tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65442648832969892422012-02-01T07:46:27.349-05:00“(P)erhaps the most important point in the whole book ('Atlas Shrugged')…that one must live for the sake of such exalted moments as one may be able to achieve or experience, not for the sake of suffering.” -- Ayn RandExalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-43089896765869804872012-02-01T02:56:00.002-05:002012-02-01T02:56:00.498-05:00

"Apparently, the Roth decision considers discussions of sex permissible (particularly, as it points out, "in art, literature and scientific works"), but prohibited if they appeal to sexual interest or arouse sexual desire. I submit that a work of art or literature which deals with sex without appealing to such interest, is guilty of lousy craftsmanship." Ayn Rand, The Ayn Rand Letter, Thought

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-1855770740843222572012-01-25T02:53:00.002-05:002012-01-25T02:53:00.548-05:00

"The subject of the five "obscenity" cases was not obscenity as such—which is a marginal and inconsequential matter—but a much deeper issue: the sexual aspect of man's life. Sex is not a separate nor a purely physical attribute of a man's character: it involves a complex integration of all his fundamental values. So it is not astonishing that cases dealing with sex (even in its ugliest

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-57804546490509516132012-01-15T02:50:00.001-05:002012-01-15T02:50:00.263-05:00

" I do not regard sex as evil—I regard it as good, as one of the most important aspects of human life..." Ayn Rand, The Ayn Rand Letter, Censorship: Local and Express, p. 230

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-21113789852369129052012-01-08T02:44:00.001-05:002012-01-08T02:44:00.141-05:00

Francisco and Hank: "Do I strike you as a man with a miserable inferiority complex?" "Good God, no!" "Only that kind of man spends his life running after women." "What do you mean?" "Do you remember what I said about money and about the men who seek to reverse the law of cause and effect? The men who try to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind? Well, the man who despises

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-30764479566994571542011-12-19T02:39:00.000-05:002011-12-19T02:39:00.414-05:00

Francisco and Dagny: That summer, she met him in the woods, in hidden corners by the river, on the floor of an abandoned shack, in the cellar of the house. These were the only times when she learned to feel a sense of beauty—by looking up at old wooden rafters or at the steel plate of an air-conditioning machine that whirred tensely, rhythmically above their heads. She wore slacks or cotton

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-67461288902536304992011-11-21T03:12:00.010-05:002011-11-21T03:12:00.844-05:00

Art and cognition: The development of human cognition starts with the ability to perceive things, i.e., entities. Of man's five cognitive senses, only two provide him with a direct awareness of entities: sight and touch. The other three senses—hearing, taste and smell—give him an awareness of some of an entity's attributes (or of the consequences produced by an entity): they tell him that

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-13353705175903112482011-11-14T06:56:00.005-05:002011-11-14T06:56:00.171-05:00

Letter to Henry Blanke from Ayn Rand. Well, this is a long introduction in order to tell you what an exceptional plot value you have in The Isle of Lost Ships. If this story is given your kind of beautiful production—I will go on record, here, on paper, to predict that it will be a multimillion dollar hit. This story has the same elements of appeal as The Fountainhead. No, not literally the

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-5057448830255196462011-11-07T01:45:00.001-05:002011-11-07T01:45:01.520-05:00

On humor: Jean Kerr, the author of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, is a benevolent humorist. She is allegedly complaining about the hard lot of a mother and the difficulty of coping with children. For instance, when her children eat the daisies, that is supposed to be a great evil on their part. But is that in fact what she is saying? No; she is really conveying the adventurousness and imagination

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-68421681051387032392011-10-31T02:48:00.001-04:002011-10-31T02:48:00.670-04:00

Sense of life: A sense of life is a pre-conceptual equivalent of metaphysics, an emotional, subconsciously integrated appraisal of man and of existence. It sets the nature of a man’s emotional responses and the essence of his character. Long before he is old enough to grasp such a concept as metaphysics, man makes choices, forms value-judgments, experiences emotions and acquires a certain

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-48645430544220096372011-10-24T02:50:00.017-04:002011-10-24T02:50:00.433-04:00

Subject and style in art: Whatever the case may be, it is the subject (qualified by the theme) that projects an art work's view of man's place in the universe. The theme of an art work is the link uniting its subject and its style. "Style" is a particular, distinctive or characteristic mode of execution. An artist's style is the product of his own psycho-epistemology—and, by implication, a

