Ayn Rand

I don't think that anyone can properly read an Ayn Rand (1905-1982) novel without first understanding her history (Russia 1905-1931, America 1931-1982), her philosophy (reason, individualism, capitalism), and the time period in which she came of age. 

One must also understand that the characters in her works of fiction are over-stated caricatures of the ideas they represent, in order to avoid the tedium of trying to understand them in any other way. 

With that in mind, the genius of her seminal work 'Atlas Shrugged' (1957) cannot be over-stated, and the genius of its predecessor 'The Fountainhead' (1943) is equally noteworthy. In both books, Rand has a fixation on the seemingly altruistic 'humanitarian' with latent, corrosive intentions. 

On this front, her depiction of Ellsworth Toohey in 'The Fountainhead' lays the groundwork for the much more deleterious characters in 'Atlas Shrugged'.

"One Small Voice" [Toohey's Newspaper Column] never seemed to say anything dangerously revolutionary, and seldom anything political. It merely preached sentiments with which most people felt in agreement: unselfishness, brotherhood, equality. 

"I'd rather be kind than right." 

"Mercy is superior to justice, the shallow-hearted to the contrary notwithstanding." 

"Speaking anatomically - and perhaps otherwise - the heart is our most valuable organ. The brain is a superstition." 

"In spiritual matters there is a simple, infallible test: everything that proceeds from the ego is evil; everything that proceeds from love for others is good."

"Service is the only badge of nobility. I see nothing offensive in the conception of fertilizer as the highest symbol of man's destiny: it is fertilizer that produces wheat and roses."

"The worst folk song is superior to the best symphony."

"A man braver than his brothers insults them by implication. Let us aspire to no virtue which cannot be shared."

"I have yet to see a genius or a hero who, if stuck with a burning match, would feel less pain than his undistinguished average brother."

"Genius is an exaggeration of dimension. So is elephantiasis. Both may be only a disease."

"We are all brothers under the skin-and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it."

It is this last quote that reveals Toohey's utter disregard for humanity, at least when it comes to the humanity represented by the individual. He only cared for humanity in the abstract, which leaves quite a lot of room for the destruction of the individual along the way. 

What is humanity if not an aggregation of individuals? 

Keep that in mind whenever you hear seemingly altruistic 'humanitarians' lobby for the curtailment of individual rights, the derision of individual achievement, and the use of the inevitable inequities of life as proof that 'benevolent' control of resources is required for a more equitable distribution of them. 

Meditation

 

I am no expert, but I can say, from personal experience, that meditating, especially if you have health issues, is very much like moving from a modality where you exist on top of a broken machine to one where you occupy the machine itself. 

It is like moving from being strapped on top of an airplane angling its way towards the ground, to being in the airplane itself with, at the very least, access to the cockpit and the inner workings of the aircraft. 

In the first modality, the wind and the noise consume your senses, the movements of the plane are involuntary as far as you are concerned, and since you are attached to the top of the plane, you cannot see the ground below, so you do not know where you are in relation to the rest of the world.

In the second modality, you gain some insight into how the plane is operated and instrumented (including, most importantly, the altimeter), you get to walk along the length of the plane to see more of what is going on around it, and [as an extra added bonus] you get to use the bathroom ;-) 

Controlling the plane is another matter, but the first step is getting OFF the plane and INTO the plane. Of course, meditation does not bestow immortality, so you are still going to eventually run out of fuel and go down. You might not gain enough mastery by that time to actually land the plane, but you might, at least, flatten out the approach and skid your way to a more enlightened ending.

This would be very much like how a Zen master might gather their pupils for a nice dinner, during which they would say, "I am going to die tonight", and where complete mastery would entail dying just after dinner but before the dishes have to be washed.