In the Name of the Best Within Us

“Jim, I love your closing salutation on all of your newsletters. The one that says, ‘In the name of the best within us.’ But I was curious, where did you get that and/or how did you come up with that? Thanks in advance, Steven T., Paso Robles, Calif., a loyal reader.”

First off, thank you, Steven, for your question, for the loyal readership and also for knowing the virtue of living in one of the most beautiful and picturesque areas of California, especially if you are a wine nut like me. And I also expect to see you in September at the Whale Rock Music Festival (I go every year, and this year’s just-announced lineup is outstanding).

Now, to your question, “In the name of the best within us” is the title of Chapter X, Part III of what I consider to be the greatest novel ever written, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

The novel is an epic tale of adventure, marvelously wide in scope and yet intimately profound. Indeed, it’s no wonder that the novel is cited by so many as one of the most influential books of their lives, and one of the most important novels ever written.

Case in point is my Eagle Financial Publications colleague George Gilder, who called Atlas Shrugged, “the most important novel of ideas since War and Peace.” Writing in The Washington Post in 1986, Gilder explained, “Rand flung her gigantic books into the teeth of an intelligentsia still intoxicated by state power, during an era when even Dwight Eisenhower maintained tax rates of 90 percent and confessed his inability to answer Nikita Khrushchev’s assertion that capitalism was immoral because it was based on greed.”

Now you know one of the many reasons why I consider it an honor to share publishers with George Gilder.

The theme of Atlas Shrugged is the role of man’s reasoning mind in achieving all the values of his existence. Its complex and intricately woven plot is driven by a central and seemingly contradictory question. That question, explains Ayn Rand Institute scholar Onkar Ghate, can be summed up as the following:

“If the men of the mind are the creators and sustainers of man’s life, why do they continually lose their battles and witness their achievements siphoned off and destroyed by men who have abandoned their minds? The story focuses on how the men of the mind learn to ask and to answer this question, thereby putting a stop to their own exploitation.”

Now, a complete analysis of Atlas Shrugged is way beyond the scope of this column; however, I assure you that over the course her magnum opus, Rand demonstrates what happens when those who move the world decide they’ve had enough of being the victims of a society with warped ideas designed to demonize their effort.

I strongly encourage you to read what I consider to be the greatest work of fiction ever written. And yes, I know that at 1,192 pages the novel is a beast to commit to; however, it’s a beast that could quite possibly alter your life in profound ways. I know that it did for me. And as an aside, I found that listening to the audiobook of Atlas Shrugged, as read by the great Scott Brick, was an amazing and immersive experience that was nearly as profound, and dare I say even more dramatic than my first read of the novel in the summer of 1984.

Now, back to the use of “In the name of the best within us,” as my complimentary close. The reason I use that is because of what it means to me, and what it signifies in the novel. I consider it a motto in life, one that I strive to live by in literally every moment.

You see, in any given moment, or in any given decision, or in any moment when we can make a conscious decision, we have the ability to put our best effort into that moment. Indeed, we have the ability to (or not to) give that moment the very best within us.

Put more colloquially, we can choose to do our best, or we can choose to make a modest and half-hearted effort. When we choose to do things in the name of the best within us, that means we choose our best selves.

In the novel, as Ghate writes, “The only reason man has ascended from cave and foot to skyscrapers and locomotives is that there have been individuals like Dagny [one of the novel’s protagonists], who knew what the best within them was and who never let it go — and now these individuals know the meaning and the glory of that which they had been dedicated to.”

Perhaps a passage from the novel’s chief protagonist, John Galt, will provide you with the deeply emotional answer to the question of why I chose, “In the name of the best within us,” as my closing salutation:

“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”

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Specializing in Everything

“A Renaissance Man is one who specializes in everything.”

–He Who Must Not Be Named

At a gathering of friends recently, someone asked me, “Jim, what is a Renaissance Man?” Before I could reply, an often-obnoxious acquaintance of mine broke into the conversation and said, “A Renaissance Man is one who specializes in everything.” Now, this man, let’s call him “He Who Must Not Be Named” (for all of you Harry Potter fans) thought he was being clever and sarcastic with his remark.

Yet, I flipped the script on him and said, “Yes, that is a great description of the Platonic form of a Renaissance Man.” I knew the Plato reference wouldn’t be lost on him, because He Who Must Not Be Named is a highly educated man. Yet, I went further to explain that the goal of a Renaissance Man is to know enough about many disparate things so that he can become one that specializes in everything. And, as I also explained, while it is literally impossible to specialize in everything, it’s the process of learning these things along the way that is an end in itself.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.

In the name of the best within us,

Jim Woods