Betsy

Maybe this will help. Time is directly perceivable, even by young children, in terms of "before" and "after." We measure the how-long-it-took-to-change, from what is was before to what it is after, in units of "time." Since the universe is everything that exists, there is no "before" everything existed and no "after" everything existed.

I don't agree that we ought to drive America and the rest of the world into the ground nor that "Things will only get better when the lights go out." My only point of agreement is that Kerry is definitely the candidate for die-hard nihilists.

Not only that, but on the right side of the page -- along with links to Amazon.com (with the Amazon Associate ID "studyguidetoitoe") are the following recommended books: Cheaters Always Prosper by James Brazil This book is not for the morally upstanding--but if you are looking to 'beat the system' by flouting morality, this book will get you there quickly. A new wardrobe free from the airport. Free stuff from vending machines. New tires for free. Free delivery food. Yes, a whole world of opportunites awaits those who discard those old-fashioned, impractical notions of morality, consequences, and long-term thinking. Abandon thy conscience all ye who enter here. ----- How to Screw the Post Office by Mr. Unzip Too cheap to pay 34 cents to mail a letter? You're not the only one, brother. Mr. Unzip (get it? Because he's screwing the post office, which uses ZIP codes?) will tell you how to spend more than 34 cents worth of your time to save 34 cents. A fun and informative read. ----- Beating the Check by Mick Shaw Oh the fun you'll have and stories you'll tell. Here's a book written by an insider (viz. waiter) about how to get free meals from restaurants. By 'free' of course, I mean 'stolen', but what's the difference? Particularly charming is the section on getting the whole family involved--using your children as pawns in your quest for that elusive free Bloomin' Onion. A fun read, but I don't have the balls or desire to go to jail to actually do this stuff. ----- How to Steal Food From the Supermarket by J. Andrew Anderson Did you see or read Les Miserables and want to be like Jean Valjean, running for 30 years from a cunning detective all because you were hungry and stole a loaf of bread? Me neither! If he'd had this book, he'd have been eating in the lap of luxury (well, I mean sitting in the lap of luxury whilst eating). All the free canned sardines a vagrant could want. He'd be using coupons for products he didn't buy. He'd know how to dress for shoplifting success (they don't teach that on Queer Eye). He'd also know all the crucial rationalizations to justify why it's OK to do all this--all in the convience of a portable 63 page book. Oh sweet mystery of life! ----- With recommendations like that -- and the fact that his eBay ID (balph-dot-books) reminds me of an Ayn Rand villain -- all I can say about Keith Didion's auction is CAVEAT EMPTOR ("let the buyer beware").

The universe didn't begin. It always was. The universe will never end. It always will be. That's why "when" only applies to things in the universe and not to the universe as a whole. That's why time -- finite or infinite -- doesn't apply to the universe as a whole. The proper term for referring to the duration of the universe is eternal -- always existing ... period.

Unfortunately, Brad Pitt's favorite architects are the boring Daniel Libeskind and the wildly irrational Frank Gehry according to an article in USA Today. Too bad he didn't name a real Howard Roark -- the architect who created the house Pitt's wife Jennifer Aniston's co-"Friend" Courtney Cox lives in -- the great (yet relatively unknown) John Lautner.

For an answer, see "Counterfeit Individualism" in the April 1962 issue of The Objectivist Newsletter.

Funny, but Objectivists were saying exactly the same thing forty years ago. I wasn't one of them. I saw man's ability to rise from ignorance to Aristotle, from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, from Old World tyrannies to the American Enlightenment. I knew the power of consistent ideas and the overwhelming power of true ideas. As a result, I was solidly, confidently optimistic -- and everyone thought I was crazy. I was not crazy, but I was wrong. I was not optimistic enough. I never thought Margaret Thatcher could turn socialist England around. Less than two decades after Goldwater failed miserably, I never expected someone like Reagan to win ... in a landslide ... twice. I never expected the Iron Curtain to come down and Communism to collapse from its own evil. I couldn't begin to image the power of talk radio and the internet to spread ideas. Sure there will be problems in the next thirty years and right now my accountant, my lawyer, and my insurance agent are hard at work minimizing the effect of those problems on me. But there are also enormous opportunities for happiness and success to those of us guided by true ideas. As for the rest of the culture, they will just have to muddle through until they can catch up with us.

