Ayn Rand has a tendency to beat about the bush and her prolixity induces me to doze off now and then, but I believe that she was a brilliant writer. I may have started off with a very negative impression of her due to the fact that I found her first novel 'We the Living' extremely boring. It just dragged on and on with no plot or purpose. I swore never to read any more of her books. But books do have a tendency to seduce me and there I was reading the 'Fountainhead'. The characters were so alive and the plot so unique that I fell for it hook, line and sinker from the very first page. By the time I reached the end of the novel, my scepticism had transformed into adulation. Not only did she have a knack for story telling, but her philosophy was extremely thought provoking and different from anything I had ever experienced anywhere. Eager to devour more I grabbed Atlas Shrugged as soon as I could (which was actually 3 months later) . The style was similar but now she brought her philosophy out into the open. This mammoth novel explicitly stated the tenets of objectivism and I was pleasantly surprised.The dialogue delivery and thought process of the protagonists was innocent yet carried great insight. It was fabulous. Her philosophy did not change my way of thinking. It reinforced it. Instead of looking at the world through a foggy window, I was now looking at it through the clearest glass.
Now I won't get into what objectivism is. I think Mrs. Rand explains it better in her novels. What I will say is that for long this world has been negatively influenced by power hungry immoralists. It will probably continue till the extinction of the human race. But on the other side of the coin are the pinnacles of human intelligence, strength and endurance . This is one green meadow which we usually choose to ignore and then disparagingly proclaim that there is no good left in the world. Feats of accomplishment, raise a temporary hue and cry and are then relegated to the back of our minds, almost like skeletons in the closet. They are fast forgotten and everyone reverts to the "the grass is dying all around" philosophy. This state of mind is not healthy for the world. For the grass to get greener, the thinking of the people has to change. The immoralists, usually supported by unthinking people , and inspiring a mob mentality need to be chucked out of our system.
Unquestioning acceptance is one of the sins of which most humans on this earth are guilty. Until the argumentative and rational facet of the human mind is encouraged to grow, there can be no nirvana. The problems facing our civilization right now, i.e. hunger, famines, environmental disasters etc. are a consequence of the unchallenged reign of the immoralists. We, the indus valley civilization, one of the oldest civilizations have a long history of heterodoxy and dialogue as a political tool. I suggest you read Amartya Sen's work, especially 'The Argumentative Indian'. We all know that India was a prosperous nation before British rule. We were one of the wealthiest nations on earth, and that was before the industrial revolution. Today, a visitor to our country, and even many of our countrymen proclaim that the only possible way our country is progressing amidst the chaos, the poverty, the strife etc. is probably God's will or rather "bhagwaan bharose". It is not so. We are going forward because rationality has not died out. It is fighting an underground battle against the immoralists and will continue to do so. If we continue to have blind faith in irrational entities and statements, atlas shall shrug.
Now I won't get into what objectivism is. I think Mrs. Rand explains it better in her novels. What I will say is that for long this world has been negatively influenced by power hungry immoralists. It will probably continue till the extinction of the human race. But on the other side of the coin are the pinnacles of human intelligence, strength and endurance . This is one green meadow which we usually choose to ignore and then disparagingly proclaim that there is no good left in the world. Feats of accomplishment, raise a temporary hue and cry and are then relegated to the back of our minds, almost like skeletons in the closet. They are fast forgotten and everyone reverts to the "the grass is dying all around" philosophy. This state of mind is not healthy for the world. For the grass to get greener, the thinking of the people has to change. The immoralists, usually supported by unthinking people , and inspiring a mob mentality need to be chucked out of our system.
Unquestioning acceptance is one of the sins of which most humans on this earth are guilty. Until the argumentative and rational facet of the human mind is encouraged to grow, there can be no nirvana. The problems facing our civilization right now, i.e. hunger, famines, environmental disasters etc. are a consequence of the unchallenged reign of the immoralists. We, the indus valley civilization, one of the oldest civilizations have a long history of heterodoxy and dialogue as a political tool. I suggest you read Amartya Sen's work, especially 'The Argumentative Indian'. We all know that India was a prosperous nation before British rule. We were one of the wealthiest nations on earth, and that was before the industrial revolution. Today, a visitor to our country, and even many of our countrymen proclaim that the only possible way our country is progressing amidst the chaos, the poverty, the strife etc. is probably God's will or rather "bhagwaan bharose". It is not so. We are going forward because rationality has not died out. It is fighting an underground battle against the immoralists and will continue to do so. If we continue to have blind faith in irrational entities and statements, atlas shall shrug.
1 comment:
Atlas shall shrug... where is Atlas? haven't seen him in a while.
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