moralist

Never heard of him and searched on Wiki. Are you referring to the Ponzi multi level marketer Bill Britt? I got the horizon idea from the Declaration of Independence "the pursuit of happiness". As well as something else I read (forgot where) about ideals being like stars you can't touch, but by which you can reliably navigate your ship.

That knowledge is only comforting to relativists who compare themselves to others. But to those who look objectively at themselves first, and acknowledge the reality that they fall short of an ideal... that knowledge is a useful motivation to do better.

No. Just ideals which are always the ever receding horizon... but nontheless are worthy of our continual journey in their direction.

I believe you'd only be happy if it was turning left. Don't you see that protecting private property rights of property owners is what allows them to create wealth so that they can freely express their generousity through acts of charity? The reason they shouldn't vote has already been made clear: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury." --Alexander Fraser Tyler Once the takers become the political majority... it's game over.

I've been reading a book on Hebrew, and learned that there is no Hebrew word for hero. It's because it was fully understood that everyone was flawed. Flawed people like Rand and Branden can still be worthy of our respect and admiration since we are also flawed.

Yes. On the surface that appears to be true... ...but making loan payments on a house isn't actually owning it. You are only renting it from your lender for a fixed term of usually 30 years. Then at that time you would actually own your house... but that's only if you hadn't sold it and taken out another 30 year loan on another house, or refinanced your loan starting the 30 years all over again, or had squandered the home's value by taking out equity lines of credit. So, you see, in truth this is already a renter nation. For many years I was happy to be a renter while I saved up enough money to build and own my own home free of debt.

I wouldn't think so. In real world catastrophes, desolation never uniform or total.

This nation is becoming the America of Atlas Shrugged... just as Ayn Rand foretold.

I'm not indignant... but I do admit to have a fair amount of contempt for irrational irresponsible people whose utter personal failure to govern themselves has created the bloated government which exists today. I utilize the energy of that contempt to be more industrious and productive, because those tools are not ends in themselves. They're the keys to acquire the economic freedom which protects me from becoming the collatoral damage of their stupidity. I work to make things "as they ought to be" in my own life... just like it was done in Galt's Gulch.

Yes. And that's why I never use a bank to store wealth when there is such a wide variety of other far more practical places to store it. For example: in business, real estate, homes, vehicles, tools, clothes, and food.... in things which are actually used for living. I can understand how you'd assume that. People who are entangled themselves naturally tend to think that everyone else lives in the same way that they do. Truth is I'm actually not the least bit dependent upon the credit/debt system, because the only use I have for a bank is to cash checks. The credit/debt system is economically toxic. It's like a vampire that sucks out your wealth and then spits out your economic corpse. So I protect myself by always being 100% solvent, and have no business loans, no vehicle loans, no mortgages, no equity lines of credit, no student loans, no personal loans, and a zero credit card balance. Works better than garlic and silver bullets. I'm not sure why you would believe that I could actually care about something for which I have no use. Just to be clear, I'm not concerned about banks like you are. America's bankrupt deadbeat debtor government is an insult to America... as are all of the bankrupt deadbeat debtors living in this country who created it in their own image. America's insolvent liberal socialist deadbeat debtor government is no different from the dime-a-dozen liberal social welfare states of Europe. When most of the people in a nation are living irresponsibly up to their eyeballs in debt... don't expect the government they create in their own image to be any different.

You're being silly now. How you can you reject your own direct literal real world personal observation as being "abandoned reason" is beyond me. There's hardly anything you could do that's more unreasonable than that. I don't know why the relationship between the mind, the brain, and the body is the way it is. I did not design the way things are. I just know by personal experience the way things work, and so I use that practical information to live a better life. Once you regard self reflective observation of your own thoughts and emotions as "abandoning reason for faith", all there is left is an unexamined life... so I'll leave you to what you have already freely chosen with all of its consequences.

You're right. Production pipeline control works like a charm on a micro scale where you can enjoy the most independence and freedom to act autonomously. Anything larger just paints a big red bullseye on your back. Besides regular business, I'm also working in my spare time on a product design and development micro project as a hobby. It's like playing a fun game where you keep score with money. I love Capitalism.

(shrug...) It just does. If's fact of life. If you can observe the process of thoughts and emotions affecting your actions as if you were another person, you'll realize that you can override that process any time you freely choose to do so.

Only that you're fortunate to live in a culture which provides so many sophisticated compensations.

How do you interact with another person when you are two separate beings? Because you have a reliationship as a bridge. How can an immaterial thought about a bowl of ice cream cause the material consequence of you going to the refrigerator to get some?

Just think Greece. For there is where America's future lies: Austerity measures, protesting, strikes, rioting, and property destruction. Wasn't that ironic? It is a Ponzi scheme. For one brief shining moment, Rick pulled back the curtain for everyone to see the true nature of this society... people who all expect someone else to pay their bills. edit: speaking of Ponzi schemes... This is an all-time record: 1 out of every 13 full time workers is getting monthly government disability checks. (CNSNews.com) - During President Barack Obama’s first term, the number of Americans collecting federal disability insurance increased by 1,385,418 to a record 8,827,795. As a result, there is now one person collecting disability in this county for every 13 people working full-time. Forty-two years ago, in December 1968, there were 51 people working full-time in this country for each person collecting disability.

(pssst... don't tell anyone.... the government is already bankrupt.) You've just made an excellent case for avoiding contact with the financially toxic debt based economy so that you don't fall victim to its contagion. Earthquakes are not dangerous. It's buildings which are dangerous during earthquakes. So stay outside where it's safe.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm most interested in that particular branch... because there is nothing that humans do that does not have moral implications... or set into motion consequences.

In exactly the same way that violating your Conscience causes anxiety.

I ask a slightly different question: To observe thought, or not to observe thought? ...because there is that which thinks... and then there is that which observes thinking.

Wise words can be found everywhere.

Right now, yes. And also, silver is consumed as an industrial metal much more than is gold.

(shrug...) So? I enjoy the freedom of choosing to do what works best for me. And I can't say that what I do would work for anyone else because it won't work without observing specific moral protocols. But that's for each individual to freely choose how they work things out for themselves.

It's actually not my narcoculture because I don't belong to it. Anxiety if a symptom of a morally violated Conscience. Choosing to to what's morally wrong violates your Conscience which negates the choice not to be anxious about it because being anxious is a consequence of violating your Conscience. Yes. It is a natural consequence of a morally violated Conscience. Chemicals are how the brain works, but that's not the whole story. Yes. Chemicals serve a purpose in how the brain works. The mind is what observes, reflects upon, and evaluates the how the brain works.

...and also if it is the proper use or abuse of even a beneficial drug.