The Fountainhead is Running Dry Atlas – What now? (Atlas Shrugged)

It is an error to believe that your body owns the soul. No human possesses the soul. Most of us are brought up believing that the nature of this world exists within this backwards dualistic mindset, forcing us to willfully buy into the false notion of objectivism—viewing reality as an identity we own. Not only does this mindset cause us to grasp at our own souls as possessions, we tread on the dignity and rights of countless souls around us in the wake of our choices. Our misunderstanding of what it means to be moral creatures resides in this false belief of the body possessing the soul.

If we flip this counterfeit, egocentric view back to reality, we see that the body does not possess the soul, but the soul possesses the body as a gift from God. Understanding this one point allows us to see the world as it truly is. Buying into objectivism merely denies this reality and tramples the bestowal we owe back to God under a metaphorical foot of pride. Nevertheless, true reality will not be so easily placated. The bill for this false mindset of egoism will eventually come due for each individual. Only Christ can pay this bill in full.

Life requires a choice from each of us: Either we steal away the gift of life as a possession through egoism, or we honor God by paying the gift forward for the good of others through altruism. Stealing gives the reward of what is taken. Giving pays back abundantly and endlessly, across many lives and throughout many lifetimes. The choice should be easy to make when viewed according to the truth of where the soul resides. Law is an unnecessary boundary for the altruistic individual.

Egoism—the pursuit of rational selfishness and the pursuit of personal happiness—is the deception of our egocentric society. On the surface, this materialistic, me-centered mindset seems like a plausible philosophy for personal advancement. The immediate rewards of the self-centered mindset are undeniable and hard to pass up. These rewards are immediate and seem to emanate endlessly from the fountainhead of temporary abundance and perceived security. It is easy to shrug off altruism for fear of uncertainty and loss. Egoism is the easy path to follow but ultimately destroys the soul in the process. No legal requirements will be enough to hold back egoism in a materialistic society.

Altruism—the denial of self in loving-kindness to others—represents the only truth that can set the world free. Taking on the title of Christian ultimately requires the sacrifice of being Christ like. This is the narrow path leading to a true life of abundance. This wealth cannot be lost and is the only way to find contentment in life.

Does altruism require us to give a beggar a dime, and then pay for our lives dime by dime? Do we give our way forward in life as payment for the choices made by others? Are we the beneficiaries of our own lives or debtors to God? The true individual is the one who dares to live for the needs of others, fully considering himself to be equally in need. The true individual recognizes that God ultimately carries our burdens and gives us all that we possess in this short life.


Ayn Rand - Objectivism

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

Paul of Tarsus- Altruism

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

From my Blog: LINK

Altruism is all fine and good,

BUT,

there is a point you have to look after "number 1". No one else will...its not their job.

As far as soul/body "ownership", I partly agree with you.

While we do loose some of what we call the personality at death, you do keep parts of it (and previous ones) each time we reincarnate.

So yes. Our soul is ours. What we do with it is up to us.

BTW,

I always hated Peter and Paul. They are the ones responsible for the demise of the "church" after Jesus' death. I think they both considered themselves "Jesus-lite".

That is provided that they even wrote "their" books.

The "healthy" path lies somewhere between Rand and your quote. With one you have the possiblity of ego run amok, the other a sempering POS without a backbone.

Yes. When we consider the lives of others, we consider ourselves to be the others as well. Equality is the key. I really like the Maxims of PtahHotep. He was a Vizier in the 5th Dynasty Egypt and most likely Joseph from the Bible. This is a great quote, which reveals the object of life. Dig in life for the emerald by the way you treat others. The slave is the one who finds the emerald. It is returned to the King, but the emerald is not the value to the slave. The journey is what matters.

"Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite."

Originally posted by felonius
Altruism is all fine and good,

BUT,

there is a point you have to look after "number 1". No one else will...its not their job.

As far as soul/body "ownership", I partly agree with you.

While we do loose some of what we call the personality at death, you do keep parts of it (and previous ones) each time we reincarnate.

So yes. Our soul is ours. What we do with it is up to us.

reply to post by SuperiorEd


Sorry to break it to ya.

Not everyone is equal to everyone else.

Feel good phraseology is fine for books but crap in real life.

reply to post by felonius


This is true that people are not equal. Physically and mentally, they are as varied as the zoological world. It makes me think about my US Constitution, where they said, "All men are created equal.." These founding Fathers were not (1.)Nieve -nor- (2.)Dummies so I wonder what they were getting at there. No trick question, it just has me scratching my noggin.

reply to post by SuperiorEd


I think what we all need to do here, Ed, is to KNOW that we are a Spirit of a Very high Divine Order. We only ride around in these carbon based human bodies, and I would say that we have full command over them, to a point, that is. And I don't think the Spirit is a gift, per se, I think we are God/Goddess. this would explain the Big Bang really well, wouldn't it?

reply to post by simone50m


The only thing I know of that could make us equal is

1. We all come out pretty much the same way (or bloody close).
2. We all originated from the same source.

Short of that? Nope. I'm better than a helluva lot of folks and there are some that are better than me at things.

