If everyone waited for examples then there will be no creations! Everyone will wait for some other guy to prove things. After reading the Fountainhead, you have a goal.
Problems come when:
A.Your goal is not clear
B. Your goal is clear but the method to achieve that Goal is not clear.
And when such problems arise, you want some examples. When you have examples, life become easy! Maybe a guy will write a self-help book on " How to be an Objectivist in 15 days!"
After meeting some people I pray everyday that Ms. Rand has a second life and she writes a self help book.Believe me, that book will be a Bestseller. The Reason? Everybody wants everything to be like Maagi Two minute noodles [Instant Success].
Problems come when:
A.Your goal is not clear
B. Your goal is clear but the method to achieve that Goal is not clear.
And when such problems arise, you want some examples. When you have examples, life become easy! Maybe a guy will write a self-help book on " How to be an Objectivist in 15 days!"
After meeting some people I pray everyday that Ms. Rand has a second life and she writes a self help book.Believe me, that book will be a Bestseller. The Reason? Everybody wants everything to be like Maagi Two minute noodles [Instant Success].
"I don't say that I won't do a thing or change my beliefs, if I don't get an example. But examples help, like reading Fountainhead made my beliefs stronger in my ways. ."
I don't think I'm an Objectivist because I read Fountainhead. Reason and Ethics are something that I valued before reading it. Do you think the character of Roark is something new? I don't think so. He is just a combination of everything that a man should be! So Roark is more of an Idea for me. Or you can say a concept.
Now having examples is always a plus point. But just because you don't have them, doesn't mean that the theory is impossible!
You will say that you have not met a Roark in your life. Or to be more clear: You have seen parts of Roark's personality in many people but not the whole package in one person.
There are billions of people living here. How can you prove that there isn't any?
A person like Roark doesn't seek any self advertisements..He only enjoys creating things and works behind the scenes! Therefore, He is never in the limelight.
"Roark cannot be real."
Roark looks complicated because Fountainhead is a fictional book. Ms. Rand had to reach a diverse groups of readers. Not everyone enjoys reading The Virtue of Selfishness you know!
To prove our points we have to start a reality show called " Kaun hain asli Objectivist?" and have hidden cameras!
A true objectivist doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.Objectivism is just a word and Roark is just a name. Why a word and a name means so much to us? Because we are weak and we need to remind ourselves that some lady had written a book which says that what I think is actually possible! I need a book to make sure that some other person actually thinks that my ideas are not weird.
Now having examples is always a plus point. But just because you don't have them, doesn't mean that the theory is impossible!
You will say that you have not met a Roark in your life. Or to be more clear: You have seen parts of Roark's personality in many people but not the whole package in one person.
There are billions of people living here. How can you prove that there isn't any?
A person like Roark doesn't seek any self advertisements..He only enjoys creating things and works behind the scenes! Therefore, He is never in the limelight.
"Roark cannot be real."
Roark looks complicated because Fountainhead is a fictional book. Ms. Rand had to reach a diverse groups of readers. Not everyone enjoys reading The Virtue of Selfishness you know!
To prove our points we have to start a reality show called " Kaun hain asli Objectivist?" and have hidden cameras!
A true objectivist doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.Objectivism is just a word and Roark is just a name. Why a word and a name means so much to us? Because we are weak and we need to remind ourselves that some lady had written a book which says that what I think is actually possible! I need a book to make sure that some other person actually thinks that my ideas are not weird.
" What if Roark had a physically disabled sister and a father who needs Heart Surgery?"
I will try my best to do whatever I can within the boundary of my principles. If there is no right way, then I'm afraid I cannot help my family. This sounds preposterous.
Everyone is an Objectivist during Summer Vacations (because the only thing you have to do is eat, watch movies and sleep).
Also, If I have adopted some philosophy I will simply practice it. I don't have to preach. Atleast philosophy shouldn't be advertised and marketed. And Philosophy is not a contest.
"When I was 19, I had the same convictions."
Yeah? Then meet me after few years when I'll be facing the "real" world. But how will I prove things? Only way is having hidden cameras!
" Writing here is not preaching?"
Maybe it is. One day I will delete this.
Everyone is an Objectivist during Summer Vacations (because the only thing you have to do is eat, watch movies and sleep).
Also, If I have adopted some philosophy I will simply practice it. I don't have to preach. Atleast philosophy shouldn't be advertised and marketed. And Philosophy is not a contest.
