Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”… A Philosophy That Almost Made It
Ayn Rand not only advocated the concept of objectivism in her book “Atlas Shrugged”, but lived that philosophy with rare passion and audacity.
There are many things to admire about Ayn Rand’s achievements. She came to New York alone in 1925 as an impoverished immigrant. Over time, she became an admired author, achieved notable celebrity status, and built a profitable intellectual empire. Her influence remains extraordinary to this day, and her books are still in print. One of her novels, “The Fountainhead,” was made into a popular movie. (Rand wrote the script, at her insistence.) Her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged,” was released as a modern film (Part 1), nearly thirty years after her death.
But it is his philosophy, objectivism, that was (and remains) Rand’s most powerful influence on society. Once again, there are things to admire about objectivism. A partial but dedicated understanding of noble values was the foundation of Rand’s thinking. Since the time of Plato, the family triad of eternal values has been generally recognized as truth, beauty, and goodness. Rand extolled truth and praised uncompromising integrity. And she lived by that code; she was true to his beliefs. Rand also embraced beauty, championing challenging benchmarks of excellence… “The only sin is to do the wrong thing.” Returning to the third classic principle, that of kindness or caring, Ayn Rand left this metavalue aside. She was a cruel and insensitive narcissist who damaged many lives. And herein lies the weak point of objectivist philosophy.
Shortly after Ayn Rand’s death in 1982 at the age of 77, one of her estranged associates, psychologist Nathaniel Branden, called Ayn’s publicist for thirty years. He asked her how she felt about losing Ayn Rand. The publicist replied, “I don’t feel much of anything. Any love I had for Ayn has vanished a long time ago. I can no longer feel anything for her achievements. I am too angry at her cruelty and the damage she did.” . she caused so many people who took care of her.”
Truth and beauty (or integrity and excellence) are fundamental to material success. However, kindness is perhaps the most important metavalue of all. It is also the most challenging, because one cannot practice kindness in a vacuum. Kindness involves developing caring and respectful relationships with other people. Kindness is much more than a technique for being kind and getting along with others. Kindness fosters quality caring in a self-actualizing personality. Kindness modifies the drive to excel, resulting in a healthy tension between self-interest and service to others. Without care and respect for all human beings, any political, industrial, or religious philosophy or movement eventually becomes corrupted and becomes a lethal danger to humanity. A dedicated Nazi or terrorist could demonstrate allegiance to his cause, or the perceived truth, and establish excellence in his performance, and yet casually inflict untold evil on innocent people.
Ayn Rand was a devout atheist, but this cannot excuse selfish callousness. Abraham Maslow was also an outspoken atheist, but he held that the metavalues of truth, beauty, and goodness were inseparable. He came to profess that these metavalues are realities, potential active agents, not mere furniture for the mind. Maslow stated that metavalues are living virtual realities in the self-actualizing personality. He was an advocate of a science of values, refusing to leave the study of truth, beauty, and goodness solely to religion and philosophy.
Still, Objectivism is a philosophy that embraces the pre-eminence of the individual. This is to be praised and respected. Another important tenet of objectivism is the statement that the human will is the determinant of inner life experience. We cannot control what may happen to us in the situational fields in which we live, but we are totally responsible for our attitudes towards these situations. Although Ayn Rand lived by the values of self-respect and personal responsibility, she stopped there. She believed that science has all the answers and that spiritual perception is a fantasy. But, as Viktor Frankl said, “we cannot be a law to ourselves.” Also, we can’t really respect ourselves any more than we respect other people.
Ayn Rand is to be admired for her courage, but not for her cruelty. I have conceded that objectivism does present some tenants of importance and power. However, as a philosophy, its power becomes dangerous because it tries to be a two-legged stool. We need all three metavalues: truth, beauty, and goodness. The eternal triad protects us from a narcissistic delusion of infallible power. Because, when power leads us to arrogance, the truth reminds us of our limitations. When power reduces our worries and directs us towards selfishness, beauty reminds us that we need the rich and nurturing diversity of our human brothers and sisters. And, perhaps most importantly, when power corrupts and hurts, goodness cleanses and heals. Because truth, beauty and goodness are the touchstones that guide humanity towards love and service.
And love, the “desire to do good to others,” is the most powerful force in the universe.
