The Goods 10/1/23

A sense of life

I came across this phrase while listening to this presentation on Ayn Rand’s Romantic Manifesto. I’ve yet to fully grasp what it means, but I like the sentiment:

A sense of life is formed by a process of emotional generalization which may be described as a subconscious counterpart of a process of abstraction, since it is a method of classifying and integrating. But it is a process of emotional abstraction: it consists of classifying things according to the emotions they invoke—i.e., of tying together, by association or connotation, all those things which have the power to make an individual experience the same (or a similar) emotion. For instance: a new neighborhood, a discovery, adventure, struggle, triumph—or: the folks next door, a memorized recitation, a family picnic, a known routine, comfort. On a more adult level: a heroic man, the skyline of New York, a sunlit landscape, pure colors, ecstatic music—or: a humble man, an old village, a foggy landscape, muddy colors, folk music. . . . The subverbal, subconscious criterion of selection that forms his emotional abstractions is: “That which is important to me” or: “The kind of universe which is right for me, in which I would feel at home.” - Ayn Rand, Sense of Life

Every person has their own sense of life. Sometimes you click with another persons sense and sometimes you don’t.

This is another one of those topics that I feel can be redundant. You dont need to think about this at all, but I do feel like I click with people who are on the search to dial in their sense of life.

Doing some thinking on this is helpful, though. It’s good to know why you dig something or don’t and that you have the right to sweep stuff away.

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