Ayn Rand and Happiness

First let me say that I considered reprinting the Dennis Prager article “Happiness is a Moral Obligation here. If you haven’t read it, I would very strongly encourage you to do so. In fact, stop reading my blog right now and read it, Prager certainly is a better writer than I and offers the kind of clarity of thought and understanding of happiness that few can match. The article can be found here: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2007/02/20/happiness_is_a_moral_obligation
The emphasis on personal happiness can seem to be a selfish one, but this is an idea that Prager constantly refutes. For some reason, this thought reminded me of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, and of my own experience of listening to Rand’s The Fountainhead. The Fountainhead is no doubt, one of the most influential books that I have had the pleasure to experience (though I regret to admit I only listened to the book on tape), and is really the story of one man’s pursuit of happiness. This exceptional man is the architect Howard Roark who refuses to compromise his ideals and his vision. Instead of accepting compromise in order to be civil or polite, Roark goes his own way and does what he knows will make him happy. 
There are two important things here to consider: first Roark knows what makes him happy, and second Roark refuses to allow others to make him unhappy. If everyone truly knew what made them happy (as opposed to what makes them feel good or gives them pleasure) and refused to allow others to keep them from being as happy as they can, imagine what a happy world ours would be. Happiness is contagious, after all. Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism can be defined as the belief “that the proper moral purpose of one’s life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness or ‘rational self interest.’”(wikipedia.org)
There are those who might view this philosophy as selfish and self serving. It is quite counterintuitive to think that others might be made happy by pursuing one’s own personal happiness. But the greatest deeds of selfishness are those that promise to make the doer more miserable. Consider the selfishness that is inherent in drug abuse or attempting suicide. Both of these extreme examples demonstrate the zenith of both narcissism and self destructive behavior. Yet if those who choose this path made choices that would lead to their own long term happiness, society would be the better.
From a spiritual perspective, I realize that the choices that I make that are based upon my understanding of God’s will for my life will result in the greatest happiness in my life. This certainly destroys any notion of a selfish motive. Anyone who has done any significant amount of service has realized that it truly blesses the servant more than those being served. It is only when the service is done of free accord though, that the servant is able to be happy in the work and effective in service. The last thing we need are those who are doing service with clenched teeth and forced smiles. But no Christian organization would impose Christian service as an obligation, would it? But I digress. The point is that it is one’s obligation to everyone who has to deal with them to act as happy as possible, and more importantly to be as happy as possible. Of course, it is more important for people to act morally and ethically, but if they do so without being happy, what are they saying about their lifestyle? If Christians are living their faith and walking with their God, how can they be unhappy? If they are good Christians, how can they evangelize with a frown on their face? Obviously, “lifestyle evangelism” is impossible for the chronic malcontent.

God wants you to be healthy and rich…am I forgetting anything?

Just because, just to get myself riled up, I watched this ridiculous infomercial disguised as a Christian evangelical broadcast. Yes, I had too much time on my hands, thanks to the fact that I was “working” and there was nothing else to do. The show is titled “The Believer’s Voice of Victory” and the deception and misplaced priorities is enough to cause disbelief in the true believer. Not spiritual doubts, of course, but a genuine shock and amazement of what is done in the name of our God.
Kenneth Copeland is the purveyor of this brand of success and wellness Christianity and no doubt beneficiary of a great deal of the proceeds that come from the books and whatever other nonsense they sell on his infomercial. And there he was, with the cheshire cat grin and wide, unblinking eyes looking straight at the camera telling me how there are all these “Biblical principles” that show how to live healthy. And somewhere in his Biblical interpretation, it must say how important it is to be healthy. I never got that part, I must admit. I remember the pharisees questioning Jesus as to why someone was born blind or lame. And of course, immediately Jesus began preaching the virtues of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and how they will keep you healthy. No, Jesus focused on people’s spiritual needs. He used physical miracles to prove his spiritual credentials. He healed the sick so he could reach their hearts.
Yet this preacher, one who might claim the title of evangelist did not once bring up the spiritual needs that he might address. In one half hour, he preached the importance of health as though living past one hundred was as important as the imortality of the soul. His friend who was a “doctor” and who happened to have a hard cover, just released book for sale–no 800 number to call for spiritual guidance, just one to order this wonderful book– sat and nodded like a hollow bobble head doll. 
Copeland is also from the school that teaches that as you follow “God’s plan” for your life you will grow increasingly rich. If any of his teaching is to be believed, Bill Gates is the most righteous man alive. Perhaps I am simplifying his teaching a bit, but I can’t claim to have a deep understanding of his teachings. What I know is that most unbelievers who watch his programs will never gain a much deeper understanding, and will likely remain unbelievers.
Perhaps Mr.Copeland is a well meaning but misguided Christian. Perhaps he is one of those referred to in Luke 13:27 “But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” God’s sovereignity is my solace. Those with impure motives will be judged righteously: “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.” Mark 4:22.

Don’t worry, Panic!

