Individualism Read online

  Individualism

  By

  Robert Villegas

  Individualism

  By

  Robert Villegas

  Copyright 2015 by Robert Villegas

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the copyright holder.

  Printed in the United States of America

  [email protected]

  ISBN-13: 978-1518810138

  ISBN-10: 1518810136

  Library of Congress Control Number 2015919777

  Table of Contents

  Foreword

  The Individual

  The Psychology of Individualism

  Survival of the Fittest

  Personal Identity

  Original Thinking

  Integrity

  Objectivity

  Becoming an Individualist

  Raising Children as Individualists

  The Highest Intelligence in the Freest Body

  Idealism

  Realism

  Montessori

  The Individual versus the Collective

  Collectivism

  Ritualism

  Rule by one man

  Loyalty to the tribe

  Commonly held beliefs or myths

  Ritual practices

  Modern Collectivism

  Rule by one man--dictatorship

  Loyalty to the tribe--Collective identity

  Commonly held beliefs--Propaganda and the Big Lie

  Ritual Practices--The psychology of collectivism

  Original Sin

  Collectivism in Action

  Obama versus Ayn Rand

  A Primer against Racism

  Escaping Ethnicity

  Government and Racism

  Coming to Grips with Racism

  Intellectuals

  Teachers, parents and businesspeople

  Conclusion

  Dedicated to

  You

  "The person is the locus of virtue."

  --Frank S. Meyer

  Foreword

  The author is gender-neutral when it comes to discussing the individual; but rather than burden the reader with an endless array of “he/shes,” I have elected to use the masculine term. No gender bias is intended or implied.

  The author acknowledges an intellectual debt to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. However, his interpretations of Rand’s philosophy are solely his responsibility. He is neither a representative of nor a spokesman for Objectivism.

  The Individual

  Individualism is a view of life that identifies the proper role of the self in the universe. It postulates that the Individual is supremely important and that the Individual life is an end in itself.

  Do you want to live a better life? Do you want to be a better person? Do you want to enjoy yourself and understand that “living well” is not a bad thing? If you want this experience, then I suggest you keep reading. This book is about you and how you can get the most out of life. It seeks to help you understand your individuality as well as the obstacles to “living well” imposed by religion and modern philosophy.

  As long as man is man - as long as he has the capacity of reason - there will always reside within him a self. Though sometimes submerged beneath the terror and pretense that accompany modern society, the true self thinks about what it needs, not what others need, what it wants, not what others want, what it values, not what others value, seek or do.

  The opposite of Individualism is otherism. This view creates confusion, it asks for blind faith, gives magic, and miracles, and ghosts and demons. The self attempts to find understanding. Otherism creates self-doubt, and gives guilt, and scary masks (disapproving faces), prejudice and discrimination against the self. The self attempts to resolve doubt. Otherism fosters joining, and gives ritual, group activities, and mindless promiscuity (unconditional love toward all persons). Within this orgy of otherism, the self would rather be alone, or with another self that is admired.

  Yet, without a road map toward the self, the true self is lost and frustrated. He wants nothing more than happiness, repose and serenity. These are seemingly impossible, not because the Individual is incapable of finding them, but because the only solutions offered by culture are humiliatingly otherist—they promise happiness as a reward for being “good” according to their precepts – but they give and engender only humiliation. Little is said about obtaining happiness by thinking, by questioning, challenging the culture, challenging the very idea that happiness can be achieved by ritual joining. Rather, otherism offers collectivist ideas, groups to join, rituals to practice, self-sacrifice and self-abnegation.

  When I talk about successfully maintaining the Individual self, I am talking about an ideology or a set of ideas that, once accepted, makes one an individualist. I am talking about something difficult to achieve: what one started with, the core of one's being, the integrity of one's soul. I am talking about being at one's core physically and mentally and functioning in such a way that one never betrays, through outside influences, the integrity of that core, the integrity of the self. I am talking about taking the self joyously and guarding the inviolability of that self.

  Notice that I did not say one should take oneself seriously. I said take the self “joyously.” And indeed that is what one feels when one is happy about one’s self. When one sees a happy, guiltless face, one that does not demand obedience and agreement, one that says, I am happy and I hope you are happy too; one is seeing a person living in his core. Taking one’s self joyously means casting off the fire-ridden, hell-ridden, humility-ridden, slavery-ridden, sad and tortured traits that come when society tells us to take ourselves seriously.

