Ethical_Egoism_Article - {OM af the human ta year mind ané...

Unformatted text preview: {OM af the. human, ta year mind. ané I say: “mere isfiggzgggiity pf mama, a gggagmmmmgflmggkgmMgg’swLijé 'i‘si‘i’lfifindmd 0f valua. “All that which is proper It) ma life Qt” a Iaiimai being is the gmxl; all that which ficalmys it i5 {he evil. “Man’s life, as required by his mum, is mm 1135 lift: all a mindless brutc, (3f a tuning {hug m a munching mystic, but: the life (If a thinking héingw-nm. life k}! means in: farce a: fraud. but life by means ml achiéwmemmnm survival at any price, slam: :here‘s cmly me price that pays far man‘s survival: magma. “Man‘s life is the steward at marality, but ycmr awn life is paw pom if cxlstcncx: on cath 3:; year goal, ycm must cheese your activism and values by the standarti at that which is pmper m man—for that purng as preserving, fulfilling and eajnying the lrwplaceahlc value which i5 your life. “Sines: lift: reqaimsa a spacific course af aflle any olher muma will {lemng it A being whoa émm mm {laid his mm life as the muzive final goal (3f his gallant}, is gazing on {he mofiw ami stanclzml a? death. Such a being is a metaphysical monstmsifiy, struggling m agwsc, negate and mmmdim the fact 0f hi1; mm existence. running blindly smack an a trail of destructianl Gamble: (af nothing but pain. “Hamimxs is the sxxcccssful gtate {3f life. pain is an agimt 9f {hall}. Happiaass: is; {hat sum: all mascinusmss: which ymceeds from the achievamcnt a! mess values. A maralllgg that dares It: tell you :9 find flappiness in the maunxziation (3f ycm‘r happimsfimm value the: {35mm cf yam mums-mix; an inmmm negatinn of mcvralily. A wimxriae that gives: yam as an idezsll {he wk: 9f a sacrificial animal we:ng slzmgmer ml the altars 0f mhers, 55 giving yet: (lea;er yams" slandam. B}: the grace 3f reality anti the nature a? life. mam-wt:va manna—is am find in himsalf‘ he wists: far his mm sake, and 6m achiavcmem (1f his awn haggimss is Ms highcs: mum! purgmse. "Rut neither life mt hagpinaszx cam he achiewd by 1M pumfil (bf irratltmal whims. Just as man is; I‘m: in attempt m aurvim in mm dram manner. but will {mash unlegs: he iivés as his mum: mquimx‘ m he is frat? to sneak his hapylness in any mindless fraud, but {he mmlre of frussmficm is all he will fimh unln‘ss l1: smks {ha happiness prayer :0 mm The purpasr: {at mnmlily lg m mach yam ml in gxxfier am} die; but m en‘iuy yaursell’ and live‘ “Sweep aside: 2mm» parasims Q? :mbsidlxed clagsrmma. whn live an {he prelim Qf :he mind its? mlmm ami Fmflziim Gm: man news m3 mmalityl n0 mizseg, m3 mile: ()f hehavictr. “they, who 905:: as saiemlsts and claim that man is wily m1 animal, (in net grant him inclufiion in :1“: law a! axisteuce {My ham: granted to the lowest cf bisects. They rac- ognize that every living sixties has a way of survivzll demaudw by its nature, m}: d9 net claim that a fish can 1in out of waler m that a dog can live witlmnt its sense cf amellubut man, they claim, the must com~ plex af beings, man can aurvive in any way \lealavar, man has as) 1015 Mama}: 1m natum, and mm no practich reinsan‘ why he mime: live will: his means af survival aestmycd, mm 3115 mugd {milled and placed a: the dispesal afi a *ordms may rgigm can: (as tssnc. ‘ f “Swwp aside these ; dgamn :Iagsucs, who p055 sis {amass ad humanity and preach s“ _ hxghcst wrtue man can practice: as m hal his: mm life as of m x" Do Hwy tell you that the ‘puqmse af metal. ity 23 to curb man‘s instincfi :3: mlprmsarvalifln? itfxxgmtllg, of St hmgcmammmg ‘geed ~ xfiepi morgfixty. The only mm: mm sires to be moral is 1m: mat: titlesires {a lwe. . _ “No. yet: do mt have m 13%; it ix gem: ham act of change; hm: If you chm 1:: live, you must: live 35 a mafia—«by the mark and (he futlgmem 9! your mind. i i ‘8 V “Na. mu (la am have to liva as a man; 113$ an act {fi mgral choice. But yon (tanks): live. as anything else-«4116 the almmalive 15 that state a: living (Scam which gm: