No more convincing others. Or whining here. Laser focused on finding like-minded people to associate and transact with
When I was new to Objectivism - in college - I became quite the proselytizer. Late night discussions in the dorm, campus events, starting a current events newspaper, buttons, stickers...
After college when the internet became more accessible, I created websites and spent a lot of time online trying to be a positive, effective, and persistent advocate for the ideas that form the basis of this unique community.
But those efforts started more than 20 years ago -- closer to 30.
While it provides significant motivation and rewards from the size of the challenge and the target-rich environment of opportunities, I also realized this humbling fact:
this work will NEVER be complete.
So how much time, effort, and money is rational for this effort? Especially when I consider that I see have many personal and family needs that are being directly compromised or threatened by unethical forces?
Then I considered who I associate with as friends,acquaintances, and business partners. If I wasn't entirely satisfied or proud of that, isn't that more important to change than strangers' philosophies who I haven't even met yet and probably never will?
I am grateful for having this online Gulch so that we can connect and interact with other like-minded people. Life is too short and precious to spend it with people who don't share your values and interests.
I've been absent here for the past few months because I've been laser-focused on taking care of some serious challenges to myself, my family, and our values.
Now I'm back - just briefly - to say that I'm re-committing to making my world into the one I want to live in. With people who share my values and orientation of the world. (The number of people not fully "awake" to what is happening around us has become a more essential issue and factor, IMO.)
We don't need the entire world to be objectivist-friendly. We can't - because it ain't ever going to happen.
After trying quite earnestly at it for many years - and watching many other people try a whole lot harder than me since the 1960s' - I can confidently say that we aren't ever going to even be close to a majority opinion.
So what is more rational - a goal achieve that ideal state of utopia?
Or - to create the best world of relationships and partnerships we can with the people who already share our world view and philosophy?
In darker or more stressful moments we may wonder when we will see a complete collapse as in Atlas Shrugged. Or another SHTF scenario that seems to have many varieties given all the threats and craziness in our world today.
If and when that happens, the smart (or "lucky") ones will have already prepared themselves and their families to have a place, a community, and a means to continue living.
That will be a Gulch of some type. Thanks to our internet, now it doesn't have to be 100% physical.
I've grown to believe that our biggest issue and need is not persuading more people that we need to live rational, productive, ethical, and peaceful lives. Rather, it is that we need to better identify and connect those of us who already share these values NOW so that we can build trust, success, and happiness amongst ourselves now - while we can enjoy all of these benefits. If and when things get more ugly - then we will all be better off too.
No fear. No regrets. And no time to waste.
If you live in northern California, or do business online and think you or others would be worth connecting with, I hope you'll reach out to me.
If you are on the Marketplace here, I know about you. :-) I encourage everyone to go to the Marketplace page, learn who is there, and think about how you can do business with them. I've done that and hope to see more people and businesses joining over time.
In future posts - possibly Marketplace listings - you'll likely hear from me again on topics related to this mission. High on my priority list is finding medical and health professionals who work on a DPC basis (Direct Primary Care). Outside of health insurance companies, in other words. They are out there, and there is a growing number of healthcare professionals who are sick and tired of becoming slaves to medical insurance companies and plans. Healthcare is something everyone has a rational reason to care about for themselves and their families too.
My name is Brett Hoffstadt. I am quite easy to find online other places if you want to. I'll be glad to hear from you here, but please understand I won't be spending much time here. Too much exciting and important work to do in other places...
My greatest enjoyment comes from making Galt's Gulch a practical reality for my life. Not for convincing others of this need or value. And there is a lot of fun work to do -- with a much more exciting and practical result.
After college when the internet became more accessible, I created websites and spent a lot of time online trying to be a positive, effective, and persistent advocate for the ideas that form the basis of this unique community.
But those efforts started more than 20 years ago -- closer to 30.
While it provides significant motivation and rewards from the size of the challenge and the target-rich environment of opportunities, I also realized this humbling fact:
this work will NEVER be complete.
So how much time, effort, and money is rational for this effort? Especially when I consider that I see have many personal and family needs that are being directly compromised or threatened by unethical forces?
Then I considered who I associate with as friends,acquaintances, and business partners. If I wasn't entirely satisfied or proud of that, isn't that more important to change than strangers' philosophies who I haven't even met yet and probably never will?
