Ayn Rand, Exalted Moments, Happiness, and the Austin Groundbreaking

Foreign.

October 16th.

And welcome to another episode of the Secular Foxhole Podcast.

Today we have a returning guest.

I think it's his fourth time with us.

And Andy Clarkson is here.

He is the author of the great book, the Impact of Aristotle upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Culture.

But he's here today to discuss his recent trip to Austin, Texas.

Andy, how are you?

I'm doing great, guys.

Hey, Blair.

Hey, Martin.

How are y' all doing?

Yeah, good.

And, Andy, could you say, start out talking about the trip and why you wanted to be there?

Okay.

Well, it was to Austin, Texas, and was for the groundbreaking of the new Ayn Rand Center.

So I'm glad to be here to discuss this with you guys and share with your listeners.

So why did I want to be there?

Well, I've been an objectivist for over 40 years, and Ayn Rand's philosophy has been a huge part of my.

Both my intellectual life and, most importantly, the ability to understand how to gain happiness in my life over the course of a lifetime.

So we'll be getting into a lot of that.

So I traveled to Austin on Friday, September 11, this past month, about a month ago, to attend the groundbreaking of the new Ayn Rand Center.

And I had three main reasons why I wanted to go.

One, I'm a donor to the establishment of the center.

I wanted to support the project, but also wanted to be there in person to participate in the occasion.

And then I wanted to spend time with Objectivist intellectuals and see old friends and meet people I hadn't met before.

And as you guys know, these gatherings provide a opportunity, just like the three of us here, to exchange ideas and reconnect with people who value Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

And last but not least, of my three reasons, I wanted to pursue something that has been important to me for several years, bringing greater attention to Ayn Rand's concept of exalted Moments.

And you guys remember several years ago, you allowed me to be on the podcast, and the three of us discussed deeply the subject of Exalted Moments, and I wanted to continue that effort in Austin.

So those were the three motivations.

And those motivations are connected by a common theme.

And we're going to get into this.

We're going to talk about the trip to Austin, but we're going to tie it into some Objectivism here.

And the common theme is values.

I wanted to support an institution I considered worthwhile, of great value, enjoy the company of people I respect, and advance that idea of exalted Moments.

So that's important.

Because the pursuit of values is central to how I understand objectivism, and the role of exalted moments are to attaining a happy life.

And it turns out they all came together, and all three motivations came together in a pretty interesting way.

Yeah.

And how did it get off?

Smooth start.

You said September 11th.

I favored when I heard the date there.

Yeah.

And there is some connection to September 11th, and I'll get to that in a little bit.

But, no, this was the opposite kind of day.

It was an exalted moment day, but it did not get up to a smooth start.

My plane ran an hour late, and I arrived in Austin about 1215.

The groundbreaking was scheduled to start about noon, and I was hoping I didn't miss too much, but fortunately, I arrived just in time to hear Tale Tasfani, who's the CEO of Ayn Rand, of the Ayn Rand Institute, begin his opening remarks.

So I made it.

And that delay also set up a funny story about my donation, which I'll get to shortly.

So before we go into this funny story, what does the establishment of a center.

Is it called the center or the.

It's called the Ayn Rand Center.

That's the.

Yeah, the Ayn Rand Center.

So, Yep, yep.

Is it separate from the Institute, or is it.

Well, the Institute will be moving there from California to Texas.

Okay.

Yes.

Great.

So what did this mean to you?

Well, I think there's a difference between appreciating an author's work, which is great, and wanting to help establish an institution that'll preserve and communicate that author's ideas so they continue.

Books can be read by individuals, obviously, and that's great.

But an institution can provide a place for scholarship, for education, discussion, the preservation of historical materials, and it can bring people together, create opportunities for future generations to encounter those ideas.

So that's what interests me about the center.

I've been an Objectivist, as I said, for more than four decades.

I wanted to do something tangible to support an institution devoted to Rand's work, and I wanted to participate in the continuation of that undertaking.

So, for me, the groundbreaking represented an opportunity to take action towards gaining a value.

I wasn't just saying I thought the center was worthwhile.

I was contributing to it and making the effort to be there when construction began.

And all that ties into our earlier comment about exalted moments and their link to the attainment of happiness.

So we talked about.

We're going to talk about the day, but we're going to tie it into the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

You know, if, you know, we talked about this on the previous podcast, you know, a couple years ago on Exalted Moments.

If we as individuals want to achieve a happiness, we have to identify the values we consider important and to act to keep them and attain them.

