Deflecting

 

On Page 70 of his book, The Passionate State of Mind, Eric Hoffer wrote two entries which I shall quote and then comment on.

 

Hoffer: “          118

 

Sometimes we accuse others when we are actually excusing ourselves. The more we need to justify ourselves, the greater will be our self-righteousness.”

 

My response: It is true that condemning others for their immoral behavior, be our charge against them accurate, semi-accurate or a lie of whole cloth, is often a way of deflecting deserved blame away from ourselves, our sins, our shortcomings, for facing what we are is to truth scenario too horrifying to expose ourselves too without excuse, false justification or deflecting onto the sins of our neighbors.

 

We cannot really serve the Good Spirits as a fellow individuators, a living angel, unless we  try with our whole heart and whole soul to be righteous and holy. The other requisite element is to seek out the truth about others and ourselves, to assess and judge accurately, with the primary attention being paid to ourselves, our strengths and weakness, for self-improvement is the only place where moral reform is actually doable.

 

We need to quit trying to justify ourselves where we are wrong, but we do have the right and responsibility to defend ourselves where we are wrongly accused.

 

Acting self-righteous is never appropriate and is a keen indicator of inner rot. The moral problem is a personal, internally won, and the fix is personal and internal, but self-righteousness is a competitive, exhibitionistic social scenario where virtual signaling is done, a behavioral game of no relevance or value.

 

 

 

Hoffer: “          119

 

Man feels truly at ease only when he pities. His love and admiration for his equals and betters is beset with misgiving. Sometimes, indeed, we convince ourselves of the innate weakness of others for no better reason than they we may love them unreservedly.”

 

My response: It is easier to love someone we look down on and pity, rather than someone that is our equal or better. Hoffer likely is pointing out when someone makes us feel inferior, we cannot love them easily.

 

If we individuate, then we can love everyone, pretty much without hang up, because those better than us, we can admire without envy, seeing them as role models to inspire us to try harder and climb higher.