new set: wimin 33m: anti armmd yam rm: slap 01 a thlag unfit far existencm no lavage: mum-ail and legs than amma, a thing aha: knows naming 1311: p331 and almgtg mall? ihmugh ilS $93321 0f years "in the agony of unthinking selfudrzstmcmg. ’ “N0. mu (in mi haw: m mink; it: is; am act {if mm‘ai chmca. But 39:11:26]};th {a think to lime? yin: aliva; if gym: change in (iefault. you tiefzmlt an exigxencc and yen gags (ha defim {(3 male nmral mall, fili‘ mung him it: sacrifice his: gmd (at the sake of letting yin: sxmwa by Km: mil. ) "Na )3} :16 mt ham: 1:: Ex: 3 man; but taday 8x934: wfio am, am :30: xlxcrc: {my hanger. l have remnwd ymzr mcsns (fl? sumvalmyam sac- tmglf van wish to knew haw I have done it and what mid {beam (:3 make Elma: quit: yen: are basting it mm, 1 Kalli mm! m gsgencai the smxmwnt I am makiag «might. They were ant-n. Wm hmi llwd by my (mam. but had m3: kmwn how great :1 virtues 1t ragaregmmcl: I wade 13mm ace it. L hmught {helm m): a se-walmsiam. but (mly an identifica— aim: of :lxeir llamas. ’ K “We, the men (if 111:: mind, am new: cm slrikc against m the name nf a zainglé axiom, which $5 the mm Qf‘ mgr moral axle} gas: agkthe mm nf yams is an: wish m 252396: it: {he axmm {hat extszéme‘gxa‘m. “Existence exislsmmaml the act at“ grasping. {flat gtatcmem' :mplms um mmflarv animus: that mmething exists finch {me ipercewes and mm m»: txigzx pmscsslng cansaimxstamsl ccmsmmmess. being {ha faculty (3%” gmrcciving mm which exists; ‘ Q "If milling exists, were: mm bi: an wnscxpmfxeags: a canscmugmss will} (10:11ng to be cansclous :31? is a camradicnu‘n in tgrms. A consgmuxf new; consciaus of flashing but itself is: a asmmdmhon m tefms: balms: 1t amid identify itself as cansciousncss, it: {lad m be wagons sorflae thing. If that whlcl: yau claim m pamewc 69% am amt! what 3m: mess ix an: cansciwsmss. ‘ “Whatever: the magma of your knawlxtdge, they: thxxaxencc am} 1016 mnwioasnawate axiums yin: cm: escaye, these: two are the it» reducible primaries impliecl in any 3mm; yell undarlakfi, in zany part at your knewleclge and in its sum, from the first ray of ligh: you yet— ceive at the start of your lira {a 11m widest tradition ymx might acqnim at its emf. Whether gm: knaw Kill“: snags a? a pelable 9: 81¢ sanctum of a solar system, the axiams muslin that same: that it exists and that ym: knew ll. \ “Tc exixt is m ha something, as distinguixhw from. the nothing {if nomexlswmze, i1 is to be an entity of a sgecific nature made of specific attributes. Centuries age, the man wha wag-um: mauer what his ermrs ~the greatest 0f yam philasnphers, i135 stated the {manila dafining (in: camp! a: existence and the ml: af all knuwledge: A :1: A. A thing is itself. You haw: mvcr gmsptd {lat meaning 0f his statemém. I am have to complete it: Existenm is identity, Cansciausmss is ldcmifical‘mn. “Whatever ymx choose m calmidcr, be it an Object, an attribute at am alarm}, the law of identity remains the same. A leaf manual in a stem: at the same time? it sauna: be all rel: and all green at iii?) 5mm: time, it camm: {maze and hum at the 533318 limit A is A. (3r¥ if yen wits}: it stated in gimpler language: You canal}: have yeur calla amid an is, we. “Are- yau seeking 1:: know what is wrong with the warld’? Ali the disasters that flaw wrecked yuur world, came {mm ymxr leadcm’ a1- !empt to Nada tile fact that A is A. All the secret ml yam dmad m fact: within 3m: and all the pain yum have war endumtll 8mm: from your own attemglt m cvaclé the fact that A is A. Tile: purpclgc a? thaw who taught yen: to fivadé it, was m malt»: you forget that Man $2; Man. 3 “Man came: survivg new: by gaining knowledga, {Kid reason is his only angling :0 gain is.