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“Mr. Rearden,” said Francisco, his voice solemnly calm, “if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders—what would you tell him to do?” “I . . . don’t know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?” “To shrug.”
A whole family of self-flattering words serves as benedictions for the vision of the anointed. “Progress” and “progressive” are prominent examples. But everyone is for “progress,” by definition. They differ only on specifics, though these differences may be extreme and even violent. Words like “progress” or “progressive” preempt these specific issues by arbitrarily assuming the differential desirability of one’s own preferred changes, without having to debate substance—or even acknowledge its relevance.
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
The world is, after all, indifferent to what we humans “want.” If we persist in wanting, in needing, we are simply setting ourselves up for resentment or worse. Doing the work is enough.
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
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