Barbara Branden’s biography The Passion of Ayn Rand provided
the source material for the article about some familiar features from
There are many more examples of characteristics,
viewpoints and experiences that Ayn Rand shares with other people, including me,
to be found in this book.
Some more basic elements of Ayn Rand’s personality
There is little evidence that Ayn Rand possessed a sense
of humour. She may not have had much common sense either. This is very
reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor’s character Angel.
She needed to control others.
She could be selfish and thoughtless, for example when
she uprooted her husband from a life he loved and that suited him perfectly
because she wanted to move to New York. This is very like what Angel did to her
mother.
Just like Angel, Ayn Rand lacked introspection and showed
no humility.
Ayn Rand considered herself to be the supreme authority
on what had worth and what did not and what was right and what was wrong; she judged
people by her own standards and was contemptuous and intolerant of and
dismissive towards people who didn’t make the grade.
Where she saw no unusual intelligence – nor the capacity
for dedicated productive work that she believed to be its consequence – she saw
no value.
She had little understanding of family ties, emotional
connections and people’s feelings. Very few people mattered to her in a
personal way. To the end of her life, she dismissed anyone who had a deep need
for the company of other people as being essentially without value.
There are some fundamental differences between Ayn Rand
and me. Her intellectual capacities and achievements are far above mine for a
start.
I am very interested in metaphysical subjects. I believe
that there is a supernatural dimension to human affairs. I like magic and
mystery. I like to think that both sides of my brain are equally developed.
While I too value intelligence, learning and rationality
above all else, I try to be understanding and accepting of people who are very
different from me; I can see that they are often far ahead of me in other, more
practical, areas of life.
Personal qualities such as kindness, compassion and
emotional intelligence, qualities that Ayn Rand would have despised and considered
insignificant or a sign of weakness, have great value to the world too.
Ignoring and suppressing feelings and intuition is very
damaging.
I do however share other characteristics and experiences –
and deficiencies - with Ayn Rand.
When she was young, inventing stories and writing came to
her with great ease: it was not work, it was pure, ecstatic pleasure.
Writing, research, making connections and generating
original ideas have always been very enjoyable for me and not like work at all.
When she read a story for the first time, one that permanently
imprinted itself on her mind and that changed her life for ever, time stood
still; I know the feeling: it is like a magic spell. Time stops; life stops.
Nothing is ever the same again.
Her writing style was precise and dry; mine is too.
Ayn Rand found logic fascinating when she first
encountered it as a child; so did I.
She became an atheist and rejected faith because, “It
doesn’t make sense to me”. I often use this expression; as I wrote in another
article, it is a typical response of Myers-Briggs INTJ people.
She concentrated on her work and pursuit of her goals with
a single-minded intensity; I did too.
As a child, she bitterly resented and despised the
demands that family, school and life in general made on her; I always hated
anything and anyone that stood between me and my reading – I still feel like
that sometimes. Tearing myself away from researching to deal with the demands
of the real world is like pulling Velcro.
Ayn Rand couldn’t cope with the unexpected; I don’t
always deal well with things that are suddenly sprung on me either. This trait,
being unable to switch and change gears at very short notice, is common in
witches and witch-like people and those who live primarily in their minds, in inner
worlds and other dimensions.
She did not enjoy a celebration surprise party that was
arranged for her: she became angry and said, “I do not approve of surprises.” I
would have felt the same way, although I would have tried to hide it. I see
being inflexible in this way as a deficiency that is my duty to work on. I am
learning to go with the flow – to a certain extent.
She couldn’t deal well with the real world. A description
of her cooking a meal could be an exact description of me. Barbara Branden tells
us that Ayn “projected an excruciating physical and emotional tension.” Ayn
herself said of this, “It’s because my mind is never really on working in the
kitchen. It’s because I can’t fully focus on most of the necessities of daily life.
So I have to be extra conscientious.” I
could have written this myself; I deal with domestic things with the back of my
mind, under protest; I have to concentrate very hard to counteract the
inclination to think of other, more interesting things.
She made lists to work from, even for things she had done
many times before; so do I.
Barbara Branden tells us that Ayn Rand’s concentration on
her work and abstract issues was so absolute and all-absorbing that it left her
no mental space for anything else. This concentration – and the pain – were
indications of her alienation from the physical world and her sense of helplessness
and fear in dealing with it. This is spot on.
I know from experience that it is possible to learn to
deal with the real world in a basic way, almost at a level attainable by the average
person, but it will be painful and time-consuming and will divert resources
from creative activities.
There is a lot more material of interest in this book,
enough to inspire a further article.
In the meantime, here is an incident that Ayn Rand never
forgot and that seems very striking to me:
Red, black and white
At the age of 12, Ayn Rand looked down from her balcony at
a funeral procession - there had been an incident in which many people had been
shot. She saw an open coffin containing the body of a beautiful young woman
with a white face and black hair lying on a scarlet pillow.
This image makes me think of Snow White, asleep in her glass
coffin. Was it symbolic? Was part of Ayn Rand asleep, under the spell of an
evil witch?
Ayn Rand
