways. My heart is starting to palpitate hard against my chest as I scurry down the hallway and out into the starless night to join a group of four other girls who were all wearing “little black dresses.” Staring down at my own purple bubble dress, I withdrew from an instant realization that I was already screwing up that night.

Doubly self-conscious, I step onto the shuttle bus full of half-naked students. Egotistical boys are talking in the back, while the leader of the pack makes his presence known for all capable of hearing by saying that he is “semi-hard right now.” I feel my face burn and I force myself to breathe again. I cannot help feeling naked, dirty, and mysterious all at once. I am trapped in a completely packed shuttle with these other crazy party-goers. And in the midst of such chaos, a girl is putting on ten pounds of cherry red lipstick on her already obnoxiously bleeding-red lips. While girls with the flat-ironed bleach blonde hair, the extra padded push-up bras, the arrogant walk – you know, the hip-swinging, back straightened, nose-to-the-sky type of walk are strutting around the bus stop waiting for their dates. This shuttle of hormones begins to move after five eternally long minutes. I sit and try to make small-talk with the people accompanying me, but I can’t help getting distracted by the darkness outside that is enclosing the bus. It is around 10 PM now, so the night is still relatively young. We exit the shuttle and before I know it, I am on the metro headed toward Metro Center, our destination for the evening. The metro lights are unnaturally bright for this time of day. They sting my retinas. I look away and catch a glimpse of my right wrist clenched onto a cold, metallic rod for support. My wrist looks so small that I almost do not recognize it. It appears vulnerable, pale, innocent, thin, delicate, and fragile – breakable. And I swear it was getting smaller as the night dragged on.

The chill weather gives me goose-bumps as I walk down the road immersed in warm, illuminating street-lights. I can sense the buzz humming in the silent air, this is the nightlife. People line up on the escalator, one after another, all headed somewhere. Some faces were disapproving and it made me feel like an outright scoundrel. Other faces were absorbed in their own thoughts – hollow, and unchanging. Still some were happy as clams, laughing like fools, already having a good time. I am none of these people. I am a nervous wreck. Having been to several parties previously, I usually ended up awkwardly dancing with my friends out of a sense of obligation and then I would proceed to sit out for the rest of the night. The whole “club culture” which has always been a major attraction for students has constantly felt like the antithesis of my very being, but I could never effectively explain why to people. Homecomings, formals, and prom always ended the same way for me – lonely. I went out that night to understand myself. What was I psychologically struggling with every time I went to a party?  Was it just me or was it something else more powerful than myself coercing me not to enjoy it? Am I in the wrong or are others? 

It is an hour long line. Even with our “Ladies Night Passes,” we still have to wait with everyone else in the bitterly cool night air. A whirl of smoke and perfume fill my lungs as I wait there in line choking on its consistency. Greasy-looking men smoke at least three cigarettes during that long wait, while slutty-looking women complain about the line. Meanwhile, the heels and skin tight clothes on every body type imaginable were being unwillingly downloaded into my subconscious mind. Those images sear my eyes, while the electrical neurons shoot up into my memory center, and my innocence is quickly vaporized from existence. French speaking people behind me in line speak of how they pity me and how “saintly” I look among my friends. Is it really that obvious? Finally, I make it up to the door: boorish guards check my bag and driver’s license, take my umbrella away, seize my money and pass, grab my miniscule wrists and mark and stamp them to death. I want to run away but I keep walking forward, determined to discover once and for all why I feel this way. I enter the club and it is all fog and strobe lights. One puff of smoke after the next, an unrelenting chain of stupor enshrouds the club. It is loud and cramped, I cannot breathe. My group and I push through the crowd so that one of my friends who have been here before can show us each floor. I shove my body through the crowd, men flinging themselves at me. I push more forcefully now, the adrenaline rushing through my entire body. A room full of Ids. A room full of escapists. A room full of imperfection.

It is around 11 PM and we spend the first twenty minutes running up and down narrow staircases. Constantly passing by a bright blue and green light box which was the only beacon of stability I had to cling to amidst unstable waters, because it soon became a familiar sight. Bodies are shoving their way upstairs or downstairs in such commotion. It is as if people had suddenly become mindless ants crawling to and fro on their tiny hill without rhyme or reason. And the staircases are black so it is almost impossible to see where you are going, except for the various colored lights escaping from the floor below. It is like some kind of twisted nightmare that I have had before. The first floor is the main floor which has mostly pop music, the next floor is rap, and the final floor (at least from what I can remember) is Hispanic music. We visit all three and decide to stay awhile on the third floor. So standing in a circle we sway back and forth to the music, no one looking happy or having fun. One of the girls I do not know is “grinding” with a random man who looks to be about twenty-five years old. We all stare. It is not dancing, it is dry humping. Excuse me for being so blunt, but this is what I saw. And in order to understand oneself, the truth must be told. After that I was through, finished, done. Yet again, I experience the party for five minutes and then give up on hoping that I will have a good time. I have hoped one too many times. It’s useless. I hate it.

