Common Ground

 

On Page 141 of his book, The Passionate State of Mind, Eric Hoffer has three entries which I quote and then comment on.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          278

 

To agree with us means much of the time to hate with us.”

 

 

 

My response: We are born corrupt, which means we hate ourselves more than we love ourselves, so our rage and resentment over the psychological state of unhappiness and resentment allows us to seek to pack-live rather than individual-live.

 

As pack-living nonindividuators, our self-loathing can only increase when we and our fellow pack-belongers hate a rival tribe or person, as a group, a most sinister yet unifying emotion held in common.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          279

 

It is well to treasure the memories of our past misfortunes; they constitute our bank of fortitude.:

 

My response: When the individual lacks a self-loving, individuating sense of self, he must have a sense of worth, purpose and meaning just to endure, to go on living, living our lives of discontent on this mortal coil. A treasure bank filled with past misfortunes held onto like gold nuggets can provide the hurting, empty self with a sense of purpose and identity, however pathetic.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          280

 

The search for happiness is happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”

 

My response: The search for happiness is a worthy goal, but perhaps it makes us unhappy when we go at it directly without adjusting our attitude or moral behavior. If we shoulder responsibility, and behave ethically, and even self-realize, then we will know for sure that we really have tried to better ourselves and the world, and, whether that takes or not, then we know we are classy persons, and some feeling of relief and perhaps happiness can then be attained.

 

Happiness may also be a grateful, optimistic state of mind in spite of suffering and dying as happens to us all.

 

It would also seem to me that if one is a malevolent agent, who works hard consciously, consistently, and intentionally, to make the world a worse place, there is no chance that one would ever be happy.

 

Genuine happiness, to some large degree, is closely allied with being a person of good will and good character.