Bad Company

 

 

On Page 136 of his book, The Passionate State of Mind, Eric Hoffer writes three entries which I quote and then comment on.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          262

 

A man by himself is in bad company.”

 

My response: Here I have a quote from Hoffer that seems to refute all that I attribute to him about being a great soul, a loner, an egoist and an individualist, who is profoundly anti-groupist.

 

I do not think this quote contradicts who I think Hoffer is, but it bears explaining to make it consistent with my characterization of Hoffer’s morality of egoism, quite similar to my own.

 

I am a man by myself and always have  been, but I have never wholly renounced the need for family, friends, and social interaction. As a Mavellonialist egoist, I would suggest that a man by himself is in bad company, if he is not an individuator or accompanied by the Good Spirits. Still, it is lonely out here by myself, as a rejected great soul: I too require some friends and social to remain sane and wholesome.

 

A man by himself is in bad company if he has no friends, for it is noble and preferred that we spend more time alone than with others, but we should not spend all our time alone, and I think this is what Hoffer is alluding to above.

 

I would add that a woman that is never by herself is a woman in worse company than the man by himself.

 

My egoist morality and Ayn Rand’s egoist morality are a stronger, more explicitly stated version of egoism than the brand implicitly preached and practiced by Hoffer, but we agree in most areas.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          263

 

Suffering only cleanses when it is free of resentment. Wholehearted contempt for our tormentors safeguards our soul from the mutilations of bitterness and hatred.”

 

My response: Some suffering ennobles and is absolutely unavoidable and even should be welcomed, but too much pain and suffering too long degrades the self-esteem of the sufferer, who then can and may turn bitter, snarly and resentful, ready to inflict malice upon on themselves and the world.

 

I know some brands of Christianity, my buddy Jordan Peterson, and apparently the Buddhist faith argue as to the uplifting qualities of suffering, but Randians have a point in suggesting, as substitutes,  joy, enjoyment and experiencing positive worldly pleasures as not only desirable, but are mandated by the Good Spirits as preconditions to becoming healthy morally and staying healthy morally and spiritually.

 

Peterson and Dennis Prager are completely correct that one must suffer and enjoy as part of living, but one should not be resentful. Resentment and bearing malice go together, and an evil person is not a happy person, but they seek to spread their sickness all across the world, tearing everything down because their personal life is crap.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          264

 

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy—the bankruptcy of the soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.”

 

My response: When we give up on life, on God, on ourselves, all that is left is a bankrupted self, a husk of a soul, shriveled and crumbling. It is not that we do not fail and will not fail. It is natural to feel disappointed, but we must never cease hoping and expecting that we can and will do better, and that we will make lemonade out of the lemons that life feeds us.

 

When we give up on ourselves, our lives turn to sadness and misery. Self-contempt and anger against the world are all we have left, so we will bring malice to bear in the world.

 

We give up not because there was no hope: there is no hope only when we have pre-decided that there is no hope, and then we give up, and hell, poverty, unnecessary suffering, and hopelessness are the fruits of our ill-executed labors.

 

God and the Good Spirits will judge us for giving up: our duty spiritually and morally the Divine Couple and the other good deities is to never give up, to never seek anything but self-improvement, no matter how dark things are for us, no matter how little progress we ever make: the effort and the journey are our victories—success beyond that is icing on the cake.