  Joy is the successful state of life and it is joy that resides in the Individual who has earned his mind. The person who takes himself joyously has no fear, is serene in the recognition that he loves himself and those he has selected to receive the expression of his self-love. He takes himself joyously when he recognizes that his greatest asset is not just his happiness but also his mind. He recognizes that productivity is the expression of that joyous reliance on his mind and that it will enable him to become established in a proper society as a person who has earned respect from those around him. He gives life and enables life and nurtures life and loves life. He is moved by his joy which is an expression of the kind of person he has created. The battle of the Individual vs. the collective is the battle between joy for the Individual and terror of the crowd.

  A person who has succeeded in maintaining his Individual self detects very easily the person in the opposite state, the person who has strayed from his core and placed others at the center of his being. Such a person is obvious because of the pretenses that populate his facial structure, the fears that populate his musculature, the faked conviviality, the faked love, the faked concern, the phony smile, the habitual avoidance of life, the constant effort to in some way affect others.

  The individualist may or may not be a brilliant genius. Intelligence is not a necessity for Individualism (although it helps). The individualist has a source of knowledge few are able to engage: the integrity of the spirit, the ability to recognize what feels right (according to his values) and the strength not to be overwhelmed by the terrorizing of others. This integrity is part of each person when he starts out in life; and the key issue is the extent and degree to which he is able to maintain it. This adherence amounts to the subconscious statement: "I will do what I choose so long as it achieves my goals and expresses my happiness, my feeling of wellbeing, my sense of what is right for me as this right proceeds from my core, my fully integrated body."

  It is from this core that a philosophy, an ideology of Individualism, proceeds. The precepts of this philosophy st
ate unequivocally that each man is a value in himself with inalienable rights not to be trampled by others, that the universe is open to man and his actions, that man can control his destiny, provided he also recognizes the inviolability of the rights of other human beings; and especially, so long as he pursues the highest thinking, his highest expression of reason as it informs his choices, values and purpose.

  The key requirement of Individualism is that each man know who he is, where he is and what he will do about it. He must know that he is free to pursue and achieve whatever his mind has decided he desires, and that there should be no impediment to this pursuit from any source, especially from within and especially from the thoughts, actions and ideologies of others.

  Individualism says more than "just be yourself." It says that as an Individual human being you are a rare and unique entity. It says that no one has the right to defile you, to suppress you, to manipulate you or to force you. It says that you have the right to blossom as the Individual you are, to pursue and achieve your potential. It says you have the right to do whatever your rational mind selects so long as that action does not violate the rights of others. It says that your freedom is yours--by right, not by privilege, not by the dispensation of a collective. It says that you can be different--that difference is what makes you what you are. More than this, it says that you have no choice about being different--you are already a unique Individual who must learn about your difference and its expression. It says that you are beautiful and that beauty, if allowed to flower will take you to heights of wonderment, joy and happiness, so long as you do not allow it to be tainted by otherism--the branding iron of which is made up of conformity and mediocrity and likeness and promiscuity.

  Individualism, above all, releases you to use your mind for the sake of your goals. It tells you that the use of your mind is the highest mark of an individual and that the “real” you is your most rational you. It tells you that truth is the ultimate standard and honesty is one of the highest virtues. It tells you that your mind is a tool capable of learning all that you need for survival, and that the mark of your individuality is how well you use it, and how well you protect it against the corruption of collectivism. Individualism is not the constant repetition of mindless rituals; it is living in the moment and identifying, not by the gut or instincts, but by the mind, what the moment requires for your life and goals. Individualism is having an active mind.

  Individualism is the only source of that one emotion that is the highest of all, love and reverence for the highest values as they are exemplified in the person one chooses. Individualism is the source of love. A deep abiding love, fidelity and devotion, are possible only by recognition of the individuality and uniqueness of another person. Such a love sweeps aside the collective mingling so common today. If one is in love, and it is a true love, then you know what I mean. Look at that love and see just how much Individualism is involved, notice that individuality is the source of the strength of your love and you will begin to know and understand just how evil is collectivism and how beautiful and peaceful life and society can be by the establishment of the ego.

  The Psychology of Individualism

  A true Individualist holds his mind as his method of survival – foremost and primarily. He focuses on what he thinks about everything; not what others think. If he discovers that he lacks knowledge that is crucial to the achievement of his goals, he is ambitious enough to pursue that knowledge so he can move forward. Every moment is an opportunity to grow and he loves taking advantage of it. He constantly uses his mind to understand the world around him and he looks to devise or learn the methods that will help him ascertain the issues he needs to confront in life. He is ego-centered, not other-centered. He starts by loving himself and appreciating the value of himself.