And supporting the center was one way I chose to act on something that mattered to me.

And, you know, we're talking about values here, and we talked about this on the previous episode.

But just so we have something a little more concrete, we talked about kind of four major areas of value in one's life.

There's your career, there's your romantic relationships, there's friends and family you choose to associate with, and then there's special interests, hobbies, you know, that sort of thing.

So when we say pursuing values and seeking exalted moments that get you to those values, so to get you to the state of happiness, those are the values we're talking about at a high level.

So that makes sense.

Yep.

And you promised this funny story about your donation.

I remember I did that.

I could talk of the record or at the end about the donation also I did later on.

So what happened?

Well, let me begin with a clarification.

I'm not a major, major donor.

There were individuals who were at the groundbreaking and not at the groundbreaking who contributed much, much larger mess than I did.

But my donation was large enough to qualify for an invitation to groundbreaking, and I was delighted to attend.

Here's where the story gets funny.

As I mentioned, my plane was late.

I arrived after everyone had been seated, and there was this big screen behind where the speakers were with rotating slides recognizing donors at different levels.

But my view of the screen was obstructed.

I was standing up to the side.

I didn't want to interrupt people and get seated.

So as a result, I never saw my name on the screen.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, I walked with Dr. Harry Binswanger and Dr. Greg Salmieri toward a house where the donor's luncheon was being held just a block or so away.

And along the way, Harry remarked that I must be doing very well because I was on the same slide as Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computer.

Now you know, and I know perfectly well that my level of wealth, the amount, and the amount of my donation is nowhere close to Michael Dell's.

It was great to see his name up there, though.

That was kind of cool.

So I told Harry that I thought we need to be honest about the situation.

And Harry looked at me and said, well, we can't have honesty now, can we?

Now, of Course, honesty is one of the principal objectivist values.

And so Harry was being funny.

He was being wonderfully facetious, you know, in saying that.

And the three of us laughed.

But Harry had another observation.

He suggested that what we probably do know was that the percentage of my wealth represented by my donation was greater than the percentage of Michael Dell's wealth represented by his donation.

And we all agreed with that.

So I got some donor recognition.

That was fun.

Never saw my name on the screen, but got a funny story out of it.

Yeah.

And I will say that at the end, also with my donation, I did, long time ago, so that would represent similar situation that you did.

So.

But is there a more serious point behind the story?

Yeah, yeah, good question.

Yeah, I think there is.

You know, the absolute amount of a contribution doesn't tell you everything about what that contribution means to the person making it.

Obviously, people have different resources, different financial circumstances, and the significance of a contribution can be understood in relation to the resources available to the person making.

I'm no Michael Dell.

Not even close.

I'm doing fine, but I'm no Michael Dell.

And so I'm not trying to compete with the largest donors.

I contributed again because I consider the center, the Ayn Rand center in Austin, worth supporting.

I wanted to participate in establishing something that could preserve and communicate Ayn Rand's ideas, the ideas of the philosophy of objectivism.

And I was glad that my contribution qualified me to attend.

So that was cool.

Yeah, that's great.

That's great.

But let's return to the groundbreaking itself.

Who was there and what did happen?

So there were.

And that was really special, being there.

There were several speakers at the ceremony.

Again, I mentioned Tal Tasvani, the CEO of the Ayn Rand Institute, gave their opening remarks.

Ben Chestnut, who was the founder and the former CEO of mailchimp.

I don't know if you ever heard of mailchimp, but it.

Oh, sure, sure.

Yeah.

So it sold for Intuit, bought mailchimp about four or five years ago for a large sum.

And so Ben is the principal donor behind the Ayn Rand center.

And he spoke as well.

He's really the financial fountainhead of the center.

And he was.

Yeah.

And provided great ideas toward his establishment.

So he was there and, you know, it was.

It was interesting occasion because, you know, a project like this takes a lot of different areas and different kinds of commitment.

Obviously there has to be an intellectual commitment to Ayn Rand's ideas.

Right.

That's at the core of it.

But then there's the acting on It.

And we've talked about acting a lot right.

On the previous Exalted Moments podcast that we did with you guys.

You have to.

There's organizational work needed to establish the institution, you know, project management, and all the.

All the thousands of pieces that have to come together.

And, of course, this all takes money, and there's financial support that makes it possible.

So a lot of those types of people were there, from the intellectuals to the people doing the organizational work and making it happen, and obviously the donors who made it financially possible.

And that's what it takes to have a lasting institutional presence, which is what we were all about.

So what else happened there?