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-79240058546099141192011-10-17T06:50:00.002-04:002011-10-17T06:50:00.658-04:00

Letter from Ayn Rand to fan about relationship between Roark and Dominique: Dear Mr. Coleman: Here is another letter to leave to your heirs, since you say that is what you intend to do with my first one. Your confession about your personal problem made me feel that I have to lecture you a little bit. I am afraid that you have misunderstood the relationship of Roark and Dominique in a very

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-9506903378404602822011-10-10T01:30:00.005-04:002011-10-10T01:30:00.892-04:00

Why plot is important: For instance, the meaning of the Dagny-Rearden romance in Atlas Shrugged is that their shared ideas, values, and struggle is the root of their love. Consider what a non-plot writer would have done with this material, Dagny would come to Rearden's office, they would start talking, and suddenly he would draw her into his arms and they would kiss. This is realistic, it can

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-47709181437095096702011-10-03T04:17:00.010-04:002011-10-03T04:17:00.194-04:00

Dagny Taggart and the railroad: She never tried to explain why she liked the railroad. Whatever it was that others felt, she knew that this was one emotion for which they had no equivalent and no response. She felt the same emotion in school, in classes of mathematics, the only lessons she liked. She felt the excitement of solving problems, the insolent delight of taking up a challenge and

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-9494518865946967392011-09-26T04:13:00.010-04:002011-09-26T04:13:00.096-04:00

Dagny Taggart: She sat listening to the music. It was a symphony of triumph. The notes flowed up, they spoke of rising and they were the rising itself, they were the essence and the form of upward motion, they seemed to embody every human act and thought that had ascent as its motive. It was a sunburst of sound, breaking out of hiding and spreading open. It had the freedom of release and the

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-48359817947587241392011-09-19T04:10:00.006-04:002011-09-19T04:10:00.900-04:00

From Anthem: What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey? Ayn Rand, Anthem, p. 112.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-52420472833580659202011-09-12T06:43:00.000-04:002011-09-12T06:43:00.127-04:00

Ayn Rand on the sacred nature of writing: I'm glad if people can grasp the idea of my story. I'm glad if they like the sex. I'm glad if they buy the book at all. But none of this has anything to do with my book ["The Fountainhead"]. All of this is a personal indulgence which I can permit myself after the book is written and published. I can then permit myself to enjoy all those secondary things,

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-78146505643639953852011-09-05T02:32:00.001-04:002011-09-05T02:32:00.501-04:00

Judging one's audience when writing: A "type of audience" is an abstraction. Concretely, you will find evaders and people with dreadful psycho-epistemologies in any audience (including an Objectivist one). The cognitive level of your readers does not determine their psycho-epistemology. Children can make a more intelligent, better focused audience than professors. Therefore, do not give any

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-52741763205588821852011-08-29T01:19:00.000-04:002011-08-29T01:19:00.487-04:00

Dr. Peikoff on happiness: "Happiness," writes Ayn Rand, in an important elaboration of her definition, is a state of noncontradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind's fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-41782642867729185332011-08-22T06:31:00.000-04:002011-08-22T06:31:00.449-04:00

Ayn Rand on Kira of "We The Living": Kira saw in him "what he could have been." Her romance with him is also her desperate fight to "keep them from getting him." As to Leo, his love for her was the best thing in his life. It was all of his higher sentiments and better self. The "man that could have been" understood Kira, saw the superior woman in her, and loved her more than he had ever loved

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-4071596490172792462011-08-15T02:22:00.000-04:002011-08-15T02:22:00.646-04:00

More on psycho-epistemology and art from Dr. Peikoff: So far, I have been considering the subject of an art work, or what it presents—the perceptual concretes that convey its view of the world. But there is another essential aspect of art: style, i.e., how the artist presents his subject. "The subject of an art work," writes Ayn Rand, "expresses a view of man's existence, while the style

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-37009751210013861812011-08-08T02:15:00.000-04:002011-08-08T02:15:01.649-04:00

Dr. Leonard Peikoff on art and psycho-epistemology: An art work does not formulate the metaphysics it represents; it does not (or at least need not) articulate definitions and principles. So art by itself is not enough in this context. But the point is that philosophy is not enough, either. Philosophy by itself cannot satisfy man's need of philosophy. Man requires the union of the two:

