I've been thinking about....

One thought I was having about my prolific blogging today is from Bob Dylan,

"I've got a head full of ideas, that are driving'me insane!"

One of my favorite people to quote is Mark Twain.  I love the man.  He was so before his time and when I hear things he said it's like a breath of fresh air.  I don't like lies and secrets.  I can't say I've never lied or told or broken a secret, but I try to advise people not to tell me secrets because I can't keep them!  I love Twain's quote:

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."  I think I like that because I'm forgetful at times.  Also, it just feels practical and resonates inside.

Regarding Ayn Rand, I read 2 of her books many, many years ago when I was a teenager.  I read them for pleasure because they were lying around the house.  We the Living was the first novel of hers that I read.  It also happens to be the first novel she wrote.  After that, I read The Fountainhead .  I loved this novel.  Howard Roark's devotion to the purity of his art endeared me to him so.  What I didn't know for years was that this book spawned a school of thought or philosophy call Objectivism .  I confused Objectivism with Existentialism, neither of which I understood well.  I just felt all of the architecture created by Howard should never be changed because it was his art.  I guess I was thinking like an artist, although I've never thought of myself as an artist.

Later I found out about Ayn Rand's popularity and following.  Now that I do understand Objectivism, I find it very interesting that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was a devotee of Rand's and actually lived with her and her followers as a young man.  I never read the behemoth Atlas Shrugged, probably because it looked like work, and by that time I knew she was a proponent of this philosophy I didn't understand at the time.  I may tackle it one day.  It may be pertinent to our times.

I just thought about Elizabeth Kubler Ross.  Perhaps more later, or maybe someone reading this has some thoughts!!  I do know when she was trying to help children with Aids in the western part of Virginia in the 80's   she was threatened, her home and many of her papers burned (through arson, I believe), and there was a lot of opposition to it.  I found that sad.  But there is so much more to this fascinating woman.  Anyone out there want to to talk about her, or any other artist, book, art work, architecture, etc.?  Please feel free to comment. I want to know what you are thinking about this stuff, and certainly learn more about all of these subjects.