self(ish/less)
About a week ago I finished reading The Fountainhead, which has secured its place in my top 3 reads of all time.
The book weighs altruism vs. egotism, or selflessness vs. selfishness. The metaphor throughout the pages of achitecturally themed writing, is that objectivity is found on either end of the spectrum. With altruism, we glorify the people around us, and by doing so we remove ‘the self’ from our life’s equation - we are alive to please and to be seen. With egotism we glorify our own goals, our work, or our achievements - not to project these glories on others, but to feed our ego with that which will leave it satisfied.
It’s funny how altruism is accepted as selfless and egotism as selfish. Ayn Rand contends that without the ego we would not have any of our modern day inventions as they are the result of an independent mind working to satisy it’s selfish hunger.
I’m always most intrigued by thoughts that stick a wrench in the way we’ve built up the world around us. Whether or not they’re philosophically true is irrelevant. The more important question is who is willing to find out?
For more spectacular quotes, check out Sam’s page.
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