Big and Small

(Delicatessen in a war-zone)



A month ago, the same day that my son came to the World a priest was saying a speech at the (catholic) church where we were invited to a relative's ceremony.
He was addressing dozens of innocent children around ten years old with these exact words: "...You all have to promise that you will never put yourself first, that you will always sacrifice for others because thinking first in yourself is the worst sin of all..."
Perhaps it was the reason why my son tried to born at the church itself, tired, bored or worse feared about so much stupidity
In any case he came at the right moment to save us from continue hearing the priest's discourse and hurry to the hospital

And I suddenly understood that long night observing through the huge windows of the hospital's room at the distant lights of the city, that this is a war-zone, that the priest's message was not ingenuous, that the enemy is still building trenches outside, still poisoning the people's minds, still trying to make everyone (including probably themselves) unhappy, guilty, lost, weak, disappointed, low self-esteemed, coward, and the list goes on...

I suddenly also realized that it was perhaps somehow pointless trying to discuss in this blog small details about Objectivism, subtle differences with the original Ayn Rand's thoughts or ARI's position about some minor subjects, when in reality there was a war outside those dark glasses, in every corner of the temporarily dormant city, at every school, at every TV show, home and work place, inside every mind. The oldest war in the World, the war of good against evil.
Would some "internal" discussion make weaker a philosophy? Would some argument about a tree make people losing the forest? Would some little difference allow the enemy to attack with more chances to win? I don't know.

But well... Anyway and finally it is surely not pointless the exercise of the mind, the desire of going beyond, the need of using the intelligence. So from now on I will just try to put in this blog my own thoughts about my experience as objectivist. A little success here, a poem, a little discovery there... You never know who can read, you never know who could some idea be useful to.

Objectivism 2.0

(Introduction)



I have to say first that I was quite much objectivist long time before knowing about Ayn Rand's Objectivism and her wonderful work.
Thus adopting this philosophy was for me more a return, a deepening and an affirmation than a discovery.
But despite this, reading each one of her books was a shocking, beautiful and exciting experience.

By the way perhaps you have noted that in the header of the blog about Ayn Rand and her philosophy I purposely used this word "...beautiful sense of life ever discovered..." it is because while reading "The Virtue of Selfishness" I suddenly realized that her philosophy the Objectivism was always there, in the common sense of our ultra-modern everyday life, or in the ancient savannah where the first tribes of Homo Erectus struggled to survive almost two millons years ago using the most powerful weapon ever created: their minds.

While reading any of the Ayn Rand's writings I constantly wonder why there were no other people capable of putting together all the Objectivism's truths as brilliantly as she did...
Perhaps the answer is that she suffered the oppression of the Russian's socialism and mysticism in her own flesh before escaping to USA, or perhaps this little, almost fragile woman, was more brave, intelligent and intellectually honest than virtually any man before.

While other philosophies are more close to "invents" (some of them really weird and even awful), Objectivism is a simple, enlightening magnificent discovery.

The modification in the color of the Atlas Shrugged's picture above symbolizes the evolution, the only constant: the change.
The Ying-Yang's border icon represents other concepts which I will talk later about, like the theory of conflict, the cycles of the processes, the importance of the frontiers, the exceptions and the rules, the quantity vs. quality in the philosophy and life, the tools of intuition, emotions and feelings, the Gods and religions, etc.
Those other concepts eventually complement, expand and enhance the original Ran'd vision of the Objectivism, without getting in contradiction with its basic principles.

This blog will be also eventually dedicated to talk about other Objectivism related experiences, art, etc. like the Canadian group of music Rush by example.