I have another suggestion for you. It's been a long time -- almost 15 years -- since both Kelley's and Peikoff's statements were written. Since then, both TOC and ARI have continued to act in accordance with their stated ideas and the consequences are apparent. There is plenty of evidence you can use to judge the effects and merits of the "closed" vs the "open" approach. So, in addition to reading the statements, take a good hard look at both TOC and ARI, their activities, and their accomplishments. Compare and evaluate them and decide which result you would prefer.

Then I have some treats for you! Go to my CyberNet Links page and scroll down to the "Visual Arts" links.

Extension could be an emergent property of the fundamental elementary things combined in a certain way just like life is an emergent property of inanimate matter combined in a certain way. In fact, Leonard Peikoff uses exactly this example in OPAR (P. 44-45): Let us see why, by supposing for a moment that physics one day reaches its culmination and attains omniscience about matter. At that point, scientists know the ultimate ingredients of the universe, the irreducible building blocks that combine to make up physical objects apart from any relationship to man's form of awareness. What these ingredients are I do not pretend to know. For the sake of the argument, let us make the extravagant assumption that they are radically different from anything men know now; let us call them "puffs of meta-energy," a deliberately undefined term. At this stage of cognition, scientists have discovered that the material world as men perceive it, the world of three-dimensional objects possessing color, texture, size, and shape is not a primary, but merely an effect, an effect of various combinations of puffs acting on men's means of perception.

I LIKE it! The concept was good, but the graphics blow me away. I can see it now: TV spots, comic strips, school books, comic books, teeshirts, action figures, lunch boxes, movie rights!

Some people pay money to ride a rollercoaster at an amusement park. The excitement is worth the money they pay and standing on line for an hour. Some people like the excitement of betting on casino games or sporting events or bingo or their weekly poker game with friends. They are willing to lose money up to a certain point, because the excitement (of possibly winning) is worth it.

Sexual involvement for a woman isn't "wrong" but it is very different than it is for a man. For one thing, it is much more of a commitment. For a man, sex is a value sought, just like any other. For a woman, SHE is the value sought. She's giving her whole self -- body and soul -- to a man. Also, she is more vulnerable and less in control. She needs a sense of trust more than a man does. As someone who believes in love at first sight (as did Ayn Rand), I know trust can develop rather quickly, but it is always a big deal issue for a woman. Men are also more easily aroused by perceptual stimuli and their sexual needs are immediate and insistent. A woman's are more optional and dependent on psychological issues like admiration and trust. The way I explain this sometimes is that men and women both have a need for sex but, for a man, sex is like food. He certainly would prefer the finest gourmet meal, but if he can't get it, he's not going to starve. He'll go for some fast food instead. For a woman, sex is like art. She only wants the finest, best expression of her own sense of life. Otherwise, she's not going out of her way for it.

I know about a half-dozen Objectivists in the UK personally, and they have a community group there and a Yahoo group too. As a matter of fact, this year's European Conference will be in London. From my CyberNet: SEPTEMBER 24-27TH - EUROPEAN CONFERENCE - LONDON The European Objectivist conference will be held September 24-27, 2004 in the heart of London, UK. The 3-day program will include lectures from JOHN RIDPATH, JOHN LEWIS, ROBERT TRACINSKI, SCOTT McCONNELL, KLAUS NORDBY, and TORE BOECKMANN. See the European Conference Web Site or e-mail MERLIJN SLUIS ([email protected]) for more information.

For a man -- but not for a woman -- there can be value in what you are doing. Men have strong and immediate sexual needs and their gratification IS satisfying. That is a good thing, but watch out. I know many men who once were where you are now, and very happily so. And then they met HER. All of a sudden they were obsessed and their desires for variety and other women -- well, they didn't disappear, but they just didn't seem to matter any more. They became concerned that she might leave or find someone else and it scared them. Now was great, but they wanted forever. They had to OWN her. And so they made the commitment, got married, and settled down. Yeah, they had great sex in their single days, but now they have something better: great sex, great conversations, great empathy, great plans, and a great long-term relationship with a soulmate.

What is the length of justice? Length isn't a characteristic of justice although it can be measured using a different standard than a meter stick. Justice is a concept of consciousness and doesn't heave physical measurements. What is the length of a force like gravity or a capacity like energy? While these are physical things with physically measurable properties, length isn't one of them.

Lack of major emotional conflicts. Emotional conflict is the sign of a value conflict that needs to be resolved. Whenever I have ambivalent feelings, feel confused and uncertain, or have emotions in conflict with my conscious decisions, it tells me there is something I need to think about and resolve. I don't have conflicts over anything big or fundamental these days, because I've dealt with them in the past. I don't agonize over "Should I be honest?" or "Am I in love?" I will be and I am. Those are obvious and easy. Nonetheless, I do have conflicts over little things all the time. I want to buy that book but it costs $49.95. Two values in conflict. Should I spend time with my husband or catch up on my e-mail? Two values in conflict. But this is just normal living.