  Fundamentally, the Individualist is free of pain, suffering, doubt and tension. He has the audacity to feel his emotions deeply and personally. Happiness is his prime motive and most often his constant state. He does not cower in the presence of others and he entertains no restriction of action toward his goals and happiness.

  The Individualist’s conviction that he is self-authorized decreases stress and makes life much easier and more pleasurable. Because he does not compromise with the collective, he does not see life as an endless struggle to appease and satisfy others. Because his life’s work is an effort to survive by means of understanding, he does not exert undue tension to control himself. He knows why it is right to do what he has decided to do, and because of this, he does what he wants to do. He knows how to be moral without obedience rather than how to act moral through submission to the views of others.

  Individualism means experiencing the full measure of the self. It does not imply a blanket hatred of other persons, nor does it imply that the Individualist believes that only he has rights and others are subordinate. Individualism holds that each Individual is unique, each is a value in and of himself. The highest principle of Individualism is the recognition of the inviolability of each individual. Therefore, a true Individualist would recognize the rights of each person. Since his rights are his "by right," then so are the rights of other individuals.

  The Individualist sees nothing base or depraved about the self. The self is merely his core, that center from which innocence and inquiry proceed. The self is clean and beautiful and can be achieved only when protected from the onslaughts of negativity and collectivist corruption. Being selfish, on a fundamental level means giving the self its due respect, giving the Individual his due rights--nothing more. There can never be too much of a good thing.

  Let us analyze more fully some key psychological issues as they relate to Individualism.

  Survival of the Fittest

  After evolutionary scientists coined the term "survival of the fittest," hundreds of intellectuals fell over themselves to be the first to apply the idea to man’s condition and struggles. They turned the idea of "survival of the fittest" into a justification for racism, genocide and Individualism. They were wrong on all counts. They did not realize that man, the only animal capable of reason, was capable of surviving without the need to dispose of or neglect his less capable fellow humans. In truth, Man is the only creature who has the capacity to revere age and to accommodate infirmity. Man does not need to survive by eliminating the "less fit."

  The idea of "survival of the fittest" applies to a process called natural selection, which is an evolutionary process. It does not apply to moral choice--and this is what 19th Century intellectuals did not understand. Only a confused advocate of Individualism would use the term in such a pseudoscientific way.

  With man, and only with man, the fittest in terms of natural selection is the most intellectually capable, not the most physically capable. The fittest is the Individual who is able to engage in abstract reasoning to secure his survival in nature. Age and physical capacity have nothing to do with whether a human is "fit" to survive and perpetuate himself. It is the most intellectually capable human who is able to define ideas like rights, freedom, cooperation, and mutual trade to mutual advantage. In fact, the fittest humans do not consider age and infirmity a badge of dishonor.

  There is such a thing as the survival of the morally fit. Those men who are the most proficient at using their minds will also be able to survive more effectively compared to men who merely imitate the actions of others. Additionally, Individualist man is able to judge the moral "fitness" of another person by evaluating his method of thinking and accepting or avoiding him on that basis.

  The biological expression of the survival of the fittest, as espoused by Darwin and others, is not related to the idea in nature that men should be allowed to destroy each other in a competition for survival. Man is a creature of reason; he does not survive by killing or eating other humans but by cooperating and living with them. The concept has no application when we analyze what man, the individual, needs. Nor is it a “favorite idea” of individualists. Man is not a predator of other men.

  Person
al Identity

  Personal identity is the knowledge of who one is and the full acceptance and understanding of it. For an Individualist, the appreciation of his identity becomes of paramount importance once he realizes that he can go beyond basic self-knowledge and create a soul that exceeds it by many measures. The Individualist accepts the responsibility of making his soul and character what he chooses, and he has the option of developing his own standards of self-worth. If his standards are rational and true, then he will create a person who has pride and self-respect.

  Today, our government forces us to pour money into our educational institutions to teach people about the value of primitive tribes whose purity we must not disturb. We tell ourselves that we must glorify ethnic groups and fight to maintain their dignity, while they struggle to enslave their own members for the sake of political power. We are told that we must glorify primitive religions but avoid advanced thinking and logic. We pay the way for our children to go into the jungles and deserts to experience true spirituality by participating in ethnic dances and trances, but we refuse to teach them about the scientific method. We let collectivist mentalities run our colleges, set our curriculums and determine which socialist ideas we are to take for granted, while the young individual, groping for knowledge and his place in the world is laughed at when he asks a naive question like, "What is truth?" or “Why?” The answer these well-financed "educators" give is that truth is what we feel it is. Why? Because we want it. It took years of study for them to learn what a denying alcoholic tells himself before his first drink each day.