 Looking back now my family was never very religious, but I was brought up a Protestant anyway. When I first realized that I could think for myself, I never thought much about god. But that all changed when my mother died. I can still remember a kid in my class saying, “maybe you didn’t pray hard enough for her.” From that point on, I hated any notion of a god. Having never really believed in him in the first place, it was easy to reject him entirely. But for this reason I am not Agnostic, because I resent people believing in some creature who could kill my own mother so viciously. No just god could do something as evil as that and get away with it. So having kicked god to the curb, I looked to people and nature. My expectations for myself and others rose to unnatural heights. My definition of perfect was no longer connected to some omnipotent presence, but to other human beings. It is not difficult to be perfect in my book. One must simply maintain moral goodness and care for oneself. I do not see people as walking shards of soul, as many others do. I see people as whole, good, and always striving to be better. That is perfection.

It is about 1 AM when I begin amusing myself by watching how drunken people are based on how poorly they walked up the stairs. It began with people joyously dancing up the stairs, then people began spilling their drinks halfway up, then men and women began zigzagging up the stairs, some people tripped, and angry women yelled at the security guards. These were signs of the night growing older, and yet the music continued to get louder, as if to shout in rebellion against time aging. And as the music was increasing in volume, each note was nailing a sign into my skull which said, NEVER AGAIN. Finally, at 2:45 AM, my friends were finished partying and I could leave this foreign place. The stark, early morning air slapped me hard in the face. One of the girls said she felt nauseous and had to sit down, another girl did not look like she had any fun at all, the one who invited me claimed that she had fun, and the “grinding” girl I had only seen for five minutes before she ditched us was staring up hazy-eyed into the pitch-black sky. Apparently, an older guy brought her a couple of shots to take and she had willingly accepted. While keeping an eye on her, we flagged down a taxi which drove us back to campus (we managed to shove five bodies into one cab). And of course, I had to pay the taxi driver. What a waste of twenty dollars. By 4 AM, I quickly run to the bathroom, throw off my elegant dress and shoes, and yank on my pajamas. Then, I proceed to scrub the marker and stamp off my hands and wrists until they are bright red. I wish I could forget this night in its entirety. I crawl underneath my thin fleece covers and allow the night to settle in my brain and produce the answer to my problem. The images that bore a hole in my memory kept playing in my head over-and-over again, until I reached some pretty hefty conclusions about myself and others. 

I am not in the wrong. My body and soul are simply intertwined – inseparable components of my being. My mother’s death allowed me to see that the two must be connected in order for me to find happiness. And the only way that I can combine the two dual entities is to find other people with the same high moral expectations. My own morality shines through because, as Socrates says in Plato’s Socrates and Alcibiades, “either […] man is nothing, or, if man is something, he turns out to be nothing other than soul” (48).  I am soul. I am soul, because I have decided to devote myself to people. So by using my body, I can carry out my soul’s will. Without a god to lead me through life, I must rely on my own intuition. For I am limited to people – all I know are other people. Socrates also says in Plato’s Five Dialogues, “that the soul of man is immortal, and at one time has an end, which is termed dying, and at another time is born again, but is never destroyed. And the moral is, that a man ought to live always in perfect holiness” (78). Hence, my very being is made up of other people. And if the soul is reused like water, then I have a well-versed soul telling me that clubbing is wrong.

People often tell me that I place too much moral weight on things like alcohol, drugs, and parties. But if I give way to these evils, then what does that say about my soul? I prefer to be hyper-sensitive and in control of my senses at all times, because that way I can take pleasure in the simple joys of life. I can combine soul and body to achieve happiness. I do not wish to escape from reality. I wish to relish in it, because being an Atheist I believe that this life is the only one I have. Therefore, I can only respect and have fun with the people who can earn my respect. People must work for my love and I must work for theirs. I shall never compromise my body and soul for others, because I have taken on perfection. I am perfect. Call me a saint, an innocent little girl, an old soul, but I will not be peer-pressured into corrupting myself in any way. I love humanity, and that night I was personally hurt and disappointed that people could behave so irrationally for fun. Escapism is not what I look for in other human beings, but courage…to have the courage to act, to live, to enjoy insignificant moments, to taste life twice.  I want to be able to look up to mankind, not despise it, because that is all that I have to live for – myself and other people.

***

After reading this essay, my freshman college professor told me I was “being way too judgmental of these people who were just trying to have fun.” She looked at me with hatred in her eyes. You see, the point of this introductory assignment (and many of the subsequent ones) at this liberal university was to “go outside of our comfort zones and learn something new about ourselves and others.” The main example pressed upon us was to pretend to be homeless for a day and then write about that. What this translated to was to be humble, you privileged child, and place the lowest in society above yourself—it was meant to be the ultimate act of altruism in order to enter the pearly gates of this university.

I was having none of it. After all, I was one of those students who had already struggled enough in life and chose not to go down the path of drugs, prostitution, crime, and homelessness. I didn’t work this hard just to end up there, anyway. I was using my senses and honestly felt sick going to what this culture was telling me was a place to have the time of my life. It wasn’t life; it was death.

I was meant to put my head down and serve death—in my college career and my future job until I was skin and bones myself. I was meant to shrivel up and die like Christ on the cross for others. I was worthless without the other. That’s what school was trying to teach me now, not reading, writing, or arithmetic.

