Ecclesiastes disputed …

 
“All is volition,” the philosopher says.

I returned and I saw, under the sun:

That ideas of philosophy, even unheralded and unspoken in the mind, drive every man’s life, though some die young, some old. The chance of era, nation, bias of race, and family, I saw, intrude on any man or woman, but, as each embraces philosophy by choice, the intrusion of chance is less.

The ideas of metaphysics inform man what he is in all existence.

That ideas of metaphysics inform man what he is in all existence. And, if these ideas are knowledge, they liberate optimism, affirmation, and even the hero within him. And, if ignorance, humble his life in resignation and the shrinking from terrors all unknown.

That ideas of epistemology buttress man’s reason to rise to mastery of the infinite atom, infinite heavens, and infinite intimacy of the mind. For reason is man’s nature, but he is free to choose or reject its mastery of life, understanding, and the glory of knowing.

That ideas of morality man accepts by choice, by his essential gift of volition, to choose his values, desires, love, and his life’s way—and to choose rightly is  cause of happiness in this world.

That by ideas of politics, we know how man in society must remain man: free to reason, judge, value, and act—his armor the reciprocal logic of individual rights. And the principles of rights liberate, from coercion by other men, judgment, productivity, and ownership, so each man becomes a fountainhead of achievement lifting mankind while sacrificing none.

And when any man walks the earth, all is volition.

That ideas of man the artist, creator of worlds in the image of the ideal, lift our eyes above what is to what “might and ought to be.” And in the artist’s creation we live for a time in the reality of the ideal and there find courage to strive for the best within us.

And I saw, then, that ideas nowise are a realm above and aloft from the struggle of our lives, nowise a pastime of our leisure, but how we must choose to live—or to be lived by ideas we do not comprehend.

And when any man walks the earth, all is volition.

And volition is the heroic in man whether it hide in humility or stride ever toward the rising of the sun.

Related Posts:

1. Addressing the Gaps in Libertarian Theory
2. H*te Conquers All (not really)—or “You’ve Got to be Taught”
3. Transcript: Ayn Rand, Immanuel Kant, and Real-World Ethics

   

About the Author: Walter Donway

Walter Donway has written and edited for Savvy Street since its inception in 2014. His essays and interpretative commentaries on breakthrough books have dealt with philosophy, politics, literature, science, history, psychology, and personalities. His new novel, "Retaking College Hill,” became Amazon’s #1 bestseller in political fiction. This year, the Atlas Society published his Pocket Guide to The Fountainhead and Romanticism Reborn--essays on the Romantic movement in literature and its 20th Century revival in Ayn Rand's novels. His collections of essays and short stories and his "Collected Poems" are available on Amazon. He lives in East Hampton with his wife, Robin.