Every man requires a purpose for his life, and to quote Miss Rand, "[T]he achievement of his own happiness is man's highest moral purpose". But while that is one's highest purpose there are many other goals and purposes that can further one's ultimate purpose.
Everything a man does should be done with purpose. That statement thus applies to the creation of a blog. A blog (like anything else) without purpose is simply a waste of everyone's time, including its creator's.
So, what is my purpose in the creation of this blog? That's simple; it is to share my ideas and thoughts on whatever currently interests me with others who can appreciate my views, regardless of their agreement or not with them. I am a trader by nature, and that includes the realm of ideas. The trade between myself and my readers will be thus, I will share my unique insights and ideas, and my payment in return will be the knowledge that I have personally engaged the mind of my reader, regardless of his opinions of my views. That is what I will gain and that is my purpose with regard to this blogs creation.
I had wanted to start a blog for quite some time but had previously lacked a central purpose. I know that purpose now, and what I will receive in return. My return is the increase of my own happiness via sharing the nature of the good--as I understand it--with any interested thinking individual, and my knowledge that I have engaged their mind will result in the increase of my happiness as my payment.
The following is from the online version of The Ayn Rand Lexicon available here ~~> http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/#P_index
Purpose
The three cardinal values of the Objectivist ethics—the three values which, together, are the means to and the realization of one’s ultimate value, one’s own life—are: Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem, with their three corresponding virtues: Rationality, Productiveness, Pride.
Productive work is the central purpose of a rational man’s life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. Reason is the source, the precondition of his productive work—pride is the result.
“The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, 25.
A central purpose serves to integrate all the other concerns of a man’s life. It establishes the hierarchy, the relative importance, of his values, it saves him from pointless inner conflicts, it permits him to enjoy life on a wide scale and to carry that enjoyment into any area open to his mind; whereas a man without a purpose is lost in chaos. He does not know what his values are. He does not know how to judge. He cannot tell what is or is not important to him, and, therefore, he drifts helplessly at the mercy of any chance stimulus or any whim of the moment. He can enjoy nothing. He spends his life searching for some value which he will never find . . . .
The man without a purpose is a man who drifts at the mercy of random feelings or unidentified urges and is capable of any evil, because he is totally out of control of his own life. In order to be in control of your life, you have to have a purpose—a productive purpose . . . . The man who has no purpose, but has to act, acts to destroy others. That is not the same thing as a productive or creative purpose.
“Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” March 1964.
So, this initial post is more of a statement of purpose more than anything else. I will try to update the blog at least once a week, probably on Sunday's, but that will depend on my interests, events and ideas that interest me, and my ability to devote the time. The range of topics will be large--from politics, art, science, television, film to whatever I find interesting and believe others will also gain some value from reading.
The purpose here will be my revealing the essence of my soul, so that others may appreciate it, gain from it, and--possibly-- they will share a piece of their's with me. I will increase my own happiness regardless, and we shall both profit from it.
Till next time--Go out and make some money!
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EC
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1 comment:
Interesting that almost a year after you posted this, I find it and it is exactly the word I need to hear.
Thank you.
Gary Prichard
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