Reflections on Randsday

Today we're celebrating Ayn Rand's birthday, here at Creatures of Prometheus.  Harry Binswanger has come up with a really great way of marking the occasion: the creation of a new holiday, Randsday.  

To celebrate Randsday, you do something not done on any other holiday: you give yourself a present. Randsday is for getting that longed-for luxury you ordinarily would not buy for yourself. Or for doing that long-postponed, self-pampering activity you cannot seem to fit into your chore-packed schedule...On Randsday, if you do something that you ordinarily would think of as “fun,” you do it on a different premise and with a deeper meaning: that you need pleasure, you are entitled to it, and that the purpose and justification of your existence is: getting what you want—what you really want, with full consciousness and dedication.

Getting what you want, with full consciousness and dedication.  Getting what you really want, not just as a whim or an impulse, but, rather, getting what you really want out of your life.

Randsday is about pursuing your happiness. It's about recognizing that your life belongs to you, and only to you, and that you only get one, and it's short, and so you better get busy, because if you don't pursue your own happiness it's not like someone is just going to come around and hand you some.  You have to earn it.

So when you treat yourself to that special Randsday present (which, for me, is that Kindle Touch I've been wanting for weeks now), remember these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  

Your life belongs to you.  Go live it.

Happy Hour + Some OList Social Announcements

Warning: There is a lot more than just Happy Hour going on in the world of OList Socials this week, so make sure you read all the way to the bottom of the post!

Happy Hour:

This week, we're slightly changing the format of the OList Happy Hour Menu announcements.  We've started using Google Moderator for people to submit and vote on chat topic suggestions (see your OList email for more details about that).  I like the idea of crowd-sourcing the chat topic from among those who participate in the chats.

On Atlas Shrugged, Mind-body Integration, and Why I Dislike my House

SPOILER ALERT!  THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST CONTAINS ATLAS SHRUGGED PLOT SPOILERS.

But, I won't discuss anything beyond Chapter 8, so if you're in the reading group and a first-time Atlas Shrugged reader, you won't hear anything about later chapters, so read on!  If you haven't read it but plan to, you might give this post a miss, but I'm not really revealing all that much, and we're only on about page 260 of 1000+ so take that for what you will.  Anyway, let's get on with it.

Last night was Atlas Shrugged night.  Every Tuesday I have been going to a great little wine bar in Pasadena to discuss Atlas Shrugged, chapter by chapter, with a really great bunch of folks from this MeetUp group.  Chapter 8, The John Galt Line, is a really wonderful chapter where you see Dagny Taggart building the John Galt (railroad) Line out in the mountains of Colorado.  Hank Rearden figures heavily in the chapter as well, since it's his Rearden Metal that's being used for the rail and a major bridge on the railroad they're building.

In essence, you see time and again how they put their minds to solving the problems that face them, and then apply their skills to execute the solutions.  Then they triumphantly open the line, ride the first train to Wyatt Junction amid great fanfare, and have a hot (and I mean HOT), romantic (like only Ayn Rand can write) night together at Ellis Wyatt's place.

One of the other people in our group made an interesting comment towards the end of the evening: how one of the themes of the chapter is mind-body integration.  As we discussed that, it suddenly occurred to me precisely why I am so unhappy with the house I live in, here in L.A. 

It's a nice enough house, and downright cute by many peoples' standards.  It was built in the early 1920s and has lots of original features: lovely fireplace, window seat, glass front bookshelves, even a built-in buffet in the dining room with a beveled mirror and glass doors.  It has 2 bedrooms, a sunroom, 1 1/2 baths, and nearly all the woodwork is either in its original finish or stripped and restored.

I used to live next door, but I sold that house in 2006 (timed it perfectly!) and used most of my proceeds to pay down this house and make some improvements here and there.  But, I have had seller's remorse pretty much ever since. 

That house was built at almost the same time and has the same exact fireplace mine has; it has a big open living/dining room, and a much more efficient floor plan.  Even though it is smaller than this house, it feels much more spacious inside.  It is also set up higher and has way better daylight inside.

My current house always seems dark inside to me, and the rooms (especially downstairs) are divided up awkwardly.  It is hard to furnish, although a piano can make many houses hard to furnish.  It has a lot of nice features, but it has poor light, poor connection to the outdoors, and the floor plan is really awkward, I think.  Awkward floor plans are a huge pet peeve of this architect, btw.

Here's why the comment about mind-body integration resonated with me so strongly:  I've been working very hard, for years now, to integrate my life into a complete whole, a multifaceted single unit, where each part supports the and enhances the other parts, as I work to achieve my goals and dreams. 

This house undercuts a major part of that effort.  For all its cool features and charm, it is fundamentally at odds with the type of backdrop I need to live my best life.  Thus, I am constantly expending energy trying to counter-act it, or working to overcome it, without really identifying the problem (except to bemoan that I sold the wrong house, which is water under the bridge at this point, and a further waste of energy and time to contemplate for even one second.)

What a revelation!

Exploring Atlas Shrugged

I am re-reading Ayn Rand's epic novel Atlas Shrugged.  I first read it about 10 years ago and its ideas had a profound impact on my world view.

About 5 years ago, I started rereading it, but got bogged down and didn't finish it.  I should point out that I am not a voracious reader.  I would usually rather be doing something hands-on, such as welding, playing a Beethoven sonata, or knitting.  Lately, I have been trying to make an effort to read more, as it is an excellent way to learn new things and broaden one's horizons.

Earlier this spring, I started rereading Atlas again, after I discovered Diana Hsieh's excellent webiste: Explore Atlas Shrugged.  She has a whole series of discussion questions and podcasts on the novel.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, I discovered a Meetup Group in Pasadena that is discussing the book.  The group meets on Tuesday nights and is also using the Explore Atlas Shrugged discussion questions.  Since they were about to meet and discuss chapter 3, and I was only on chapter 6 myself, I RSVP'd and went.

The group meets at a wine bar, which is an excellent place for hanging out and discussing a great novel.  There were about a half dozen of us.  Most are re-readers but there was one person who is reading it for the first time.  I hadn't reviewed chapter 3 prior to the meetup, ( I had a job interview come up somewhat suddenly, and preparing for it had to take priority,) and nearly revealed a plot point by accident, but I caught myself just in time.

I think it would be more interesting if there were more first-time readers in the group.  To that end, I lent a friend an extra copy of the book.  He may join us, although he can't make it this week.

Tonight we are meeting to discuss Chapter 4.  I am going to make sure I skim the chapter again so that I can participate a more fully.  As part of the discussion each week, we go around the table and each person gets to read their favorite passage or quote, and explain why they liked it.  It's neat to see what people's favorite quotes are, I'm looking forward to that part in particular.

Stay tuned for more discussion of the discussion of Exploring Atlas Shrugged!