《Anthem》final chapter from Ayn Rand

"I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and i spread my arms.This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being, i need no warrant for being, and no word for sanction upon my being.I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants the beauty to the earth.It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict i must respect.

Many words have been granted me, some are wise, some are false, but only three are holy: "i will it!"

whatever road i take, the guiding stat is within me; the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction. They point to me.

I know not if this earth on which i stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and i care not. For i know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim than to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

Neither am i the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I m not a tool for their use. I m not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds, i am not a sacrifice for their altars.

I am a man.This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.

i do not surrender my treasures, nor do i share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of them is freedom.

...

I look upon the history of men, which i had learned from the books, and i wonder. it was a long story, and the spirit which moved it was the spirit of man's freedom, but what is freedom? freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free from his brothers. That is freedom. This and nothing else."

On lock down Final Day!

During an unexpected lock down, I think of a writing challenge on whatever i feel like writing at the moment i woke up in the morning, in English. The fun part is, i could think of words (verbs, nouns, adjectives etc) in Chinese and find the words accordingly in English, and then structure sentences around them. Certain harmony or even symphony was evoked in my mind while the words organizing themselves.

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Today i just finished reading Ayn Rand's《Anthem》for the 1st time, its final chapter serves perfectly as an ending of this lock down.

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