Goals

           In her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand presents rich, compelling notions regarding ethics and man’s rational self-interests. When I stumbled upon this book in the bookstore, I was immediately enamored by its no-nonsense, assertive presentation of an ethical framework. I had surely read a vast array of philosophy books at this point in my life, but this sassy woman’s narration of ideals and standards of morality resonated considerably with my own ambitious ideologies.

Touching on volition, she presents, “Man cannot survive, like an animal, by acting on the range of the moment. An animal’s life consists of a series of separate cycles, repeated over and over again, such as the cycle of breeding its young, or of storing food for the winter; an animal’s consciousness cannot integrate its entire lifespan; it can carry just so far, then the animal has to begin the cycle all over again, with no connection to the past. Man’s life is a continuous whole: for good or evil, every day, year, and decade of his life holds the sum of all the days behind him… Nothing is given to man on earth except a potential and the material on which to actualize it. The material is the whole of the universe, with no limits set to the knowledge he can acquire and to the enjoyment of life he can achieve. But everything he needs or desires has to be learned, discovered, and produced by him-by his own choice, by his own effort, by his own mind.”

In this context, consciousness, purpose, and productivity are the fruits that give our life significance. Just as plants need water and sunshine to grow and flower, man needs constant growth and the conditions to make growth possible in order to survive. There is no finish line that one comes to in life where no further thought or direction is required. Survival demands sustenance. We must initiate, sustain, and bear the responsibility of our endurance. Everything we need and desire must be produced by our own efforts. Necessary modes of operation, then, are learning and productivity. The goals we adopt accordingly, for personal, educational, and professional development, are directly correlated to our vitality. My goals, respectively, encompass maintenance of a principled, ethical foundation, respect for others, the ability to change and grow, and a desire for lifelong learning.