Can a good Mormon be an Ayn Rand Objectivist?

[_lulu]

Just ran out for a snack.

Man face down on sidewalk, feet off the curb, not moving. Two plastic grociery bags next to him.

WWAND?

[Guest]

Thanks for the information, Blixa!

Speaking of communism, this image made me instantly think of Mao Tse-tung.



One of the most beautiful things I've seen all day.

[_Equality]

Spend ten minutes watching Ayn Rand in her own words on God and religion and its incompatibility with her philosophy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMFUPmoH9Ss&feature=related

[_EAllusion]

I didn't get that out of reading Ayn Rand ...

Ethical egoism is quite literally the foundation of Rand's entire philosophical outlook. It is her basic rationale for everything else she asserts. That's not a personal interpretation, either. It is what her followers, critics, and Rand herself thought about her arguments.

[_Equality]

According to Rand, belief in God is a sign of psychological weakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0XTgP5Lku4&feature=related

[Guest]

...

[_RockSlider]

Feeling a bit silly right now.

I just listened to the 1959 Mike Wallace interview ... wow ... I had no concept of what Objectivist is, and certainly did not pick that up from my read of the one book (my only introduction to Rand)

Of course this is not what my Grandfather (a good Christian man) taught me.

[Guest]

I want to go live in a commune.

I want to live next door to a commune. I'm too much of a loner to want to be a member. The church was good in that it was this ready made community that I didn't have to put too much effort into on those occassion when I wanted community. Which is not to say that I didn't work my ass off for the church, I just didn't put that much effort into making relationships that didn't just fall into my lap.

This is the commune I'm most familiar with, I went there once for May Day, its also one of the oldest Radical Faerie collectives

http://directory.ic.org/1068/Short_Moun ... ctuary_Inc

I have been to a gathering here, its not a commune, the land is privately owned, but during gatherings, there are daily open circles where everyone speaks and decisions are arrived at on issues that affect the whole gathering.

http://www.radfae.org/blueheron.htm

Most of the Radical Faeries where I live are associated with
http://www.faeriecampdestiny.org/joomla/

I've never been, but from their governance meeting reports, every one speaks, extra effort is put into hearing those who don't feel they are being heard and group decision is the goal. There are a few full time residents, I'm not sure I'd call it a commune, most people are there for gatherings that occur throughout the year.

This is a gathering I didn't like personally, the land is privately owned, there was no daily circle so there was no check on the more dominant personalities

http://akaamberfox.blogspot.com/

And finally, here is a commune that I took one of my college classes to visit http://www.ganas.org/

[_Kittens_and_Jesus]

“My religion is just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added.” - Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan.

Rand and Crowley were the two biggest influences on LaVey's Satanism. All those right-wing "Christians" are aligned with the tenets of Satanism and they don't even know it.

[_Kittens_and_Jesus]

I think if you follow either side to extreme's ... of the self being important or the group being important ... you end up with something that doesn't work and is contradictory.

Rand's view was skewed towards the former. She used her objectivism to "logically" make arguments against her cruel behavior towards those in her inner circle that showed the slightest bit of dissent and her husband's objections to her adultery. She considered altruism empathy and sympathy to be false motives and evil ones at that.