Layered Thoughts

I’ve now read two of Rand’s books, both The Fountainhead as well Anthem. The Fountainhead is one of the longer books I’ve ever read and was surprisingly engrossing considering the subject of the book. It also taught me to appreciate philosophical fiction, or a fiction with a point as I like to describe it (Yeah, fiction has a point, but Rand used her fiction to purvey her entire philosophy, which the vast majority of fiction authors do not do).

I read Anthem yesterday (it’s a little over 100 pages, pretty easy read). As Rand said herself, the purpose of the book was not the plot or story, but instead the values put forth by it. And that becomes pretty obvious as you read through the book. No character is ever developed enough to really go one way or another with how you feel about them and no location is ever detailed enough to paint a clear picture as to what it looks like. It’s almost refreshing in a way, a very open ended short story.

I think the most significant thing I took from the book was a quote in Chapter 11. The quote perfectly portrays Rand’s Objectivist viewpoint, her “self-centered, selfish” philosophy where no other man is greater than oneself and that our happiness should not be dependent upon others but instead should come from within. Here it is:

I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

The reason I love this quote so much is because it aligns with a lot of my own life ideals and I think a lot of entrepreneurial minded people can also find some inspiration in it. I’m often asked why I want to make a lot of money in life. I respond by saying that it’s not the money that matters, the money is a byproduct of the satisfaction people get from using my product that I built and am proud of. If they weren’t satisfied, they wouldn’t pay me.

My happiness comes from knowing that I built a product I’m proud of that solves problems for others. Even if no one else uses it, I’d still be happy that I built a great tool. But knowing that others need it makes it even more powerful. And that is all the justification that is needed. There is no higher goal that needs to be fulfilled to justify my desire to make a good product that makes money. If that makes me happy then that is all that matters.

Well, I’ve learned that the difference between saying you will do something and actually doing it can sometimes be pretty devastating. So rather than promise to write here more often and promise to do anything else anymore, I’m just going to actually do the things instead. Letting my actions speak for themselves I guess. I went to the gym yesterday, it was nice to go again. I’ll be going today when I get home from school, two days in a row! haha. Til then…