Urban Arson

As a follow up to my Atlas Shrugged Review, I came to a conclusion as I tried to fall asleep at 5 am (I’m an insomniac).

After you are provided with the information which will shape your future self; advice which you feel in your heart of hearts is irrefutable, is there a moral obligation to follow that guidance?

This has happened to me a few times throughout the years and I’ve always gone along with it. After crossing the paths of successful people I tend to follow in their footsteps, making a concerted effort to remain in stride with the actions which brought them success. After a while I either choose to adopt their secrets as part of my own regimen or let them fall by the wayside. These are only actions which can help you achieve your goals and may not work for you because everyone is different. You can easily allow the actions of others to come and go in your life without risk to your moral clarity.

But if you are stricken by an idea so rational, logical, irrefutable, and universally applicable to myriad situations that you stand in awe of its genius, I believe morally it must be adhered to with the strongest of convictions. You must dedicate your life to living within its bounds and continue to elaborate on it when you feel you have a proper grasp of its immense scope. If after reading a book like Atlas Shrugged you feel a twinge of guilt for a wasted moment or a partially fulfilled life then by all means follow through with its teachings or risk the toil of regret and eventual moral bankruptcy.

I have received a gift in the form of Ayn Rand’s words which have set me forth on a quest to achieve my own greatness. To ignore them now would be vile phlegm spat in the face of morality. What is read can never be unread. What is learned can never be unlearned. What is taught can never be untaught.

I will one day be a Dagny Taggert, a Midas Mulligan, a Richard Halley, an Ellis Wyatt, a Kay Ludlow, a Hugh Akston, a Hank Rearden, a Francisco d’Anconia, a Ragnar Danneskjöld, a John Galt. A person pure of thought, worthy of entry into “Galt’s Gulch.” The Mount Olympus of the Mind; the Valhalla of an Intellectual Spirit.

If you ever receive exceptionally profound advice, take heed, immediately apply it to your everyday life, and continue to maintain and update it for your remainder.

Tags: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Morality

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 04:27:47 and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.