Trivial Motives

Journal Entry: 1-17-2012

Since people are wicked from birth, one could conclude that the dark and primal instincts, that drive us, well up from our unconsciousness (as Freud taught), coloring and dominating our thinking and behavior, make up a large part of our primitive, powerful and innate ideas. These drives must be dealt with and handled by our good wills, our reasoning, our sharp and functioning superego es or consciences and by our moderate self-control.

Eric Hoffer never cared for the thinking of Sigmund Freud, dismissing as impractical the deep curing of misbehavior. Hoffer is correct, and the need is to emphasize quick, practical, lasting limits on these dangerous, innate ideas or drives strongly impacting our behavior.

Hoffer, ever wise and pragmatic, would advise that we treat the symptoms not the causes of such deep-rooted drives. It will not do to over-analyze or seek to transform them, but we instead must recanalize them to useful or wholesome end. So concentrating our energies is cheaper, faster, morally more productive and effective.

Typically, intellectuals want a grand scheme and want people to do what is right but only if they so do from the right or purest motive. If the motive is not as formal as Kant intends, the provisional motive of the doer and their good deeds are suspect, even rejected.

Hoffer disavows such fanatics. He is a consequentialist. Less important is the pure motive than a trivial motive that produces, quick, wide-spread ethical improvement. I admire a pure Kantian motive for motivating good behavior, but we must settle for what we can achieve, even if the harmless, trivial motive triggers good behavior and elicits ethical gain.

Fanatical tyrants out to reform humanity spread great evil and do much damage.

There are no shortcuts. We sinners must improve voluntarily, slowly, the hard way. People must do good because they want to, for their own reasons. We must win them over of their own free will, one person at a time. Command and control moral legislating by the feds makes things mucked up, far worse and sets all back.

By changing the culture gently, slowly, persuasively, rationally, peacefully, voluntarily, we will raise up a generation of maverick individuators who will introduce to society personal and mass behavioral betterment. Through education and making people skilled morally, this unnatural, artificial training and recanalizing of basic drives will elicit a social setting where the inner beast is calmed, and guided to serve the higher purpose.