Equality

 

On Page 112 of his book, The Passionate State of Mind, Eric Hoffer writes two entries which I quote and then comment on.

 

 

Hoffer: “          198

 

We clamor for equality chiefly in matters in which we ourselves cannot hope to attain excellence. To discover what a man truly craves but knows he cannot have we must find the field in which he advocates absolute equality. By this test the Communists are frustrated Capitalists.”

 

My response: No sane, rational, fair, or moral person would ever go against equality of rights and access to justice, or equality of opportunity for everyone. Beyond that, seeking equity, or equality of outcome—what Hoffer identifies as absolute equality—is detrimental to the opportunities for all anyone to maverize should she choose to live right.

 

Again, none are unable to attain excellence, should they believe they can, have such capacity, and think the self is worthy of such a fascinating journey of self-development, and will settle for nothing else.

 

Only altruists, the lazy and the quitters need whine about the need for universal equality of outcome, and they must be thwarted completely.

 

 

Hoffer: “          199

 

If we want people to behave in a certain manner, we must set the stage and give them the cue. This is true also when it is ourselves we want to induce. There is no telling how deeply a mind may be affected by the deliberate staging of gestures, acts and symbols.”

 

My response: We are born evil, but we have some innate goodness residual to our souls. If we live in accordance with maverizing via egoist-individualist morality, emphasizing the need to strengthen what is good in our will until our character is virtuous and our will is good, for the most part, then we can be moral adults. Once doing good and being good by us have been made the major components of our strengthened moral sense, the predominant focus of our consciousness and conscious state of living, then we will be good people.

 

We might be tabula rasa more than we are what we are essentially and naturally, but, if we set the stage for ourselves and for the young to maverize as individuators, we can become productive, loving, talented adults. What we require of our youth in the culture will greatly aid them in becoming good adult supercitizens.

 

Hoffer: “Pretense is often an indispensable step in the attainment of genuineness. It is a form into which genuine inclinations flow and solidify.”

 

My response: Here is another Hofferian paradox revealed: Moral advancement is best and most predictably, successfully achieved one person at a time, by society and the individual playacting a role of being virtuous and self-realized, and thus pretense repeated over time becomes the genuine self: individual, individuated, loving, genuine, sincere, truth-living and truth-loving, and immensely talented.