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-52260913818002373312011-08-01T02:00:00.003-04:002011-08-01T02:00:08.616-04:00

Ayn Rand on psycho-epistemology: Men's epistemology—or, more precisely, their psycho-epistemology, their method of awareness—is the most fundamental standard by which they can be classified. Few men are consistent in that respect; most men keep switching from one level of awareness to another, according to the circumstances or the issues involved, ranging from moments of full rationality to an

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-62527180378437234592011-07-25T06:33:00.003-04:002011-07-25T07:20:45.359-04:00

Dr. Leonard Peikoff on The Fountainhead, happiness, and rationality. A man does not qualify as rational if he walks around in a daze but once in a while, when someone mentions a fact, he wakes up long enough to say "I'll accept that," then relapses again. Rationality requires the systematic use of one's intelligence. Ayn Rand's novels abound in instructive examples of this aspect of virtue.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-84961798804501071882011-07-18T06:17:00.006-04:002011-07-18T06:17:00.705-04:00

Dagny Taggart as a teen: Mrs. Taggart watched her daughter in unhappy bewilderment. She could have forgiven all the omissions, but one: Dagny showed no sign of interest in men, no romantic inclination whatever. Mrs. Taggart did not approve of extremes; she had been prepared to contend with an extreme of the opposite kind, if necessary; she found herself thinking that this was worse. She felt

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-53391907812916456682009-07-23T13:52:00.003-04:002009-07-23T14:00:38.123-04:00

This is the essential message of "Atlas Shrugged". Dagny is in Galt's Gulch. She is speaking with Ragnar Danneskjold. "How can"—she tried to stop, but the words burst involuntarily, in helpless indignant protest, whether against him, fate or the outer world, she could not tell—"how can she live through eleven months of thinking that you, at any moment, might be...?" She did not finish.He was

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-81029165121495179402009-07-11T05:17:00.002-04:002009-07-11T05:17:00.967-04:00

This quote from Ayn Rand is highly relevant today -- the egalitarian hatred of "the fountainhead of all goods, spiritual or material -- the men of ability." Paging Professor Barack Obama. Professor? Professor?The classic example of vicious irresponsibility is the story of Emperor Nero who fiddled, or sang poetry, while Rome burned. An example of similar behavior may be seen today in a less

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-46131810057143215382009-07-09T05:18:00.004-04:002011-07-10T11:27:50.659-04:00

Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart discussion in Atlas Shrugged: He made a step back and said in a strange tone of dispassionate wonder, "We're a couple of blackguards, aren't we?" "Why?" "We haven't any spiritual goals or qualities. All we're after is material things. That's all we care for." She looked at him, unable to understand. But he was looking past her, straight ahead, at the crane in

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-19234505429143580122009-07-04T04:05:00.000-04:002009-07-04T04:05:02.634-04:00

Conversation between Dominique Francon and Gail Wynand:He stood, slouched carelessly, one arm raised, grasping a stanchion. She saw the sparks flowing, forming the edges of waves, framed by the curve of his body.That, too, was becoming to him. She said:"May I name another vicious bromide you've never felt?""Which one?""You've never felt how small you were when looking at the ocean."He laughed. "

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-46033579790731613832009-07-02T03:55:00.000-04:002009-07-02T03:55:00.801-04:00

Ayn Rand's view of Marilyn Monroe:A woman, the only one, who was able to project the glowingly innocent sexuality of a being from some planet uncorrupted by guilt—who found herself regarded and ballyhooed as a vulgar symbol of obscenity—and who still had the courage to declare: "We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift."A

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-26027511712336759402009-06-30T03:50:00.002-04:002009-06-30T03:50:00.881-04:00

Ayn Rand on Victor Hugo:You may read any number of more "realistic" accounts of the French Revolution, but Hugo's is the one you will remember. He is not a reporter of the momentary, but an artist who projects the essential and fundamental. He is not a statistician of gutter trivia, but a Romanticist who presents life "as it might be and ought to be." He is the worshipper and the superlative

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-23452745503811694912009-06-25T03:39:00.001-04:002009-06-25T03:39:01.066-04:00

