Objectivism

I've just had an epiphany.
I finished reading Atlas Shrugged last night and I'm completely enraptured with the philosophy of Objectivism. So since then I've been researching it and listening to lectures and the like. It's absolutely fascinating and I love it.
The ideas are simple and concise and I agree with all of them except one. And that is where my discovery began.
Objectivism states that A is A. There are no contradictions in life. Existence exists and that we as humans cannot escape it. Objectivists reject all form of mystisism and the idea that the supernatural can interject and change reality, because A is A and cannot exist as non-A at the same time. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Reality is not something that anyone or anything can change because they will it or wish it to be another way. Because of this Objectivism requires Atheism.
Well, being a deeply religious person myself I began to ponder this idea. Objectivism makes total sense, it just seems so right. But I know there is a God, and there can be no contradictions in life.
That was when I realized that there isn't a contradiction here! The God I know can fit quite nicely into everything that Objectivism declares.
You see, this is what I believe.
I believe that there was a life before this one: a pre-mortal existence in which we knew God the Father and he knew us. But that existence was not to be the final step in the scheme of the eternities. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ created the Universe and the Heavens as well as a type of Hell or Outer Darkness. Because he knew us so implicitly I believe that he knew exactly which realm our souls would be qualified to reside in for eternity but he couldn't just go around saying, "Congratulations you are going to make it to Heaven." And, "Sorry, you won't make the cut." to us without proving it to us himself because God is a God of Reason.
In order to prove to us during the Final Judgment that he is a Just God, we were sent to earth with no memory of our life before; this that we may see for ourselves at the end of our lives the true condition of our souls.
Here is where the connection to Objectivism is made. According to its axiom that Existence exists, that reality cannot be changed or altered even by a God, I agree. But I submit that there is in fact a God and a reality that co-exist without contradiction!
The Bible tells us that God exist beyond time, that time is a mortal concept, not an eternal one. And when one looks deep into the concept of time itself with all it's complexity and seemingly irrationality, that is not hard for me to accept. It is man that travels in a straight line all his life, while nature constantly cycles. This is another belief of Objectivism. That mans course is a line, not a circle. Therefore his experience and reality on earth is that of a straight line, a continuous stream of time.
I believe that God operates on a different level. Einstein said that it was possibly that the past and the present exist simultaneously, so why not the future as well? I believe that God see's everything as it was, is, and will be. But he does not need to interfere! God knows us implicitly. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us so well that he can know without any doubt every decision that we will ever make in our lives, and to give us our agency and to carry out the fulfillment of Justice, he does not interfere. Knowing the heart of a dictator or murderer, he could simply reach out his hand and stop terrible things from happening, but he does not! This so that we may face the full reality of our choices, the consequences of the path we choose.
Objectivism also states that there are no miracles because the definition of a miracle is something that could not have been possible before that is brought about by a supernatural force or intervention. I say that life's course is already known to God and he does not change it because it has already been set in motion in full detail by himself. Every "miracle" that happens, for there are things on this earth that I would define as miracles, has already been planned for and set in motion.
To pray is not a useless attempt as Objectivists suggest, neither because there is no God nor because he will not help you. To pray is to show recognition to him who you owe everything. To pray for strength or help is right. God will answer your prayers for the simple reason that he knew you would pray. Because he knows you better than you know yourself. Extending the blessings of your righteousness to you is not an intervention by God that changes reality. It is the carrying out of reality itself.

I am only a seventeen year old girl. I have only studied Objectvism for a short time, maybe a week or so, but this is what I know. I know that man's purpose on earth is not suffering and pain, but happiness. I know that there is a reality with consequences to the choices that we make. I know that reason and logic are the standards by which I judge everything in life, and I know that Objectivism embraces all these things. Yet I also know that there is a God. I know this in the ways the Objectivism requires all knowledge: through my five senses. I have heard his voice and felt his presence and seen his hand. I know he is there. I know that there are no contradictions in life. I found one, checked my premises and discovered that it was never there to begin with.
This is my epiphany. One day I hope to explain my new-found knowledge to an Objectivist and see how they take my idea's. I know that I'm right. I know it. Though I'm not yet articulate in the ways of philosophy I ask you to use your own judgment, with the soundness of your mind which is a tool that only you can use to judge the truth, and discover for yourself what you think about this life, whether you think as I do or not. The important thing is that you not only have an opinion, but believe it passionately and understand it thoroughly.

Because of these new ideas that have been introduced into my life, I'm a changed person for good and for the better.
Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be teaching my new Philosophy as a professor and spreading my ideas to the world? For now I have my blog. My Desiderata.

Atlas Shrugged

Hey everyone! I know it's been forever, but I've had some crazy stuff going on. Everything is right with the world once more so I thought I'd resume my blogging which I've so sadly neglected.
Right now I'm reading a fabulous book called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I havn't gotten through it yet and I am absolutly desperate to know "Who is John Galt?" but that will have to wait. For now I've contented myself with observing all the little details of the society that Ayn Rand has created, and it's a little bit scary.
In this new place everyone acts for the good of society as a whole. Business and greed are considered crass and undignified, as it doing something soley to make money. The majority of people there are fools. They fear hard and fast facts and when faced with a yes or no question they hem and haw and beat around the bush to avoid answering. These idiots run the world. They fear the power of politicians and the peoples opinions mean everything to them.
It creates a lot of interesting problems for everybody. People become cunning and malicious, yet wholly stupid. If it doesn't seem to benefit the world as a whole, they don't do it or care about it, even if it something good and necessary. They're running themselves into the ground.
As well as being moronic, they are extremily apathetic. This apathy in part comes from not wanting to take the blame for anything. If they never take action, they can never be blamed for doing something wrong. It's always someone else who can take care of it, and in this way nohting gets done.

It's an odd senario in the fact that it is both far fetched and already a realtiy.
We're apathetic. We're silly people who care far too much about ourselves and our individual causes to see the bigger picture. We often miss the simple things that make the most difference. Common sense is no longer common.

When talking about Politics we wish for equality in all things when we should be wishing for an Equaltiy of Opportunity instead. In Business we wish to eliminate Monopolies, yet encourage competition, which caps the limit of sucess one man can acheive from his hard work. In life we wish for things to be fair, when in reality the only fairness we can ever acheive is that equality of oppurtunity.

It's a frustrating thing to see the world and the direction it is headed in. It often makes me wish that more people would only stop and think and observe.

Leonardo da Vinci once lamented that too many people Look without Seeing, Listen without Hearing, Eat without Tasting, and Touch without Feeling. If we could all just take a moment of silence and listen, we might learn something.

As far as apathy goes, I beileve that the worst kind of man is the man without a purpose. That is one definition of apathy itself. Why should I do it when it's someone else's job? It's not my problem. We need people in this world who are doers. We need the kind of people who take it upon themselves to make a difference. Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

We are a doing people. We have dreams and aspirations and work hard towards our goals. When we want something in life, we will not be content to sit back and dream. We make our dreams a reality. In this way we are not so very much like Ayn Rand's world. As long as we remain proud of ourselves and our accomplishements, as long as we never give up or settle, as long as we can truely see and hear the world around us, we have nothing to fear.