In The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand discusses “judgment” as something that we all must do to “evaluate a given concrete by reference to an abstract principle or standard.” And that “[n]othing can corrupt and disintegrate a culture or a man’s character as thoroughly as does the precept of moral agnosticism, the idea that one must never pass moral judgment on others, that one must be morally tolerant of anything, that the good consists of never distinguishing good from evil.” Therefore, I judge so as to understand myself and the world clearly. And this sensitivity to the world makes it more sustainably pleasurable than being in a dark room that is too loud to even think in—not from a religious perspective but from a human, moral one.

The only ingredient missing in those gyms (although I’m sure the “bad kids” already had it) was alcohol and drugs. Those ingredients magically make that dark room “fun” for adults. The darkness and noise and hazy fog blinding the senses—the complete abandonment of reality—is fun? If that is truly fun, then that means something is not right in that person’s personal life. They are deliberately trying to escape reality. As I said before, it is an unsustainable and ugly way to live. As an adult now who cannot be bullied, I will not ignore how I always felt about these types of dances and how they reflect our culture at large. For any time you abandon reality, the risks to you of losing control for good increase. I choose life over death every single day and so should you, so judge on, my friends.

***

Links: https://www.amazon.com/Socrates-Alcibiades-Symposium-212c-223a-Philosophical/dp/1585100692; https://www.amazon.com/Plato-Dialogues-Euthyphro-Apology-Phaedo/dp/0915145227/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=; https://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Fiftieth-Anniversary/dp/0451163931

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Views Expressed Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of American Wordsmith, LLC. Please also know that while I consider myself an Objectivist and my work is inspired by Objectivism, it is not nor should it be considered Objectivist since I am not the creator of the philosophy. For more information about Ayn Rand’s philosophy visit: aynrand.org.

The Seven Virtues

I am going to be reading several excerpts from Tara Smith’s book, Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, along with providing some of my own commentary and an example. This book has served as an enormous help to me in grappling with Ayn Rand’s views on forming a proper secular morality.

I’m excited to share this information with you, so let’s dive in.

In Professor Smith’s introduction to the book, she describes her subject as “[…] how to lead a selfish life” (4). To be self-interested is linked to the concept of egoism, which means that our “[…] standard of value is life” (6). “Our nature dictates that we need morality […]” (2) in order “[…] to guide individuals to the achievement of their happiness” (48). “It is only by leading a morally upright life that a person can be happy and it is for the sake of having a happy life that a person should be morally upright” (3). Since our aim in life is to be happy, then “[…] a determination of the proper way to lead our lives must begin with an analysis of the concept of value” (4).

Her next chapter on rational egoism further describes what Ayn Rand truly means by being egoistic (since it usually gets a bad name in this culture). To be egoistic, you must use your mind and take rational actions to achieve the values you set for yourself. According to Rand, “[a] value is ‘that which one acts to gain and/or keep’” (20). Therefore, “[m]orality, Rand writes, ‘is a code of values to guide man’s choices and actions […]’” (19). And “[…] value is objective” (25) because “[t]he basis for regarding certain ends as objectively valuable to an organism, as the kinds of things that it should seek, Rand reasons, rests in the struggle for life.” (20) For example, if you want to live to an old age (life), then you choose not to do illegal drugs (death). “Ethical egoism is the thesis that a person should act to promote his own interest” (23). Unlike Satanists, this does not include hedonism, which Christians, in particular, always like to bring up. For “[p]leasure is not a reliable guide to the advancement of a human being’s life, as what is pleasurable and what is in a person’s interest do not always coincide” (27) because “[f]lourishing is the path to continued living” (31). You can often end up in quite the opposite conundrum when you simply act on emotions, which is why Rand “[…] defines happiness as ‘that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.’ It is a ‘state of non-contradictory joy…a joy that does not clash with any of your values’” (31). “Rational egoism is not about besting others, but about making one’s own life as rewarding as possible” (38). It is a focus on your own happiness, which can be degraded by bad actions over time. Although “[…] a person can survive an occasional immoral action. But damage is damage, as Peikoff elaborates, and ‘damage, untended is progressive.’ It cannot be courted or passively tolerated if one’s goal is to flourish” (38). This is why Rand believed that you can have gray actions, but at the end of the day, you cannot have gray morality. Your moral actions accumulate on a daily basis to form a person who is either good or bad, not both. And “[t]he actions necessary to sustain a person’s life in atypical conditions cannot be used as the basis for moral principles that are to guide us in everyday living […]” (43). In other words, you must have a choice to act morally in order for there to be morality. You cannot serve up, as so many modern philosophers do, trolley problems to form a code of morality.

The book then begins to take on each of the seven chosen virtues that Ayn Rand discussed over her lifetime (though this list may not be exhaustive). The first and most important of those virtues is rationality, which is “[…] the acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge and fundamental guide to action” (7). For example: “I cannot ascend to the fourth floor of Waggener Hall by levitating. I can reach the fourth floor by climbing the stairs or taking the elevator, as long as those were built in ways that respect relevant materials, the weight of human beings, and the like” (58). “‘It means one’s total commitment to a state of full, conscious awareness, to the maintenance of a full mental focus in all issues, in all choices, in all of one’s waking hours…’” (52–3) because “[r]eason is man’s fundamental means of survival.” (57) And it is his virtues that “[…] designate the fundamental kinds of action that are necessary to sustain human life” (52).

