On Rand

My senior year of high school was a particularly bleak time of solidarity, frantic breakdowns about college, and tea - lots of different types of tea that helped me stay awake till 2AM and rise at 6AM. During that time, there was one book that changed my life, attitude, and personal philosophy. I picked up The Fountainhead and finished reading it in around two days.

 Falling in love with The Fountainhead meant falling in love with Howard Roark. I finally felt like I figured out what true meaning is - we are the makers of our future, and we should fight for our ideals and never settle anything below them. Howard Roark was my canon man, the type of person who fought hard for what he loved and did not vacillate or warp his ideals into collectivist ones for greed, fame, or love.

After reading The Fountainhead, I fell in love with modern architecture and design. I began to do more research and discovered Frank Lloyd Wright, largely considered the father of modern architecture and the inspiration behind Howard Roark. There's a lot of beauty behind the philosophy of architecture; by that, I mean the ability to incorporate practicality, minimalism, and design a space that fits form and function in a way that does not incorporate excess.

My love for modern architecture and my belief that one should try to define his/her own individualistic self  are probably the only things I still carry from The Fountainhead. I used to advocate for Rand's beliefs, but two years later, I can say that I don't believe in her methods, and I believe that a person's path will not be only composed of hard work and true passion, but also roadblocks, obstacles, and unfortunate circumstances that will block a person's way not reflective of how hard they worked or how passionate they truly are. I was one of those misguided youth who identified as a libertarian.. Thankfully, I saw the light.

I picked up Atlas Shrugged, and to be completely frank, I hated it. I hated the characters, I hated the radical solution, I hated it all. It's not practical, it has a marginalized scope and view, and fails to entertain as The Fountainhead did for me. I don't believe we should have institutions specifically provided for only "the great thinkers" of our time nor do I believe that the solution is to remove everyone else i.e. the looters. There will always be looters i.e. people are motivated solely for money, power, status/ etc.  without regards to the integrity of the product he/she is selling, "the good guys" the people who have ideals that they fervently stand by without fluctuating for any cause, and the rest who are idle or collective or whatever Rand wants to characterize them as.

 Though I still question what the intentions behind altruism are, if it's a selfish or selfless practice, I fervently believe that altruism is necessary in this world. It boils down to the fact that many people brush off others who want to help as idealistic or naive, but in reality, if those people did not do it, then who would? And then what would happen to society if everyone stopped caring?

It's important, in my opinion, to read these books but to also really consider how society has functioned and the changes that are in our political and global sphere that can once again alter it to a new ideal. I took away a lot from Rand when I was searching for meaning, as well as from Thoreau's books and existentialism. They shaped a lot of the things about the self and helped me reached a sense of security; however, I believe that there will always be selfish and selfless ways to act.

Though I still believe that the meaning of life is to give live a meaning, I think it's important to also consider how your meaning of life affects others. Every person is different, follows a completely different path in life that affect the outcomes. We are composed of genes, mutations, and deletions that affect how we function - to deny the importance of science in this regard is being myopic. Science explains the phenomena in our world, and no matter how rigid or "one answer" it may seem, it contributes a lot to the discussion of why and how things are the way they are. It is not a completely rigid field, as discoveries on a daily basis prove or disprove past conclusions. Essentially, we are all product of nature AND nurture, so clearly, we will not be a homogenous group with homogenous meanings and ideas. To accept that is the key to moving forward.