Ayn Rand was a Russian-American writer and philosopher who lived in the twentieth century.
Born in Russia, she moved to America when she was in her 20’s;
there she wrote several novels, some of the most famous being: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
Towards the end of her life, she focused more on philosophy,
founding the philosophy of Objectivism, the four main principles of which are:
01. Objective reality, which is the reality that exists independently of consciousness,
02. Absolute reason, which means that the
guidance of facts far outweighs the guidance of faith or emotion,
03. Individualism, which means the proper moral purpose of one's life
is the pursuit of one's own happiness, and 04. Laissez-faire capitalism,
which is a system based on protecting human rights and property rights.
Her main philosophical view is that knowledge can be acquired only through the process of reasoning
and she rejected religion and faith. She attacked many past philosophers, with the exception of
a few, like Aristotle and Thomas Acquinas. She was inspired by Nietzsche and John Locke
and she was against Immanuel Kant, whom she named “the most evil man in mankind's history”
because she thought his ethics opposed the self-interests of human beings.
During her life, she was involved in many political movements and made connections
with journalists, economists, including the economist Ludwig von Mises, who referred to her as
"the most courageous man in America", a compliment that pleased her because he said
"man" instead of "woman", implying that she was more courageous, had more guts than any man.
Through the Objectivism movement, her work became known more and more to the public and to help you
understand more about how you can pursue happiness through reason and courage,
how we can pursue truth and have fulfilling and productive lives,
here are 9 life lessons we can learn from the philosophy of Ayn Rand:
01. Use reason in everything
Ayn Rand says: “There are no evil thoughts except one; the refusal to think”.
One of the main pillars of Objectivism is absolute reason, meaning that the guidance
of facts far outweighs the guidance of faith or emotion. For Rand, the objective reality
exists. Objective reality is a reality that exists independently of our minds like any
real thing existing in this world, the sun, the tree, a chair and we can understand it through our
capacity of reason over the facts we perceive. Reason is seen by Rand as a tool of survival:
without it, we cannot make sense of the external reality, our physical environment.
Just wishing for something to happen is not enough, it does not bend according to our
wishes. Rather, we need to first perceive it, analyze it, and then decide how to act upon it.
However, there are still billions of people around the world who think that by practising special
prayers, special incantations, rituals, they can bend reality according to their wishes. If you
are the type of person who changes the side of the street just because you have seen a black cat in
front of you or if you avoid taking the airplane on Friday the 13th, then you might be one of them.
Ayn Rand, through her philosophy of Objectivism, would advise you to stop
following such superstitions, but rather use your rational mind in deciding your actions,
and when you do, you will realise that there is no proof that a black cat or that day that was 13th,
then the Friday brings bad luck. Following reason, rather than religion, superstitions and other
unfounded beliefs, would make your life simpler, more rooted in reality and more successful.
02. Be selfish
According to Rand: “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others.”
For Ayn Rand, there is no contradiction between following your interests
and helping others. She even thought that when we are in love with someone, that love is selfish
and what we do out of love is based on our own selfishness. When you sacrifice something for
someone or when you compromise something for the sake of a relationship, or when you went through
a sort of suffering in order to gain something at the end, that is not sacrifice or suffering
as long as you take pleasure from doing that or from achieving the end goal. Thus,
in some way, we are selfish by our own nature, selfishness comes naturally, it is in our veins.
The problem is that we often act against our own interests and wishes.
Someone close to you might coerce you into something it is bad for you:
for example, your parent who pushes you to follow a career you don’t want, your spouse that forbids
you to meet certain friends because of jealousy, the boss who blackmails you into attending team
building meetings that you cannot afford to attend and so on. You might not experience any
pleasure in this as you have been persuaded to act like that, against your own wishes.
Ayn Rand would advise you in this case to stop sacrificing yourself for others
if those activities are of no benefit for you, if you don’t feel any pleasure in doing them.
If you wish to follow a career of art, do not listen to your parents who try
to push you towards being a lawyer, if you enjoy spending time with your friends of opposite sex,
do not follow the wishes of your spouse, if you can’t afford those team buildings meetings,
don’t go and and maybe leave that company.
Act in your own interest and follow your wishes and what brings you pleasure in life.
03. Follow your own values
Rand teaches us that: “Value presupposes a standard,
a purpose and the necessity of action in the face of an alternative”
Ayn Rand aimed to revolutionise the entire foundation of the Judeo-Christian morality
as she was against the policy of altruism, meaning acting in a way to promote someone else’s welfare,
even if it's at a risk or of cost to ourselves. Her entire philosophy was all for the so-called
rational selfishness. Being a rational selfish implies that your main duty should be towards
yourself, towards your own values and not to an external set of moral rules.
However, in Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism there is also room for the so-called inherent morality,
meaning the morality which is derived from the laws of the country or the community,
like allowing governmental interventions through a set of regulations to properly rule the society.
The individuals act as moral units but they are bound to the governmental set of laws
and regulations as well. In other words, the duty of a man is to do what he wishes
as long as his wish does not depend primarily on other men. Therefore,
we should follow our own values and wishes as long as what we do does not limit the freedom
of others and is not in contradiction with the country’s laws and regulations.
