The Ayn Rand Lovers and Haters : "The Golden egos loved her, the Clay Egos hated her."
Wisdom imparted by my beloved Aunt, in a personal letter to me. This is her letter, and my insights on it helped to answer a life-long puzzle of mine. by Emma Goldman
(libertarian)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Background
First, I pose a question (which I'll answer, but see if you can do it by the end of this article): "What is to be found the at the root of all the creations and destructions spawned by men (and women and children) throughout human history?"
I recently wrote my dearest Aunt Laurie, whom I now call My Aunt "Laurie Oakley", because of an email she wrote me which had revealed her one-time prowess with a .22 rifle. Neither her nor I had discussed the explicit question above, because I had already known the answer to it myself. But it was due to my aunt's story that I was able to make a new insight regarding the two possible natures of an individual's ego, and how one of those types of ego has led to all destructions throughout man's history.
First, consider an excerpt from my email reply to my aunt:
"7/16/2008
"my Dear Aunt Laurie (Oakley),
"Funny how a person can wrap so much of their self-esteem into simple physical feats. Now I can see why creative geniuses are so viciously attacked by those previously assumed to be great in a similar regard, but were finally surpassed.
"Jealousy and Envy... two things that do not penetrate a person with genuine self-esteem... a golden ego, as it were, rather than an ego made of clay.
"Love, Emma
Now consider this follow up email, in which my dear Aunt Laurie wrote some more on the subject of ego. Apparently, what I said to her had inspired for her new insights on the nature of ego, identity, self-image, and self-esteem, and their inter-relationship.
She used the terms "Golden Ego", and "Clay Ego", to distinguish between men, women, and children who are filled either with admiration or envy of others. Here's what my aunt wrote:
"7/30/2008
"Hello Ms. Emma;
"I was thinking the other night about "ego" since we'd touched on it, and jotted down a couple of notes one night:
"Ego, identity, self-image and self-esteem are all related.
"Most average people are content to devote their lives to shopping, gossiping, and dwelling on the past. They have egos of clay and are filled with jealousy and envy.
"Then there are the rare few who have "golden egos", who despite hardships and failures through life, or who come from a dysfunctional family, and will struggle through life to maintain a healthy ego-identity; will struggle to "make it" in life, to stretch to the fullness of their abilities.
"These few admire those individuals who have driven themselves to extraordinary accomplishments.
"Ms. Emma, you and I may never "make it", but at least we tried.
"Ayn Rand gave a definition to the word ego that was different from what had become the norm.
"That one word was the trigger that struck at the heart of everyone who read her. Golden loved her; clay hated her.
"Love, Aunt Laurie
Conclusion
My aunt Laurie can hardly be called "an Ayn Rand follower". Back in the 60s, while she was attending college, my aunt Laurie was introduced to "The Fountainhead" (Miss Rand's fictional story about an individualist architect that follows his own standards), by another college acquaintance. But when my grandpa Fox died in '76, my aunt then decided she couldn't accept that he had 'died forever'. So she let go of her tenous view of atheism. Apparently, being raised Catholic had made it easy for her to re-adopt the theism of her youth.
One of the biggest misconceptions about Ayn Rand (and smears about her) was that she wanted to convert people to atheism. Ayn Rand could care less about a person's metaphysical view. What Ayn Rand fought against her entire life was the irrational ethics and the irrational politics that have consumed everyone's life by creating an unecessary world of hell, that traps every man, woman, and child in an upside-down world, where the good is villified as evil, and the bad is promoted as the golden. Ayn Rand's Golden Ego, in my view, has redeemed the 20th century from being one of a mounting worldwide tide of evil. Nearly 100 million died under socialism during the 1900s, and it was the heroic Ayn Rand that saved the lives of millions around the world, who had read her novel and had discovered the meaning of that golden word: Ego.
The Key Question Answered
Question (as given above) : "What is to be found the at the root of all the creations and destructions spawned by men (and women and children) throughout human history?"
Emma's answer : Individuals with ego's of Clay are responsible for historical destructions, and individuals with ego's of Gold are responsible for historical progress and all wonderful, rational creations, from growing "a seed of wheat" to an electric generator. Ayn Rand would call those of Clay ego "second-handers", and Dr. Nathaniel Branden might call them people of "pseudo-self-esteem" (e.g. false self-esteem).
What is your answer, my Dear Reader, to the question above? Your answer will reveal not only your sense of life and the nature of your own ego: it will predict your future of creativity, happiness, boredom, sadness, bitterness, jealousy, envy, or destruction.
If each of us choose well, my Dear Reader, we can make The Silk Revolution a reality. A world that won't guarantee individual success or happiness, but a world that shal provide the best defense and protection for those individuals who seek their own goals in life.
Let the Silk Revolution begin!
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Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2008-07-31 13:54:43
Hi Emma,
Nice article and good question. Having given this all of 30 seconds thought I'll answer it this way:
At the root of all creations spawned by Mankind is the free market of ideas. This is where it is legal and accepted to call a bad idea a bad idea instead of giving all ideas a ribbon just for existing.
At the root of all destructions spawned by mankind is the willingness of one group to pervert the free market of ideas by making it illegal or unacceptable to call a bad idea a bad idea.
Our culture's adoption of the notion of political correctness is a sure sign of the destruction to come.
You have a very beautiful mind. I would love to answer the question but sadly im not capable of making my fingers make sense of my thoughts as purely as yours can. not a problem though, im just glad i found this article. when i learned of the ego and how distructive it is, it pretty much changed my life (slowly) but in a big way. but ya, you sound very wise to the world around you and thats always refreshing to hear. thank you for taking the time to write this.
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