Noted Russian-American novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand observed:
“The purpose of Man’s life is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question.”
Director George Romero echoed this same sentiment in his 1978 classic film Dawn of the Dead, featuring helpless zombies walking around a suburban mall in their work clothes and wedding dresses.
So it looks like there may not be hope for any of us, living or undead.
What’s the most zombie-like thing you do in your everyday life?
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The most zombie like thing I do—-go on FB for hours.
Rand did not believe being a “zombie” was the purpose of life — just the opposite. Here is the full quote from Atlas Shrugged:
“The good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man’s power to conceive – a definition that invalidates man’s consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence. The good, say the mystics of muscle, is Society – a thing which they define as an organism that possesses no physical form, a super-being embodied in no one in particular and everyone in general except yourself…. The purpose of man’s life, say both, is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question.”
However, the headline still stands.
Is it a prerequisite to have some mental condition to be a good writer? Look at Poe. lol
Having said all that, apparently Ayn Rand was a bitter, bitter person. She witnessed two revolutions and had many hardships in her life. I don’t think it helped her outlook on life. So I think that a person needs to take her work with a grain of salt. Or a salt mine full. I personally think she needed counseling and Prozac regimen. I don’t know.
It’s not that I don’t see the brilliance in her writings, I just question her mental health, that’s all. Any crazy person can come up with rhetoric.
Hi Gail-
I agree with your assessment, but to play devil’s advocate: Anyone who has spent extended time in a corporate job that they don’t like (which is most of the country) knows the feeling that Rand is describing all too well.
So just because she’s suffered hardships her mental health is called into question? She probably has a more accurate perspective on our world than any of us living in North America. Many people in our society who have never experienced revolutions, wars, or any significant hardships in their lives are prescribed prozac and other mood-controlling drugs every day just so they can go back to working their jobs and driving the economy – performing menial, mind-numbing tasks – like zombies.