Excerpts from "The True Believer," by Eric Hoffer, 1952
and other of his works. I'm posting them because they may
be helpful in understanding why so many TM True Believers
are so threatened by the existence of Fairfield Life and
its credo ("What is wanted is not the will to believe,
but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.")
Read through them and see if they don't remind you of
a few people whose words you read here every week...
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The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an
inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The
implacable stand is directed more against the doubt
within than the assailant without.
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A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the
realities around them but also against their own selves.
The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy,
malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of
words between his consciousness and his real self.
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Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an
empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness
of their lives try to find a new content not only by
dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by
nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers
them unlimited opportunities for both.
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The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from
its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine
however profound and sublime will be effective unless
it is presented as the embodiment of the one and only
truth. It must be the one word from which all things
are and all things speak. Crude absurdities, trivial
nonsense and sublime truths are equally potent in
readying people for self-sacrifice if they are
accepted as the sole, eternal truth.
It is obvious, therefore, that in order to be effective
a doctrine must not be understood, but has to be
believed in. We can be absolutely certain only about
things we do not understand. A doctrine that is
understood is shorn of its strength. Once we understand
a thing, it is as if it had originated in us. And,
clearly, those who are asked to renounce the self and
sacrifice it cannot see eternal certitude in anything
that originates in that self. The fact that they
understand a thing fully impairs its validity and
certitude in their eyes.
The devout are always urged to seek the absolute truth
with their hearts and not their minds. "It is the heart
which is conscious of God, not the reason." [--Pascal]
Rudolph Hess, when swearing in the entire Nazi party in
1934, exhorted his hearers: "Do not seek Adolph Hitler
with your brains; all of you will find him with the
strength of your hearts."
...
If a doctrine is not unintelligible, it has to be vague;
and if neither unintelligible nor vague, it has to be
unverifiable. One has to get to heaven or the distant
future to determine the truth of an effective doctrine.
When some part of a doctrine is relatively simple,
there is a tendency among the faithful to complicate
it and obscure it. Simple words are made pregnant with
meaning and made to look like symbols in a secret
message. There is thus an illiterate air about the
most literate true believer. He seems to use words as
if he were ignorant of their true meaning. Hence,
too, his taste for quibbling, hairsplitting, and
scholastic tortuousness.
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To know a person's religion we need not listen to his
profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
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The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a
hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants
to turn them into puppets.
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The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for
his own self, the more ready he is to claim all
excellence for his nation, his religion, his race,
or his holy cause.
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Take away hatred from some people, and you have men
without faith.
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The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the
fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not
whether there is a god or not.
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The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an
inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The
implacable stand is directed more against the doubt
within than the assailant without.
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Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to
support and uphold something that can never stand on
its own...Whether it is our own meaningless self we
are upholding, or some doctrine devoid of evidence,
we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.
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There is a powerful craving in most of us to see
ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and
thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts
which are prompted by our own questionable
inclinations and impulses.
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A man is likely to mind his own business when it is
worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off
his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's
business.
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There is always a chance that he who sets himself up
as his brother's keeper will end up by being his
jail-keeper.
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When we believe ourselves in possession of the only
truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common
everyday truths.
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People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick
the boot that kicks them.
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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of
my mind.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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