‘ Raasan is 11m faculty that perceives, Sdemifiss and lnzegrums the: material pwvidmi by his Tlm task of his senses is m gm: him {be evidence 9f fixislcnce. but file {ask {)5 illentify- ing it belcmgs it} his reason? his mum; tell him only that smucthing is, but wise: it is must be lea-1mm lay his miadw “All thinking és a pram“ sf idantificmicm and imcgmlilm Man pep calves a blob af color; by integrating (ht: evidence at his sigh: and his much, in: learns to identify it as a salid abject; he lemas; :0 identify she abject: as :1 table; he learns that the milk: is made if mam; ht: teams that the weed canrsism 01‘ cells, that (ha calls camels! of :mleculc‘s. (hm the trmlemxlas mam {)f exams, All thmugh {his pnmms. the walk (31’ his mlrl-d mmim of answem m a singk: qmstisn: Wm: i5 it? means is establish the truth if his answers is we, and laglc resmWn than wiggggmmgxs. Lagic is fill: art (15 nonmfifigkwry 1 an 3 calla". A Eamadictim (Imam exist. An atom is itself, and m is the universe; neither can camradict its mm Scientity; nor can a part comrad§ct file whale. No mumps man fax-111$ is valifi unless he integrates ll without cantmdicfian into the mm: sum of hi3 knowlefige. To arrival at :3 gum traflicficm is to canfess an em): in Cam‘s thinking; it) mlfiffiawsflden- {(311 radiation is m abéicate arm‘s mm and m evict aneself from my: main; giggly is that which exists; the lmrgal docs net exist; the unreal m merely that negatimn cf existence whmh :s the 011mm! 0an mama!» motl- wiansness when it attempts m abandon mama. Tmle as 1.8 it‘gmgng- tian cf reality; mama, man's only means at knowladga, XS :5 (my 1:. A flaggiaigdzgiguswmved semantic ytm cam naw utter 33 to» 215k: Whose mama? The angwcr i5: Yours. Na mailer how v33} ygux kgowleltlge .9; 0w madam, it is your own mind that has fa acqmre it [1* 13an 3:35;. yew“ awn knowledge that gm: can deaL It as only yfgxir mm :19“: fig; that yin: can claim to 055338 (a: as}: fithifFS m cansulgr. You; 12:21: at: your ml); iudge cl? ml: «wand if othlm diam“: frail}: )«Qur veQ-r 1c km it}: is the calm (if final appeal. Nothmg bu} a {pan 5‘ mmll gin fire} {it}? that mmplex, dalimte, crnclal grmesis at: ldlzntxlltatlcn Wills: tuna; ing. Nothing can dime: t§e pmceisfibslt own ludgmmt. ; :3: mg :1 ' ' ' m but is meta m cgn y misgog‘sgfiggggak ()5 a “mom! instlnsst“ as if‘i: \fs‘em some 36%)33’3: endowment opimsed m rcamnmman‘a reamll (5* hm maml f3?“ (3:. inmaess 0f reason i3 3 prmess of mustam climate: in gamer m {ée‘qum‘g mm: True at Falswmmgh: w Wmflg? ls B‘Sfifii} m be plant? ' “so; '31 order to gmwmright 0r xvmng? la a man‘s wanna m be 61:11? ma‘ :1 male: {(3 gave his life-«right at wrang‘lfisesxthg nature 0 fumes:- hefilz elactriciiy pemi: it ta be magnet? mm Emma: paweri—glgltf; 1mg? it is: the answers in such queguom thgt gm: 3:31: aver): ’mg‘ § alarm-and the amwers came fmm a man‘g mad. a mind (If mxmmlgrl ,- a» tin to {hat which la rizfl‘m as; {glam} prmesx' is :1 tgm'a! precess. Yam may ma lm in: £21"er a: any mp (3f it, with walking to pmtwt yam {3m yam: awn swemt}, my try {(3 cheat. {0 {aka an: evidence and CF33? ll“: cl‘l’mt in s ué‘sl-mlmt if demiinn in truth is tha hallwer olmorahiyg than has: xs 0 gmater. Rubles, more hmméci {snag}; gamma than the act a a v ‘snmes the res mi lit? a nwmg. ' X \fgflck ynu call gm“ smul at splfit‘is your cangclmgsgesz, 3:2? that Whiith you call ‘fme will" is yam mad 5 freedam_m mm or m}, the 01113: will yen have, 3mm“ ml}: {maxim}, :13: shame lhathcomms 11 this iii“)in mu make. 336 dilemmas: yen: 311}: and year c .ar‘acum "Thinking igxman'g cull}: bififiifi: virtual {mg} WlFICh‘ all the pa; tied. Ami gig limit: vim} the mums all all m wallsx ES {hgt’ngmalmg as} which all of yau practica, hulaslruggie {ever to, admit. fig: ii hulking out, the willfifi suspengmn cf ones mascmgsness‘ I e co think—mot blindngsx but the rafusalkto we; no; ignomrfcs, fa ; g mfusal ta imam It is {he act 0f unfmuml‘gggenr :mml am‘l mducmg :1: met fog in escape ma respensihllity at gadgmemwgld 3318? @3211: premise that a thing will at}: mist if 13:11}- ymx warm to 1 angry xii If, A will m: b: A so lung as you (ll) net pmmume the vet an t :3. 