I am grateful for having this online Gulch so that we can connect and interact with other like-minded people. Life is too short and precious to spend it with people who don't share your values and interests.
I've been absent here for the past few months because I've been laser-focused on taking care of some serious challenges to myself, my family, and our values.
Now I'm back - just briefly - to say that I'm re-committing to making my world into the one I want to live in. With people who share my values and orientation of the world. (The number of people not fully "awake" to what is happening around us has become a more essential issue and factor, IMO.)
We don't need the entire world to be objectivist-friendly. We can't - because it ain't ever going to happen.
After trying quite earnestly at it for many years - and watching many other people try a whole lot harder than me since the 1960s' - I can confidently say that we aren't ever going to even be close to a majority opinion.
So what is more rational - a goal achieve that ideal state of utopia?
Or - to create the best world of relationships and partnerships we can with the people who already share our world view and philosophy?
In darker or more stressful moments we may wonder when we will see a complete collapse as in Atlas Shrugged. Or another SHTF scenario that seems to have many varieties given all the threats and craziness in our world today.
If and when that happens, the smart (or "lucky") ones will have already prepared themselves and their families to have a place, a community, and a means to continue living.
That will be a Gulch of some type. Thanks to our internet, now it doesn't have to be 100% physical.
I've grown to believe that our biggest issue and need is not persuading more people that we need to live rational, productive, ethical, and peaceful lives. Rather, it is that we need to better identify and connect those of us who already share these values NOW so that we can build trust, success, and happiness amongst ourselves now - while we can enjoy all of these benefits. If and when things get more ugly - then we will all be better off too.
No fear. No regrets. And no time to waste.
If you live in northern California, or do business online and think you or others would be worth connecting with, I hope you'll reach out to me.
If you are on the Marketplace here, I know about you. :-) I encourage everyone to go to the Marketplace page, learn who is there, and think about how you can do business with them. I've done that and hope to see more people and businesses joining over time.
In future posts - possibly Marketplace listings - you'll likely hear from me again on topics related to this mission. High on my priority list is finding medical and health professionals who work on a DPC basis (Direct Primary Care). Outside of health insurance companies, in other words. They are out there, and there is a growing number of healthcare professionals who are sick and tired of becoming slaves to medical insurance companies and plans. Healthcare is something everyone has a rational reason to care about for themselves and their families too.
My name is Brett Hoffstadt. I am quite easy to find online other places if you want to. I'll be glad to hear from you here, but please understand I won't be spending much time here. Too much exciting and important work to do in other places...
My greatest enjoyment comes from making Galt's Gulch a practical reality for my life. Not for convincing others of this need or value. And there is a lot of fun work to do -- with a much more exciting and practical result.
Did any of you connect? Either way please contact me, I would be interested.
My own views can be found at https://quberoot.wordpress.com/
Summary, if you don't want to read the whole thing:
1) Get together with like minded people ( I have defined what like minded is).
2) Work on projects for mutual benefit.
As you can see there is nothing novel about it really (partly the theme of Galt's Gulch in Atlas Shrugged ) , but the big challenge appears that often relatively independent thinking people also come with their quirks, for example a near complete lack of effort in putting aside minor differences to co-operate with other like-minded people for mutual benefit. Independence of thought (which is good) tends to foster loner (which is bad) like tendencies.
the Main Library is limited (though mainly, apparently, for computer use), and not as much as before. But at least I can use the computers some now.
https://theheirloomexpo.com/
Interesting thread you started! Lots of philosophical debate, but not so many answering your original query. Yes. Let's connect!!!
We are urban homesteaders of sorts in the middle of Las Vegas! (yes!). I am also an author and nutritionist.
My husband and I will be speaking at the National Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, CA, this month (on 9-11- and 9-13). Are you aware of this event? And if so do you attend this event? It is an amazing place to network with other incredibly productive people ~ not necessarily all with Objectivist thinking sadly ~ but still, many with amazing self-sustaining Producer-level knowledge. We'll personally be talking about growing food in harsh conditions, managing micro-climates and eating raw food for better energy. Please let me know if you'd like to meet up?
~anand
P.S.
I also highly recommend the Creature from Jeckyl Island. And visit Jeckyl Island sometime - It's quite a beautiful place :-)
P.P.S.
