Ayn Rand uses 'selfishness' to mean 'self-interest'. Even Christians are self-interested. Rand's definition of sacrifice is more narrow than the common than the common usage of the idea. The more common understanding of sacrifice makes it easier to order our values. Most would agree that we should never subjugate something of greater value to something of lesser value. It's a "no brainer", a straw man. It's obviously bad. But intentionally doing without something in order to gain something of greater value (as in the dessert example) is clearly virtuous by both the Christian and the Randian definition.
The question that combines self-interest and sacrifice is this: What is the highest value for which, in my own best interest, I will sacrifice anything else? To follow the Randian philosophy, I must choose the highest value and give myself wholly to it. Am I my own highest value or is there some value greater than me?
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Highest Value
Ayn Rand uses 'selfishness' to mean 'self-interest'. Even Christians are self-interested. Rand's definition of sacrifice is more narrow than the common than the common usage of the idea. The more common understanding of sacrifice makes it easier to order our values. Most would agree that we should never subjugate something of greater value to something of lesser value. It's a "no brainer", a straw man. It's obviously bad. But intentionally doing without something in order to gain something of greater value (as in the dessert example) is clearly virtuous by both the Christian and the Randian definition.
The question that combines self-interest and sacrifice is this: What is the highest value for which, in my own best interest, I will sacrifice anything else? To follow the Randian philosophy, I must choose the highest value and give myself wholly to it. Am I my own highest value or is there some value greater than me?
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Even with Christianity, there may be a problem with "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The problem may be that what I think is best for me, others do not believe. For example, I would like to be told when there is something that is good for me nutritionally. Many people do not feel similarly. They might feel that I was insensitive to their beliefs and desires. It is more complicated than just a simple phrase to follow or a principle to obey...I suspect Jesus would concur. What do you think?
> The question that combines self-interest and sacrifice is this: What is the highest value for which, in my own best interest, I will sacrifice anything else?
My soul’s state of “Oneness” with God.
> To follow the Randian philosophy, I must choose the highest value and give myself wholly to it. Am I my own highest value or is there some value greater than me?
I am my own highest value, and my soul is the most valuable part of me. So I should maximize the value (to me) of my soul by putting it in the most valuable state possible, the state of “salvation” or “oneness with God” or whatever you want to call it.
Or…God doesn’t exist and neither does my soul, so nothing I think, say, or do matters at all given that I and everything I’ve ever been will cease to exist upon my physical death, therefore I should just go crawl into a hole somewhere and wait to die. Or sell my house, blow all the cash on a weekend in Vegas and then off myself. Or whatever…doesn’t matter since I won’t remember any of it anyway. And don’t give me any of that “you should seek the highest values in life in order to maximize the value of your time in the world” crap, because if it’s all over when I die then that “value” dies with me, and my kids are doomed to the same fate so leaving “stuff” for them is pointless since they’re just gonna die too, and the same goes for everybody else’s kids.
I tend toward choosing Door #1. ;)
Well, just to balance this out, if there is no God, then having Him at the apex of one's hierarchy of values would be the epitome of meaningless.
Human life - achievement, joy, love, friendship, etc., and the amazing universe we live in are profoundly meaningful without any alleged supernatural elements.
In Galt's speech (around pg. 1043), Rand says:
At the crossroads of the choice between 'I know' and 'They say,' he chose the authority of others, he chose to submit rather than to understand, to believe rather than to think. Faith in the supernatural begins as faith in the superiority of others. His surrender took the form of the feeling that he must hide his lack of understanding, that others possess some mysterious knowledge of which he alone is deprived, that reality is whatever they want it to be, through some means forever denied to him.
I think it's worth some introspection to see whether this is true for oneself.
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