A New Concept of Egoism

(Originally written June 30, 2006 in Book 3)

The Virtue of Selfishness: A new concept of Egoism
Ayn Rand

2. Mental Health Vs. Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice

Nathaniel Branden

Healthy minds are those that function to control reality enough to sustain life.

Linehan - Can reality truly be controlled?

Self-esteem is the ultimate control of reality at man's disposal.

Self-esteem is the reward given to a mind that is 'fully committed to reason'

Reason demands that one never subverts consciousness, so consciousness can provide perception, cognition and the control of action.

Self-esteem is necessary for man to deal with reality successfully.

Anxiety and guilt are opposite to self-esteem. They are signals of mental illness. They distort values.

"Self-esteem is a metaphysical estimate" (Rand, 37).

Mysticism and self-sacrificial doctrines are existentially and psychologically destructive.

"Faith is the commitment of one's consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof... Faith is the equating of feeling with knowledge" (Rand, 37).

In order to have faith one must subdue reason and rationality. Reason becomes guilt when faith is found.

Faith destroys reason.

John Galt - "The alleged shortcut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short circuit destroys the mind"  (Rand, 38).

Either a mind is absolutely rational or it is subject to faith, destroying all rationality.

"When one turns from reason to faith, when one rejects the absolutism of reality, one undercuts the absolutism of one's consciousness - and one's mind becomes an organ one cannot trust any longer" (Rand, 38).

Linehan - Reality is absolute? What reality? If one's consciousness is absolute then reality cannot be absolutes. There can only be one absolute. Either it is consciousness of one or it is reality. If it is one's consciousness then reality is the tool of the absolute conscious. This would leave us with purely subjective realities because there are billions of consciousnesses. If reality is absolute then the consciousness of anyone must conform to reality. Both reality and consciousness cannot be absolute.

A supernatural being makes reality uncontrollable. It makes the universe a haunted house.

A supernatural creator of altruism is a sadist.

Humility is the renunciation of the mind.

Linehan - This is completely absurd. Humility does not demand that one is never happy with one's achievements. It demands that one does not count his achievements as absolute, thus making him sure that he himself is not absolute.

Self-sacrifice is equal to mind sacrifice.

"A sacrifice... means the surrender of a higher value in favor of a lower value or of a non-value" (Rand, 40). The opposite is not sacrifice, it is a gain.

Values are hierarchical and if man is rational, the hierarchy of values is rational.

Traditional morality creates a dichotomy between moral acts and practical acts.

Traditional morality expects hypocrisy to sustain life.

Traditional morality has created these ills:
1) Autistic children via a threat of hell
2) Guilt in children
3) Homosexual adolescents via calling sex evil and stating, "women are to be worshipped, but not desired" (Rand, 42).
4) Anxiety attacks because of success via the threat of hell
5) Neurotic people who give up hope of happiness.

Standing by and letting traditional morality stay in practice by denying the possibility of a rational morality is equivalent to spiritual murder.