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Post 60

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 6:10amSanction this postReply
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Marcus,

My article, "Like a Lamb to the Slaughter," was the first on Solo to get five Atlas icons. Yours is the second. Mine garnered 123 points (and for some reason, new "bonks" are no longer registered, so I guess 123 is all it will ever be credited with). When I looked at your points, I saw that it had gained 118.

My point value for bonking is 5, so it is with a great deal of pleasure that I put your article on equal points with mine. You wrote one hell of an article and its message needs to be stressed. Congratulations on focusing in on those Rand quotes and presenting a fine example of fine reasoning.

(bonk)

Michael


Post 61

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 6:26amSanction this postReply
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Daniel said:
Lance quoted Rand:
> Write directly from the subconscious, as the words come to you.

Of course this kind of advice is in practice quite contrary to other things she wrote about the creative process.

Can you give an example of something Rand wrote that is contrary to this quote?

Thanks,
Glenn


Post 62

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 6:59amSanction this postReply
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Mine garnered 123 points (and for some reason, new "bonks" are no longer registered, so I guess 123 is all it will ever be credited with).

Oh I see. You are talking about number of sanctions, not points. But how do you know that you are getting further sanctions (bonks) without them being counted?

Anyway, I am glad you liked it :-)

(Edited by Marcus Bachler on 8/08, 7:10am)


Post 63

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 12:30pmSanction this postReply
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Marcus,
But how do you know that you are getting further sanctions (bonks) without them being counted?
I receive Solo-mails from the Administrator that indicate when someone sanctions the article and how many sanction points that particular poster's "bonk" is worth. (I even kept the last one.) However, when I check out the numbers on the article itself, nothing changes. It stays at 123.

There's a glitch somewhere. I have asked Linz, Joe and Jeff separately to look into it, but they have told me they don't know why this is happening.

This looks like a specific glitch, so it shouldn't happen to yours (I hope).

Michael

Post 64

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 12:45pmSanction this postReply
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Lance quoted Rand:
> Write directly from the subconscious, as the words come to you.

I wrote:
>Of course this kind of advice is in practice quite contrary to other things she wrote about the creative process.

Glenn wrote:
>Can you give an example of something Rand wrote that is contrary to this quote?

i recall, perhaps wrongly, that she compared the subconscious to the stomach, and that one shouldn't similarly regurgitate its contents.

- Daniel



Post 65

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 1:02pmSanction this postReply
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Lance quoted Rand:
> Write directly from the subconscious, as the words come to you.

 
Daniel:
Yes I consider this good artistic advice, writing or otherwise. Where inspiration comes from is not important. Splurge it out, edit it, rinse and repeat. It's what Shaw was talking about when he said the subconscious is the true genius.


Daniel, I like what you're saying. Are you an artist? Your posts at SOLO strike me as heavy on the analytical side. I'm surprised at your receptivity for this process.

It's as plain as the proverbial nose on your face that most Objectivist-types are heavy on the analytical side and so it comes as no surprise that Objectivist-types create little of merit artistically. Objectivism emphasizes reason which is the domain of the conscious mind. The conscious mind takes a back seat in the artistic process.

I get the same sense from Aristotle's philosophy. It's so earth-based, so reasonable, so reality-bound (so good!), that to go off into artistic fancy seems counter to the artistic process. The stereotypical artist is not reality-bound. The stereotypical artist is something of a philosophical fruit-cake!

All this helps to explain the power of myth in faith-based (religious) stories and the corresponding power of faith-based art.


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Post 66

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 3:02pmSanction this postReply
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Lance -- After Aristotle defines happiness (eudaemonia or florishing) as "an active life of the element that has a rational principle" and "activity of soul in accordance with virtue," he say "we must add 'in a complete life.' For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed (makarios) and happy."

Poetry from Aristotle after he makes his most profound observation about the ultimate purpose of life!


Post 67

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 3:30pmSanction this postReply
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Michael,

It seems this article does not have the bug yours does.

However, I suggest that you take note of your additional uncounted bonks and get them added later or alternatively have them carved as notches on your bedpost. I'm sure Kat will kick out of that ;-)


Post 68

Monday, August 8, 2005 - 7:52pmSanction this postReply
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Lance writes:
>Daniel, I like what you're saying. Are you an artist?

Hi Lance, yes I am. I'm a creative type and musician.

>Your posts at SOLO strike me as heavy on the analytical side.

I'm just trying to get a little balance in life...;-)

- Daniel


Post 69

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 1:47pmSanction this postReply
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Whoever bonked "Lamb," I presume you did so because of my posts on this thread.

Thank you very much. The points registered. No more glitch.

