More than 2 months have passed since my post Eric Hoffer: The Greatest American Philosopher of 20th Century That Nobody Talks About. That post was focused on his first book The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements and there is more to the man than just one amazing book. I did say that I'd post more about him and since I consider quotes of a person (as long as they are not taken out of context) are one of the fastest and most efficient ways to peek into the mind of a person.
This time I'd like to present you some of my favorite quotes from some of Eric Hoffer's later works. I haven't read these books. As I mentioned in my post on Hyper Efficient Content Consumption I don't read that many books in full. I dig into the quotes and interviews of the person who is at the root of the whole creation. Hopefully You'll find many wisdoms among these lines.
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
“There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day; we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.”
"A fateful process is set in motion when the individual is released "to the freedom of his own impotence" and left to justify his existence by his own efforts. The autonomous individual, striving to realize himself and prove his worth, has created all that is great in literature, art, music, science and technology. The autonomous individual, also, when he can neither realize himself nor justify his existence by his own efforts, is a breeding call of frustration, and the seed of the convulsions which shake our world to its foundations."
I've previously stated that the main reason i post on the STEEM blockchain is to make it act as sort of a journal. I do enjoy the sharing and the interactions I have with my friends. I also like the STEEM I earn and i don't plan to cash it out for a long time to come. But the #1 reason I create my content is because I want to do it for the sake of doing it.
When you are doing something out of self satisfaction, regardless of whether you do it to improve yourself or to help a fellow human being or an animal, you are living moment of freedom. In freedom there are no excuses. there isn't even a need for things to push you in a path. You'll walk your path just on your own and do great things. your acts might not get noticed. But it'll be fine when your primary goal is to satisfy your own self.
"Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind."
There is immense power in something that is done for the sake of it. It's won't always be for the good. Joker is such a powerful villain because he is who he is without reasoning or pressure or agenda. It cannot be stopped o tamed and certainly you won't be able to convince joker to be anything other than what he is. Through kindness and compassion can become just that. Goodness should be promoted for its own sake without agendas behind them.
"The individual on his own is stable only so long as he is possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual's powers and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride — the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of individual self-esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride."
"It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it."
My personal take is that the power simply reveals people and at best corruption could only come from the insecurity of power. One isn't motivated to kill a gecko sighted in the household. But many would attempt to kill if it was a cobra. The "Corruption" would come from a place of fear and insecurity but not from strength.
“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.”
"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."
"The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.
It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world."
This is't even being philosophical. it's practically just being observant. If you've been just fighting the bad stuff you might not have noticed this. If that is the case try o sit back and center yourself. Let go of your fighting spirit and watch without judgement. Take notes and be without bias. Think about the times you called out people on their hypocrisy. Ask yourself 'what were they thinking?'
Also notice how these SJWs and "victim" groups eat their own kind and how these social movements are based and fueled on scars rather than trophies. Most of the individuals involved don't even have the talents nor the riches. Even when they have some talent, luck or riches they just tend to be new and green kids on the block. Take the biggest Zuckerberg is the youngest and newest in the top 10 billionaire club. compare his sSjW-isms with the rest of the list. Also take a lok at how new and rising talents take up the stage and make noise while earning tiny paychecks (by Hollywood standards) while more matured ones keep relatively quiet (and even earn big bucks).
"The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor."
It's basically Just Capitalism Vs Socialism - The the Socialists everything is a zero-sum game. The only prosperity they know is the prosperity of others. the prosperity that capitalists know is th prosperity they build by themselves.
"To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance."-
"The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it."
One Final Quote
"Compassion is probably the only antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. One would rather see the world run by men who set their hearts on toys but are accessible to pity, than by men animated by lofty ideals whose dedication makes them ruthless. In the chemistry of man's soul, almost all noble attributes — courage, honor, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc. — can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us."
This is something we all should remember. Pretty much every single dictator from Genghis Khan to Hitler and beyond were people who were loyal to their countries. They had immense courage and dedication. Hitler actually had far more honorable characteristics than Winston Churchill. But only one of them had gas chambers. I think wisdom and insight (not necessarily knowledge and intelligence) is even more valuable than compassion.
