Dissipated

 

On Page 11 of his book, The Passionate State of Mind, Eric Hoffer has two entries which I will quote and then respond to below.

 

Hoffer (H after this): “             9

 

Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice. The reckless wasting of one’s vigor is a blind striving to ‘liquidate’ an unwanted self. And as one would expect, the passage from this to other forms of self-sacrifice is not uncommon. Passionate sinning has not infrequently been an apprenticeship to sainthood. Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner.”

 

My response: H is wisely warning that the passionate state of mind belongs to a joiner, to that selfless person in his crowd to be able to liquidate and annihilate an unwelcome self. Whether his emotional state is passionate and extreme, or his exaggerated, theatrical approach to self-indulgence and enjoyment of basic pleasure is one of dissipation or asceticism, he is selfish, but his selfishness is really a cover for his self-loathing, his self-annihilating behavior. He is readily converted to joining a mass movement, should one come along.

 

H: “        10

 

The dislocation involved in switching from one passion to another—even its very opposite—is less than one would expect. There is a basic make-up of all passionate minds. The sinner who turns saint undergoes no more drastic transformation than the lecher who turns miser.”

 

My response: Hoffer is pointing out here a paradox: that alternating from one passion to its opposite, from one holy cause to its alleged polar opposite is not much of a change, changing only on the dramatic surface. The passionate zealot, the true believer, is a radical groupist, without self or self-affection; when he is a religious fundamentalist that undergoes a change to declare himself an avowed atheist, he is really the same person that has changed very little.

 

Only as a calm, stoic thinker and individualist individuating, adopting and exhibiting calmer feelings, thoughts, communications and behavior towards others, would point to how a zealot would have to adjust and transform to be different, really different from his radicalized activistic, polar opposite foe.