I just got off a 2 hour phone call with my BFF on Atlas Shrugged.
“I just watched the movie,” she said, “and there are a lot of logic holes in the plot… What is it about?”
“It is about the 12 Ethics, The Passing through the Trials of Valley of Shadow and Death. It is about the 6th Ethic… The moment you have to leave all you love behind on your road to Enlightenment, lest the Unethical pull you down in despair with you for lack of Courage and the first 6 Ethics.
“The Trial of the 6th Ethic is depicted in the Story of Atlas Shrugged. It is the moment when Pygmalion gives all he has to his Creation… But no one ever tells you that Pygmalion’s Creation was named Narcissus. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is told by Pygmalion. Atlas Shrugged the movie was told by Narcissus.”
“What would you do?” she asked, “If you were in John Galt’s shoes… Would you Shrug? Would you put down the world and walk away?”
“I would lay down the steps as stepping stones. I would build them a guide, a compass, and a map. I would erect a Lighthouse and light the beacon. I would cast light upon the steps and I would say, “I can’t carry this burden for you… I cannot carry you… But I can light up your path and build you a school, a game, and an instruction manual and show you how I did it.”
And then I would step inside my Palace walls and Manifest myself into a Goddess of Manifestation and then I would Manifest World Peace, and I would Manifest that you all would find my stepping stones, so that you too many find your way.”
“So exactly what you have done,” she asked me.
“I am John Galt.”