Ayn Rand quoted by Leonard Peikoff on what is worth re-creating in art:Misery, disease, disaster, evil, all the negatives of human existence, are proper objects of study in life, for the purpose of understanding and correcting them—but are not proper objects of contemplation for contemplation's sake. In art, and in literature, these negatives are worth recreating only in relation to some positive

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-54800860449841142182009-06-23T03:06:00.002-04:002009-06-23T03:06:01.074-04:00

Leonard Peikoff:Productive ability is a value by the standard of man's life—and because, like all values, a course of virtue is required in order to gain and keep it. An individual is not born with the knowledge, the skills, or the imaginative ideas that give rise to greatness or even competence in any creative field. He must acquire, then use, all these assets by a volitional process. At each

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-38103493664128289352009-06-18T02:49:00.001-04:002009-06-18T08:59:52.463-04:00

Dagny meeting up with the others in Galt's Gulch:"This?" She laughed, suddenly, looking at the faces of the men against the golden sunburst of rays filling the great windows. "This looks like … You know, I never hoped to see any of you again, I wondered at times how much I'd give for just one more glimpse or one more word—and now—now this is like that dream you imagine in childhood, when you

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-65229781534211664432009-06-16T09:12:00.000-04:002009-06-16T09:12:00.975-04:00

Exalted quote from Ayn Rand. Exalting the wrong thing..."When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, 'Who is destroying the world?' You are."You stand in the

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-17833979930110403122009-06-11T12:36:00.000-04:002009-06-11T12:36:00.469-04:00

Ayn Rand on birth control, sex, and love:It is only animals that have to adapt themselves to their physical background and to the biological functions of their bodies. Man adapts his physical background and the use of his biological faculties to himself-to his own needs and values. That is his distinction from all other living species.To an animal, the rearing of its young is a matter of

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-16513636307225395432009-06-09T06:26:00.000-04:002009-06-09T07:20:19.506-04:00

Ayn Rand on The Romanticists:The Romanticists saw their cause primarily as a battle for their right to individuality and—unable to grasp the deepest metaphysical justification of their cause, unable to identify their values in terms of reason—they fought for individuality in terms of feelings, surrendering the banner of reason to their enemies.There were other, lesser consequences of this

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-81228128908697731302009-06-04T12:15:00.001-04:002011-07-10T11:28:48.565-04:00

Ayn Rand on music: Music conveys the same categories of emotions to listeners who hold widely divergent views of life. As a rule, men agree on whether a given piece of music is gay or sad or violent or solemn. But even though, in a generalized way, they experience the same emotions in response to the same music, there are radical differences in how they appraise this experience—i.e., how they

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-23831217560675406762009-06-02T04:32:00.000-04:002009-06-02T05:11:07.775-04:00

Ayn Rand from "The Chicken's Homecoming" on religion and philosophy:It is not a question of whether man chooses to be guided by a comprehensive view: he is not equipped to survive without it. The nature of his consciousness does not permit him an animal's percept-guided, range-of-the-moment form of existence. No matter how primitive his actions, he needs to project them into the future and to

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-37110315872889793922009-05-29T11:16:00.010-04:002009-05-29T11:51:33.275-04:00

For what reason should one want to achieve or experience an exalted moment? For the sake of God? For the sake of others (society, the state, other individuals)? For the sake of range-of-the-moment subjective whim?No.One should want to achieve or experience an exalted moment for one's self for the purpose of pursuing one's own happiness. The pursuit of one's happiness can only be achieved

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-19195568789519607192009-05-28T09:24:00.000-04:002009-05-28T09:56:36.908-04:00

Ayn Rand on sense of life, Perhaps the best way to communicate The Fountainhead's sense of life is by means of the quotation which had stood at the head of my manuscript, but which I removed from the final, published book. With this opportunity to explain it, I am glad to bring it back.I removed it, because of my profound disagreement with the philosophy of its author, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-65372207883629972382009-05-26T06:13:00.000-04:002009-05-26T07:56:50.774-04:00

Ayn Rand on religion, man-worship, and sense of life:This leads me to a wider issue which is involved in every line of The Fountainhead and which has to be understood if one wants to understand the causes of its lasting appeal.Religion's monopoly in the field of ethics has made it extremely difficult to communicate the emotional meaning and connotations of a rational view of life. Just as