1018 Non-tlfinking is an act of annihilation, a wish to negate existence, an, attempt to wipe out reality. But existence exists; reality is not to to wiped out, it will merely wipe out the wiper. By refusing to say ‘lt is: you are refusing to say ‘I am.’ By suspending your judgment, you are negating your person. When a man declares: “Who am l to know?» he , is declaring: ‘Who am i to live?” “This, in every hour and every issue, is your basic moral Chills?” thinking or non-thinking, existence or non-existence, A or non-A, cm tin or zero. “To the extent to which a man is rational, life is the premise direct: ing his actions. To the extent to which he is irrational, the premise «ll-l recting his actions is death. "You who prattle that morality is social and that man would ncml no morality on a desert island—4t is on a desert island that he would need it most. Let him try to claim, when there are no victims to pay for it, that a rock is a house, that sand is clothing, that food will drop into his mouth without cause or effort, that he will collect a. harvest lflmuh row by devouring his stock seed today—and reality will wipe him out. as he deserves; reality will show him that life is n value to be bought and that thinking is the only coin noble enough to buy it. "If 1 were to speak your kind of language, I would say that man‘s only moral commandment is: Thou shalt think, But a ‘moral commamh ment‘ is a contradiction in terms, The moral is the chosen. not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments. if “My morality, the morality of reason, is contained in a single axiom: “ existence exists—«and in a single choice: to live. The rest proceeds from these, Totlive, man must hold three things as thegnprgnie and ruling values ofphisgfifegwReason‘ surges teem, Reason, as ins’only‘TooT of knowledgeiilinrpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achirzvc-Sclf~esteem, as his invlolatc certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living. These three values imply and require all of man’s virtues, and all his virtues pertain to the rela» tion of existence and consciousness: rationality, independence, integrity. honesty, justice, productivencss, pride. “Rationality is the recognition of the [act that existence exists, thni nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of percoiving it, which is thinking-—that the mind is one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide of action—that reason is an absolute that permits no compromise-«that a concession to the irrational invali— dates onc’s consciousness and turns it from the task of perceiving to the task of faking reality—that the alleged shortcut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a shorecimnit destroying the mind-«that the acceptance of a mystical invention is a wish for the annihilation of existence and, properly, annihilates one’s consciousness, 1019 “independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the re-- ; sponsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it—that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch—hitter can live your life—4 that the vilest form of self-ahasement and selfodcstmction is the subor- dination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say—so as truth, his edicts as middleman between your conscious- ness and your existence. “Integrity is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you , cannot fake existence—that man is an indivisible entity, an inte- grated unit of two attributes: of matter and consciousness, and that he may permit no breach between body and mind, between action and thought, between. his life and his convictions—that, like a judge im- pervious to public opinion, he may not sacrifice his convictions to the Wishes of others. be it the whole of mankind shouting pleas or threats against him-«that courage and confidence are practical necessities, that courage is the practical form of being true to existence, of being true ’ to truth, and confidence is the