"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”

—Ayn Rand, Novelist-Philosopher

I like Ayn Rand’s vision and steadfastness. She was a remarkable individual and proponent of Objectivism.

Her philosophy is unfettered by nonsense. She avoids the trap of second guessing existence by realizing that there is only one reality—which is limitless and in a state of perpetual creation.

See The Ayn Rand Institute for more about her and Objectivism.

I was at a dinner party. The conversation was lively.

My turn came around and, as I began to speak, I felt I had uttered a near cliché.

“That one’s free,” I said to the group. “The next one will cost me.”

“What do you mean?” said a fellow on my right.

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It was a dismal gray northeastern day in late November, and not particularly inviting weather for flying kites. Nevertheless, I packed my pinstripe delta that morning and drove several miles to a wooded park that had a large field. When I arrived at the upwind edge of the field, all was strangely quiet.

The touch football games that usually monopolized the park this time of year were conspicuously absent. No doubt the combination of the cold weather and the preparations for the imminent annual turkey fete were keeping people at home that day.

I began unrolling the kite, which was as drab as the day I had chosen to fly it.

For more on how a kite flight changed my life, read Window in the Sky inside the main site gallery.

Everyone sees and feels in a unique way; that’s why no two people are precisely the same. If you see or feel something in a work of art ... it is there! Just as we need to learn how to read the written word, the spectator must have a desire to understand the language of art, and the alphabet of a particular artist.

Read more from Art of the Covenant in my Artist’s Statement inside the main site gallery.

When I was living in Brentwood, California, an artist friend who had worked with Oscar Janiger on a book had invited me to meet the well-known psychiatrist.

Oscar was a pioneer in the study of LSD’s potential for liberating the intellect and creativity. He gave LSD to some 1,000 volunteers (1954-1962) before it was made illegal. Oscar was interested in how LSD juiced up creativity, raised consciousness, and for its value as a tool in therapy.

Oscar had a comfortable home in the Santa Monica Canyon area and one of the largest personal libraries I had seen—nearly 20,000 volumes and he seemed to know the location of every title.

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