If you see a child falling down a well, you have no moral obligation to save them.
But if your inner moral code tells you that this is the right way to do it, then you must follow
your inner moral code. If you believe that it is not your business to save the child, then you are
not morally obliged in any way to save them, you should not be condemned if you do nothing.
In the same way, if, for example, you have a principle that you should take
responsibility for your own mistakes at all times and you made a mistake in your work,
but your boss asked another person to correct your mistake because he knows you have too many
things on your plate, you should try to tell your boss that you want to do this, even if it
involves spending long hours or staying overnight in your office. Whatever your moral values are,
follow them in anything you do, even when it is not always in your immediate self interest.
04. Don’t play the victim
In the words of Rand: “Evil requires the sanction of the victim.”
Usually, the tendency to play victim comes from the need to show how much we suffer
in order to draw attention, love and sympathy. But for Rand, one must achieve one’s happiness
by ourselves - you cannot demand others to give up their lives to make you happy,
nor should one wish to sacrifice one’s self for the happiness of others. In Rand’s view,
it makes no sense to play victim, and beg for love or attention - to denigrate yourself in order
to gain sympathy or love from others. In this regard, having a positive attitude is important.
When we play victim, we emphasize the negative parts, on how bad others treat us or ignore us
and we do not do enough to change the situation. What we expect from others influences how others
respond to us. So, when we play the victim, we give the other person the permission to continue
their bad behavior over us. For example, if you believe that your colleagues at work don’t treat
you fairly, that they don’t invite you to lunch or to parties after work, you might feel yourself a
victim, ignored, not appreciated. If you choose to play the victim, you will become more quiet, more
isolated, full of resentment towards others, not willing to engage anymore in their conversations.
By contrast, if you stop playing the victim, you will go straight to them, ask them what their
plans are for today and if you can join them. If they say yes, very well and if they say no,
you just have to smile and find better colleagues, maybe from other departments with whom you can
spend the breaks or create better bonds. Do not stay stuck in a role given by others,
do not offer the permission to anyone to make you feel isolated or feel like a victim.
05. Develop your self-esteem
Rand considers that: “Nothing is more important in the world than self-esteem.”
According to Rand, the level of self esteem can be correlated to the amount of joy one seeks to
experience because this search for joy reveals how much that person feels worthy of being happy,
alive, and free. For Rand, the more we use reason in life, the more self esteem we can have.
When we have a system of values and principles according to which we can make rational decisions
and we do not go with the flow wherever the wind blows,
we can finally learn to appreciate ourselves more, to set healthy boundaries, proper goals for
ourselves and for our growth, and finally then, we can develop a higher sense of self-esteem.
We often become overwhelmed, stressed out by small things, be it at work or in our personal lives.
The reason for being stressed and unhappy is usually the fact that we don’t have
clear and rational goals or we don’t follow them because we don’t see ourselves as worthy of them.
When you do not have the courage to fight for what you want to achieve in life, you will lose
your self-esteem and you will get trapped in fake relationships, careers, and dreams.
For example, imagine that you always wanted to be a manager in a large corporation,
but you do not feel worthy of such a job, you have very little self esteem. In order
to increase your self-esteem, you should first try building your confidence on rational grounds,
by analyzing your skills first, what you really are able to do. Then, there are few other things
you can do, like exercising more control over your negative thoughts by taking more care of yourself,
by surrounding yourself with positive people, and accepting yourself for who you are.
Then, when you are confident enough, you will have the guts to say what you are capable of
and you will better convince your boss that you deserve a promotion.
Once you have the right mindset, and a rational plan, based on reason,
you will see how your self esteem increases and you will go more confident towards your goal.
06. Be honest
To quote Rand: “There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction,
and a white lie is the blackest of all..”
Honesty is one of the highest virtues in the philosophy of objectivism which we should try
to incorporate in life. Rand defined honesty as the recognition of the fact that you cannot
fake existence. And this recognition can be expressed in thought and speech.
We should not lie to others by speaking or hiding important information. Also,
we should not lie to ourselves. To lie, in any form, means to sell ourselves short.
To avoid lying shouldn’t be because you are afraid of punishment in the afterlife.
Rand did not believe in an afterlife and, through soul,
she understood the human spirit capable of enjoying life here, on planet Earth.
This human spirit must be protected as it is so easy to lose ourselves, to sell ourselves
through lying, to sell our long-term happiness, for small temporary gains.
We need to live our lives by following certain moral principles, like being honest, not stealing,
not engaging in activities that can harm other people and so on. We might agree that this
is a good thing, but in practice, the situation is much more complex as emotions play a major role in
our lives. Hence we should first be careful how we listen and follow our own emotions.
As Rand said, our emotions are programmed by the way we reason, and sometimes,
the way we reason is faulty. Therefore, we need to analyse often the way we reason,
the way we think. According to Rand, through reasoning, we need to reach the conclusion that
to be honest is one of the highest virtues no matter the situation. Even telling white lies
is extremely damaging. In fact, as Rand said, the white lies are indeed the blackest of all.
