F. d'Anconia
Guest
Wow! Such vitriol!!!!!!!
I don't think its contradictory at all. Regardless of what he said in the "capitalism speech" at the cocktail party ( I love that part too), I think the characters actions quite embody the spirit of "everything is relative" and "all attachment is suffering".
He loves only Dagny. All his life. Attachment. He loses her to his best friend. Yet at the end he is ok with it. Un-attachment. Lesson learned.
He portrays an image as a worthless playboy, yet he is working harder than ever behind the scenes. The whole world sees him that way because its what they want to believe. Kinda like the overwhelming long bias in the markets. Nobody likes to see the rich guy happy. Everyone wants to see him fall from grace. Another question of perception.
"there are no absolutes"..............
ok, how about "everything is everything." Not so far off. I think the "anti-religion" that is Zen would suit our hero well. He certainly wouldn't follow some creed that required blind devotion to some central figure. I think he would be more Zen than you think. Just the simple fact that Rand is all about the destruction of collectivist thinking makes all the characters kinda Zen. Because like Buddhist practice, its all about YOU and noone else. What's Roark like, what's Rearden like? Who do they care about and what is their focus? ME, ME, ME and ME.
Anyways, I'm glad to see someone loves these books as much as me to be so vocal in defending their view of them.
best of luck to you......
-$

I don't think its contradictory at all. Regardless of what he said in the "capitalism speech" at the cocktail party ( I love that part too), I think the characters actions quite embody the spirit of "everything is relative" and "all attachment is suffering".
He loves only Dagny. All his life. Attachment. He loses her to his best friend. Yet at the end he is ok with it. Un-attachment. Lesson learned.
He portrays an image as a worthless playboy, yet he is working harder than ever behind the scenes. The whole world sees him that way because its what they want to believe. Kinda like the overwhelming long bias in the markets. Nobody likes to see the rich guy happy. Everyone wants to see him fall from grace. Another question of perception.
"there are no absolutes"..............
ok, how about "everything is everything." Not so far off. I think the "anti-religion" that is Zen would suit our hero well. He certainly wouldn't follow some creed that required blind devotion to some central figure. I think he would be more Zen than you think. Just the simple fact that Rand is all about the destruction of collectivist thinking makes all the characters kinda Zen. Because like Buddhist practice, its all about YOU and noone else. What's Roark like, what's Rearden like? Who do they care about and what is their focus? ME, ME, ME and ME.
Anyways, I'm glad to see someone loves these books as much as me to be so vocal in defending their view of them.
best of luck to you......
-$