There is little that I can say certain about modern science except for the fact that there seems to be a great deal of certainty today. It seems lately, that that is precisely what scientist are trying to convince us– and most likely themselves of.
The of-so-helpful Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just issued a statement that they are pretty sure that global warming (this is making the assumption that there actually is global warming) probably is man’s fault. Maybe. Okay, they were more definitive than that, they essentially stated that they were 90% sure. There are probably millions of implications to this if it is true. But that brings about another point: if global warming truly is happening, what will the results be? If we are responsible, how can we stop it? Fear mongers like Al Gore are predicting the end of civilization as we know it. The only way to stop it of course, is to end civilization as we know it. But for some reason voluntarily living back in the stone age is much better than causing a new stone age. It might seem foolish to make drastic changes and destroy our economy and way of living for something that we might be doing that might be causing something that might be deleterious to our global health in the near to late future as long as we don’t find a way to stop it or protect ourselves. But how else would liberals spead their ideals? How else would they be able to grow the size of the federal government if there weren’t a crisis to avert that requires Billions and Trillions of dollars? And how else would they be able to destroy economic development? They aren’t going to be able to redistribute all of the wealth, so the next best way is to burden industry with totally impractical and unproductive regulation.
Of course, this global disaster which is almost certainly caused by us humans might not even be stoppable, and if any of the scientists’ outrageous claims are to be true, it won’t be. Relax though, if global warming doesn’t result in the end of the world, there is certainly something that will end it in a most dreadful way and within the most ominous timeframe. Yes, most certainly we have little time left here on earth. Not because of the rapture and tribulation. Not even because of terrorists. (Who? Islamist what? Never heard of it.) No, fear not, we won’t go out with a Bang with nuclear war with those cute innocent North Koreans or that silly bearded guy in Iran. No, we will most certainly all die very slow deaths thanks to chickens and geese. Well, I’m sure we’ll be fine as long as we don’t use some man made chemical to innoculate those chickens from bird flu.
The same might be said of west nile virus, E. Coli, and the most fearsome in my mind: antibiotic resistent bacteria. The truth is scientists are becoming very adept at crying wolf, and while the public seems rather attentive, one wonders how long it can stay so. It seems evident that scientist and politicians have teamed together to repeatedly intensify the rhetoric. Like anything else, we become tolerant of the hysteria being thrown around like unsolicited papers on our windshield. It takes more radical hysteria in order to shock us, so they increase the rhetoric exponentially.
The biggest problem with this lunacy is that the science is entirely unsure and virtually unproven. There is increasing criticism of the global warming alarmists and their irresponsible extrapolations and outrageous claims. Remember the hype of the West Nile virus? Well, it is here and it is terrible, but it isn’t the killer it was made out to be. It has infected fewer than 2700 since 1999 and has resulted in a total of 86 deaths. There is no telling if the Bird flu will be worse than West Nile or the dreaded end of the world in the 90’s, Mad cow disease. Oh, remember that? That was pretty bad, I mean, that killed hundreds. Of cows. I realize that reading this blog might cause a great deal of shock. Perhaps we could come to a slightly less costly, less invasive way to mitigate these threats, which though I have been minimizing them, do have merit and do warrant concern. If we could minimize the alarmism and focus on awareness without sounding like lunatics, perhaps we could actually come to reasonable measures to avoid and mitigate these problems. Come to think of it, I think we’ve already started taking reasonable measures. Of course, what would these scientists do if we only took reasonable measures? What about their funding?  

An Inconvenient Truth

If there is one thing that could be pointed to as this nation’s biggest problem, I have little doubt that it is the cultivation of its obsession with convenience. A simple look at our country’s greatest iniquities–our legacy of slavery and tolerance of infanticide–expose our infatuation with convenience. It is a combination of narcissism and myopia that conspires to destroy this nation.
Today, those with the most profoud myopia, those with the biggest obsession with convenience are those who believe that the US should immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq. These were the same people who believed we should leave Vietnam and “give peace a chance.” Of course, because we were not allowed to win the war, leaving was the correct choice. But leaving did not result in peace by any means. No, the Sino-Vietnam War, which resulted in tens of thousands of more dead was directly related to the North Vietnamese victory, as well as many more resulting conflicts. One can only wonder what the aftermath of withdrawing from Iraq prematurally might result in. What some are fond of calling a civil war might actually develop into a civil war. Terrorists there to fight the US might help Iraq to become a terrorist state. Peace, which some clamour for at any cost, is less likely than a conversion to Christianity as the official religion.
There are myriad other examples of how our love of convenience is hurting this greatest nation on earth. I previously mentioned infanticide as a result of our infatuation with convenience. The infanticide I was referring to was abortion, of course. There is no greater example of our national narcissism and hatred of inconvenience.
It is a shameful cowardice that says that all opinions are valid, that there is no right and wrong. It is cowardice born out of convenience–if there is no right and wrong, if no one can judge anyone, then I can not be held responsible for my actions. The failure of cowardice is that it never stands up to pressure. It will never do the right thing, because the right thing is never easy. Those who worship convenience won’t punish their children because it is unpleasant. Instead, these people who allow emotion to guide their decision making coddle their children and never allow them to understand that actions always have consequences. The avoidance of pain isn’t healthy. It nurtures a childish nature that is inpractical and incapable of serious decision making. An life without pain would be a most sad and unfulfilling one.
As I write these things, I wonder what I have missed in my life because of my own personal love of convenience. There is little in this life worth having that does not require a great deal of time and effort. There is little worth doing that does not require effort. Without pain, happiness is almost impossible. Without sacrifice little could be accomplished. Without Christ’s pain, without the ultimate sacrifice, heaven would be unattainable.
There are a great number of manifestations of our love of convenience today, and the end result of them is almost always negative. Convenience almost always requires a trade off, one that we are increasingly willing to make. We have credit cards to spend the money we don’t currently have, plastic surgery to remove the fat we gain from eating too much fast food, we have microwaves to cook the food that we didn’t have the time to prepare, we have remote controls for just about every device that might require us to lean in our seat to reach, and we have pay per view to save us from having to leave the house to get a movie. Okay, so I admit, I like some of these conveniences. But there is something about earning things–something about making a meal by scratch, about doing it by yourself, about exercising self control that offers a great deal of satisfaction that high convenience items can’t offer.