Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/08/14 in all areas

  1. "There is only one fundamental alternative in the universe: existence or non-existence and it pertains to a single class of entities: to living organisms. - Look around you. Does this resonate with what you observe? The existence of inanimate matter is unconditional, the existence of life is not; it depends on a specific course of action. - Contrast the activity of rocks, dirt, water, planets, etc., with plants, animals and people. Can you note the similarities and/or differences between these two classes? Matter is indestructible, it changes its forms, but it cannot cease to exist. - Do you agree with this fact? It is only a living organism that faces a constant alternative: the issue of life or death. - Do you agree with this fact? Life is a process of self-sustaining and-self-generated action. - Do you agree with this fact? If an organism fails in that action, it dies; its chemical elements remain, but its life goes out of existence. - Do you agree with this fact? It is only the concept of 'Life' that makes the concept of 'Value' possible. - If so, putting the material covered this far will have your concurrence to this point. It is only to a living entity that things can be good or evil. - Consider rephrasing this as: It is only to a living entity that things can be of value or disvalue. How are we doing so far?
    1 point
  2. Actually, I'm anti-liar.
    1 point
  3. Here is the drawing "Portrait of Steven L. Sheppard" my reader artist Robert Tracy drew of me as the subject on my wall, for it arrived today! I chose to have it as a matte finish canvas print, with 1.5" stretcher bars, black sides, sized at 7.625" x 10". The original is right around that size, but one can choose to have a much larger one on the Fine Art America site: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/portrait-of-steven-l-sheppard-robert-tracy.html I also bought a greeting card to see what it looks like. I'll post a comparison of the two next. This artwork is beyond just me, it's universal, too. Ayn Rand writes: "The basic purpose of art is not to teach, but to show - to hold up to man a concretized image of his nature and his place in the universe." No other art work that I have ever seen, does just that, quite like this one. Look at my place in this drawing. A photo of me could not do what is stylized and symbolized in this artwork, and what it says about the artist who'd created this magnificent masterpiece. I cannot imagine of there being any higher tribute to me, or to Man, right now than this drawing. There is absolutely nothing like it. "[…]the man who puts his own 'I', his standard of value, above all things, and conquers to live as he pleases, as he chooses and as he believes […]" (from the Journals of Ayn Rand) "His normal state is to be exalted, all the time; he wants all of his life to be high, supreme, full of meaning." (from the Journals of Ayn Rand) "a man who looked as if he could break through the steel plate of a battleship and through any barrier whatever. It stood like a challenge. It left a strange stamp on one's eyes." (Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead) "Your life, your achievement, your happiness, your person are of paramount importance. Live up to your highest vision of yourself no matter what the circumstances you might encounter. An exalted view of self-esteem is man's most admirable quality." (Ayn Rand, Night of January the 16th) One can add text to the greeting cards, up to I think 300 characters. I have many quotes I'd put in the cards myself, those among them. "Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.” (Akston, from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) Will others recognize the greatness of this drawing, and the artist who'd created it, here and now, as I do, or will it go totally unrecognized by you? "It takes two to make a very great career: The man who is great, and the man - almost rarer - who is great enough to see greatness and say so." (from Ayn Rand's novel, The Fountainhead)
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...