This was fun.

I was given the opportunity to participate ceremonially, as the other donors did.

And I think the other donors got to do this before the ceremony.

I did it because my plane was late, but we got to.

I got to participate in the groundbreaking.

And I had my picture taken with towel, with shovels and hard hats.

You know, kind of the classic Howard hat on.

And you got a shovel, and you pretend you're digging into the ground.

You know, you're breaking the ground.

It was.

Yeah, yeah, it was very cool.

It was a small thing, but I was pleased to have that opportunity.

And I wasn't simply watching other people participate.

As a donor, I was able to take part in a small way in marking the beginning of the project.

And that photograph, you know, holding the shovel doesn't tell you everything about the significance of an event, but to me, and maybe to others, it was a tangible reminder of an undertaking I had chosen to support.

So very cool.

Yeah.

And then there was another part of the ceremony, and this was neat, too.

I was surprised about both these aspects.

So along with the shovel and the hard hat and the physical breaking of the ground, I had the opportunity to participate in, along with other donors signing a hardcover copy of Atlas Shrugged and is on the title page.

And I think you guys may have seen a picture of that.

So we got to sign that.

And the book's going into a time capsule.

It'll be open in the year 2057, which is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged.

And I thought that was a wonderful idea, because if you think about it, here we are in 2026 at the beginning of the building of the Ayn Rand center in Austin, and we're signing a book that will be preserved for people to open 31 years later.

And, you know, it's interesting.

You know, look ahead 30.

What's.

What's the world going to look like in 2050.

And who's going to be there to open that time capsule?

Well, we don't know, but it'll be a physical reminder of the people who participated in this event and the ideas that brought everyone together.

So I enjoyed signing it.

It was fun to think that something I personally signed would be preserved as a part of that historical moment.

And there's another.

Yeah, yeah, really, that's, you know, just a fun thing there and with meaning.

Fun and having a meaning.

There's also a connection between the time capsule and the reason I wanted to support the Center.

Again, we're talking about an institution devoted to Rand's work, and here we're signing a copy of our most famous novel that will be preserved for its centennial.

And it's a way of connecting the beginning of the center with the history and continuing influence of Atlas Shrugged.

So you take the shovel, you take the hard hat.

And signing the book for the time capsule had several ways to participate in the occasion rather than simply deserve it.

You know, observe it.

And it also made me think about the relationship again, about values and also time.

We pursue things we consider worthwhile in our own lives, but we can also contribute to projects whose value may extend well beyond our own immediate experience and beyond our own lives.

So there's.

There's some.

Some meaning there as well.

Well, then you went to the luncheon, right?

Yes.

So there was a luncheon that followed again, the.

The ceremony started around noon.

It was very hot there, and so the speeches were short, and they was, you know, about 45 minutes or an hour later, walked up to a house that serves events like that, and it was a block away, a house that.

Where lunch was.

And so as I mentioned, I was walking with Harry and Greg Salamari to that house.

And as I mentioned, I wanted to attend this to see old friends and acquaintances, and I met new people as well, and that was great.

And, you know, there's really something enjoyable about being with people.

There's a real value in it.

We talk about, you know, friendships earlier as a major value in one's life with people who share an intellectual interest, again, just like the three of us are doing.

Right.

Particularly when some of those friendships and acquaintances go back many years.

And again, in our instance, guys, it's almost 25 years between the three of us.

So, like, what we're sharing here, sharing intellectual interest, that there was that same emotional, strong feeling when I was there.

And, you know, you catch up on what people have been doing, and we exchanged ideas, discover what other people have been thinking about.

And, you know, those conversations are just as valuable as the formal presentation.

So friendship and intellectual exchange can be really important values in their own right.

They contribute to the richness of our lives and happiness we experience in pursuing the things that matter to us.

So that was the luncheon.

And then after the luncheon, we ubered over to the nearby Doubletree Hotel, and there were several social gatherings followed by the kickoff for the Ayn Rand conference, or the Ayn Rand Khan, which the kickoff was, featured Tal Stesvani Ankarghati, who's the chief content officer of ari, and Lon Giorno, who was a senior vice president.

So the day moved from the groundbreaking to the luncheon to this larger intellectual gathering.

But there was another objective, my third objective that I mentioned at the top of the show.

It was one I'd prepared for in advance and the one the three of us had discussed in depth on a previous episode of the Secular Foxhole.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

You mentioned that one of your reasons for going to Austin was to discuss exalted moments, and so tell us why this subject is so important.

