Govtgirl
Cathlete
I would suggest a condensed version of "Atlas Shrugged." My husband thinks that's heresy, and says everyone should read the whole thing. But I've read it, and agree that it can get so wordy, people might get bored and not finish it to get the message. The message and philosophy can be life changing. It is what I essentially believed all along, but this book gave me "permission" to openly admit it, and defend it. It showed the logic of it, and showed how it was mirroring what was happening in my own life.
The philosophy is "Objectivism", it's what I personally believe in, and explains why I could NOT get through "A New Earth" no matter how much my friend kept nagging me! Even though I believe in the Objectivist philosophy, I still love fantasy, silly humor, and can watch movies like "Enchanted" 20 times! A tiny part of me still beleives in ghosts, thinks maybe toys do come alive when we leave the room
or that if I concentrate really really hard, I can make something across the room move . Anyway, a short intro to Objectivism:
From www.aynrand.org:
by Ayn Rand
At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged, one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy (Objectivism) while standing on one foot. I did as follows:
1. Metaphysics-- Objective Reality
2. Epistemology-- Reason
3. Ethics-- Self-interest
4. Politics-- Capitalism
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "Wishing won't make it so." 2. "You can't eat your cake and have it, too." 3. "Man is an end in himself." 4. "Give me liberty or give me death."
If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to define, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics.
My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:
Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses) is man's only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man's rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
The philosophy is "Objectivism", it's what I personally believe in, and explains why I could NOT get through "A New Earth" no matter how much my friend kept nagging me! Even though I believe in the Objectivist philosophy, I still love fantasy, silly humor, and can watch movies like "Enchanted" 20 times! A tiny part of me still beleives in ghosts, thinks maybe toys do come alive when we leave the room
or that if I concentrate really really hard, I can make something across the room move . Anyway, a short intro to Objectivism:From www.aynrand.org:
by Ayn Rand
At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged, one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy (Objectivism) while standing on one foot. I did as follows:
1. Metaphysics-- Objective Reality
2. Epistemology-- Reason
3. Ethics-- Self-interest
4. Politics-- Capitalism
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "Wishing won't make it so." 2. "You can't eat your cake and have it, too." 3. "Man is an end in himself." 4. "Give me liberty or give me death."
If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to define, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics.
My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:
Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses) is man's only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man's rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