"When I was 19, I had the same convictions."
Yeah? Then meet me after few years when I'll be facing the "real" world. But how will I prove things? Only way is having hidden cameras!
" Writing here is not preaching?"
Maybe it is. One day I will delete this.
P.S. These were some posts from an Orkut Community.
22 comments:
i will like to have a nice long talk with you again. thats all i can say. its too good
And one day you might want to stop existing.
@ Alok
True :)When I'll be perfect :P
"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world
These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives
All this I cannot bear to witness any longer
Cannot The Kingdom of Salvation take me home?"
Oho so you want to go down the Cliff Burton path? ;)
@ Alok
:)
I really got what you mean.
"Oho so you want to go down the Cliff Burton path?"
Why Not?
Of course you can, just wanted to know.
To start with, "Everything is personal"- Godfather
When I say something it has got all my convictions which I follow in personal life.
I would be the happiest person to see you at my age with same convictions. Atleast, I'll find my Roark. I need no hidden cams, I'll go by your words. If you aren't arrogant enough and you can lie, I don't give a damn about your existence.
I would chose a thousand ways and give a thousand arguments for not being Roark, because I'm not as good as him. Still, you can't take away my right to understand him and love him. May be, I'll end up as Gail with a banner.
Hmmm...I personally don't think Howard Roark is possible. He's an enigma, a figment of imagination of how a man ought to be as you yourself said. Infact, I believe that if Howard Roark, if he were to exist, wouldn't be able to survive this world. He's too selfish for that. And unless you knew him personally, as in why he is what he is, you wouldn't like him one bit.
I have always wondered what would have happened to Howard Roark if Dominique hadn't left Gail Wynand and come back to him. Would his spirit have broken? Would he still be the same man that he was now that the only person he ever actually cared for choose someone else over him?
@Alok
I am not giving any opinion about what you said but just want your comments.
You know that Ayn Rand herself gave up everything in the latter part of her life. She believed that she had done all she could and could not do anything further to change the world's thought. Cliff Burton even though he had lets say barely started off felt the same.
Well I am not justfying the actions of the former nor thewords of the latter but just saying that there may be some truth in there..
@Farid
Well tell me one thing how many people do you or even me label as fools everyday in college?
Perhaps you should try gettin personal with them and see for yourself....
@mandar
True....very true!! But then Howard Roark isn't just another fool walking down our college campus, is he? The point is, even if you were to make an acquaintance with Howard Roark, you still wouldn't get him. He's, to put it in very simple terms, not just another normal human being.
who the fuck told you that you have to be a 'normal' human being (the term normal sucks by the way)
hell you are special at least i know that i am.
and one more thing too many fools walk down the college corridors huh...i am not too sure that all of them are fools..
Mandar,
As living beings, we have some responsibilities towards ourselves. To survive, to remain fit, to produce offspring.
If we exist, we represent something. The mere way by which we walk, talk, dress, write, says loads about our existence.
Now what meanings to attach to this depends on the viewer. If someone doesn't like your expression, it does not mean you should stop expressing. Because our life is in itself an expression. Do you want to stop existing if people don't like you?
hey buddy,
how are you and most importantly where are you?
missing our stupid conversations.
sorry fr using this as a chat box badi muskil se tumhare blog ka url dhunda, dnt hv anyother way to contact.
reply through email if possibl, i dnt have ur email id :(
Life is unfair getting used to it.
The first thing that I knew after reading the Fountainhead,
"Roark does not exist"
The second thing I knew after reading The Fountainhead
"I exist"
The third thing I knew after reading The Fountainhead
"There was no necessity to write it"
The fourth thing I felt after reading the Fountainhead
"Perhaps that's why it was written."
Lastly, what I think today is,
"I exist, and I must find every answer, and hence there is no objectivism, no Rand or Roarks. Infact, the very idea of roark's fictional existence being exemplary is, according to me, contradicts the very purpose of his existence, and if his existence is for the purpose of being exemplary, the he is contradiction in person.
"I am, and everything else is sand, I shape it in every shape I want to till I realize that I can only make a few shapes. And then I choose which shapes suits me, and know to suite which shapes, I am. I am a purpose, having a purpose, without knowing either. And hence always, I ask "Muss es sein?"
Will comment after reading Fountainhead... Gawddd.. finally D day has come.. i gotto read her to pass a comment... :(
TC.
