I went into reading Atlas Shrugged with my eyes wide open, knowing that it was Ayn Rand’s epistle for her coined philosophical view called Objectivism, ”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.”

A quote from the book does a pretty good job of summarizing.

“For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbors–between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and that the good is to live it.” – From Atlas Shrugged

As a Christian it’s not a world-view or a philosophy I agree with, but there are some remarkable insights that do ring true as commentary on our current culture and state of affairs. I wrote about this in a previous blog post.

Even though the book is a monster (1100 pages) the story itself is pretty compelling. What happens when the “creators” in the world get tired of being vilified and taken advantage of by the “moochers” and decide they had enough? What happens when those holding up the world, society, and progress (Atlas) decide they are done, just stop (shrug) and disappear?

As a piece of literature I found the writing to be fluid and lively except for the pages and pages of speeches given by the protagonist, John Gault. Although I did read every word of the speeches I found myself wishing that the speaker would just get on with it. Those bits are like reading Leviticus and Numbers from the Bible. You kind of want to skip them but you know you shouldn’t and feel like you may miss something if you do.

In a nutshell this book will challenge your view of God, humanity, entitlements, and whatever other beliefs you already hold. Like most literature that shapes ideas, you have to enter this book with your critical thinking and reasoning skills on high alert. Why? There is a lot of rational thought in Rand’s magnum opus. Who can argue that “The most depraved type of human being … (is) the man without a purpose.”

Be warned, this book will affect your presumptions, your mood for a few weeks (yes, you will likely be grumpy while reading), and your world-view.

So, why did I read this book when I knew it would challenge so much of what I believe? Well, I’m tired of people who ascribe to my worldview (Christianity) and literally have no clue what other worldviews exist. I realized that I have purposefully sheltered myself because of fear that my faith will not hold up. That my wordview is not strong enough against all the others in the world. Instead of sitting in a posture of fear I decided I truly want to know what shapes thought of my fellow-man. (For myself, I can happily say that my faith in Jesus Christ was not swayed. My worldview is firm. I have not adopted Objectivism as my philosophy on the purpose of life and man. So, yeah me!)

Conclusion? Although painful at times, it was certainly fun wrestling and plowing through Atlas Shrugged. It’s not for everyone. If you do choose to pick it up give yourself about three months for the reading. Also, go in with your eyes wide open. If you don’t it will shake you up and possibly leave you a bit dazed and confused. It’s heady stuff.

The Inarticulate Man

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

If you haven’t seen Hugo yet the link below is to a great post from my brother on why you should. In my estimation an expert opinion from a  movie history buff (particularly anything Disney related) from a Children’s pastor perspective. I also consider it the best movie of the year. A beautiful, beautiful film. 

A Wondrous, Heartfelt Masterpiece with No Extra Parts | Montys Musings.

1. Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
2. Torches – Foster the People
3. Violator – Depeche Mode (Reliving my youth)
4. Broken Bells – Broken Bells
5. Love and War – Josh Garrels
6. Young the Giant – Young the Giant
7. Whatever’s On Your Mind – Gomez
8. Gimme Some – Peter Bjorn and John
9. Passive Me Agressive You – The Naked and Famous
10. Young Love – Mat Kearney

1. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
2. Quo Vadis - Henryk Sienkiewicz
3. The Great Railway Bazaar – Paul Theroux
4. The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
5. Common Sense – Thomas Pain
6. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
7. The Prince – Niccolo Machiavelli
8. The Island of Doctor Moreau – H.G. Wells
9. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
10. The Rough Rides – Theodore Roosevelt

Enjoy (or not)………….

Ten Books I Read

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray
2. Walden
3. The Great Gatsby
4. Beyond Good and Evil
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin
6. Atlas Shrugged
7. The Bible (ESV of course)
8. Brave New World
9. The Brothers Karamozov
10. The Call of the Wild

Ten Albums I Enjoyed

1. Conditions – The Temper Trap
2. The King is Dead – The Decemberists
3. So Runs the World Away – Josh Ritter
4. Jimmy Eat World – Jimmy Eat World
5. Trouble – Ray Lamontagne
6. The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
7. Yes – Pet Shop Boys
8. My One and Only Thrill – Melody Gardot
9. Rome – Danger Mouse
10. Goat Rodeo – Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer , Chris Thile

Ten Things Overheard at My House

1. What are you doing here?
2. LOGAN!
3. Everyone just settle down.
4. Can I watch a movie?
5. Can I play boxing?
6. Want a coffee?
7. Don’t put that in your mouth.
8. Take your finger out of your nose.
9. Why did you lick that?
10. What’s for dinner?

Some fun postings from my brothers blog. Check it.

Reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and watching the news is highly entertaining for me these last few weeks. (Not making an endorsement for the book yet. Still working my way through it. It’s very long.)

It’s incredible, really. I will read a section from the book and turn on the news and hear almost verbatim the same progressive logic from OWS protestors and classic liberalism logic from Tea Party proponents. Considering that the book was published in the 50′s gives credence to the quote below.

“In the end, it’s crucial to remember that Tea Party protests and Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are just outward and modern manifestations of a more-than-a-century-old battle between classical liberalism and progressivism. Tea Partiers aren’t just trying to make a case for the Tea Party and Occupiers aren’t just trying to make a case for OWS; they’re trying to make a case for the ideas that formed them into these movements in the first place. Remembering those ideas makes the choice of which side’s narrative to believe even easier.” - TINA KORBE

I found this video helpful in remembering/understanding the ideas of classical liberalism vs progressivism.

Clearly the point of view is from someone who holds to classic liberalism but worth watching. Sheds some light on the current happenings. It’s a bonus that the presentation is pretty good.

So, am I making a statement with this post? Sure… “Who is John Gault?”

[Concerning property rights and modern progressivism: Occupy Seattle splinter group has taken over a vacant  (for lease) home and decided it was theirs to occupy. Something to think about. http://kuow.org/program.php?id=25172]

At Penn State’s stadium, profanity, scorn greet one father’s protest – Washington Times.