Silly Putty is Thicker Than Marshmallow Fluff

No title explanation today.

I watched "Little Miss Sunshine" earlier today. More on that at a later date when I've had more time to process. Wonderful movie.

As you know (if you've read my previous blog entries, judging by the number of comments I've gotten so far that would be all none of you) I'm reading "We The Living" by Ayn Rand. If you'll permit me (all of you 0 readers) I'll forego my amusing story for this entry and will, instead, discuss a section of the book that just grabbed ahold of me and shook me like I was a baby in the care of an insane Brittish nanny.

In this section, Kira- our main character and a Bourgeois (which in this Marxist sense means capitalist in an era of communism)-and her unlikely friend Andrei-a communist, soldier and member of the secret police-are discussing what the common bond is in their relationship given that they're polar opposite in political/social view. Believing she has identified the problem, Kira explains that their roots are the same, their base worldview as it pertains to the divine or lack thereof in this case. To further explain Kira asks: "Do you believe in God, Andrei?"
Andrei responds: "No."
"Neither do I. But that's a favorite question of mine. An upside-down question, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if I asked people whether they believed in life, they’d never understand what I meant. It’s a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do-then, I know they don’t believe in life."
"Why?"
"Because, you see, God-whatever anyone chooses to call God-is one’s highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it."

Now to start, it's easy to see that her view of God is fundamentally flawed. Those who believe in God ascribe to Him abilities that no mortal indivdual could ever possess. One may aspire to know all, be everywhere at once, and other things that man belives God is capable of and one would of course never achieve any of them. Rather, it's the latter portion of Kira's second diatribe that really got me.

I believe that people get stuck without ever knowing it. They get it in their minds to pursue a certain path in life and never deviate because it never occurs to them to do so. We simply can't imagine what we've never experienced, even if we could it never crosses our minds that we ought to. Even some common fantasies, such as teenagers imagining what sex will be like, are so far off we wonder, afterward, why the hell we bothered with them in the first place.

Imagine greatness for yourself, then-if you can-pursue it. Don't torture yourself with dreams that you're un-willing or un-able to accomplish or even chase after. To put it simply: Go Big or Go Home.