On my first glorious day off from work in a couple of weeks, (except Christmas day), I made my way to the gym (yes, I’m a fool, on January 2, possibly the busiest day of the year), to work with a trainer to help me regain focus in THAT area of my life. It was like taking a loooong drink of water after being in the desert for a solid week. Then to the bookstore to browse, buy half-priced calendars and sit in a comfy, worn leather chair with strong Seattle coffee for hours, while reading books I had no intention of buying, except one.
I’ve loved this woman’s work in one book and have over the last three months had another of hers recommended to me by THREE different people. Okay, I can take a hint….well, sometimes I can. This book I’ve ‘meant’ to read for years. But again, timing, timing is perhaps close to ‘everything’.
I’m beginning to trust that and the flow of life more and more each day. Things just are what they are….trust what comes to you and sit with it….you’ll come out richer having done so. I promise. (I’m reminding myself really)!
As I lifted Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ it’s 3 and a half inch width, I could hear my heart race with anticipation of the ride on which I was about to embark. And as I read merely the preface, I knew why THREE different people mentioned this book to me. It’s time.
My anticipation grew as I read the following lines regarding her thoughts, before actually diving into the writing of her novel, in talking about the errors that individualists and creators often make…
‘The error is this: it is proper for a creator to be optimistic, in the deepest, most basic sense, since the creator believes in a benevolent universe and functions on that premise. But it is an error to extend that optimism to other specific men. First, it’s not necessary, the creator’s life and the nature of the universe do not require it, his life does not depend on others. Second, man is a being with free will; therefore each man is potentially good or evil, and it’s up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be. The decision will affect only him; it is not (and cannot and should not be) the primary concern of any other human being.
….Man at his highest potentiality, is realized and fulfilled within each creator himself…whether the creator is alone or finds only a handful of others like him, or is among the majority of mankind, is of no importance or consequence whatever; numbers have nothing to do with it. He alone, or he with a few others like him are mankind, in the proper sense of being the proof of what man actually is, man at his best, the essential man, man at his highest possibility.
…It is proper for a creator to have an unlimited confidence in himself and his ability, to feel certain he can get anything he wishes out of life, that he can accomplish anything he decides to accomplish, and that it’s up to him to do it. (He feels it because he is a man of reason…).’
Ooooh, I’m in for a full January and great start to the year as I embark upon my own possibilities, alone and with others, the path is becoming more clear. I’m eager to understand how Ms. Rand discerns reason and how it’ll influence, or not, my thoughts regarding heart and heartfulness.
I have no idea what’s in store though, I’ll just trust my intuition that the timing for this book is JUST RIGHT!
I feel certain with this book in hand, a warm fire in the background, pups by my side, my year will be off with a bang! Or rather, I intend it!
BB Webb