Why Do You Think You Think?

Why Do You Think You Think?

An excerpt from the Atlas shrugged, book by Ayn Rand

·         Thought is a primitive superstition. Reason is an irrational idea.

·         The childish notion that we are able to think has been mankind's costliest error.

·         What you think you think is an illusion created by your glands, your emotions and, in the last analysis, by the content of your stomach.

·         That gray matter you're so proud of is like a mirror in an amusement park which transmits to you nothing but distorted signals from a reality forever beyond your grasp.

·         The more certain you feel of your rational conclusions, the more certain you are to be wrong. Your brain being an instrument of distortion, the more active the brain the greater the distortion.

·         The giants of the intellect, whom you admire so much, once taught you that the earth was flat and that the atom was the smallest particle of matter. The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies, not of achievements.

·         The more we know, the more we learn that we know nothing.

·         Only the crassest ignoramus can still hold to the old-fashioned notion that seeing is believing. That which you see is the first thing to disbelieve.

·         A scientist knows that a stone is not a stone at all. It is, in fact, identical with a feather pillow. Both are only a cloud formation of the same invisible, whirling particles. But, you say, you can't use a stone for a pillow? Well, that merely proves your helplessness in the face of actual reality.

·         The latest scientific discoveries have demonstrated conclusively that our reason is incapable of dealing with the nature of the universe. These discoveries have led scientists to contradictions which are impossible, according to the human mind, but which exist in reality nonetheless.

·          Do not expect consistency. Everything is a contradiction of everything else. Nothing exists but contradictions.

·         Do not look for 'common sense.' To demand 'sense' is the hallmark of nonsense. Nature does not make sense. Nothing makes sense. The only crusaders for 'sense' are the studious type of adolescent old maid who can't find a boy friend, and the old-fashioned shopkeeper who thinks that the universe is as simple as his neat little inventory and beloved cash register.

·         Let us break the chains of the prejudice called Logic. Are we going to be stopped by a syllogism?

·         So you think you're sure of your opinions? You cannot be sure of anything. Are you going to endanger the harmony of your community, your fellowship with your neighbors, your standing, reputation, good name and financial security-for the sake of an illusion? For the sake of the mirage of thinking that you think? Are you going to run risks and court disasters-at a precarious time like ours-by opposing the existing social order in the name of those imaginary notions of yours which you call your convictions? You say that you're sure you're right? Nobody is right, or ever can be. You feel that the world around you is wrong? You have no means to know it. Everything is wrong in human eyes-so why fight it? Don't argue. Accept. Adjust yourself. Obey.

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