Selfless

 

There are three entries below which I quote and then comment on, and they are from Page 120 of Eric Hoffer’s book, The Passionate State of Mind.

 

 

Hoffer: “          214

 

Selflessness is not infrequently a temporary regimen to which we submit in order to fortify and reinvigorate our selfishness.”

 

My response: I have been maintaining for some time that the selfess altruist is much more selfish—usually in some socially harmful manner—than the self-interested individual.

 

 

Hoffer: “          215

 

To know  a person’s religionwe need not listen to his profession of faith but find his brand of intolerance.”

 

My response: Our religious choice may matter less than if our adherence to this faith is rational and temperate, or passionate, extreme and intolerant.

 

A good religion is one that we believe in and practice moderately. A bad religion is one that we belief in and practice with all the evident zeal of a true believer.

 

 

Hoffer: “          216

 

Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.”

 

My response: Hoffer the moderate dislikes true believers, passionate zealots, and ideologues with their mass movements and holy causes.

 

Those that claim to know absolute truth are just lying again, and malice motivates their slanderous, exaggerating tongues-a-wagging.

 

There may be absolute truths but they are not known or quoted by zealot