The second virtue is honesty, which is “[…] the refusal to fake reality” (8). For example: “If a physician ignores the CT scan results, he cannot prescribe effective treatment for his patient; if an electrician ignores faulty wiring, he cannot prepare a safe building for its occupants; if a man ignores signs of his own emotional deterioration, he cannot achieve happiness” (79). Therefore, “[h]onesty, in Rand’s view, means that a person ‘must never attempt to fake reality in any manner’” (75). “Whenever a person is dishonest with others, one prominent consequence is the need to conceal his deception” (81). And “[…] the deeper problem with deception of others is that invented ‘goods’—as invented ‘facts’—cannot actually advance a person’s life” (81). “It would make no sense to pursue a near term ‘gain’ by methods that sabotage one’s longer-term welfare (e.g., earning a profit this year by employing means that will bankrupt the business soon thereafter […]” (82). “Through dishonesty, a person makes himself dependent on others—on their standards and their ignorance” (83). It is “[…] comparable to that of a person on a boat that is springing leaks, frantically patching one after another” (85). Therefore, “[…] I would suggest that dishonesty is likely to eat away at a person’s self-esteem […]” (85). They must create lie after lie in order to keep up the ruse. However, “[a] person stands under no moral obligation to divulge his knowledge to an inquiring Nazi. In such cases, the person who lies is not attempting to gain a value. […] Rather, he is acting rationally to protect a value under attack” (94). “All moral guidance is intended for the normal course of events, since those are the conditions we ordinarily face and that allow us to identify principles that provide effective guidance” (94–5). “‘In such a case, morality cannot say what to do. Under a dictatorship—under force—there is no such thing as morality. Morality ends where a gun begins…in such emergency situations, no one could prescribe what action is appropriate. That is my answer to all lifeboat questions. Moral rules cannot be prescribed for these situations, because only life is the basis on which to establish a moral code’” (95) since “[m]orality is a tool of self-preservation” (96). “In a natural emergency, a great value is at risk; in a metaphysical emergency, a person’s very mode of survival is immobilized” (98). So, morality can still exist (just differently) in certain types of emergencies. For instance, “[i]n a natural emergency, a woman might be morally justified in taking a neighbor’s car to rush her husband to the hospital or in breaking into a neighbor’s vacant house to use his phone to call an ambulance if her own is not working. Ordinarily, rational egoism would forbid such violations of others’ property, but the emergency justifies it. This does not mean that morality is silenced all together and totally inapplicable, however. The person who violates the basic principles of morality is still obligated to recognize that his emergency (genuine as it is, for him) is not an emergency for everyone and does not suspend all other individuals’ rights. Accordingly, he must be ready to pay compensation to those whose property he has taken” (98). This is why “[h]onesty is not intrinsically virtuous or a categorical imperative, to be blindly obeyed regardless of circumstances” (99–100). Even “white lies” can be considered on the same level as total dishonesty. “The essential problem with well-intentioned dishonesty is the same as that with any dishonesty: It does not work. As Peikoff observes, a lie that attempts to protect others from certain facts is as impractical as any more blatantly sinister lies” (102). “It infuses artificiality into individuals’ relationships” (103). “Essentially, Rand holds, a person should either tell the truth about an issue or refuse to discuss it” (103). “In fact, as Rand observes, telling a man the truth is a form of respect” (104).

The third virtue is independence, which is“[…] setting one’s primary orientation to reality rather than to other people” (9). For example: “While the independent person will choose his career by reference to the relevant facts of reality (e.g., his enjoyment of the work, his aptitude for it, his judgment of its value, employment prospects), the second-hander will choose his career by reference to what other people think of it (e.g., becoming a physician ‘because everybody is impressed by doctors,’ joining the family business because all of his siblings have, going into a ‘helping’ profession because society considers it noble)” (111). “Independence, according to Rand, is ‘one’s acceptance of the responsibility of forming one’s own judgments and of living by the work of one’s own mind’” (107). “It is not ‘whatever I want’ that is most important for a rational egoist, but whatever, in fact, will objectively serve his flourishing” (124). “Rand rejects the image of man as either a ‘lone wolf’ or a ‘social animal,’ asserting that he is, in fact, a ‘contractual animal’” (130).

The fourth virtue is justice, which is“[…] judging other persons objectively and treating them accordingly by giving them what they deserve […]” (10). For example: “This is reflected when we think that an especially attentive waiter deserves a big tip, a hard-working staffer deserves special commendation, the corrupt politician deserves defeat, or a rapist deserves a lengthy prison sentence” (138). “Justice is the application of rationality to the evaluation and treatment of other individuals” (135). [As a side note, “[…] retribution refers to ‘the imposition of painful consequences proportionate to the injury caused by the criminal act’” (138).] “Justice is essential for the prudent promotion and protection of one’s values” (148). “Implicit in judging others objectively is judging individuals as individuals. Justice forbids sweeping generalizations, blanket condemnations, or benedictions on the basis of nonessential similarities among people” (152). “‘Since men are born tabula rasa, both cognitively and morally,’ Rand reasons, ‘a rational man regards strangers as innocent until proved guilty’” (154). So, men are not born “morally perfect,” but every decision to survive and flourish from birth is perfect. “Morality does not demand cooperation with those who would turn a person’s virtue against him, making it a tool in his own victimization. As Peikoff observes, ‘Justice cannot require that a man sacrifice himself to someone else’s evil.’ In normal circumstances, however, where a person’s silence would reasonably be taken as agreement with something he does not support and he would not be unjustly penalized for speaking out, he must speak” (162). In terms of forgiveness for an injustice, it may be “[…] proper, Peikoff observes, when the offender makes restitution to his victim (if possible) and demonstrates that he understands the roots of his breach, has reformed, and will not repeat the transgression” (166). “Forgiveness, then, must be earned […]” (166). And where it is concerned, “[e]ssentially, as Peikoff recognizes, mercy is ‘the policy of identifying [a person’s deserts], then not acting accordingly […]’” (168). Therefore, mercy is not considered to be a virtue.

