The Ordeal of Change

Tom Schactman, in his biography of Eric Hoffer, American Iconoclast, writes the following on Page 120 of the book: "In his chapter on 'individual freedom', Hoffer quoted Pascal's (and Montaigne's) that dictum was made not from a love of virtue but from 'the counterpoise of two opposite vices,' and went on to expand another belief that he shared with Montaigne and Pascal, that the clash of opposites provided fertile ground for change and progress--as he has explored in earlier chapters about the clashes of word vs. deed, workingman vs. management, and practical sense against intellectual sense." Shactman is reviewing the chapters of Hoffer's book, The Ordeal of Change. Hoffer (and me), Montaigne, Pascal and Aristotle are ethical moderates. A love of virtue is found in the blending of opposite, even polar traits or attributes. Note that Hoffer also extends moderation, that clash or paradox allowing music to be made by the stretched soul of the composer.