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-20834435213709951732009-05-22T16:33:00.002-04:002009-05-22T16:37:44.939-04:00

Burgess Laughlin at Making Progress continues his focus on exaltation:In a free or semi-free society, the prospect of a life without the probability of occasional exaltation is a warning sign. If I were not feeling at least some moments of exaltation, I would examine my life to see why.He discusses the similarities and differences of happiness, glory, and...exaltation.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-5977202761335290542009-05-21T10:57:00.000-04:002009-05-21T10:57:00.728-04:00

Ayn Rand on religion and ethics:But an issue of this sort should not be left to implications. What I was referring to was not religion as such, but a special category of abstractions, the most exalted one, which, for centuries, had been the near-monopoly of religion: ethics—not the particular content of religious ethics, but the abstraction "ethics," the realm of values, man's code of good and

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-37258423020190757292009-05-19T10:44:00.000-04:002009-05-19T10:44:00.501-04:00

Ayn Rand on Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo:Although the priest does terrible things in the novel, one is never convinced that he is a total villain. Hugo obviously intended him as a villain, but, psychologically and philosophically, he was not sold on the idea. This conflict between Hugo's conscious convictions and his deepest, subconscious view of life shows in his style.If Hugo's full

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-43443756836518723712009-05-15T23:09:00.001-04:002009-05-15T23:13:09.645-04:00

Burgess Laughlin on gaining further understanding of "exaltation":Besides (1) examining one's own experiences as referents for a puzzling term/concept, (2) reading a dictionary for its list of conventional usages of the term/concept, and (3) investigating the etymology of a term, there is still another approach to better understanding a problematic term/concept: Consider its opposite.He

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-63511739984002149712009-05-15T05:35:00.055-04:002009-05-15T07:25:31.791-04:00

The sales rate of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is triple the rate of 2008. Given the attention of the novel, it is important to understand Miss Rand's point in writing it. Many think it was "prophecy". Many think it was to organize a strike ("Going Galt"). Many would be surprised to hear Miss Rand's answer: "Exalted moments."In a letter to a fan, she said of "Atlas Shrugged" and exalted

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-10527385184332592382009-05-14T05:32:00.000-04:002009-05-14T05:32:00.482-04:00

Leonard Peikoff on what is important:No concrete within an art work, such as the type of ending given to a story, can be judged outside the full context of the work. The point is that, within the context, every concrete, simply by virtue of being included, acquires significance.As a teenager, I told Miss Rand once that it was difficult to live up to the exalted quality of her novels. "If John

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-82357422908298861222009-05-12T06:17:00.001-04:002011-07-10T11:29:42.438-04:00

Leonard Peikoff on sex: No man desires everyone on earth. Each has some requirements in this regard, however contradictory or unidentified—and the rational man's requirements, here as elsewhere, are the opposite of contradictory. He desires only a woman he can admire, a woman who (to his knowledge) shares his moral standards, his self-esteem, and his view of life. Only with such a partner can he

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-75056838566542600422009-05-10T10:55:00.002-04:002009-05-10T11:04:27.824-04:00

Burgess Laughlin at Making Progress writes of "exaltation":In his first post (on April 11), "Introduction to 'Exalted Moments'," the anonymous author of the new Exalted Moments weblog quotes Ayn Rand's correspondence.Burgess has a lot to say. He focuses upon the importance, necessity, nature and other aspects of "exaltation". A very good read. Check it out.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-56439759636360337422009-05-07T06:56:00.000-04:002009-05-07T08:06:02.089-04:00

Editor David Harriman writes:Despite the tragic aspects of To Lorne Dieterling, the novel was to have an uplifting theme. AR's purpose was to show that Hella, as a profoundly independent person, can be affected "only down to a certain point." Though she suffers as a result of the moral treason of others, she is ultimately able to preserve the exalted sense of life that is so eloquently expressed

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-23551937722920738842009-05-05T16:45:00.000-04:002009-05-05T17:39:14.150-04:00

Leonard Peikoff on the future:There is no future for the world except through a rebirth of the Aristotelian approach to philosophy. This would require an Aristotelian affirmation of the reality of existence, of the sovereignty of reason, of life on earth—and of the splendor of man.Aristotle and Objectivism agree on fundamentals and, as a result, on this last point, also. Both hold that man can