And it really is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we've discussed it in the past.

One of my principal goals for the trip, and I'm going to share a quote from Ayn Rand, and this is why it's important to me and why I think exalted moments, that concept deserves much more attention than it has received.

So this is what Ayn Rand wrote.

It begins with a character from Atlas Shrugged, Dagny and Red Out Shrugged.

We're all familiar with Dagny Taggart.

So here we go.

What Dagny expresses here is the conviction that joy, exaltation, beauty, greatness, heroism, all the supreme uplifting values of man's existence on earth are the meaning of life, not the pain or ugliness he may encounter.

That one must.

Here we go.

Here's the.

The main line.

That one must live for the sake of such exalted moments as one may be able to achieve or experience, not for the sake of suffering.

That happiness matters, but suffering does not.

That no matter how much pain one may have to endure, it is never to be taken seriously.

There's never.

There is never to be taken.

That is, there's never to be taken as the essence and meaning of life.

Not that the essence of life.

And that the essence of life is the achievement of joy, not the escape from pain.

Now, I'm going to pause in the quote here because, you know, we all.

We all experience pain in our life, and sometimes it can be serious, right?

That does matter when it's happening to you.

That's not what she's saying.

She's saying it's.

It is not the meaning of life.

Suffering and pain are not the meaning of life.

You can have suffering that happens, but the meaning of life is joy, beauty, exaltation, and why you should go after and live for the sake of exalted moment.

So I want that clear, because it's not ignoring pain.

It's where it belongs in life.

So I just wanted to make that really clear.

Yes.

Thank you.

So I continue with the quote from Ayn Rand.

The issue she refers to.

This is she's talking about Dagny in the book Alice Shrugged.

The issue she refers to is the basic philosophical issue, which John Galt, a main character in Alan Shrugged, later names explicitly in his speech.

That the most fundamental division among men is between those who are pro man, pro mind, pro life, and those who are anti man, anti mind, anti life.

End of quote.

So I find that statement remarkable.

Ayn Rand wrote that letter to a fan in 1960 or 1961.

It's in the.

The book the Letters of Ayn rand, on page 55.

84.

You can find it there.

We're talking about Atlas Shrugged, Rand's magnum opus, and a passage in which she identifies the idea of living for exalted moments as perhaps the most important point in the entire novel, and that it is something one must live for.

One must live for the sake of exalted moments.

This is not some inconsequential conversation in Atlas Shrugged.

If there are any inconsequential statements, this is huge.

Yet, in my experience, this quotation has received remarkably little attention over the years.

I've been discussing it for close to 20 years, including again here on the Secular Foxhole a few years ago with you guys.

But I wanted to do more to bring it to the attention of people who study, teach, and discuss Objectivism.

Again, it was in the letters of Ayn Randolph, not in one of her philosophical books.

So I can see why it's been overlooked.

I regard the concept of exalted moments as central to understanding the purpose of objectivism and as the meaning of life.

As Ayn Rand said, that's my interpretation of its philosophical significance, and it's something I wanted to encourage people to examine.

I don't think objectivism should be understood as merely as an abstract philosophical system.

It addresses the question of how we should live and what we should live for.

And for me, the concept of exalted moments connects philosophical Principles with the experience of pursuing and attaining values in our own lives by taking action.

And there's another dimension to this.

Why should we live for the sake of attaining extraordinary values in the first place?

That is living for the sake of exalted moments.

What is the ultimate purpose of doing so?

And for me, the answer connects exalted moments to Ayn Rand's view of happiness as the proper moral purpose of an individual's life.

Happiness as the proper moral purpose of an individual's life, that is hugely important.

You know, people are focus a lot on Ayn Rand's politics, and politics are important.

We have to live in a civil society with individual rights in order to be happy.

But politics is not the main aspect of philosophy.

In the end, it's morality, how we live, how we act and what we get out of how we act.

And that's happiness.

So that's, that's why this is so important.

And Rand expressed the principle that is the proper moral, that happiness is the moral purpose of a man's life, as quote, by the grace of reality and the nature of life, man, every man, is an end in himself.

He exists for his own sake and the achievement of his own happiness, and is his highest moral purpose.

Now I do want to interject something here because this could be easily misunderstood as some sort of narcissistic approach to life.

Well, I exist for my own sake, so I don't care about anybody else.

And I'm going to run over you guys to get whatever I want, right?

I can steal, I can rob, I can murder for my own sake.

Well, no, that's not when, when she talks about your own, her own one's own sake, it's about achieving those in gaining, keeping those values we talked about at a high level, we talked about career.