(Getting over the glitch was far more important to me than the points themselves, but they are appreciated and I hope they also came from reading the article.)

Sorry to hijack, Marcus. All done.

Michael


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Post 70

Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 8:51pmSanction this postReply
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"It is not the duty of an Objectivist writer to smuggle in something to the glory of Objectivism, along the lines of waving the flag or a cross. When you write an article in which you evaluate cultural phenomena rationally, you do more for Objectivism than you could in any other form even if you never mention reason, man, his means of survival, or any other Objectivist bromides which ritualistic Objectivists too often use inappropriately."

That was damn cool. I have been evaluating cultural phenomena in my own mind for the past year or so, and despaired when I found that not a whole lot of people who were able or willing to see & think "outside of the box". When I recently met Objectivists, I was wary, despite being drawn to the intelligence and reasonability. What made me wary was the histrionic, dogmatic, and almost "religious" Objectivists in the past (at UCSD)-- I have remembered them as walking contradictions. Remembering them made me strive to currently approach this whole Objectivism thing, well, objectively.

Thank you for the article.

Post 71

Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 9:06amSanction this postReply
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While becoming an artist, one should be an artist first and an Objectivist second.

Come to think of it, the priority should remain that way for an artist--the motive in creating should be to give expression to one's true, honest, uncensored artistic vision.

(Edited by Rodney Rawlings on 12/22, 9:58am)


Post 72

Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 10:16amSanction this postReply
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As an integrated being, it is hard to say which one begins and which one ends with - except that have always been artistic, and only after learning of Objectivism have channelled  the art to purposefulness.
(Edited by robert malcom on 12/22, 10:16am)


Post 73

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 1:40pmSanction this postReply
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Ahh, don't stay in dismay Jenna, "we" ain't all that bad!

;-)

Heck, just look around here for a positive sense of life. This place oozes with it.

Ed


Post 74

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 12:01amSanction this postReply
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> "When I recently met Objectivists,...what made me wary was the histrionic, dogmatic, and almost "religious" Objectivists in the past (at UCSD)."

Jenna, I think part of that is age and adolescence. Objectivists vary widely. Just because someone likes Ayn Rand doesn't determine how well he understands her ideas or how long it takes him to integrate them into his life. There are students of Oism who are better than the average person and those who are worse.

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Post 75

Monday, January 2, 2006 - 4:28pmSanction this postReply
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Thank you for responding. I realize that is was an age thing rather than true, or acute, Objectivism that I had encountered. The adult mind has a higher probability of discerning dogmatism within itself than, say, an 18 year old kid without the life experience and the consequent introspection that comes with it. But I don't doubt that there *are* 18 year olds who can use Oism maturely and rationally-- I just haven't personally met one at UCSD. :)

In general, I'm just wary of dogmatism, because I have learned a very, very hard lesson in the past about it (and which I've written about that I might post here as an article). And that is why I liked that article. I really hope I didn't come out as saying everyone on this site is dogmatic-- that isn't what I think. I think this forum has provided me with tons of awesome reading material, lots of intellectual pleasure, and things to mentally chew over, something I cherish very, very much as I don't get a lot of it in the "day-to-day real world".

Post 76

Monday, January 2, 2006 - 6:59pmSanction this postReply
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> I don't doubt that there *are* 18 year olds who can use Oism maturely and rationally

Jenna, if you meet any let me know so I can nominate them for sainthood.

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Post 77

Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 9:54amSanction this postReply
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This classic came up in the queue, and I wanted to take the opportunity to resurrect it by adding a post.

I think this article ought to be reread every six months or so. Much of the nonsense in the movement would vanish overnight if it were taken to heart.


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Post 78

Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 3:07pmSanction this postReply
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The purpose of philosophy is to guide a man in the course of his life. Unfortunately, many Objectivists have not fully accepted, concretized, and integrated this principle. For example, in the presence of a given event, work of art, person, etc., too many Objectivists ask themselves, “What do I have to feel?” Instead of, “What do I feel?” And if they need to judge a situation I have not discussed before, their approach is, “What should I think?” instead of, “What do I think?” This is the childhood remnant of anyone who to some extent was influenced either by the religion of the culture or, later in college, by Platonism. Both give the impression that the good, the important, the philosophical are like church on Sunday: you use them on special occasions, but they have nothing to do with your daily life. If any part of this attitude remains in you, it is important to eliminate it.

For sure, this should be marked on a plaque, and placed by the mirror in the bathroom, to be seen each and every day, as a reminder of the necessity of reasoning, of integrating the guidance of the philosophy - the understood, not the commanded......


Post 79

Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 4:45pmSanction this postReply
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The purpose of philosophy is to guide a man in the course of his life.

This is one of my favorite Rand quotes. For a good reason! :)

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