February 25, 2008: Objectivist, Moi?
Given that my recent list of favorite novels includes two works by Ayn Rand, the question among my readers is inevitable: am I an Objectivist, a full-on follower of the Randian philosophy?
No, for two reasons:
1. Ayn Rand and her followers failed to see that her two greatest books, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, don't entirely support her absolutist statements about the nature of the Objectivism philosophy she claims to advance in them.
2. More simply, neither John Galt nor Howard Roark would be a part of any movement like the Objectivists. Instead of trying to win people over with political or social debate or persuasion, they just quietly persist doing the things they love with excellence and integrity, caring little about the opinions of society at large. To start a group and discuss ideas that should be obvious to all people of spiritual drive would seem absurd to them, just as it does to me.
A real Objectivist wouldn't care about being an Objectivist, and he or she certainly wouldn't go to a meeting or a debate about it.
What I get from both books is quite simple, independent of all the baggage Rand's philosophy seems to carry: a true commitment to excellence and happiness cannot depend upon or hope for the reward of others, even like-minded others. If you love to do something well, that is your reward. Galt and Roark "win" when they decide not to compromise with the world that fails to appreciate their work or even the elite that does.
Being a part of any movement--including Objectivism--seems antithetical to the themes of individual achievement, drive, and passion expressed in her books.
Your philosophy is expressed by what you love to create and how well you create it.