And when you, you know, in a career you work with other people, other people are involved, you're exchanging values with them.

With if you own a business, you are producing a product or a service and they're getting something and you're getting something, right?

Or if you're employed by somebody, you get something out of it, you're getting something for your own sake, but you need to provide value to your employer too, so they get something of value, right?

Same thing with your romantic partner.

You're in a romantic relationship for your own sake.

Yes, but you have to provide value to your romantic partner.

And the same thing goes for friends and family.

It's not a one way street, as Martin always likes to say.

It's value for value, right?

And so.

But you have to get something out of it.

You should not be a sacrificial animal to your employer or anybody or to your friends or anybody.

You have to get something out of it.

So.

But.

So you get into those relationships and you pursue those values for your own sake, ultimately.

So I hope that's clarifying because that's easily.

Somebody could put a narcissistic spin on it, which does not exist.

Well, let me, Let me jump in there.

Just what you said a moment ago about.

It's the conventional view of egoism.

It's I run over people, I climb over corpses to get to the top, that kind of crap.

But it's actually completely different.

Being an egoist, there's a merciless dedication to.

To values.

Pursuit of value.

But.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah.

And most of it's tied with relationships with other people who need to get values out of whatever that is.

Again, if.

Whether it's work or it's romance or friends and family or you have special interests and it's.

It's the guys and gals in your bowling league.

Exactly.

You know, if bowling's one of your special interests, that's great.

And they, they need to get something out of it too.

So it's.

It's not collectivism.

It's all voluntary, but people seeking values and what they want to get out of it.

So I think that quote again about, you know, existing for your own stake, for your own sake and the achievement of your own happiness as your highest moral value, you know, the point isn't it helps to explain why exalted moments matter.

The point isn't to have simply extraordinary experiences and tally them up.

That's not it.

Nor is it just to accumulate achievements.

Achievements are important.

Or just to accumulate possessions or just accumulate memorable occasions.

The deeper question is how the values we pursue, and it can be all those things, but how they contribute to the achievement of your own happiness over the course of your life.

And we talked about this a little bit and I really.

I do recommend.

And I'm sure you guys will post the previous episode up with them.

Absolutely.

And so we're covering at a high level here, but for those who are interested that can dig deep, but we talked about before that happiness in this context is not a passing feeling of pleasure.

It's okay to have moments of pleasure.

Absolutely.

But what it concerns happiness is concerned with is, is the overall character of your life.

The values you choose, the goals you pursue, the relationships you develop, the work you undertake, and the achievements you find deeply worthwhile again, achievements in your career, great moments with your romantic partner, et cetera.

Here's my description of exalted moments.

It's the one I shared on the previous episode years ago.

An exalted moment is a concrete event in which one gains, keeps or recognizes a significant value.

You can in your mind recall that specific event which you achieved through your volitional action, that is your mind reason based action.

The result of repeated exalted moments in your life is the automization of one's self esteem.

Self esteem being your confidence to live in the world and attain values and the ability to pursue and earn one's happiness to earn your happiness.

And that brings us back to Rand's emphasis on the overall attitudes towards life.

We aren't living for the sake of suffering.

We're living for the sake of the values that make our happiness possible.

And that's the connection I want to explore their attainment.

Exalted moments, values, the attainment of those values, exalted moments, and ultimately the achievement of one's own happiness.

All right, that's.

Yeah, thank you, Andy.

That's outstanding.

I appreciate that so much.

And so you said you wanted to share that idea with others.

So how did you go about doing that?

So I did a little homework in advance.

I prepared a one page document on exalted moments, explaining the quotation.

I put links to the podcast episode and presented my thoughts about significance.

And then I shared it with a number of people I wanted to reach during the social events.

I pulled aside Alan Giorno.

I pulled aside Professor Tara Smith again, professor of philosophy at University of Texas.

Ben Baer of Ari, Ben Chestnut, the financial fountainhead of the center.

Very nice, very nice.

And Greg Solomieri.

And what's funny with Greg, he was also a professor of philosophy at UT Texas.

So hook em horns.

There we go, Longhorns.

But I'm jumping ahead a little bit.

But at the end of the day, there was kind of a social thing and they had food and it was near the bar, in the bar area of the hotel.

And I was sitting at a table with a couple of fellow donors and Greg, Dr. Rick Salmieri, walked by and said, hey, Greg, come here, come over here.

And I pulled out one of the one sheets.

