Foggy Landscape, Foggy Mind


Jonathan

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I'm puzzled by your interest in the few unhappy as opposed to the many who weren't. Did you observe their reactions?

I'm generally much more interested in those who are happy, but I'm also interested the idea of belief, which can apply to both the happy and unhappy (or to the strong and weak, or however you want to put it). Whether it's a god, some other external fantasy, or an exaggerated self-image, it seems that in order to work, such psychological devices must be believed completely. But believing in them also seems to almost inevitably lead to using them as weapons, which brings them into contact with others' beliefs, which risks destroying one or both belief systems. That's interesting enough, but what currently intrigues me is when someone is in possession of two conflicting Dumbo's feathers -- I guess you could say that a single, lumbering, airborne elephant faced with the predicament of which feather to abandon is more fascinating to me than two individuals warring with each others' beliefs.

If there is a problem might one not ask whether there is a better way if only to increase understanding? All human beings are is a mixture of the epistemological and metaphysical and obviously the former can have a great impact on the latter, but at any time it is an integrated whole, sometimes a very nasty whole. To be less variable we would have to be stupider overall than we are.

--Brant

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\I am struck by how a serious tendency toward bleakness and depression reflected in her fiction seems to have been her default position generally and how her fiction writing as such tended to push that back from her personally. I wonder if not hearing from her (best) kind of people recognizing and supporting her after the publication of Atlas was actually the essential ingredient for the consequent depression she suffered. Maybe it was a vicious snap back for a situation where the creation of her masterpiece had been her greatest protection from the world.

--Brant

edit: I am not saying bleakness and depression were leitmotifs of her fiction.

I think this is to a great extent true, Brant, and very perceptive of you.

Barbara

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\I am struck by how a serious tendency toward bleakness and depression reflected in her fiction seems to have been her default position generally and how her fiction writing as such tended to push that back from her personally. I wonder if not hearing from her (best) kind of people recognizing and supporting her after the publication of Atlas was actually the essential ingredient for the consequent depression she suffered. Maybe it was a vicious snap back for a situation where the creation of her masterpiece had been her greatest protection from the world.

--Brant

edit: I am not saying bleakness and depression were leitmotifs of her fiction.

I think this is to a gtreat extent true, Brant, and very perceptive of you.

Barbara

If there is any real accuracy in this speculation I'd have to expand it to The Fountainhead, Hollywood and Atlas, with the default represented by the Simplest Thing In the World. The actual complexities of the real person are, of course, staggering. Obviously the writing of Atlas was a consuming, exhausting enterprize.

--Brant

Edited by Brant Gaede
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studiodekadent:

I know exactly what you mean, and I agree with you on your assumptions. As a "rock" girl, several Objectivists have deemed my taste in music as inferior, denoting some philosophical weakness in me. Honestly, I think it is amusing that they would presume to understand my philosophical depth based on my musical tastes. Little do they know that I adore many genres of music . . . including classical, musical theatre, etc. Actually, I would probably be accused of being schizophrenic if these people saw my CD collection. :)

Having read Rand's Romantic Manifesto several times, I also believe that she would denounce your musical tastes (yep, mine too). Then again, as wonderful as Rand was (and is in legacy), she is not a god. The one thing she had absolutely correct, and something that would override her presumptions on our musical tastes, is that every person should use his mind to its fullest capacity. Never act without thinking; never assume that another person knows better than you. You have used your mind to determine your musical interests. Now -- don't assume that Rand would know better than you about what your musical interests say about you. :)

The only point that matters to me (regardless of what the Objectivist hard-liners think) is that I'm different for well chosen reasons -- I'm not simply different for the sake of being different. Obviously, your case is much the same.

Oh . . . Happy Thanksgiving!

(Quick edit for a typo) ;)

Virginia,

Thanks for the kind words! I am actually in Australia so I don't celebrate Thanksgiving (I do celebrate Independence Day however, and Halloween as well for obvious reasons!), but I hope yours goes very well.

Have you heard my songs on my Myspace? You may enjoy them.

-Andrew

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Ginnie: "Having read Rand's Romantic Manifesto several times, I also believe that she would denounce your musical tastes (yep, mine too)."

I don't know...it might depend on how well you present your taste, and why it would be a value to her?

The image is for Brant--he doesn't have to read my words and can just look at the pics.

Michael

fog-473.jpg

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I like it very much. I like it because the mystery reveals itself the more you look at it and then you realize something else. It's for thinking/introspective looking, not something passive or simply declarative. I wished I owned it. Who did it?

I have no idea why it's for me, btw. What's the aproposness? Why not for Jonathon?

--Brant

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I like it very much. I like it because the mystery reveals itself the more you look at it and then you realize something else. It's for thinking/introspective looking, not something passive or simply declarative. I wished I owned it. Who did it?

I have no idea why it's for me, btw. What's the aproposness? Why not for Jonathon?

--Brant

Thank you. It was sold a few weeks ago. I did it.

J talked about a foggy day, I painted it, you don't like my words, I post a pic in your honor. Its a strange kind of juxtaposition of attitudes.

Michael

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Joanathan, I would generally respond to and want to see "a heroic man (or woman), the skyline of New York, a sunlit landscape, ecstatic music, a humble man, an old village, and a foggy landscape." I would omit muddy colors, pure colors, and folk music. But surely what one most wants to see or hear, what feels most important and right at any given moment, is not unvarying. It depends in large part on one's mood, one's physical state, one's recent experiences, the success or failure of one's endeavors, etc. For instance, there are times when I want to hear tragic music, and ecstatic music would not reach me -- there are times when the skyline of New York saddens me because I think of the unfulfilled lives of so many people who inhabit those buildings -- there are times when I'd want to shake the humble man and tell him to for God's sake stand up straight!

To quote Emerson, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Please note the word "foolish."

Barbara

Barbara,

Beautifully expressed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Michael

Edited by Newberry
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