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My Most Recent Enjoyments in ... Last week I ranted against 'picking split issues' instead of creating a world of creators (Link to Article Discussion). That same night, after taking three hours to write my response to that article on SOLO HQ I decided to take the initiative and create a world of creators starting with myself. Following the examples of Chris' 'First Landing in Japan' (Link to Article) and Linz's announcement of an 'Obsessively Objectivist Centennial' for Ayn Rand's birthday (Link to Article), I hereby present my own runners-up for Objectivism Galore: My Most Recent Enjoyments in ... Personal Achievement Art Others You'll find enough 'split issues' and 'loaded topics' to get tickled pink - from dangerous statistics to pornography to (gasp) enjoyment of others. Ableism, Feminism, Parasitism all play a part, but don't worry, I won't bore myself again with pointing out the (hopefully) obvious: Non-Contradiction > check your premises Either-Or > make your choice A is A > face reality That should take care of the split issues and other insecurities, so let's get started with: My most Recent Enjoyment in ... Personal Achievement - Another Dream Fulfilled One of my oldest childhood dreams was riding a motorcycle. Apart from lack of opportunity and other 'excuses' over the years I finally managed to get on a motorcycle a few weeks ago. My Ex is currently getting her driver's license for a motorcycle so I offered her a half-share contribution to buying a bike for training apart from her lessons. She also had a huge industrial parking lot around the corner of her home, so everything was set for 'My First Time'. And from the first time riding a bike it felt exactly as I had always imagined it! Not just in my mind, but also in my body. No awkward clumsiness in handling a big (and heavy) machine, no tentative turning of corners, no gasps of fear when the bike accelerates to forty mph in mere seconds. Instead, a feeling of ecstasy and thrills, not only for fulfilling this dream, but also for the rightness of it, the almost immediate harmony of body and machine, of speed and balance, sinking slowly into a fast curve. Even the sometimes queasy feeling in my belly at new tasks - avoiding sudden obstacles or doing a seven-meter slalom at thirty mph - went away quickly after a few tries. What remained was the ecstasy of speed, curves, wind blowing past me on a fast machine that was not so much under my control as an extension of my desires to move ... fast and agile. After years of warnings and disbelief from others (that I managed to forthrightly ignore) I finally achieved something that I always knew I could do, that I was willing to stake my health (and perhaps even my life) on. To ride a motorcycle. Against danger-statistics that painted garish pictures of mangled bodies and quadriplegics in wheelchairs, against lack of driver's license or lack of driving space in an overcrowded city, against fearful pleas from family and friends that I should at least have some good (and hopefully long) training before I ever ventured into such dangerous activities, against health-insurances denying their services for high-risk-activities. I stayed true to my dream and it paid off ... as you can see from the pictures of my 3 rd Day - Another Dream Fulfilled Right on queue with the galleries let me introduce you to: My most Recent Enjoyment in ... Art - The Lust of Flesh If you expect some pornographic titillation go back to the beginning of this article and resolve your three statements. This is about the art of photography and the art of capturing something that does not easily conform to celluloid. Taking pictures of naked bodies, of couples (or singles) making love to each other or themselves has run the whole gamut from High Art to Cheap Nudities, from Erotica to Porn, over the centuries. I'll leave it to you to pick the split issues involved in this complex topic. The fun part was again my belief in my creative abilities and the trust of my Ex in me. She is as much a photographer as I am, and though we have very different approaches to photography and art, we also respect the other's ability to create in this field. Both of us being usually quite camera-shy in front of the lens, we both quickly lost that shyness in the face of the creations that could come out of our pictures. So turning to art, the thing that originally drew us together, we soon started the process of transforming our lustful bodies into art ... and losing some shyness along the way in the face of ability returned! My most recent gallery I called 'Top to Bottom Down' and the motif is not so much the flaming lust of new discovery (there are other galleries from our initial outbursts of lust), or beauty thoroughly enjoyed (many photographers have contributed greatly in that field), but the very rational and even reflective 'Lust of Flesh', that matures especially well after you have grown apart over time, yet have also stayed true to the compatibilities you found in each other over the years ... when you can see her body not so much as an instrument of consuming your raging desires, of giving a pleasure you long to receive yourself, but see it more objectively, what exactly that body looks like, how it reacts, to touch, to looks, even to thought, what turns it on, what turns you on in that body. Thus the pictures are as highly subjective as her body is - and my appreciation of it ... The art part of this gallery was another 'first' for me insofar that I opted for a very 'fleshy' portrayal of her body, highlighting what made it flesh, not what made it beautiful or erotic (the one topic my instincts have always rebelled against in feminism, causing undeserved shame and guilt). Emphasising what romance would sometimes prefer not to see - the towel after the bath to clean the body, the undressing not as a turn-on or foreplay but as a natural part of preparing that body for bed, the head/face of the body that becomes not the guiding force for desire and fulfilment, but relaxes completely to allow full control of the body by the body. Even her genitals have become a part of a body, the same as a belly or a foot, yet are also very pronounced as the centre of physical pleasure, the ecstatic feelings certain touches can elicit from them (even after the romantic desires have long gone). The detailed knowledge of each fold, every crevice, recognisable even in total abstraction, almost alien unless you know it very well ... and know it objectively, too! This enjoyment being very egoistic, yet also very much involved with others, here are some other ... Most Recent Enjoyments in ... Others - The Creation of Joy As already mentioned in the introduction, there is 'The First Landing in Japan' and 'Ayn Rand Centennial Coming-UP' which pointed me in the right direction, to write this article. Most of my life my creations were exploited by parasites and I frankly got quite a bit sick of creating at all the last few years, if it was only going to feed the rats. Recently I have stumbled upon a creative process that cannot be 'alienated', which I have always possessed, but had forgotten with all the slaughter going on around me: The 'Creation of Joy'. The joy I can experience in the creations of others, and also the joy others can share in my own creations. The resolution was very simple: create sth that only a creator would really appreciate: Atlas Shrugged in Japanese, Ayn Rand's birthday, personal achievements of no value to anyone else but to the creator and other creators who appreciate creation and ability per se. I enjoyed Chris' and Linz's articles for their joy in life, their pride in great achievements. I enjoyed my Ex's body as much as her creative abilities on celluloid and on paper (look out for some of her poems!). I enjoyed riding a motorcycle for the first time, simply because I knew I could do it - and felt ecstatic about it, too. I enjoyed flirting with a colleague at the office; one of my first joys in life - flirting for flirting's sake, not to get somewhere or something. I enjoyed the deals my brother was able to make with the management in the US to change the company he works for, not for the benefits of the company or his colleagues, but for his own personal achievement, that he could do it, that he knew it was the only right thing to do. I can even enjoy picking split issues again as it has again become what it originally was: the amusement of thinking something through, of resolving a contradiction, of making choices for my life, of facing reality ... not the gauntlet of: It's broken - fix it if you are really so good! I hope you enjoy this article ... I'm sure no parasite will (nothing for them to gain from). I can thoroughly enjoy this article myself, for the joy of writing it, and for the greater joy of finding joy again ...
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