practical form of being true to one’s own consciousness. “Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraudwthat an attempt to gain a value by deceiving the _ mind of others is an act of raising your victims to a position higher than reality, where you become a pawn of their blindness, a slave of their non~thinking and their evasions, while their intelligence, their ra- tionality, their perceptiveneas become the enemies you have to dread ‘ and fleemthat you do not care to live as a dependent, least of all a » dependent on the stupidity of others, or as a fool whose source of values _ is the tools he succeeds in fooling—«that honesty is not a social duty, not _ a sacrifice for the sake of others, but the most profoundly selfish virtue } man can practice: his refusal to sacrifice the reality of his own existence to the deluded consciousness of others, “Justice is the. recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the charac~ ter of men as you cannot fake the character of nature, that you must judge all men as conscientiously as you judge inanimate objects, with the same respect for truth. with the some incorruptible vision, by as pure and as rational a process of identificationwtliat every man must be judged for what he is and, treated accordingly, that just as you do not pay a higher price for a rusty chunk of scrap than for a piece of shining metal, so you do not value a rotter above a hero—that your moral ap- praisal is the coin paying men for their virtues or vices, and this pay- ment demands of you as scrupulous an honor as you bring to financial transactions—~that to withhold your contempt from men’s vices is an act of moral counterfeiting, and to withhold your admiration from their virtues is an act of moral embezzlement—that to place any other can- 1020 cern higher than justice is to devaluate your moral currency and dc fraud the good in favor of the evil, since only the good can lose by a default of justice and only the evil can profit—and that the bottom at the pit at the end of that road, the act of moral bankruptcy, is to punish men for their virtues and reward them for their vices, that that is the collapse to full depravity, the Black Mass of the worship of death, the dedication of your consciousness to the destruction of existence; “Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognilion of the fact that you choose to livewthat productive work is the process by which man’s consciousness controls his existence, a constant process of acquiring knowledge and shaping matter to fit one’s purpose, of trans- lating an idea into physical form, of remaking the earth in the image of one‘s values-“that all work is creative work if done by a thinking mind, and no work is creative if done by a blank who repeats in un~ critical stupor a routine he has learned from others—Joni your work. is yours to choose, and the choice is as wide as your mind, that nothing more is possible to you and nothing less is humanwthat to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear- corroded ape on borrowed motions and borrowed time, and to settle down into a job that requires less than your mind’s full capacity is to cut your motor and sentence yourself to another kind of motion: de~ cayn—that your work is the process of achieving your values, and to lose your ambition for values is to lose your ambition to livemthat your body is a machine, but your mind is its driver, and you must drive as far as your mind will take you, with achievement as the goal ofI your road—that the man who has no purpose is a machine that coasts down- hill at the mercy of any boulder to crash in the first chance ditch, that the man who stilles his mind is a stalled machine slowly going to rust“ that the man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap, and the man who makes another man his goal is a hitchhiker no driver should ever pick ...
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