If you'd like a quick introduction to Rand's complete philosophical system, check out Leonard Peikoff's video "Introduction to Objectivism". It will help clarif

If you'd like a quick introduction to Rand's complete philosophical system, check out Leonard Peikoff's video "Introduction to Objectivism". It will help clarify a lot of the difficult statements you pointed out. Starts at around 3:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlJD0i_WwdQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlJD0i_WwdQ Edit: With regard to your comment about puppy videos, I'm curious what you thought about this paragraph from the article: > It is useful to distinguish particular incidents of happiness from a more pervasive condition. While happiness results from the achievement of specific goals, when a person seeks happiness itself, he is after a more global kind of satisfaction with his life—with his daily activities, as he is engaged in them, as well as with what they all add up to, when he steps back to survey the totality. This more encompassing happiness requires knowledge that his time and energy are being spent in worthwhile ways and that he is efficacious in acting for the things that he cares about.