If anyone is ever interested to see what an Objectivist Urban Homestead in the desert looks like, you are welcomed to visit.
http://www.wholewayhome.com
Jan
I wouldn't even begin to want to be around political fund-raisers and staffs and never have. I used to think politics was something that 'someone has to do', but because of the kind of people I saw in it -- an alien world I wanted no part of -- thought it could be ignored to pursue a productive life. Government action subsequently demonstrated otherwise. I have met a few good people in government but generally regard dealing with it as nothing but self defense. It's not just that I don't want to encourage them by being around them, I don't enjoy or want to be around them. Participation in evil can be deeper than just politics.
But the mentality you describe of people seeking reactions from others and nothing rational for personal goals of their own is not restricted to government. You see that everywhere, though you can safely ignore such people as long as they are not exercising destructive power. It's Howard Roark in comparison with Peter Keating -- the essence of it is not political at all, though it also shows up there. The Fountainhead is not a political novel, and the essence of Atlas Shrugged isn't either -- when I first read it it didn't even occur to me to think of it that way.
Perhaps what we both are talking about is that we can pursue success in many efforts. And achieve success, within those contexts. But in the bigger picture, are those pursuits really the ones we should be going after?
Peter Drucker emphasizes that effective leadership is doing the right things effectively. Figuring out what those "right things" are is probably the biggest challenge in life. That's where a rational, reality-based, and life-affirming philosophy becomes unbeatable. :-)
Long before I found Rand, I've gone to politicians' fundraisers for networking, fun, and to get to know politicians and their staff. Those are perfectly good reasons, but the level irrationality has increase, and I think by going I'm partly participating in evil. When I engage in discussions with people getting their jollies off other people making some other people look bad in meetings, I'm possibly encouraging it. It's time I could have been doing something else.
Finding Ayn Rand set me on a personal journey of sorts. But I don't see her fans possess a selfish joy for life that I got from the books more than the average person I know. The average person who occasionally utters collectivist platitudes is probably more selfish and less Second Hander than the average proclaimed Ayn Rand fan. It's possible I misunderstand them and/or misunderstand Rand's writings.
But your post resonates with me: "No Fear. No regrets. And no time to waste.
There's a lot of fun work to do with exciting results... lots of disappointments too, which is what makes successes exciting. The computer gives me a window from my world of freedom and plenty into a miserable world where life is so bad it's bound to fall apart and anything would be better. I can't do anything for the people on the miserable side, and just looking with no purpose is gawking.
As you say, thanks to the Internet, we have unlimited windows to look through and communicate.
There hasn't been a never-ending battle of people to realize their fullest potential. Most people don't, for example in the thousand years of the Dark and Middle Ages. It's a matter of choice that requires rationality with conceptual thought.
Our difference in perspective is that I do not agree with your initial premise: "There are no innate ideas in an inevitable 'span of human character'."
That is what I consider a 'blank slate' premise which attributes most or all of character to environment. I think that genetics has a lot to do with character. Per Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Richard Dawson and others, I think that we have 'onboard' a number of basic 'software modules' that are genetically loaded into our brains: Linguistic aptitude (but not language per se), fair trading, social conformity, counting 1-2 or 3,...there are several others postulated.
I think that most people have a much higher innate tendency towards 'social conformity' than the people in the Gulch. Were there a whole lot of us, then we might be able to swing the 'conformists' into 'our camp' the way the liberal education system has swung the recent generations from the political views of the 1950's to the current POVs (good and bad). But that would not make these people independent thinkers; they would just be another flavor of conformists.
So, if you reason from a 'blank slate' perspective, your approach is logical. If, like me, you think that there is innate inherited tendencies, then the metaphor to the bee-scouts stands as a paradigm. (Yes, there are a lot more shades of grey than I am painting, but these emails are pretty long already.)
Jan
To hell with those who don't have the vision, appreciation, and respect for our great human potential. It's up to each of us to achieve our individual and collective greatness, and love doing it. And also protecting ourselves from their nastiness... thanks to our passion (philosophy), cleverness (reason), and modern technologies we have a lot going for us!
With my original post and some other efforts I'm doing, I'm broadcasting to target audiences that Brett Hoffstadt is putting his money and his relationships where his philosophy is. I welcome anyone interested (and qualified) to come on board with me.
This is the story of human existence, is it not? The never-ending battle of people to realize their fullest potential while battling against forces opposed to it - both natural and man made.
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