And this is about eight or nine o' clock at night, I guess.

And I handed the sheet and said, I want to talk to you about exalted Moment.

And then a few minutes later, so there's a couple donors and myself, and then there was Greg.

And then Tal came over and then we got into exalted moments deeply.

And then the conversation went into.

Tal's really interested in.

And this is a deep subject, and I don't know how you figure this one out, but how do people make choices in life about their careers?

Why do some people decide they want to be a doctor and somebody else wants to be a lawyer and somebody wants to be a truck driver or fireman or whatever?

And so it went on.

And the conversation went on for three or four hours until midnight, when I said, I've been up 20 hours, fellas.

You guys keep talking.

I'm going to bed.

But that was, again, one of those moments.

It was with Tal, fellow donors, and Greg.

And that was a lot of fun.

But getting back to spreading the word to these people, my goal wasn't just to circulate a quotation on a piece of paper.

I wanted to stop people and consider what Rand was saying, that in her own words, you know, from her main book, and why she considered the point so important and what it means for our understanding of a good, happy life.

And so I knew that many people I wanted to reach would be in Austin for the groundbreaking and for the Iron man con.

So I created an opportunity to put the ideas in front of them and stimulate some discussion.

So I enjoy doing that.

Yeah.

And thanks again for, you know, including link to the episode there.

So I appreciate that very much.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Were any of those discussions particularly interesting, you think?

It could be.

Lots of things to take in and chew and reflect on later on.

But, yeah, they were all good conversations.

I really enjoyed them.

But I had the one that really sticks out, other than to talk to midnight, was I had an impromptu discussion about exalted moments with Tal.

TAL TASMANI CEO Ari and I had mentioned it at the ceremony while we were putting the shovels into the ground, I said, hey, Tal, can I get two minutes of your time?

And he said, yeah, later, you know, I said, want to go to the luncheon in the hotel?

He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

So later at the hotel, I walked into the elevator and he was there, and it was just him and me.

And so we started talking in the elevator, and then we got out into the hallway on his floor, and we wound up talking for about 20 minutes.

And it was a mind meld.

We were so together.

On the ideas around exalted Moments, he had not been familiar with the concept, but I showed him the quote, and he understood immediately about the concept and living for happiness in your life and pursuing values.

So that was very satisfying.

But then something happened that made the day particularly memorable.

What happens next?

Please tell.

So, okay, so this is about two hours later.

Okay, so my conversation with Tal was like at three in the afternoon, two hours later or so, he's giving the opening remarks at Ayn Rand Khan.

Okay.

Which was in the same weekend, the same hotel.

And in those remarks he referred to the groundbreaking, that which occurred earlier in the day as an exalted moment.

And he indicated that the idea of describing the occasion that way had come from our conversation just two hours before.

That's great.

That's great.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I was sitting with some of the guys and I tapped the guy next to me, one of the fellow donor.

I said, hey, that was me.

Yeah, it was fun.

And then, so then Tao finished his part, and then Alon Giorno got up to speak.

Now, just briefly, you asked about 9 11.

Alon got up and talked about 9 11.

You know, an extraordinarily sad and tragic day for America and for the culture and for philosophy.

And he talked about the Iron Man.

Iron Man's the ari's response to it and our views about it.

And I'm not going to get into all that now, but it was a wonderful talk by Elan.

He's a great speaker and writer.

But as he ended his speech, he referred to Tao's comment about the groundbreaking occurring earlier in the day and about.

He said, yes, and this was an exalted day.

So the message within two hours had gone from me to the CEO of ARI, to the senior vice president who was talking about a main topic that day at the conference.

So that was fun.

And the thing is, there were about 150 students attending who were there to understand and to learn more about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

So it wasn't simply an idea being discussed among people who had studied Objectivism for decades.

You know, the intellectuals I spoke with.

It was being referenced in a small way in the context of a gathering that included a substantial group of students who were there to learn about the philosophy.

So that was enormously satisfying.

Well, that's.

I, I tip my hat to you for that, Andy.

I tell you, before we go on, I have to plug my own or toot my own horn.

You've.

Excuse me, what you say about exalted moments.

This came to my mind over the decades.

I too have been an Objectivist and a student of objectivism since 1979, which is what, for some decades, perhaps.

And over those, over those years, I have introduced Countless people to her writings.

That's great.

And I'd say I.

In fact, I.

In my, in my head, I've kept the tally over the years, I've introduced 45 people to her novels.

Wow.

And all but one has said thank you.

Wow.

Wow, that's great.

