"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." ~Ayn Rand
Long time back my English teacher at MCM asked me to read
Ayn Rand’s famous Novel- The Fountainhead. I didn't know anything about Ms. Ayn
Rand then. I didn't even think of this that she is the one who didn't believe
in God. I read her work without being concerned about her or without knowing
about her background, I read her work without analyzing her personality, without discovering if she actually believes in doing what she preaches, I read her work
as it is-without preferring censored editions available online. I even have a
copy of ‘The Fountainhead’ and I have given it the same respect which I give to
the works of other people. Just because Ayn Rand didn't believe in God or felt
doing good is equivalent to praying it would be a folly on our part to state
that she deserves less respect. She had that aspect of personality and character which I
guess ordinary people fail to comprehend. According to me Ayn Rand is immortal
for she believed in doing the right, being original, being
innovative-being The Fountainhead-the source of original things. I personally
feel no matter what people say this author was right on few points. Let’s have
a look at the quotes taken from 'The Fountainhead' and try to understand what is
that which makes The Fountainhead worth reading-
There is a strong emphasis on Freedom from
Bondage when Roark in the Fountainhead states, “Freedom (n.): To ask nothing.
To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.”
A quote which reveals Ayn’s philosophy of
knowing a person which holds true for almost everyone of us- “There’s nothing
as significant as a human face. Nor as eloquent. We can never really know
another person, except by our first glance at him. Because, in that glance, we
know everything. Even though we’re not always wise enough to unravel the knowledge."
A quote which truly reveals the truth about
human society and desires which human beings nourish is not something within
their hearts which propels them to desire but others around them- “Listen to
what is being preached today. Look at everyone around us. You've wondered why
they suffer, why they seek happiness and never find it. If any man stopped and
asked himself whether he's ever held a truly personal desire, he'd find the
answer. He'd see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions
are motivated by other men. He's not really struggling even for material wealth,
but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige. A stamp of approval, not his
own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded. He
can't say about a single thing: 'This is what I wanted because I wanted it, not
because it made my neighbors gape at me'. Then he wonders why he's unhappy.”
Another quote which depicts Ayn Rand’s idea of
self-respect- “It's said that the worst thing one can do to a man is to kill
his self-respect. But that's not true. Self respect is something that can't be
killed. The worst thing is to kill a man's pretense at it.”
I really admire Ayn Rand’s idea of True Love. A
quote on that from The Fountainhead- “Love is reverence, and worship, and
glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don't
know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who've never
felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion,
contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you've felt what
it means to love as you and I know it - total passion for the total height -
you're incapable of anything less.”
According to me the sense of humor depicts the
attitude of the person. Rand I feel was right when she wrote,“One loses
everything when one loses one's sense of humor.”
With reference to Howard Roark –“I often think that
he's the only one of us who's achieved immortality. I don't mean in the sense
of fame and I don't mean he won't die someday. But he's living it. I think he
is what the conception really means. You know how people long to be eternal. But
they die with everyday that passes. . . They change, they deny, they
contradict- and they call it growth. At the end there is nothing left, nothing
unreveresed or unbetrayed; as if there had never been an entity, only a
succession of adjectives fading in and out of an unformed mass. How do they
expect a permanence which they never held for a single moment? But Howard- one
can imagine him living forever.”
Ayn Rand, I feel was right expressing her view
on first-hand people or the originality personified individuals- “Throughout
the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with
nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in
common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the
response they received — hatred. The great creators — the thinkers, the
artists, the scientists, the inventors — stood alone against the men of their
time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was
denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered
impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered
sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered
and they paid. But they won.”
“Don't think. Believe. Trust your heart, not your
brain. Don't think. Feel. Believe.”
I truly go by this- “No speech is ever
considered, but only the speaker. It's so much easier to pass judgement on a
man than on an idea.” When Rand wrote this she probably knew that usually people lay
stress on the popularity or the appearance of the individual rather than his or
her idea, virtues or thoughts.
Her idea
on the state of directionless in the human society is not only valid till date
but also appreciated. I really appreciate her for that-“People want nothing but
mirrors around them. To reflect them while they’re reflecting too ...
Reflections of reflections and echoes of echoes. No beginning and no end. No
center and no purpose.”
What makes Ayn Rand lovable and popular is her
idea on the originality. She no doubt appreciated the ones who originally
started with the things without being influenced by the people around them. Let’s
have a look- “That, precisely, is the deadliness of second-handers. They have
no concern for facts, ideas, work. They're concerned only with people. They
don't ask: 'Is this true?' They ask: 'Is this what others think is true?' Not
to judge, but to repeat. Not to do, but to give the impression of doing. Not
creation, but show. Not ability, but friendship. Not merit, but pull. What
would happen to the world without those who do, think, work, produce? Those are
the egotists. You don't think through another's brain and you don't work
through another's hands. When you suspend your faculty of independent judgment,
you suspend consciousness. To stop consciousness is to stop life…
Yes! And isn't that the root of every
despicable action? Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self. Look
at them. The man who cheats and lies, but preserves a respectable front. He
knows himself to be dishonest, but others think he's honest and he derives his
self-respect from that, second-hand. The man who takes credit for an
achievement which is not his own. He knows himself to be mediocre, but he's
great in the eyes of others. The frustrated wretch who professes love for the
inferior and clings to those less endowed, in order to establish his own
superiority by comparison. The man whose sole aim is to make money. Now I don't
see anything evil in a desire to make money. But money is only a means to some
end. If a man wants it for a personal purpose--to invest in his industry, to
create, to study, to travel, to enjoy luxury--he's completely moral. But the
men who place money first go much beyond that. Personal luxury is a limited
endeavor. What they want is ostentation: to show, to stun, to entertain, to
impress others. They're second-handers. Look at our so-called cultural
endeavors. A lecturer who spouts some borrowed rehash of nothing at all that
means nothing at all to him--and the people who listen and don't give a damn,
but sit there in order to tell their friends that they have attended a lecture
by a famous name. All second-handers.”
We must never believe in taking revenge. This
was portrayed in Roark’s character who didn’t believe in taking revenge. We must never get angry, no matter
what people think of us or no matter the manner in which people criticize us. This
again was portrayed in Roark’s character. I know this one might be too hard to carry on but yes if we do we transform ourselves for better.
Ayn Rand states that enemies are fragment of our
imagination. Truly speaking no one is your enemy. This again was portrayed in
Roark’s character, when people plotted against him, tried to pull him down,
this man kept his calm, and when he faced his enemies he faced them with a
smile which appeared weird to his enemies. There is a point where one of
Roark’s enemy asks Roark and pleads Roark to show his hatred and anger towards
him but Roark smiles silently stating that getting angry or hating someone is
not an aspect of his nature. When Gail, his other enemy asks him to forgive him for his
mistake then Roark simply smiles and tells him that forgiveness is given only when we express our anger. Such was the calmness exhibited by the Howard Roark's character- zero anger and zero
hatred.
Truly speaking I got to learn one thing; every person has
something good to offer. We must take the good things forward without
analyzing, judging or criticizing.
If not anything else one can surely
appreciate Ayn Rand for her unique style of writing and narration of events.
~Sai Aanchal