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-3953002068754239352009-04-30T06:52:00.000-04:002009-04-30T06:52:00.934-04:00

From Ayn Rand's first philosophic journal:An example from my own experience, which, at the present time, affects me most, is the fact that few men have the ability or the desire to judge literary work by its essential worth. To most men, that work becomes valuable only after it has been recognized as such by someone else. They themselves do not have any standards of their own (and they do not

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-250638280198035282009-04-29T21:14:00.004-04:002009-04-29T21:30:52.869-04:00

Ayn Rand in Playboy:PLAYBOY: As a novelist, do you regard philosophy as the primary purpose of your writing?RAND: No. My primary purpose is the projection of an ideal man, of man "as he might be and ought to be." Philosophy is the necessary means to that end.

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-830097469337681382009-04-28T06:35:00.000-04:002009-04-28T06:35:00.909-04:00

Ayn Rand on The Night of January 16th:This means that its events are not to be taken literally; they dramatize certain fundamental psychological characteristics, deliberately isolated and emphasized in order to convey a single abstraction: the characters' attitude toward life. The events serve to feature the motives of the characters' actions, regardless of the particular forms of the actions—i.e

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-28660096114709448072009-04-23T06:27:00.000-04:002009-04-23T06:27:00.184-04:00

Ayn Rand on religion and sex:The theoreticians of religion know that it is impossible to prohibit thought. They do not expect the ban on sexual thoughts to be obeyed. Their purpose is not to abolish such thoughts, but to induce guilt—and thus to undercut man's self-esteem.The following small incident captures the essence of the religious censors' mentality. In the 1930s, the "self-censorship"

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-40484616755105749972009-04-21T09:19:00.000-04:002009-04-21T09:19:00.308-04:00

Exalted quote from Ayn Rand. This is John Galt speaking..."You, who dare to regard us as the moral inferiors of any mystic who claims supernatural visions—you, who scramble like vultures for plundered pennies, yet honor a fortune-teller above a fortune-maker—you, who scorn a businessman as ignoble, but esteem any posturing artist as exalted—the root of your standards is that mystic miasma which

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-14561602260157075792009-04-16T06:53:00.000-04:002009-04-16T06:53:00.120-04:00

Leonard Peikoff on Ayn Rand:Ayn Rand's real intellectual interest was emphatically not politics. Of course, she was a champion of capitalism and freedom. But unlike today's libertarians and conservatives, she was a thinker; she was not content to preach liberty or private property as though they were self-evident axioms. She wanted to know what they depend on and how they can be proved, all the

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-89169225748959789822009-04-14T17:48:00.003-04:002009-04-14T17:54:36.146-04:00

Ayn Rand on greatness:Greatness is achieved by the productive effort of a man's mind in the pursuit of clearly defined, rational goals. But a delusion of grandeur can be served only by the switching, undefinable chimera of a public monument—which is presented as a munificent gift to the victims whose forced labor or extorted money had paid for it—which is dedicated to the service of all and none,

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-78012421299533655482009-04-14T06:07:00.001-04:002009-04-14T08:11:15.880-04:00

Exalted quote by Ayn Rand from Atlas Shrugged:Dagny regretted at times that Nat Taggart was her ancestor. What she felt for him did not belong in the category of unchosen family affections. She did not want her feeling to be the thing one was supposed to owe an uncle or a grandfather. She was incapable of love for any object not of her own choice and she resented anyone's demand for it. But had

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-3476035636482177152009-04-13T12:59:00.000-04:002009-04-13T13:10:19.753-04:00

Do you have any additional relevant definitions?Exalted from Merriam-Webster:Main Entry: ex·alt Pronunciation: \ig-ˈzȯlt\ Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin exaltare, from ex- + altus high — more at old Date: 15th century transitive verb1: to raise in rank, power, or character2: to elevate by praise or in estimation : glorify3obsolete : elate4: to raise high : elevate5: to

Exalted Momentsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-6435988734843376092009-04-11T09:30:00.001-04:002011-07-10T11:30:23.009-04:00

Philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand was the originator of the philosophy known as "Objectivism". Of her famous novel "Atlas Shrugged", she wrote: You ask me about the meaning of the dialogue on page 702 of Atlas Shrugged: "'We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?" she whispered. "'No, we never had to.'" Let me begin by saying that this is perhaps the most important point in the whole book

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