A white lie is a lie about a small or unimportant matter that someone tells to avoid hurting another
person. For example, when a friend invites you to a party and, instead of saying you are
not in the mood for a party, you say that you have some kind of physical pain or feel ill.
You might think that such a lie cannot make a big difference, but then, the next time you meet that
friend, something will change, you will feel a bit guilty deep inside yourself, you will need to
reply to further questions regarding the imaginary disease, you become a slave of your own lie.
It would have been much better if you were honest, saying that you really do not feel in the right
mood, that you would be a bad company and that you would prefer to spend your evening alone,
reading a book. Thus, your friend would understand you more and next time you meet him, instead of
asking you about your imaginary disease, he will engage in a conversation about your favorite book
and your friendship will become stronger. Be honest and your life will become simpler,
more authentic and the relationships with other people will improve.
07. Earn your money honourably
Rand posits: “The man who damns money
has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.”
Ayn Rand viewed capitalism as the only political-economic system compatible with
her philosophy because it is the only system based on respect for human beings as ends in themselves,
not as means. She advocated for a minimal state,
but a state powerful enough to protect individual rights, including the rights of property.
However, no matter the political system, Rand identified 2 types of people in this world:
consumers and producers in her book “Atlas Shrugged”. Most of the people belong to the first
type, they enjoy the fruits of the civilization built by the second type, the producers. Examples
of producers are the inventors, the engineers, the entrepreneurs, anybody who creates something
that all the world can benefit from. Without them, the progress of our civilization would
have been much slower if at all.They are like Atlas, carrying the world upon their shoulders.
No matter if you are a producer or consumer, Rand believed that the most important thing is that
everyone should earn their money in an honorable way as we all need to give our moral respect
to a society which was built across so many generations, through the producers’ efforts.
According to Rand, the best test to see if someone has earned their money in an honorable way
is to watch the way they spend their money. Somebody who put value, work, and effort into
acquiring money would treat money with respect, they would not spend it in a careless way.
When we see a young man in his brand new car, spending his money on luxury brands for his
clothes and his phones, we often automatically think his parents must have a lot of money
or that he gained that money by some strange luck or maybe he got rich overnight due to
good stock market choices or may be doing some illegal business with his friends.
On the contrary, when we see somebody who is apparently wealthy, yet they are still careful
with the way they spend their money, we tend to assume that that person gained their wealth
through hard work and commitment. Ayn Rand advises us to try to earn our money in an honorable way,
to work for companies and projects that we can be proud of, to pay our taxes, and be good citizens.
There are success stories of people who became rich overnight,
but these are rare and many of these people lose their money as fast as they earned it.
It is better to build your sources of income instead of following get-rich-quick schemes.
Earn your money honorably and you will live an honorable life you can be proud of.
08. Never give up
Rand advises us: “Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it.”
Growing up in Russia, Rand lived through the Russian Revolution and her family
faced the tragic consequences of it. She was born into a bourgeois Jewish family in St. Petersburg
and, because of the revolution, which happened when she was only 12,
her father's business was confiscated, and the family fled to the Crimean Peninsula.
The troubles didn’t end there, she faced difficulties later when she was in the
process of graduating from university because she was from a bourgeois family; however, she
did eventually graduate, after which she emigrated to the United States. These troublesome events of
her early life made her tougher, more courageous to confront difficulties as she understood that we
all have a hero inside us who is able to overcome any difficulty, we just have to trust that we
can reach the world we desire through our own efforts, as she did when she landed in the USA.
Like Ayn Rand, we should also trust our inner hero and trust that we will be able to overcome
the difficulties in our life. If you are confronted with a terrible situation in
your life - for example, you lose your job and you cannot pay your rent anymore. You are afraid you
will be evacuated any time and will be forced to ask friends to accommodate you for a while.
Do not let yourself be overwhelmed by these thoughts, constantly worrying that you will
end up sleeping on the streets. Do not give up on the fight, apply to as many jobs as possible
and limit the time you have to focus on negative thoughts. Instead of consuming your energy
on depressing thoughts and panicking, think of this moment as a test that you need to pass, see
yourself as a hero facing monsters. By changing the way you see yourself and the situation,
you will become more energetic and, crucially, more effective in overcoming your challenges.
09. Always Keep growing
In our final quote from Ayn Rand for this video,
she says: “What greater wealth is there than to own your life and to spend it on growing?”
According to Rand, everyone needs a philosophy
and is guided by at least an implicit one about which they might not even be aware of.
In order to avoid suffering in this constantly changing world, we need to constantly evolve,
learn more about the right principles to conduct our lives, and upgrade our guidance system.
If your job involves a lot of routine and repetition and you feel you are not advancing in
life, you might try a different approach towards life. Start something new, that can refresh your
spirit, learn new things. You can always enroll in an online university and pick a course that
interests you. You can also read self-development books, autobiographies of successful people,
watch televised or online debates on important issues, or learn new skills that can help you
succeed in life.You can also pick topics of self development or even philosophy to reshape the way
you see the world and yourself. These are only a few ideas which can help you grow both in personal
and in professional life. We need to continue to grow in order to keep our mind and spirit
fresh and healthy, and to feel that every day we are growing into better human beings.
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