The fifth virtue is integrity, which is“[…] loyalty in action to rational principles” (11). For example: “He does not speak at a meeting on behalf of a policy he deems important, for instance, because he thinks he will seem foolish. He fears rejection from the voters, so he tells them what he thinks they want to hear rather than his true convictions. He fears criticism from students, so he lowers his standards to offer them more palatable grades” (179). “Rand describes integrity as ‘loyalty to one’s convictions and values; it is the policy of acting in accordance with one’s values, of expressing, upholding and translating them into practical reality’” (176). It is complete “‘[…] loyalty to rational principles’” (176). Whereas, “[i]n the end, a lack of integrity amounts to a lack of principles” (181). These “[…] moral principles should never be reified as inherently obligatory. Integrity does require, however, the refusal to compromise one’s principles” (188). “While people often think of violations of their principles as cheating ‘just a little,’ any cheating inevitably means abandoning those principles completely, since the cheater is enthroning something other than those principles as sovereign” (190). If any cheating occurs, then it must be dealt with “[i]n a word: justly. He should acknowledge his lapse, objectively evaluate it, and dedicate himself to avoiding its recurrence” (196). For “[…] evil cannot generate objective values. The good, in contrast, has nothing to gain in any compromise, precisely because evil (to the extent that it is evil) does not generate objective values” (191). Good gains only from good. And the courage to correct an error in virtue, “[…] then, is being ‘true to existence’ […]” (195). With this virtue, I have a personal essay I wrote back in college about how I stole peanuts when I was five years old and thereafter learned the virtue of integrity from my parents.

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The Five-Year-Old Robber

            As I walked through the aisles, humming to myself, my hands running down each pre-packed produce item, I noticed an open container full of peanuts. The container was at eye-level and my eyes clung to it and nothing else. Sharply tugging on my mother’s pants, I asked politely if I could have some. She said, “Not now, Katie.” But my mind was already made up and being the stubborn child that I was, I felt the urge to grab some of the peanuts and shove them into my pocket. No one would ever know. I felt a rush of triumph blow over me. I had taken flight with new wings my parents had no control over. If I wanted something, I took it.

            Walking behind my mother, the act replayed in my head over and over again – my small hand reaching out, my heart palpitating ten times its normal rate, my eyes shifting back-and-forth, my armpits starting to sweat. And then the grab itself. Cupping my hand, I became the plastic scooper and kidnapped what few peanuts I could. I captured about five unnoticed. I remember the way that their shells felt against the palm of my hand. Each peanut took on its own shape, the rough curvature making every one unique. I almost felt like naming each separate peanut before devouring them whole. But I had to release the light, ridged shells into my soft, sweater-pocket. The pocket itself was so tiny that it could hardly hold down five large peanuts. But I shoved them down its throat with deft accuracy and speed. That way the pocket would not protest and I could go home a free girl – free from trouble.

            A grin began to appear on my face, but as I looked up at my mother, I felt an intense drop in my mood. Would she approve of my achievement to outsmart her…or even worse, would father? I gulped. Looking around the current aisle we were being swallowed up in, I noticed it smelled like bleach and large tubs of colorfully labeled goo were sitting on the shelves. We were in the cleaning supplies aisle which seemed like forever away from the peanut container I had just violated. It was too late – the damage was done.

           Suddenly, my mother asked me: “Katie is there anything else you’d like since we finished with the grocery list?” This was my chance to confess. It was a miracle. But appearing on my left shoulder the devil whispered into my ear, “Are you nuts, kid? You can’t give up now; you’re bound to get in trouble if you tell her here.” While an angel on my right shoulder yanked on my ear and said, “No! You must confess now, because it will only be worse later.” Later? I was not planning on getting caught at all. The thought had never occurred to me that I would be caught later. But being too nervous and stubborn with my decision, I hesitantly replied, “Nope.” Something in my gut kicked me…or perhaps it was my brain. Either way, we got through the check-out line with ease, my peanuts still being safely hidden away in my sweater-pocket’s mouth.

