Believe?
I'm going to write a quote I wish I could 'believe' in. I've tried to 'believe' in it and its only gotten me heart ache. So here goes.
"We must destroy the ego first. That is why the mind is so
unreliable. We must not think. We must 'believe'. Believe,...even
if your mind objects. Don't think. Believe. Trust your heart, not
your brain. Don't think. Feel. Believe."
(This quote is taken from the Ayan Rand story.
The Founainhead. pg.365)
The reason I titled this as sad is because for all my life I've tried to believe in the fairy tale of happy ever after and have had nothing but heart break. I don't know if after all these years of this awful habit, I can change or brake the habit, but I think this is what that saying is sort of saying. Don't think, and put away the ego of thinking things will be a certain way, believe in it with all your heart and you will not see it, but trust it, and therefore feel it as well. This is what I wish I could 'believe'. Or should I say have faith in! SJH
"We must destroy the ego first. That is why the mind is so
unreliable. We must not think. We must 'believe'. Believe,...even
if your mind objects. Don't think. Believe. Trust your heart, not
your brain. Don't think. Feel. Believe."
(This quote is taken from the Ayan Rand story.
The Founainhead. pg.365)
The reason I titled this as sad is because for all my life I've tried to believe in the fairy tale of happy ever after and have had nothing but heart break. I don't know if after all these years of this awful habit, I can change or brake the habit, but I think this is what that saying is sort of saying. Don't think, and put away the ego of thinking things will be a certain way, believe in it with all your heart and you will not see it, but trust it, and therefore feel it as well. This is what I wish I could 'believe'. Or should I say have faith in! SJH
Replies
I really hate the philosophy of Ann Rand. I think it is one more appropriate for wild cats than for human beings. Trying to believe something that your rational mind refuses is a recipe for insanity. Although it is true, because of occasional errors in thinking, that instinct is sometimes more dependable than thought, for the most part instinct leads us to merely satisfy our most basic, immediate desires and results in unmitigated greed.
I think that the speech you quoted by from the book, spoken by the character named Ellsworth Toohey, was provided by Rand as a weak argument for collectivism and self-abnegation, which Rand deconstructs later in the book.
While listening to her uncle Ellsworth speak, Catherine becomes completely selfless; it is as if she disappears. \"Keating looked at Catherine. There was no Catherine; there was only a white face dissolving in the sounds of the loudspeaker. It was not that she heard her uncle; Keating could feel no jealousy of him; he wished he could. It was no affection. It was something cold and impersonal that left her empty, her will surrendered and no human will holding hers, but a nameless thing in which she was being swallowed.\" Part 1, Chapter 9, pg. 109