riviersonderend

Op universiteit het ek Ayn Rand se The Fountainhead gelees en amper my Nuwe Testament-eindeksamen gedop, omdat ek The Fountainhead oneindig interessanter as Paulus se neuroses gevind het. Dit is sekerlik een van die boeke wat die grootste indruk op my gelaat het op universiteit. Dit het my vir maande geïnspireer.

Later het ek ook van haar ander boeke gelees, maar nooit We The Living nie. Haar filosofie, Objektiwisme, het my nooit vreeslik aangestaan nie en geleidelik het ek ook belangstelling in haar boeke verloor.

Tot onlangs. My pad het weer gekruis met We The Living, wat ek besluit het om nou te lees.

Interessant.

Hier is ‘n paar aanhalings uit The Fountainhead:

“I am a man who does not exist for others.”

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“…the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him.”

***

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received–hatred. The great creators–the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors–stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The first airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”

En ‘n aanhaling uit We The Living:

“Do you believe in God, Andrei? No. Neither do I. But that’s a favorite question of mine. An upside-down question, you know. What do you mean? Well, if I asked people whether they believed in life, they’d never understand what I meant. It’s a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do — then, I know they don’t believe in life. Why? Because, you see, God — whatever anyone chooses to call God — is one’s highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own.”