The Morality of Cannibals:
Selling suicide as an act of virtue

“A viler evil than to murder a man, is to sell him suicide as an act of virtue,” writes Ayn Rand in her novel Atlas Shrugged.

In yesterday’s post, I dared to share how I felt the Sisters of Mercy — a Catholic order of nuns — had committed a sort of spiritual gluttony in the late 1800s by overworking themselves to death to save their patients.

While I was already against this type of self-negation, reading Ayn Rand’s novels has made me more clear on why it lacks virtue.

“We are on strike against martyrdom—and against the moral code that demands it,” says the character of John Galt. “We are on strike against those who believe that one man must exist for the sake of another. We are on strike against the morality of cannibals, be it practiced in body or in spirit.”

The “morality of cannibals” may seem a bit harsh, but, in many ways, isn’t that what is often asked of people? To give up their lives for the sole benefit of others, expecting nothing in return?

For example, why were those nuns so willing to die in their twenties to save fifteen patients?

It seems tied up in the promise of eternal paradise after death. In such a case, why wouldn’t you want to neglect life and rush towards the grave?

Also from John Galt in Atlas Shrugged: “Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves — or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.”

Ah! But that would require personal responsibility and a sense of self-worth.

“Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration, for the life you deserved but never have been able to reach," says John Galt. "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 is yours.”

John C.A. Manley

PS So who is John Galt? You can find out by purchasing a copy of Atlas Shrugged.

PPS For more on the evils of self-sacrifice check out this post from January.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/