Ayn Rand defined art as "a selective re-ceation of reality according to the artist's metaphysical value judgements." She did not consider photography to be art because it was a reproduction rather than a re-creation of reality. That said, to the degree that photography shares qualities with art, i.e. to the degree that it is selective and the photographer intervenes in the mechanical process to create or change aspects of the finished work, then to that degree it is "artistic" -- i.e., like art. There is an implicit mind-body dichotomy which leads many a craftsman to try to persuade people that what he is doing is really "art." In fact, an honest craftsman is a value and a pretentious artist isn't.

My favorite popular book on philology, way back in the 1950's, was Mario Pei's classic and very readable The Story of Language. According to Amazon, he also wrote a book on the English language: Story of the English Language by Mario Andrew Pei Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days 9 used & new from $4.85 Edition: Paperback Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Revised edition (April 1978) ASIN: 067120064X | All Editions The story of the English language, December 25, 2001 Reviewer: Steve Snow from Great Bend, Kansas USA "The Story of the English Language" Not only, tells the story of the language, but also examines the history of the people who developed it's use. The book will not only satisfy anglophiles, but anyone intrested in linguistics in general. Very readable... you will want to learn other languages! --

In addition to the reasons for dating already mentioned, it is an excellent way to see someone else's sense of life in operation and how it intersects with yours. That's why the most popular dating activity is going out to the movies. One very happily married friend of mine told me that he decided his wife was the one for him when they went to see the movie, "A Thousand Clowns." "We were the only ones in theater who laughed in all the same places."

When it comes to dealing with my emotions, I proceed on the premise, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Emotions need to be analyzed only when there is a conflict between my thinking and my emotions and, at this stage of my life, that happens very, very rarely. Therefore, I can just feel, enjoy, and act on my emotions because I don't have any reason not to. On the few occasions when there is a conflict, it usually takes just a few seconds to identify it. It is either an old problem or bad habit popping up ("Oh, THAT again!") or an out of context reaction that disappears as soon as I identify the emotion and the object ("That's just a ____ and it can't hurt me.")

I think it happens the other way around. If a person gives up the pursuit of values, not only will he lack values, but he will know it is his own fault. His will not think very much of himself and he will be right to feel that way.

I disagree. Anxiety is the conflict between two premises: (1) I've got to and (2) I can't. Depression is what happens when a person gives up and tries to resolve the conflict by focusing on the "I can't."

After some introspection, yes. I start with where I am and what is happening right now. 1) I identify the emotion. I ask "What am I feeling?" Happy? Sad? Afraid? Confident? Confused? Angry? Distrustful? Guilty? Etc. The emotion indicates the type of value relationship involved. 2) I identify the object of the emotion. I ask "What did I just see, hear, think about etc. right now which triggered this emotion?" This is will either be the value at stake or the best clue to what the value is. 3) Then I ask, "What about this object caused this emotion?" I come up with the most likely causal explanation. 4) Then I reality-check the causal explanation to see if it is factual. For example. I feel strong distrust (identifying the emotion) the minute I see John Kerry smiling(identifying the object) on television. Distrust is an emotion which causes you to doubt that what something appears to be is actually what it is. I ask, what is it about seeing Kerry smile that makes me feel he is not really happy? Just his mouth is smiling, but his eyes aren't crinkling up the way they do when people smile from the inside. His words don't match the smile. He has a past history of saying things he doesn't mean. Etc. That 4-step process always works for me. Anybody can get good at it with practice and, if necessary, professional help if they get blocked or need guidance in dealing with difficult or extremely painful emotions.

Congratulations! My husband Stephen and I have been married for 37 years now, and I'd have to say that the most important things in marriage are a passion for each other, mutual respect, and good communication. Most marriages start out with the first two and the third can be learned. Good communication is critical because two separate, independent people WILL disagree from time to time, often about important matters. Handled well, problems can be resolved and differences can be benevolently accepted. If people don't communicate well, problems will persist and resentments and distrust will build to the point of no return. I have a favorite book about communication in marriage that I recommend and sometimes give as a wedding present. It's such a useful, "how to" book that I'm sorry it wasn't around when I got married and I had to learn so much the hard way. The book is Love is Never Enough by Dr. Aaron Beck (the founder of Cognitive Psychology often cited by Objectivists who are professional therapists).