“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark….” Ayn Rand wrote that.
I have a question for you: How do you keep your fire burning? How do you keep your fire burning for each day, each week, month…. What are your thoughts and ideas for keeping your fire burning… brightly?
Once I get your answers, I will share my answers.
Carl B. Barney
March 17, 2022
I support organizations that follow Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. They include ARI, TAS, OSI, Anthem, RIF, and AFCM. I write stories that interest me. I have a terrific wife. She and I read a lot and talk about Miss Rand’s ideas and their applications. When I talk with neighbors and friends, I always have some of Ayn Rand’s words in my mind. In a small way, I support organizations such as Cato and PLF who often fail to acknowledge their debts to Ayn Rand when they criticize collectivists in and out of government. Nevertheless, such organizations use some of her ideas.
I can’t say I did anything to start it, because my fire has always been there. I don’t purposefully keep it alive, I just keep finding purposes that interest me and light up my world.
Marsha, you took the words right out of my mouth. So I’ll use my own. For me it started in 1958 in a drugstore on the edge of the square in Waterbury, Connecticut where I bought a paperback copy of “The Fountainhead” . As others have, I hardly put down that book before I finished reading it the first time.
I don’t want to have any regrets – I shoulda done this or tried that or never should have said that. So I’m always actively considering all my options – and consciously always choosing motivates me to choose what’s best.
I have made a career of doing what I love to do. I love helping others to become the best they can become, and helping those I work for more successful in what they seek. It has been a wonderful life.
I read everyday. Reading keeps me going. It motivates me to pursue further understanding and knowledge. I also lift weights three times a week. Weight lifting helps me discipline my mind and improves my health.
Mine’s a simple approach, yet I’ve worked hard to master it over the years. I dance, write and read every day. This is it. I find this routine enriching. Thanks for asking.
I always have a purpose for my life — expressed as unequivocal long term and supportive near-term goals that are meaningful to me and that I burn into my subconscious so that my goals constantly and automatically motivate and guide my daily activities.
This may not be the most Objectivist-friendly answer, but the truth is, beyond loving of what I’m doing, I sometimes imagine my enemies rejoicing at me giving up, and then use some of that anger to keep me motivated.
“What are your thoughts and ideas for keeping your fire burning… brightly?”
Like Dagny, you constantly pursue you values and central purpose in life.
There are two vows that I hold sacred: one is self-evident- Yad Vashem. The other was to Ayn Rand after a brief conversation: if somebody doesn’t do the science to confirm her vision of man with free will, proud, volitional consciousness, and life as self-generated and self sustaining action then I will do it. In 2010 at age 70, I enrolled in undergrad philosophy at UNH with a minor in biology. By April 2011 I had solved the physics and biology problem of the science of volition and can confirm that Peikoff’s statements in OPAR about science someday confirming Objectivism are correct. I eagerly start each day because it is exciting to be integrating science and Objectivism fulfilling each vow. At 81 I am preparing my work for publication perhaps with an early piece at Savvy Street. Peikoff, in OPAR, writes of the harmony that integrating knowledge of the universe and philosophy brings as the “benevolent universe”. I am doing it and its a source of pride.
William, your reply to Carl is fascinating. What you have done is outstanding. I look forward to reading work.
Knowing every moment could be my last, when I get a gift of waking up one more day, I know that I can do better and more–at the very least least, making sure my children have a father, and that a day without me to be there, to do one more thing for my family, friends and partners is unthinkable.
By reminding myself each day as to what – quite frankly – will make me great i.e. achieving my values through productive work. Throughout the storms all around – and the storms exist every day – I make myself focus on what I know is the right and what is the good – my productive work. Within that work I further focus on getting better and growing each day, week, month…