Never Give Yourself Away
someone posted in social media a Pablo Picasso quote about inheriting your gift and so therefore, it was your duty to give the gift away. Here is Ayn Rand's response: "Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.
No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building—that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew or inhabited the thing he had created. The creation, not its users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men.
His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man’s spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.
The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power—that it was self-sufficient, self-motivated, self-generated. A first cause, a fount of energy, a life force, a Prime Mover. The creator served nothing and no one. He lived for himself.
And only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement."
No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building—that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew or inhabited the thing he had created. The creation, not its users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men.
His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man’s spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.
The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power—that it was self-sufficient, self-motivated, self-generated. A first cause, a fount of energy, a life force, a Prime Mover. The creator served nothing and no one. He lived for himself.
And only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement."
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A philosophy of reason is required to rise above what you call the "default state", but that doesn't mean that people haven't followed bad philosophy. With no philosophy at all, i.e., no unifying view, no matter how limited, of man and his relation to the world, man couldn't function at all. We would still be dying young in caves as brute range of the moment animals.
I Roark and Keating were real people, I suspect the average person who know of them but didn't know them would have this incorrect view: "Roark is one of those selfless artists. He did it all for humankind. Keating OTOH was a selfish jerk. He manipulated his way into running a architecture firm, not for humankind as Roark did, but to enrich himself."
This and the Scott Adams idea on passion makes me wonder if great artists/inventors really think "I was born good at this. I enjoyed doing it and money I got from it, so I worked really hard and became great at it." The interviewer or historian writing about it thinks, "no, no that makes him sound like a jerk. I want to focus on the aspects of how he did it to serve human kind. Let me find quotes and anecdotes that support that 'positive' view of him."
"your duty to give the gift away"
This has been the common interpretation of mainstream religions. It is incorrect.
My crude thought on this is this duty-to-give-away and slavery are default state for humankind, and we develop reason to rise above our default state and step beyond what we came from.
I have heard people reject that, saying it's bad philosophy that causes socialism, slavery, original sin/duty, etc. It seems to me, though, like lack of philosophy.