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Post 0

Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 5:05amSanction this postReply
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I liked this article very much and agree with its thesis.  As a tool for actualizing this thesis, I employ strategies in Hyrum Smith's book What Matters Most: The Power of Living Your Values.  I highly recommend it.

Post 1

Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 7:27amSanction this postReply
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I liked it.

coaltontrail

Post 2

Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 1:01pmSanction this postReply
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[This article was posted as being by Tim Sturm]

A funny thing happened to me this morning. A sat down to read Tim's article "Ideas Matter", and it sounded familiar. As I read more, I realized I wrote that!!!!!

Bad Editor! Bad!

Actually, I saw it in the queue yesterday, and just didn't bother reading it, even though the title sounded familiar. Oops.

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Post 3

Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 1:48pmSanction this postReply
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That was, of course, a test, to see who was paying attention! :-)

The article is tucked away in an old FreeRad file with Tim's name on it, for some reason. As I read it prior to putting it in the Article Queue, I kept thinking, this sounds like Joe!!

Hahahahaha!

Loopy Linz

Post 4

Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 8:07pmSanction this postReply
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I also had an essay -- titled "Ideas Matter" -- recently published in the Free Radical (April/May 2004).

Post 5

Friday, July 2, 2004 - 3:15amSanction this postReply
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You've called it Ideas Matter. There are many people out there that have no idea what an idea is! They become bored with themselves and their lives just tick away. These people seem to have so much time for themselves. They'll go to sleep early every day, get up late, watch TV for hours and sit happily in the traffic. Ideas do matter, because it gets your mind working. People with ideas have an inner world and an outer world and they are able to switch between these constantly. Ideas bring out the creator in us, and people who create are happy and content with themselves. I like your article as it targets someone I know.

Post 6

Sunday, July 4, 2004 - 3:06pmSanction this postReply
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*I* wrote it!

No I didn't. I would like to have written it though  :-)


Post 7

Monday, July 5, 2004 - 8:42pmSanction this postReply
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As someone who only yesterday was on the verge of letting go of a major dream in favor of a "safe" life -- you know, a nice job, benefits (which more and more seem to be what everyone lives for: doesn't matter how much you HATE your job, long as you have the precious BENefits!) -- this article was a lifesaver. Maybe literally. I won't give up. I can't play it safe. Well, I can. For a while. But it never lasts. Well said! Thanks!

Post 8

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - 11:00pmSanction this postReply
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Tim, I would have liked it if you had written it as well.  Wanna do my next one for me?

Frederick, glad you liked the article.  It's great to hear that it had a positive impact.  I hope your successful with your dream.


Post 9

Friday, July 9, 2004 - 1:11amSanction this postReply
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Ahh!  It's even worse than all of that!  I was wondering how I could miss the article, because I didn't even recognize the title.  I couldn't find it in any of the past issues of the FreeRad, under my name or Tim's.  Turns out  "Ideas Matter" wasn't the name of the article at all!  It was "Contentment: The Enemy".  Phew!

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Post 10

Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 2:46amSanction this postReply
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Joseph,

I've been reading your articles, a fantastic way to spend one's time. But This... this piece especially moved me. I had to respond.

The words I just read ignited within me something I rarely feel. Brief flashes from childhood and adolescence; my first love; those wonderful nights spent reading The Fountainhead filled with tears of profound happiness. More than a feeling, it is gripping, it is joyous, it is powerful, sensual, burning, driving uplifting inspiring intense. It burns in your chest and halts your breathing, waters your eyes, stops everything you are doing and doubles you over and causes you to reach with every cell in your body in tremendous gratitude to that you believe profound... and simultaneously surrounding sadness as you feel there is nothing you could have done to deserve such a moment. It cannot be described, cannot be transcribed to text.

It seems as there is a psychological law of gravity, that pulls us down to mediocrity: to the safe, the easy, the small, the resigned, the content. I remember the point in my life when I gave up jesus and became an athiest. The change was smart, and reasonable, and life-affirming, yet I felt as if I had lost something along the way. This troubled me for a very long time. Indeed I can recall struggling my entire life to get those moments back. I looked for it everywhere around me. I looked to my pastors, teachers, movies, drugs, alcohol. It persisted as I studied Objectivism, buying books and scouring websites, ravenous for every morsel of something, anything that ached to climb from the contented mass of mediocrity. I wanted it back. I wanted to capture it and command it at will. I never thought to search within.

I can see it, barely, this religious athiesm. I can see myself there, throwing off the shackles of skepticism and androgeny pervading my life and culture. It is masulinity, efficacy, pride, independence, happiness, hope.

Maybe this is what christians experience when they are 'born again.' That one fleeting moment in everyone's life when the vastness of eternity ceases to haunt them. I want my life to mean. I want to earn glory and honor and success, to the point where the very thought of the pride experienced would well tears of joy. I want a thousand people at my funeral, having touched the souls of each. I want my story to live on, carry mankind higher. I want my name to echo through time. I want strangers to hear my story and wonder who I was; how bravely I acted and how fiercely I loved.

Mr. Rowlands I wish I could meet you. I see in your words what kind of man you are. I want to shake your hand, or hug you, or give you a medal or, something... I need you to know what it means to me that men like you exist. That you're out there, working, fighting, happy.



I wish you world fame Mr. Rowlands; the World needs its heroes.
thank you


Post 11

Monday, March 14, 2005 - 12:22amSanction this postReply
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Stephen,

Thank you for the wonderful tribute.  I'm glad you liked this piece.  It's one of my favorites as well.  As for meeting me, you should consider attending SOLOC4.  It looks like it's going to be a great time.

Thanks again.


Post 12

Monday, March 14, 2005 - 1:20amSanction this postReply
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I am an atheist. I don't believe in a god or an afterlife. I tell you this because it makes me view life in a different way than many people. I believe the life we have now, on this earth, is all that we have. There is nothing more afterwards. If you want happiness, you have to experience it here and now. Nobody can do it for you, and you don't get a second chance.

Amen, Joe.  :)


Post 13

Monday, March 14, 2005 - 6:17amSanction this postReply
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This is a very important article Joe. Thank you. Not only a fine description of what matters, but a call to action.

Beautifully written.

John

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Post 14

Monday, March 14, 2005 - 9:27amSanction this postReply
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Another article I enjoyed mightily.

Jennifer beat me to it, but I will mention the line I loved anyway:

"If you want happiness, you have to experience it here and now. Nobody can do it for you, and you don't get a second chance."

Even religious people could take heed to a universal truth like that.

Michael


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