More Philiosophy

More Philosophy ‘That’s how Ayn Rand and I met. She was a Russian émigré whose novel ‘The Fountainhead’ had been a best selling phenomenon during the war. She had recently moved from Hollywood to New York and had developed a small, intense following. I’d read the novel and found it intriguing… Rand wrote the story to illustrate a philosophy she had come to, one that emphasized reason, individualism, and enlightened self interest. Later she named it objectivism, today she would be called a libertarian. Objectivism championed laissez-faire capitalism as the ideal form of social organization. Not surprisingly Rand abhorred Soviet communism in which she had been schooled. She saw it as the embodiment of brutal collectivism. And at the height of Soviet power she held that the systems was inherently corrupt that eventually it would collapse from within. (In an earlier blog ‘Myth of America’ Click on my profile to get there: Similar sorts of predictions are being made several hundred years ago by observers of the American system. It is one thing for there to be a flaw in the system- Fatal Disconnect as many people can see in looking at the ideas that control a World Empire- It is quite another thing to make it happen- Especially post 9/11 just so much money is given to the spies to freely access computers communication worldwide- when USA believes attacking the private homes of Mr Dot Com or our loved respected elder Usa,ma Bin Laden living in Pakistan- It would appear unlikely that America as an empire could ever collapse… But then there were these religious nutters, they went around USSR in the late 80s praying and telling angels that it would happen- Never say never-Ed) She and her circle called themselves ‘The Collective’ an insider joke because collectivism was the polar opposite of her belief…The night Joan introduced me, the group was small, maybe seven or eight people seated in the austere living room… Ayn Rand was quite plain to look at- short in her late forties. Her face dramatic almost sever with a wide mouth, broad brow and great dark intelligent eyes- she kept her hair in a page boy that emphasized them … She was unrelenting analytical, ready to dissect ant idea to it’s fundamentals and had no interest in small talk. Yet despite this apparent ferocity, I notices and openness in the way she approached conversation… After listening for a few evenings I shoed my logical positivist colors… but something prompted me to postulate that there were no moral absolutes. Rand pounced; ‘How can that be?’ ‘Because to be truly rational, you can’t hold a conviction without significant empirical evidence’ –How can that be? Do you exist?’ “I can’t… be sure’ I admitted ‘ I might…’ She replied ‘And by the way who is making the statement?’ –‘Maybe you have me there” Rand came away from the evening with a nickname for me. she dubbed me ‘the undertaker’ partly because I wore a dark suit, and I later learned she would ask people, ‘Well has the under taker decided it he exists yet?’ p40-41 Alan Greenspan 2007. If I were to re-label the Bible- Which I will not do because that involves adding and taking away from it. Instead of a Book which is currently called the Letter to the Romans by St Paul- It would become Letter to New York because in the first chapter there is a brilliant description of all the amazing things that go on in Empire State- the very heart of the Empire. And it ties philosophy wise to worship of the Creature rather than the Creator, Self worship, and moral Destruction- all the sorts of things we have seen do see and expect to see if we visit New York as a Tourist. And that sort of Tourism is biblical. Jesus sent two of his companions down to check things out in Genesis chapter s 18/19 and earlier there had been special tourism in chapter 11 and other instances can be found in the book of special investigations.(Ezk 8) Because ideas are not the issue. Rather ignoring God , doing our own thing and worshipping ourselves!