Randian Philosophy, Objectivism, upholds the
supremacy of man, of man’s ego, of man’s reason, in short, of man’s self. This system
expressed importance to individuals as individuals, and expressed its disdain
to humanity, for being a hindrance to the exaltation of man. It showed how
important and how high the “I” is as it should be and it showed how bad and
rotten the “we” is as it is now.
It’s always
been the root cause of the many problems a seminarian is facing, even ordinary
people. It took me years to realize the negative things the “we” is bringing to
each and every individual. That “we” is always a factor to consider in every
choice an individual makes. There’s no more “I” in every action and every
decision one is making.
One
seminarian will enter the seminary not because he wants to but because of the
people around him who wants him to. One seminarian will continue because his
classmates continued and he can’t live without his classmates, so he says. One
will disobey the seminary rules because his friends are doing it and he wants
to join because they want him to. One will be stubborn and lazy because he sees
that the others are being the same. One won’t strive for excellence anymore
because not everybody is doing so. Every thought, every action, every decision,
everything is considered with the “we”. It’s because of that “we” that an
individual doesn’t care anymore of what he thinks, and of what he wills. It’s
rotten. It’s truly and definitely rotten.
Every one
of us has our own, respective minds. Each one of us has the power to be, to
think, to decide, and to act. There’s no such thing as collective mind.
Everything about ourselves depends on our “I”, on our “ego”. If we want to
change, and we should change, it should all start in us.
Being
‘selfless’ was the term Miss Rand used to an individual who doesn’t think but
let others think for him, by having others’ decision as his own as well. He is
being selfless, in the sense that he loses himself because doesn’t use his
reason anymore. He has the power to think, to act, to be, but he refuses to do
so. Just like a seminarian who always agrees to what the others think, even if
he has his own idea or a seminarian who always submit himself to things without
even understanding anything about those.
I myself
have been dissolved in that overwhelming “we” for so many years. I’ve always
been so considerate with what the others may say that it brought me to the
point of not making any decision of my own. I do what the others like me to do.
I’ve been selfless, in the sense that I am not myself anymore but a puppet of
the “we”. Being controlled by others is one of the many things we hate but
then, considering other’s opinion in what we do is a total submission to that
statement we hate.
I call for
a mind strike.
Let’s
renounce the “we” and reinstate the “I”. All the things that we do should come
from our own volition, not from other people. Let us join the others that share
the same value with us and depart from them if we don’t. The same goes with the
seminary formation. We cooperate with the formation because we share the same
value, the same end – priesthood. If you don’t, then be brave enough to use
your reason and part ways. Do not submit to something you don’t want, to
something that you know won’t be essential for your life. To those who want to
be a priest, then continue with the formation, because I am certain that as
long as we value priesthood and Christ, then we totally share the same value
with the formation.
To be
selfless in the sense of not using reason is not something that we as
individuals should do. It’s totally against our nature and it will lead us in
total frustration and even in self-destruction. To have our minds be influenced
by others is the same as having our minds controlled by them. We should want
what we want, as individuals. There’s no point in joining what you don’t like.
If the whole world is wrong and it tells you to move, you say: No! You move! If
using your own reason, your own mind means standing for what you think is right
and fighting alone, then so be it.
If only we
fought for our “I” in everything we are, in every action we do, and in every
decision we make, then we’ll certainly be what we should be – the man who has
his own reason, his own mind, and most specially, his own self. By using our
own minds, we uphold our supremacy. We uphold our own selves.
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