Greetings and Hello. :)

[niapri]

Hello. I'm new. (*gasp!*)

 

So, I guess to start off with, a little about me: I happen to be an extremely unhappy atheist - atheist because I can't  even pretend to believe in any form of deity anymore, and unhappy because absolutely no atheist spokesperson/philosophy could apparently come up with an alternative system of values which was comparative to religion and, instead of replacing "God" with "society/humanity", actually gave some sort of logical framework that could answer the question "Why be good without God?". I found secular humanism to be vapid, and everything else I found was just too eclectic to serve as a philosophy proper. The biggest problem was that I couldn't find anyone who had gone from the ground up and tried to rebuild values and give meaning to life based purely on reason, on reality. They seemed to take what was already considered "good" and go from there, rather than asking the questions "good for who and for what?"

 

Oddly enough, Objectivism was not well-liked in the circles I was in - perhaps because it seems like a lot of atheists take altruism/doing things for the good of humanity as a necessity to prove to the religious that they're still good people?

 

I actually found my way into Objectivism through hearing from a friend that Ayn Rand's philosophy was "evil" - only he couldn't actually tell me what it was she said/believed/promoted. I happen to be afflicted with a peculiar mental condition in which I can't take someone's comments about something as the truth, so I finally picked up the Fountainhead out of curiosity, with the intention of "debunking" (i.e., debating with/commenting on the author's ideas, which I do with most books...) as I went along. It took me about three weeks to get through it, and by the time I was done, I was questioning a few of my basic assumptions about myself, how I was relating to life, etc. (Considering that I'd found more to agree with than to "debunk".) About a year later (roughly two months ago), I started on Atlas Shrugged, and it was...basically exactly what I have been looking for ever since I started to shed my religion(s).

 

I guess I'm here for interesting conversation and to understand Objectivism a little bit better. Looking forward to talking with you all!

[Eiuol]

Welcome.

 

I happen to be afflicted with a peculiar mental condition in which I can't take someone's comments about something as the truth,

How terrible, needing to think and evaluate yourself before accepting what some says as true! I am probably afflicted as well, yet I am undiagnosed. =P

 

On a slightly more serious note, Rand controversy is exactly what led me to read Atlas Shrugged. I also saw someone reading The Fountainhead in my high school Spanish class of all places, so I looked Rand up on Wikipedia. Since then and up to now which is about 6 years later, I've been studying up a lot on Objectivism.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Eiuol

[dream_weaver]

 

Oddly enough, Objectivism was not well-liked in the circles I was in - perhaps because it seems like a lot of atheists take altruism/doing things for the good of humanity as a necessity to prove to the religious that they're still good people?

Interesting assessment. (Along with the introductory paragraph leading to it.)

[softwareNerd]

Welcome to the forum.

[Marc K.]

Wow, yes, that may be the best introduction I've read. Welcome

[Boydstun]

Niapri,

 

Congratulations and welcome to this online circle. I gather there is an Objectivist group at your school, where you might find people nice to find. But you have big finds indeed in the written word. Best wishes.

 

Stephen

[whYNOT]

Quite something! Not wanting to be presumptuous, but sounds like you were an objectivist before

you came across Objectivism. My own experience as atheist-and-now-what? closely matches yours.

Welcome.

[writer1972]

A little something from the ground up; http://lawlimits.org