And you think about the novels.

You know, people shouldn't be.

Who have not read them and who are listening to podcasts.

Don't be frightened away that these are big, deep philosophical tomes.

Both Fountainhead and Alice Shrugged are great novels.

They're great stories.

Read them for the stories.

Read them for the stories.

There's.

There's philosophy and great ideas in there, but they're great reads.

And they're the kind of reads you start and you don't want to stop because they're great novels.

So that's an important part of it.

So that's cool.

Yeah.

And I have a question at the end about that.

So we could talk about.

If we remember otherwise it will be a follow up, but about the literature and the novels and so on and the location where.

So would you say that this mission.

And I would say that it was accomplished to point out this.

Yeah, I would say so, yeah.

I appreciate you asking that.

I think so.

You know, and I wasn't going to make everyone agree with my interpretation.

I just wanted to stimulate interest and discussion, and I felt I had done that.

And remember how much we talked about taking action in our previous episode about exaltability?

Well, that's all I was trying to do was take some action, standing.

Yeah.

I'm so glad that especially Tal and Elon and Greg and Ben and all the, you know, the leading intellectuals, if you will.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, but.

And I know you, obviously, in the theme of this talk and the previous talk on exalted moments, I'm sure you describe the groundbreaking ceremony itself as an exalted moment.

Yeah, I think so, Definitely.

And again, I covered this a little bit earlier, but just to make that clear, what I can say is that in participating in the establishment of the center, it was an opportunity to again, act on a value I considered important and that the larger significance lies in what the center may accomplish over time and the role may play in preserving, in communicating Ayn Rand's ideas and the impact that may have on the happiness not only in my life, but the impact on the happiness of the people I love and people I care for.

So that's important, and that's the important connection with happiness.

We don't achieve happiness simply by waiting for pleasant things to happen to us.

We pursue values.

We take action and work towards goals that will bring us happiness.

And, and working through that, hopefully you have exalted moments along the way to help you get that happiness.

And again, since you got the ball rolling, why did you.

Or why did you.

Or why do you think the concept of exalted moments should receive more attention within Objectivism?

Yeah, and it ties right back to what I said about, you know, the moral purpose of living is to be happy.

And, you know, you can sit and talk about philosophy all day, but.

And analyzing arguments and debating particular issues, and that's all good and important, but really that's not the essence of philosophy.

You got to understand ideas.

Yes, but I think we should all ask.

We should ask what those principles mean for our lives, for the lives we want to lead in order to earn happiness.

What are we trying to attain?

What do we consider extraordinary values?

What kind of life are we trying to create?

Rand's quote directs our attention to those questions.

So if we take seriously the proposition that we should live for the sake of exalted moments, we need to think about what those moments are, what values they involve, and how they fit into an overall approach of life.

And we have to need, and we have to consider why those values matter.

My answer is that their importance is connected again to the achievement of each individual's own happiness.

That's your happiness, player, your happiness, Martin, and each individual's opportunity to attain happiness.

And that's why I continue to pursue this subject.

I think it's a.

It's a great name.

Exalted Moments is very sparkly, in my view.

And it, and has, you know, it's.

It's a cool term, and it has tremendous meaning underneath it.

It's like romantic realism.

It's like an art expression or almost, I think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So maybe, maybe.

Have you talked to Quint Kodair?

He's familiar with it, and Quint has actually been one of the people who has responded positively over my postings and writings about Exalted Moments.

Yes.

So he gets.

He does get.

Great.

Yeah, great.

All right.

Well, again, the central theme of our show today is that the exalted Moments connected to the Ayn Rand Center's groundbreaking.

So as far as the center itself, what do you hope, short term, long term, that it accomplishes?

Yeah, so we covered a lot of this ground already, but it's so people can encounter Ayn Rand's ideas in a serious and accessible way.

It can provide opportunities for people to go Deeper, who already know it.

You know, the value of preserving intellectual history, original documents, manuscripts, all that.

But preservation, that's, you know, that's part of it.

You know, it was exciting to see the 150 students at Ayn Rand Khan.

That was great.

Encouraging.

And the thing is, two years from now they won't be at the Doubletree Hotel in a conference room.

They will be at the Ayn Rand Center.

So that's cool.

And it's just going to create more opportunities for people to investigate the philosophy, ask questions and to think independently, which is important.

It's a great effort to contribute to and I'm excited about it opening up.

Great.

That's great.

I hope to get down there to tour it when it's finished.

Yeah, I'm hoping I'll get an invite to the opening too.