            When we arrived home, I was both excited and nervous to dispose of the peanuts – down my throat. I only had them once before at my godmother’s house last summer, and finally I would get to experience their taste once more. Unnoticed, I crept to my room and unloaded the goods onto my bed. One by one, I proceeded to crack their shells to pieces and gobble up their insides. (Good thing I did not name them). The savory blend of spit and salt mixed in my mouth. I could not think of anything else in that moment of ecstasy. And so, I left my room in a beautiful haze of briny, peanut-y goodness. I went to look outside one of our windows in the kitchen while I enjoyed the last remnants of peanut in my mouth. It was like tasting the sun going down.

            My brain had stopped kicking me for a while until my mother yelled my name – my full name: “Kaitlyn Marie Quis!!!” Uh-oh.

            “Yes, mama?”

            “Come here.” I trudged into my room. I had been caught somehow.

            “Why are there peanut shells all over your bed?!” How could I have forgotten?! 

            “I took them from the store when you told me I couldn’t have any…”

            “I’m telling your father. Stealing is not okay!” Oh no, my father will spank me for sure.

            My face started scrunching up. Was I really going to cry now when just a few moments ago I had been so happy? Mother walked me over to the living room where father was sitting in “his chair” and began listening to her story. His eyes grew large and frightened as he aimed them at me. Now my head and stomach and heart were all sounding the alarm. My butt was going to be sore tonight. But as I looked back at my dad he could tell that I had no real notion of what “stealing” was – I had only heard the word used a few times in church after-all. I promised them that I would never do it again. I was not a “robber.” My mother and father gave each other one final look and the decision was made in silence. No punishment. Thank goodness! I thought, as a wave of relief came over me. 

            I had yet to realize though that although I was not physically punished, I was mentally. This thing that is called, “guilt” had been sneaking up on me the whole time. I also had this thing called, “conscience” which was what was doing all the kicking, I suppose. My parents talked to me for a while about why stealing was wrong and I began to understand what I had robbed that grocery store of – money. I also learned what I had robbed from myself – dignity. My mental punishment may actually have been more severe than a physical one, because I had only myself to blame and I thought my parents looked down on me that day. Thankfully, I learned my lesson and never stole anything again. That day, I had tasted the sunset – and it tasted like dirt.

***

The sixth virtue is productiveness, which is“[…] the process of creating material values” (12). For example: “A person can be productive by building a boat or a bridge, for instance, by repairing shoes or writing software, by composing music or researching biology, performing surgery, mowing lawns, selling insurance, shipping, catering, proofreading, or reporting the news” (199). “Productiveness is ‘the process of creating material values, whether goods or services’” (198). “‘The two essentials of the method of survival proper to a rational being are: thinking and productive work’” (201). And “[t]he sole reason to be productive is to advance one’s own happiness” (205). [As another side note, “Consonant with the recognition that a person’s paying job will not always involve his most productive work, Rand believes that raising children could be productive work […as] a full-time job” (209).] “On Rand’s theory, the point of living is the enjoyment of one’s life, and the standard of value is human life. Correlatively, anything that enhances a human life is to be encouraged” (212). “In holding this, Rand is not endorsing the excesses of a neurotic workaholic. Excesses are precisely that. A person should exercise productiveness in a manner that is compatible with the rational pursuit of all the values that will achieve his happiness” (213). According to Rand, the definition of happiness is “[…] ‘that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values’ […] ‘happiness is an emotional response to something […]’” (216). We “[…] need to grow” (214) as human beings and “[f]ailing to embrace a central productive purpose chokes the primary artery of happiness” (216). “We need material values in order to sustain our lives. The more money a person has, the more easily he can obtain those values. And the more easily he can do that, the more he can tailor his days to his liking, which in itself has life-advancing value” (219).

The seventh and final virtue is pride, which is“[…] a forward-driving commitment to achieve one’s moral perfection” (13).For example: “We do not dispute a test score as perfect simply because the test was not more difficult (being pitched to 4th graders, for instance, rather than 12th graders)” (239). “Rand understands pride as moral ambitiousness, an energetic dedication to being one’s best” (13). “‘As a rule, a man of achievement does not flaunt his achievements,’ Rand observes, and ‘he does not evaluate himself by others—by a comparative standard. His attitude is not ‘I am better than you’ but ‘I am good’” (224). Therefore, “[…] the virtue of pride (as opposed to the feeling of pride) consists in a commitment to rational action” […] “the genuine feeling of pride can only be sustained through the practical exercise of that commitment” (224). It is “[…] pride with moral ambitiousness […]” (225). “The fact that man is a being of self-made soul creates the need to make one’s soul well” (227). And since “[l]ife is action; its sustenance depends on life-advancing action” (236). In this way, “[…] a person is morally perfect when he lives up to moral principles as well as he can” (237). “The key to appreciating how perfection is possible is context. That is, as with all the virtues, we must understand the requirements of perfection realistically” (238). “‘Errors of knowledge are not breaches of morality; no proper moral code can demand infallibility or omniscience’” (239). “It is crucial to appreciate that a normative standard that is beyond our reach is not a genuine standard. For it fails to serve the function of a moral standard, which is to provide practicable instruction. Human beings need moral guidance designed for us, as our nature and circumstances allow us to be” (240–1). [As a final side note, “Benjamin Franklin intended to write a book showing that anyone who tried could achieve moral perfection” (240). “Franklin himself deliberately set out to achieve perfection […]” (240).]

