tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65442648832969892422024-03-08T07:02:55.802-05:00Exalted Moments“(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 RandUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-41462128256894590032012-03-08T03:23:00.001-05:002012-03-08T03:23:00.501-05:00"Sex As Metaphysical"Sex, in Ayn Rand's identification, is "a celebration of [one]self and of existence"; it is a celebration of one's power to gain values and of the world in which one gains them. Sex, therefore, is a form of feeling happiness, but from a special perspective. Sex is the rapture of experiencing emotionally two interconnected achievements: self-esteem and the benevolent-universe conviction.
Sexual Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-77152790189709614952012-03-07T03:17:00.000-05:002012-03-07T03:17:00.577-05:00Sex And MoralityNote how dreadful the general attitude on sex is: since all [the accepted] philosophies damn man, his life, and the earth—men's attitude on sex is a degrading, ugly, corrupting evil, in all the many variations. And this is another proof that sex is the expression of one's entire philosophy and attitude toward life. Since most people's philosophy is a hodgepodge of contradictory bits, so is their Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-68079908178201697592012-02-29T03:13:00.000-05:002012-02-29T03:13:00.302-05:00Hank Rearden And Sex"He learns that the capacity of sex is physical, a mechanism for the use and expression of his spirit, the means of expressing in physical form one's greatest celebration of life, of joy, of one's highest self-exaltation and one's highest moral values in regard to man—that is, in regard to himself and the woman of his choice. He learns that sex is the means and form of translating spiritual Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-16666951666152525702012-02-22T03:09:00.000-05:002012-02-22T03:09:00.430-05:00Difference Between Ayn Rand's Morality And Hedonism"This is the difference between my morality and hedonism. The standard is not: "that is good which gives me pleasure, just because it gives me pleasure" (which is the standard of the dipsomaniac or the sex-chaser)—but "that is good which is the expression of my moral values, and that gives me pleasure." Since the proper moral code is based on man's nature and his survival, and since joy is the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-27897074022783386152012-02-15T03:06:00.000-05:002012-02-15T03:06:00.274-05:00Uniting The Mind And Body"(Perhaps sex is the one field that unites the needs of mind and body, with the mind determining the desire and the body providing the means of expressing it. But the sex act itself is only that—an expression. The essence is mental, or spiritual.)"
Ayn Rand, The Journals of Ayn Rand, p. 555.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-75240797754664045872012-02-08T03:00:00.000-05:002012-02-08T03:00:05.117-05:00"The Personal Enjoyment In Human Relationships"I would like to add that whenever a young man shaves or a young girl makes up her face, or either of them puts on attractive clothes, it is done for the implicit purpose of arousing sexual thoughts and desires—which does not mean the intention of rushing to bed with every stranger, but merely the wish to be admired, to receive a tacit acknowledgment of one's sexual value qua man or woman. This Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-43089896765869804872012-02-01T02:56:00.002-05:002012-02-01T02:56:00.498-05:00Thought Control and Sex"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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-1855770740843222572012-01-25T02:53:00.002-05:002012-01-25T02:53:00.548-05:00"Sex Is Not a Separate Nor A Purely Physical Attribute Of A Man's Character""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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-57804546490509516132012-01-15T02:50:00.001-05:002012-01-15T02:50:00.263-05:00"One Of The Most Important Aspects Of Human Life"" 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. 230Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-21113789852369129052012-01-08T02:44:00.001-05:002012-01-08T02:44:00.141-05:00Francisco and HankFrancisco 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-30764479566994571542011-12-19T02:39:00.000-05:002011-12-19T02:39:00.414-05:00Francisco and DagnyFrancisco 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-67461288902536304992011-11-21T03:12:00.010-05:002011-11-21T03:12:00.844-05:00Art And CognitionArt 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-13353705175903112482011-11-14T06:56:00.005-05:002011-11-14T06:56:00.171-05:00The Isle Of Lost ShipsLetter 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-5057448830255196462011-11-07T01:45:00.001-05:002011-11-07T01:45:01.520-05:00HumorOn 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 imaginationUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-68421681051387032392011-10-31T02:48:00.001-04:002011-10-31T02:48:00.670-04:00Sense Of LifeSense 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-48645430544220096372011-10-24T02:50:00.017-04:002011-10-24T02:50:00.433-04:00Subject & Style In Art & Psycho-EpistemologySubject 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-79240058546099141192011-10-17T06:50:00.002-04:002011-10-17T06:50:00.658-04:00Rand Letter To Fan: Roark Did Not Rape DominiqueLetter 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-9506903378404602822011-10-10T01:30:00.005-04:002011-10-10T01:30:00.892-04:00Why Plot Is ImportantWhy 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-47709181437095096702011-10-03T04:17:00.010-04:002011-10-03T04:17:00.194-04:00One Emotion For Which They Had No EquivalentDagny 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-9494518865946967392011-09-26T04:13:00.010-04:002011-09-26T04:13:00.096-04:00It Was A Symphony Of TriumphDagny 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-48359817947587241392011-09-19T04:10:00.006-04:002011-09-19T04:10:00.900-04:00What Is My Joy If...?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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-52420472833580659202011-09-12T06:43:00.000-04:002011-09-12T06:43:00.127-04:00More Sacred Than The Privacy Of A Romance Between A Man And A WomanAyn 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,Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-78146505643639953852011-09-05T02:32:00.001-04:002011-09-05T02:32:00.501-04:00Psycho-Epistemology And WritingJudging 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-52741763205588821852011-08-29T01:19:00.000-04:002011-08-29T01:19:00.487-04:00Happiness Is A State Of Noncontradictory JoyDr. 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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544264883296989242.post-41782642867729185332011-08-22T06:31:00.000-04:002011-08-22T06:31:00.449-04:00Kira Saw In Him "What Could Have Been"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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0