Omi
why have you stopped writing???
kidhar hai balika? long time... come up .. wid some post...
Hope you are doing all well ..
Best regards,
omi
okay.. firstly, age has got nothing to do with what you believe in...if people tell you, when i was your age ..i used to be like u..its horse manure...if u really believe in something..you dont change...u dont mind the struggle u put up with...for ur convictions...most of the people (atleast the ones i saw), never really held their own...it was like..its too radical and romantic to talk in one way...and they do it...and then..they get bored of it..
you should really talk for long with people who tell you a lot of things... cos with time...they start contradicting themselves...what i do in such cases is mostly...shut up and listen...cos then i dont see any point in showing them what i see...
when you know urself..when u know what u hold onto...you are not going in one person's way..u are chalking out ur own way...and that doesnt come in any category...objectivist or whtever..rand just gave a name to ur thought...dont run after the name...run after ur thought...
there are people who hold their own...they struggled a lot to be whr they are...but they hold on...they help me live..and stick to what i believe in...
all said and done, if u r holding on to urself and it happens to a different way (which it will be) from what people are used to...you are bound to find obstacles...cos thts human nature..whenever...a collective finds an individual daring to go in a different..the collective feels insecure and tries to break the individual..tht's the herd mentality of human beings...that's what everything is based on..at the end of the day...ur wars, ur religion, everything...
i forget its a comments section...i should cut down on my words...
Roark or no Roark, Rand or no Rand! Mention FH and a few nonchalant words about it.. And the blog is Maggi-hit! Aha.
1)NOTHING is perfect
2)ROARK isnt
3)RAND isn't either
4)neither was MARX
5)nothing is PERFECT (not a typo)
i see too many ppl trying to follow Rand and her ideals, unfortunately for us she's no better/worse than Marx.
the truth is perfection only exists in the ethereal world coz watevr v cant judge for ourselves vl always remain flawless for us. flawlessness lies in our idea and that where the flaw is.the lies :)
us as human can only endeavour to b perfect, to be precise more perfect than last time, which is very important, but we can not under any circumstance can achieve it. we can get close though. that what people like Rand, Marx and even fictional character lik Roark succeed in :)
-
An idealistic idiot
On other days, would've left a longer comment; today am not feeling like.
Roark is a unidimensional idea - one wanting to create for the joy it brought. Or probably because creating was the only purpose he assigned to his life.
Rand had said that though in real like, common people had shreds of characters from her novels, none were completely like them. Characters in Rand's novels are not humans but the values they stand for. They are about the situations thrown up when these ideals interact with each other.
An interesting question I found in your post was:
"What if Roark had a physically disabled children & a father who needed heart surgery".
There indeed was such a Roark, but in her next work - Atlas shrugged, viz., Henry Rearden. He didn't have disabilities and diseases and financial burdens to take care of, but he had obligations. Obligations that were determined only by birth and thrust-upon relationships. Rearden appears such a weak character only because his purpose had been contaminated by obligations. But the moment he casts aways those obligations, he almost becomes a Roark!
One more thing you might have noticed is none of the objectivist characters in FH or AS had children. That's only because even Rand did not have all the answers! ;)
Finally what I can say is Roark in real world may not succeed, may not even be happy (because of unescapbale pains), but he is someone when present in you or in others you, can value.
Something I'd written before reading Rand:
http://ketanpanchal.blogspot.com/2009/03/every-one-has-dreams-ambitions.html
Cheers!
I'd like to see Fountainhead in the light of Ramayana .Ram was the idealistic man and so is Roark in a way.What we tend to forgot are the ideals ram was the icon for , I look at Roark and I'd like to asses his qualities.
Roark found joy in designing the buildings just like he wanted , now for him that was a source of joy ,nothing else and he knew that the day he gained conscience of himself.Had he had any obligations he would have not cared for them.This skill of his was artistic in nature , now lets look at something routine.
Consider the person who cleans the gutters of our city , surely it was not a job he wanted and surely he does not enjoy it , but he does it to feed his family , he takes joy in their laughter , that is his objective : to feed his family , no matter what he has to do.
As i saw it the whole book was about being yourself , about finding what you truly love and sacrificing everything for it.Do you find more joy in feeding your family or chasing after your artistic desires is something you have to decide.
About wanting examples , i don't really think that can work either you are like one or you aren't .You can imbibe some qualities but in my personal experience I have often seen people interpreting the book in an entirely different way than what it probably wants to say.
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