The ribbon cutting.

We'll see about that.

Ah, nice.

We'll see.

You said that.

You said is it around two years, September 2, 2028?

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's right.

All right, so as a wrap up, if you would, what would you like most listeners to the show today to take away from your discussion, from the discussion of exalted moments?

Yeah.

So again, it's two things just to kind of wrap it all together, put a bow on it about the center and exalted Moments.

And we've talked about this, but this, this ties it together.

First, the main thing is Rand's statement that we should live for the sake of the exalted moments we may be able to achieve or experience rather than for the sake of suffering.

And second, her statement that the achievement of one's own happiness is one highest, one's highest moral purpose.

And then for the around the Austin trip to the groundbreaking of the Ayn Rand center.

For me, I was able to act on gaining several values, contributing to the establishment of the center, participating it's groundbreaking, enjoying friendships and intellectual conversations and advancing an idea zelta moments that I believe deserves much more attention.

So great.

There we are, fellows.

Yeah, that's great.

That is great.

Thank you so much, Andy.

Oh, my pleasure.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Andy, is it?

I will do a call Action, Call to action to go to the secularfoxhole live that Blair has set up.

So there you could support our show and you could see this episode and you could read the show notes and other things like that.

And also go to TrueFans FM and support our show by clicking the like button and becoming a fan.

And you could also donate and we will set you up, Andy.

So you will get a split of that for this episode and the previous ones also.

Oh, nice.

Okay.

Do you know if it's any special website for.

For the center or is it included on the main website for now?

You know, that's a great question.

And there are news articles out there.

It's probably@ayn rand.org of course they've got it there.

I'm doing a little search here, Austin, Texas.

I don't know if they've got a website.

Not yet.

They're probably still with the institute.

Link to a press release or probably will be a specific site also linked to each other.

Yeah.

There's an official media kit I see here for Ayn Rand Center.

So if you just Google Ayn Rand Center, Austin, Texas, a bunch of stuff comes up.

There's an article on the ground breaking.

Yeah.

So there's stuff on the Internet, but I think if you go to Ayn rand.org There's probably the way to go.

Did you see any like map or view or like how it will be in two years time about the location and buildings, the rooms and.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

When you go to Google, type in Ayn Rand Center, Austin, Texas and then go to images and have you guys seen the images of what it looks like?

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

So for your listeners, take a look at that.

It's.

They call it the book shaped Ayn Rand Center.

Yes.

It's beautiful.

And there's water in front and like a nice walkway by the water.

And yeah, it's going to be beautiful.

Do you know who has commissioned that or like the architect of it?

Yeah, luckily he spoke.

The architect spoke there and then I'm looking here, I've forgotten his name.

But looking on Google, it's Joe Ronan, John Ronan Architects.

So they decide they're designing that.

So.

And maybe that will be a follow up or if you want to say something short because it was so positive to hear about the former CEO and founder of mailchimp.

Yeah.

Because he was the main donor in this project.

Yes.

Couldn't have happened without Ben Chestnut.

I don't think it would have been much harder without that.

Yeah, so.

Absolutely.

But it is encouraging to see so many people step forward with major donations to get that, to get it, the seed money together to get started.

So that is, that is outstanding.

Yes.

And I will then mention my short story and I went to a conference back in the day in Chicago and I sent.

I don't, I don't remember how much it was, but it was a certain amount of dollars.

And then my employer match it because you have this matching gift in America.

Oh, that's nice.

Is that still around that you could do that?

I don't know.

Some employers do.

Yeah.

Some.

Some still do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

All right, Well, I think, Andy, once again, thanks for manning the foxhole with us today.

Yeah, my pleasure, fellas.

Thank you.

Always a pleasure.

Thanks, Andy.

And we will include the previous links to the episodes.

And is it any new site you have where they could find more about your work, maybe your music or some other things?

Well, I can send you that.

Sure, why not?

I will send you my Real Crafter link right after the show here.

And you can put that up there.

That's from my four and a half years at the Berkeley College music.

Yeah.

That must be an exalted moment when you.

I definitely want to hear that.

And I'm serious.

I want to hear that.

That was an exalted moment.

Finishing after four and a half years, that was a lot of work.

But it was worth it.

It was.

It was truly exalted moment.

So, yeah, I'll share that with you guys.

Great.

Thanks.

Thanks very much for your time here and for all the prep.

You have done a great work here.

You are a real talent in this.

Thanks, guys.

I appreciate.

Take care and we'll talk soon.

Thanks.