Some Notable Ayn Rand Quotes

I heard the following quote on a recent episode of Criminal Minds television show. I am a big fan of this TV show and a much bigger fan of Ayn Rand. I read Ayn Rands' The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in college; both books had a big impact on me. It has been a while since I thought about Ayn Rand and so I felt a compulsion to record this excellent quote.

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.”

The last two sentences of the quote were not mentioned in the Criminal Minds episode. Of course, the FBI agents would not have much to do if they followed the last bit of advice.
My challenge is to "leave them alone" as Ayn Rand says. Definitely a tough one for me. I am a student of reason and find it frustrating when I encounter someone who denies reason. It is almost a feeling of religious zealotry that grips me. I feel the need to convert the person to a belief in reason. This is especially difficult for me in dealing with my father who I feel often denies reason for the sole purpose of winnning an argument.

“The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.”

Then we come to this quote about truth and the persons who seek it. This tempers my need to convert people to the belief in reason because it is also the path of the truth seeker. Who am I to force someone on the path to seek truth? Truth can only be found by following reason. Therefore, someone who denies reason has no interest in the truth. Do you agree?

What about religious truth? Can this be found using reason? The Buddhists believe this. The seeker applies intellect, logic and reason to the path of truth in order to test all assumptions and relative truths. It is only after exhausting these tools that we come to the end of the path and find the absolute truth which is beyond logic and reason.

Teyata Om Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sohm Gate Bodhi Swaha

This is the great mantra from the "Heart Sutra" also known as the Prajnaparamita Sutra. It means Beyond, Beyond, The Great Beyond, Beyond That Beyond, Awaken, Rejoice!

Ayn Rand reminds us that reason is the source of all great creative acts. Can we include the "highest religious abstraction" among the artifacts of our reason as she states? Some may have a problem with this. I believe this is true, because language itself is a product of reason.

“From the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man -- the function of his reasoning mind.”

The Buddha says that words [religious abstraction] are but fingers pointing at the moon. They are not the moon itself. The intent is to look at the moon and not focus on the fingers. In this way, the religious abstraction, an artifact of reason, can point to the absolute truth beyond the reasoning mind.

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others”

Which brings us to creative compassion, or compassionate creativity. This is the foundation of Ayn Rand's philosophy. The reasoning mind, with its tremendous power to create is motivated by compassion. A wonderful, beautiful and hopeful thought indeed. Something that is needed especially in troubling times when world finance is controlled not by compassionate creative people, but by destructive, anti-creative scammers (anti-truth seekers) motivated by greed.