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Forum : Quotes : Suppose you're reading a novel in which the hero seems to be... 
 Suppose you're reading a novel in which the hero seems to be an individualist, and you have been starved for such a novel. In the first chapter, the hero turns down a very good job, rather than conform to the ideas of others. You feel a strong emotion of admiration and pleasure, and this emotion, quite validly, is important to you. It's the kind of emotion you do want to feel. Well, at this point, you can do one of two things. You can continue to perceive, to see what the book is about, to judge what you've been reading — or you can lose yourself in the pleasure you feel, focus only on it, look only for ways to maintain it, ignoring and evading any evidence that might contradict it. Then, as you continue to read the novel, the hero is shown establishing a socialistic cooperative, which, he says, will once and for all solve the problem of jobs for everyone. Well, if your mind is functioning rationally, you will perceive that you have made a mistake — that is, that whatever this book is preaching it isn't individualism. But, if you've focused on maintaining your emotion at any price, then you'll rationalize it by any means possible. You'll tell yourself that the hero really believes in his ideal, and this makes him an individualist; or that he's fighting for his idea, and this makes him an individualist, so that he's still a hero, et cetera, etc., etc. And you can read the whole book this way, reading into it what you want to find, explaining away what doesn't fit your desires, blinding yourself, destroying your perception for the sake of your emotion. A year later you might read the same book in a different mood and ask yourself, in helpless amazement: "Why did I think what I thought?" Barbara Branden "Efficient Thinking" The Vision of Ayn Rand
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