Again, this list of seven virtues is not exhaustive. However, it is difficult to think of another virtue that needs to be included or is not already covered by these major ones. In the final chapters of the book, Professor Smith discusses other conventional virtues that Ayn Rand believes are neither virtues nor vices or are not virtues at all. In terms of charity, Rand says, “‘My views on charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a moral duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them’” (252). But “[…] charity is not a virtue” (253). Emergencies can be moral as long as there is no coercion. Take, for instance, “‘[…] the issue of saving a drowning person. If the person to be saved is a stranger, it is morally proper to save him only when the danger to one’s own life is minimal; when the danger is great, it would be immoral to attempt it […] If the person to be saved is not a stranger, then the risk one should be willing to take is greater in proportion to the greatness of that person’s value to oneself. If it is the man or woman one loves, then one can be willing to give one’s own life to save him or her—for the selfish reason that life without the loved person could be unbearable’” (254). In most cases, “‘[…] one can help only those who don’t actually need it’” (255). In terms of generosity, “[…] Rand characterizes generosity in a letter: as a ‘gift or favor greater than the friend involved could, in reason, expect’” (257). So, according to “[…] Rand’s theory, generosity is neither a virtue nor a vice” (260). In terms of kindness, it is “[…] a means of tending the values one finds in specific other people. Nonetheless, kindness is not a virtue for the simple reason that kindness is not always appropriate” (270). In terms of temperance, “[…] rational self-restraint is an important tool in the pursuit of a person’s objective well-being” (282). But “[…] temperance per se (understood simply as self-restraint and taken to refer to either self-denial or moderation) is not a virtue” (282). [As a quick aside, in terms of friendship and love, “[…] love—in its ideal, rational form—is a value that advances the lover’s life” (292). “‘The Objectivist does not say ‘I value only myself.’ He says: ‘If you are a certain kind of person, you become thereby a value to me, in the furtherance of my own life and happiness’” (301).]

Lastly and most importantly, “Rand’s ethics is animated by the recognition that human life can be sustained only by specific types of actions. This unshakeable fact gives rise to the need for a moral code to guide individuals’ actions” (284) because “[…] values are the content of life. It is these that a person seeks when he seeks his happiness. Happiness is not a goal that is independent of values […]” (303). Therefore, “[…] what the egoist seeks is a world of values” (303).

***

Link: https://www. amazon.com/Ayn-Rands-Normative-Ethics-Virtuous/dp/0521705460

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Views Expressed Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of American Wordsmith, LLC. Please also know that while I consider myself an Objectivist and my work is inspired by Objectivism, it is not nor should it be considered Objectivist since I am not the creator of the philosophy. For more information about Ayn Rand’s philosophy visit: aynrand.org.

The Atheist Nun

So why share all of these etiquette videos? Well, this was my way of tiptoeing into the moral arena while gaining enough courage to discuss my personal beliefs more directly online. Do I think I’m ready now? No, but I’m going to put it out there anyway since morality has been at the core of my being from childhood and only grows stronger with time. This is why the topic can be so touchy for me and anyone else who holds their morals close to their chest.  

I am also tired of the thirty-second bits that people shout out to add their voice to the ever-growing chatter of “the news.” People come away with extremely shallow and tribalistic views if they cannot fully hear either position expressed. Therefore, the art of etiquette and the rules of civility that I posted were meant to stand as a welcome reminder to adults coming to my channel that one must first listen before they are heard.  

That is why I appreciate having a channel where I can sit in a quiet room, write out my thoughts, and then deliver them without fear of being shouted over. I believe this is also why you don’t hear many women speaking out in the “public sphere” for fear of such shouting matches. Even though, historically, women have been seen as the moral guides within the home, and I wish to continue that tradition. I, personally, am too delicate to be mowed over by the loudest voices in the room. I would never be heard that way in this current culture.  

And why, you may ask, for the changed name of my channel? That is all thanks to my brother, who always tells me the truth, even when it may not be flattering (heck, more so if it’s unflattering) to me. But I guess that’s just what siblings do. 

Anyway, not too long ago, my brother texted me and called me an “atheist nun” in jest because I have always taken life so seriously and the smallest things seem to upset me. I was often told growing up that I “can’t take a joke.” But it’s because of this view of the world—the details, the small transgressions—that Man makes in his day-to-day life that I can see eating away at his own happiness that bothers me. I love people but hate when they sabotage themselves. And sabotage is much easier to do when you’re begging forgiveness from a father figure that’s watching your every move. I truly believe that if you focus on yourself and the way you interact with the world, you’ll eventually find happiness. 

I heard Ben Shapiro talking a few months ago about how materialistic and small worshipping nature is—that God produces a much mightier and holier conception of the world for Man. But as I’ve spoken about in previous episodes, a writer gets his words and ideas from the details (also known as inductive reasoning) to come to grand conclusions. It’s the nature that’s around us—reality—that makes my flesh tingle, not some big man in the sky.  

I suppose I’m still figuring out how I can truly help people through this platform. In some ways, I’d really like to help people see morality as something that can be discussed more scientifically than returning to preaching scenes from the Bible. I want to find those people out there who also like homesteading and ballet and learning new things and enjoying family without the sermons at the end. 

