Let’s talk trilogies. We’ve all seen the movie trilogies, from junk like Legally Blonde to good stuff like The Godfather. Then you get evil trilogies, like Omorosa, Obama, and Osama (I’d add Absolut Vodka, but then it would be a tetralogy and it wouldn’t rhyme…), and good trilogies, like the boxing trilogies of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier battles and the Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield fights. I’m not talking about those trilogies.

What I am talking about is a three-legged-stool analogy - every leg is equally necessary in order that the objective be accomplished. I believe the ideal trilogy is Freedom, Responsibility, and Creation. Simply put, we are responsible for ourselves and our own successes or failures in life. Responsibility means, “My ability and choice to respond to my circumstances, opportunities, and threats in any way I wish. Creation is production. We are creative beings, or, better still, becomings- we are responsible for our own creations and contributions, and we should be rewarded in direct proportion to the value we create. The more value we responsibly create, the more freedom we are granted, because we are (or should be) financially rewarded in reciprocation for our beneficence. Money buys power and freedom. This philosophy is the backbone of capitalism and freedom.

But does this always work? In an altruistic, collectivist society that attacks WalMart for being successful and worships smoking sluts that cavort naked with strange men in public (film stars), where losers, mystics, and parasites are more honored and loved than the CEO’s of companies that provide jobs for tens of thousands of people who are incapable of creative thinking, it’s sometimes hard to believe that we live in a capitalist, free world society in the west. The fact is, if you believe it, you need to MAKE it work. If your philosophy is like mine, you are obliged to live a congruent, uncompromised life, regardless of some of the frustrations encountered along the way.

Once we take responsibility for our pasts and our futures and understand that we are fully entitled to fair recompense for our production, once we demand freedom and insist on being allowed to live according to our philosophy, we shift to the top three percent in society. Then the top one percent. Naturally, that philosophy creates wealth, because a true Objectivist will not accept mediocrity and a second-rate lifestyle, handouts or less compensation than he or she is worth.

Understanding your own weltanschauung, choosing a philosophy that is both challenging and empowering at the same time, and demanding the right to live according to that philosophy, is another triumphant trilogy. The problem that people have with success and money is a thinking problem. The issue is not your circumstances but your world view. This philosophy will attract the enmity an jealousy of masses, as is evidenced on television on a daily basis, as we slowly slide into slimy socialism. But it’s well worth it. In her book, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand clearly shows how it works, and I highly recommend you consider reading it if you are truly committed to success in your life.

As the singer tells us, it’s like love and marriage or a horse and carriage – you can’t have the one without the other; you need all the three legs of the stool – no exclusions: Freedom, Responsibility, and Creation. The motto, “Live Free or Die” appeals to me.

Robin J. Elliott
www.jvwisdom.com