"Because love is an expression of self-esteem..."
For some weird reason nagkaroon naman pala ng matinong content ang Playboy at one time. (wushu sasabihin ko kaya to kung Playgirl instead? lol) Nagpublish sila ng interview with the philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand. Medyo nagresonate kasi sakin yung mga sinabi niya kahit wala pa kong nabasang works niya previously.
Excerpt:
PLAYBOY: Where, would you say, should romantic love fit into the life of a rational person whose single driving passion is work?
RAND: It is his greatest reward. The only man capable of experiencing a profound romantic love is the man driven by passion for his work -- because love is an expression of self-esteem, of the deepest values in a man's or a woman's character. One falls in love with the person who shares these values. If a man has no clearly defined values, and no moral character, he is not able to appreciate another person. In this respect, I would like to quote from The Fountainhead, in which the hero utters a line that has often been quoted by readers: "To say 'I love you' one must know first how to say the 'I.'"
PLAYBOY: You hold that one's own happiness is the highest end, and that self-sacrifice is immoral. Does this apply to love as well as work?
RAND: To love more than to anything else. When you are in love, it means that the person you love is of great personal, selfish importance to you and to your life. If you were selfless, it would have to mean that you derive no personal pleasure or happiness from the company and the existence of the person you love, and that you are motivated only by self-sacrificial pity for that person's need of you. I don't have to point out to you that no one would be flattered by, nor would accept, a concept of that kind. Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person.
***
Bam! Ayn Rand, gusto ko for the most part yung sinabi mo eh, tagos eh, kaso kung susundin ko to the letter, parang magiging matagal pa bago ako magkaroon ng love life, haha. Ampf, walang namang ganyanan.
Share ko lang: Nung lumabas yung playboy dito sa Pinas, bumili ako actually ng copy. Lesbian, yikes!
I used to collect FHM magazines ever since the first local issue came out. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI may be reading too much into this. Anyway, the first part made sense. The second part borders on dangerous territory for me.
One must also consider that pleasure/happiness (to one's self) in any relationship is just part of a cycle that is intertwined with pain/sadness. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a string of liaisons which you entered while the going was good, and left when the going got tough. Taken individually, you may have been happy, but in the long-run, I doubt that you could call yourself that.
To say that love is anything but simple is really, oversimplifying it. :)
Wow, may collection ka ng FHM juan? Inggit ka ba sa lingerie at bikinis? haha joking.
ReplyDeleteParehas tayo, medyo may unease din ako sa 2nd part, pero gusto ko kasi yung line dun na:
"Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person."
I agree with that core idea of this "conclusion", but I'm coming from rather different assumptions. :-)