I am sure that it will take more episodes to fully understand the seeming paradox of a name like “The Atheist Nun,” but for now I have opened up the conversation, I hope. And in the most fleshed-out way, I am a person without faith who finds a kind of spirituality in humanity and the morals that keep us on the true path to happiness.  

And finally, please leave your comments and thoughts. I don’t mean to appear intense or intimidating; apparently, I just come off this way because of my drive to see myself and others do well. Additionally, here’s an important disclaimer: I will be very careful not to try to tease out other living people’s thoughts on this channel, other than my own, when discussing morality in order to avoid what Ayn Rand calls “psychologizing.” This term is essentially used to mean judging others for merely their thoughts or subconscious motives. It is unfair for me to try to weasel into another’s mind and presume to know why they feel what they feel or why they do what they do—only they know that. I can only look at the actions that they took or the words consciously communicated either orally or written down, and only then can a moral judgment be made. 

At the end of the day, I know we can do better as a society if we let go of the notion that we are not responsible for our own destinies, or that some deity or deities control every aspect of our lives, or that life is completely up to chance. We have free will, and the greatest teachers are shut up in books building up dust. I want people to blow off those cobwebs, crack open the best minds, and peer into their honest, naked thoughts. Take the time to digest them and integrate admirable minds into your own to become the kind of person that is never forgotten by time. 

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Views Expressed Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of American Wordsmith, LLC. Please also know that while I consider myself an Objectivist and my work is inspired by Objectivism, it is not nor should it be considered Objectivist since I am not the creator of the philosophy. For more information about Ayn Rand’s philosophy visit: aynrand.org.

On the Current Cultural Decay

Today’s cultural climate is full of desensitized and inefficacious people who assume that things just “happen” to them. People who are inefficacious disgust me. I have always sympathized with the truly great Men who take action. I love Men who fight against those who try to stop their innovation. They have efficacy and, therefore, my undying respect.

I can still remember, having been raised Protestant, seeing men, specifically, in church kneeling and I cringed, even as a child. I thought, “How lowly and weak they look!” Fast-forward to college and another late night reading session for tomorrow’s class where I have the works of Milton’s Paradise Lost and Marlowe’s version of Faust in my hands, further empathizing with the devil and the snake and Man who desires knowledge.

My sense of life became clearer to me when I felt this ferocity rise within at Man who is refused the ability to know and refused to feel proud of knowing. After all, our tool of survival is our mind, our reason! Why must Christianity squash the very thing that makes us capable of living? I find it pure evil.

Perhaps this moment of fierce rebellion in my soul, sitting in my college’s library, is why I always seem to come back to motifs of snakes and birds, heaven and hell, God and Satan, and Adam and Eve in my work. I cannot help but rage against those who tell me not to know when I have spent all my life trying to know everything! I’ve always said that if I could have a chip inserted into my brain with all human knowledge known today, then I would.

My fear is that we can go backwards as a society. Literary fiction and other art dies in a bad or sick culture. Today, all literary fiction is tribalistic and not about morality at all. The Left has thrown morality away since they believe it is incurably tied to religion, while the Right has kept to their small Christian publishing presses to put out more of the same religious morality texts. But where, oh where!, are the secular moralists who are capable of shining through the rubbish? Where are the writers and readers who want to learn how to be better and happier living their ever-longer lives on earth?!

Why are publishers saying no to any books that are not liberal or tribalistic in nature? Why is there outrage over “literary fiction” books even existing anymore? Because our culture is dying.

I can blame liberal ideology and religious ideology to a certain extent, but beyond that I am unsure. All I know is that the worst thing an individual can do is desensitize themselves to life. And, yet, drugs, drinking, hedonism in general, even rushing from one loud event to the next or traveling all over the world without one moment to rest are causing a group of desensitized people to roam around the earth and teach their children the same. When the music dies down and the party leaves, people can no longer stand being with their own thoughts and so they repeat the numbing process over and over again in one endless cycle.

I remember when I was presenting my literary thesis to my professors in undergrad. When I finished, one commented about how they thought it was a theatrical performance because of the way I read it and openly mocked me when I said that the meaning of life was about happiness. My professors were a product, in the most extreme way, of a culture that is dying, if not already dead. They were cynical, could not take their own subject seriously, and believe that “Truth” is outside of reality. My rebellious heart raged that day, and I will never forget it. Yet, again, here is the Left telling me that I cannot know anything, just as much as the religious Right does.

Well, I refuse to believe that I cannot know how to be happy or that it is not a worthy goal. And I would rather feel too much anxiety about every little thing in my life than nothing at all. I would rather feel deep gratitude for what appear to most as “boring” or “inane” things; I would rather feel endless sorrow for a loss in my life than to drown them in drink; I would rather behave as innocently as a child, than as cynically as a manic-depressive professor. Life becomes more bearable when you know madness does not arise “out of the blue” but is built up by hundreds of little acts of transgression over time that you and the others around you never cared to notice. Being in a desensitized state is a killer to human beings; don’t let it get you next.

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Views Expressed Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies, or opinions of American Wordsmith, LLC. Please also know that while I consider myself an Objectivist and my work is inspired by Objectivism, it is not nor should it be considered Objectivist since I am not the creator of the philosophy. For more information about Ayn Rand’s philosophy visit: aynrand.org.