Just the way it is. Admittedly, my ego doesnt let me worry either way.

I dig me and thats about all that matters LOL..

reply to post by simone50m


Our Founders actually make it quite clear what they are referring to when they say that "all men are created equal." I recommend reading the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, as well as John Locke's Second Treatise of Government (as well as his first, but I hold the second in higher regard). It is obvious that they are NOT saying "all men are created equally smart, equally gifted, etc."

In short, they are referring to the prospect of liberty, being that we are all born with a set of basic rights that are not to be infringed upon. Basically, it is the Lockean sense of equality as in the state of nature. Think the social contract, etc.

I sat and had my evening glass of White Zin. For some reason, that stuff makes my memory rev up, like putting some super performance STP motor oil in a lethargic low-oil car. So I then remembered, "Endowed by their Creator with certain innaliable rights" "Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Therefore: No matter what your "zoological"-like, variation is. Ding ding!!! Rang my silver spoon on my crystal goblet. (Well okay. Alluminum spoon on some kind of cheap glass made in China....)

(There's something about wine though. I heard on TV I think, the other day, that George Washington brewed his own special spirit. This team of guys was going to re-create the product from the Prez's recipe...)

But thanks for those references to look into, Judge_Holden. It's more than probably important that I (and everyone else) mentally refresh ourselves with those.

I think that equality is defined as a persons worth. Egoism always says to me that others are lower than me. Altruism does not judge another as higher or lower, but equally deserving of God's unmerited grace. The point is just this: we do not merit God's grace. We could never be equal to God by any standard to deserve anything beyond the results of our own ignorance, selfishness and pride. Despite our nature, God loves us enough to offer a way back up. We owe this back to others as a reflection of God's love to us. God offers to bring us up if we agree to what He offers from His own platform of altruism and bestowal.

The deeper meaning in all this is choice. We are all equal in God's eyes and we can never rise above this set mark of equality. God is no respecter of persons. No person can take this away from us except ourselves, by our own choices. God does not choose inequality for us, we do it to ourselves by stealing form life. Objectivism says that I can take more than I am from others. 'Take' is the definitive word in the last sentence. Taking steals from others to build a false sense of rising above others. This is a counterfeit sense of being higher than equality with others. This is pride. The worse pride of all is placing ones 'self' above God. This is judging God. Objectivism is judging others by a false standard. We cannot rise above another. We can only rise back to equality with others.

Altruism can only give to others, placing them back on equal ground. When we give, we show by our actions that we are at the high point of equality. Giving brings the lower individuals back up to equal ground where they belong. Equality is the higher ground where we all start. The lower ground is our choice to make, but does not reflect God's choice for us. We do it to our selves from a platform of pride against our starting point with God.

Originally posted by felonius
reply to post by SuperiorEd

 

Sorry to break it to ya.

Not everyone is equal to everyone else.

Feel good phraseology is fine for books but crap in real life.

If anyone is listening to the post I just added about equality, read the following with new eyes.

1 Corinthians 13

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Luke 10 is the point of salvation. Love God and love your neighbor for eternal life. Your neighbor is even your enemy. This is the story of the good Samaritan. A Jew fell on the road after being attacked. Other Jews past him by. Only his enemy, the Samaritan, stopped to help him out. The robbers who took do not have eternal life. The Jew and the Samaritan bother brought each other up on the road that day. Each knew love that day.

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

I am a big fan of calling our bodies a vehicle. I can't understand how people miss this. God says he created us. This code for the fact that we are artificial to Him. This makes me artificial intelligence. God says that we are in His image. Great. Reality is an image of God that I am in but He is not in. Put this together and you get this: We are Artificial Intelligence, residing in a bio-mechanical suit, living out our education here in the garden called Earth. The fruit is the knowledge that we seek. We made the choice to walk on our own in the Garden instead of walking in the garden with God for our education. God is still the one teaching. He never stopped walking if you read Genesis 3.

What's the purpose? The purpose is to find the meaning of true intelligence; to find the emerald in the pegmatite. The Emerald that makes us fully divine intelligence is love. We must dive deep to find the pearl of great price. We cannot hate anyone, including God, and find the emerald in life. The slave is the one who digs for the emerald that the King didn't really need in the first place. Find the emerald and you are set free from the bondage of reality.

"Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite."

PtahHotep, 5th Dynasty Egypt (Joseph from Genesis)

Originally posted by autowrench
reply to post by SuperiorEd

 

I think what we all need to do here, Ed, is to KNOW that we are a Spirit of a Very high Divine Order. We only ride around in these carbon based human bodies, and I would say that we have full command over them, to a point, that is. And I don't think the Spirit is a gift, per se, I think we are God/Goddess. this would explain the Big Bang really well, wouldn't it?

Originally posted by SuperiorEd
If anyone is listening to the post I just added about equality, read the following with new eyes.

I am still listening Just wanted to put a post up in the event you ever find anything you want to add, it pops up on the radar of my subscribed threads.

Awesome post and I couldn't agree with you more!