Hello: My Introduction

[georgedonnelly]

Hi

I recently joined the forum and was invited to introduce myself.

I've been fascinated by Ayn Rand and Objectivism since a friend told me 15 years ago that the Fountainhead was for me. I immediately identified with it and read all of her other published works, multiple times, studying and analyzing them.

At first, I felt the individualism was over the top. After all, I was studying political economy at the University of Chicago with Marxists. Yet, the more I read the more I realized that Objectivism was essentially what I always believed was the truth, except precisely defined and carried to its logical conclusions. I realized that a good number of the ideas I held about ethics, my relationships with others and politics were nonsense and not aligned with my basic ideals (which aligned almost perfectly with Objectivism).

Foolishly I laid down Rand's books for almost a decade as I have been living outside the US, both because I couldn't carry them all around and because I wanted to test an idea some friends kept pushing on me that my exposure to Rand's works was not allowing me to see other points of view.

Well, I can lay that silly idea to rest. Its nonsense. In my case at least, Objectivism is my native philosophy, precidely codified and taken to its logical conclusions. Its not something that has 'taken me over' or 'warped my mind'. Its a tool that has removed the cloudiness from my view of many spheres of life, including ethics, politics and art.

So I am picking up her works again, both fiction and philosophy and analyzing my life and future goals to see where exactly I stand, how that differs from Objectivism and what, if any, actions I may need to take as a result.

I'm 36 y/o, married, father to a beautiful 16-mo-old boy, owner of multiple businesses and aspiring writer. I graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in history. I have lived in Japan, the US and Colombia. I'm originally from Pennsylvania. I'm the lucky owner of a 4 y/o Golden Retriever. I frequent reddit.com, where you'll often find spirited, if primitive, discussions of current events, often dominated by progressives but with a good contingent of folks in the same ballpark as us.

The more I think and the more I see, the more I realize that the ideas we use to guide us make all the difference in our lives, so I am looking forward to participating in this forum.

Thanks!

[Chris Grieb]

George; Welcome! You sound interesting. I have also been in Japan although I have not been there in more than half a century. I also like Golden Retrievers. They are beautiful dog.

[georgedonnelly]

thanks chris. i was there from 1997-2001 in the Kansai region. I taught English to company employees all over the region, from Himeji to Nagoya, including Osaka and Kobe. I got a close look at these miracle Japanese companies, e.g, Mitsubishi, Omron, and some other big names that escape me atm.

I met some very interesting people but they were the exception. Most of the 'salarymen'/executives i taught were good order-takers and not interested in learning or thinking. The most motivated among them were studying so they could get promoted and make more money or work less. These companies put a heavy emphasis on face time and workers compete to see who can arrive earlier and leave later. It's a grueling death match. These executives lose touch with their families and themselves. It is not pleasant to watch.

That said, I loved the food and many aspects of the culture, including the respect people pay each other in public. Of course this sometimes was very false and patronizing. The orderliness and natural beauty were also enjoyable. I especially liked being in Kyoto, a refined religious and cultural center where you can feel a divinity in the air. I think this was a case of the worshipers becoming objects of worship, to paraphrase Rand.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

Let me offer you a warm welcome to OL. May you find good premises here.

Michael

[Barbara Branden]

Welcome to Objectivist Living, George. I think you'll enjoy your time here.

I hope I may make a suggestion about something you wrote: "So I am picking up her works again, both fiction and philosophy and analyzing my life and future goals to see where exactly I stand, how that differs from Objectivism and what, if any, actions I may need to take as a result."

I take that to mean that if you find differences between your life and goals and Objectivism, you are prepared to make changes in your life in order to bring it more fully into accord with the tenets of Objectivism. Certainly, you may find that to be desirable in some respects. But I hope you'll be equally open to the possibiiity that you may not agree with Ayn Rand in every respect, and that some of the differences will be ones you'll want to retain.

By the way, I visited Japan in the 90's and spent a few days in Kyoto. What an exquisite place! And I loved its almost tangible quality of serenity. Tokyo was interesting, but I liked it less -- especially the downtown area, where one sees a seemingly endless stream of identically-dressed men hurrying at the identical pace to their destinations. I found it slightly chilling.

Barbara

[georgedonnelly]

Thank you for your replies, Barbara and Michael, very kind of you.

I don't plan to artificially enforce Objectivism, or my understanding of it, on my life, no. I want to know exactly where I stand in relation to it, carefully examine the differences and, yes, see if I think I am in the right or not and either make changes or note in my journal my differing opinion and why.

I've done the same thing with other statements of principles / philosophies as a way to clarify my own beliefs. For example, I've done it recently with the books "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Think and Grow Rich", a lot of Howard Zinn's works, a good amount of Libertarian and Progressive literature, the Green and Libertarian Party platforms, and a good amount of fiction.

I try to live an examined life so its a kind of an experiment, one might say.

Yes, serenity is a good work to describe the atmosphere in Kyoto.

[Alfonso Jones]

Welcome to Objectivist Living.

Join us, ask questions, interact. Don't check your premises at the door, but bring them in, state them, discuss them. I think you'll find it a stimulating and friendly environment.

Alfonso