The True Believer

by Eric Hoffer

Somehow, in the business of life (ha!), I got away from reading a while back.  I got caught up in busy and then, in finding my way in the world again, I realized how much I missed books.  I have now been reading again for a while and am so glad. I have a friend that is a gruff, cynical, intelligent soul, with a wisdom about him that makes him utterly unique.  He has been an avid reader for years and recommended that I read Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements" saying that it changed his world view.  Indeed, it did change mine.

A little background on Hoffer.  He was a self-educated longshoreman and wrote this in the 1940's.  President Eisenhower referenced this book in a televised press conference and it became a best seller.  It is an unbelievably insightful look at the nature of fanatical behavior, the causes of susceptibility to be swept up into a "holy cause," and the key components of inspiring a group of people to change, though not delivered with the desire to do so, but to understand the motivation behind it all.

Hoffer looks at the different types of people who are lost and looking for something to belong to, he examines the traits of a charismatic leader, the role of hope, individual accountability and the desire to sacrifice oneself for the good of belonging.  He turns his gaze to not only vilified groups, like the Nazis, but also to Christianity, and any other "group" enticing a mass of people, finding common threads.

His view of the different types of poor, and their common reaction to "holy causes" is nothing short of jaw dropping.  It is as applicable today as it was when it was written.  Consider this, in the wake of the current "Occupy" movements:

"It is usually those whose poverty is relatively recent, the 'new poor,' who throb with the ferment of frustration.  The memory of better things is as fire in their veins.  They are the disinherited and dispossessed who respond to every rising mass movement."

His view of the abjectly poor is just as interesting (they are less likely to be lit with fire for change):

"The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives.  To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility. The goals are concrete and immediate.  Every meal is a fulfillment; to go to sleep on a full stomach is a triumph; and every windfall a miracle.  What need could they have for 'an inspiring super-individual goal which would give meaning and dignity to their lives?'"

In looking at this, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs came to mind- unless and until those basic needs are met, how can one have the time or energy to care about much else?

In looking at the poor, Hoffer not only looks at monetary considerations, but also the "free poor,"of which I found myself relating to on a personal level: "Freedom aggravates at least as much as it alleviates frustration.  Freedom of choice places the whole blame of failure on the shoulders of the individual.... Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.  Of what avail is the freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual?"

He examines the "creative poor," the "unified poor" (we're all in the same situation and my poverty isn't my fault- look, everyone else is there too), the "misfits," the "inordinately selfish" and "the ambitious facing unlimited opportunities." All there for different reasons, but all in a weakened state.  "Minorities," the "bored," and the "sinners."  All frustrated.  All ripe for being swept up into a mass movement.  The belief in the cause stirs the need for self-sacrifice.  The desire to identify with the group can call us. The look to change "for the better," with hope... and a degradation of the current time/leadership work together to launch us.  When led by "men of words," we will believe.  To read as Hoffer shows the essence of a mass movement, from start to finish, is truly enlightening.  You can't imagine not seeing any longer.

Not all mass movements are bad, but it is important, as a human, to be aware.  To look, to SEE, to question.

The types of people susceptible and HOW mass movements happen is fascinating to read about.  I found myself only being able to read about 10 pages per day, sometimes only 4.  It is a blessing that the book is organized in such a way that the reader can take little bits to digest at a time, taking a break for a while and coming back to it (you really can read only 4 pages and have read a chapter, sometimes 2).  It is so hard hitting, so stark, so unlike the way most of us examine the world that it felt like I was reading something that everyone SHOULD read.  We should ALL be questioning like that.  Some of it, towards the end, feels a bit repetitive, but I must say, I have never read anything like it.  It made me feel like I was looking at humanity, and myself, through a really clear lens.

This quote hit me personally in a way that stunned me.  It summed up the way I have lived for a long, long time and it is what I will leave you with (not because it is the essence of the book, but yet another example of the way this man piercingly communicates what he sees):

"Those who fail in everyday affairs show a tendency to reach out for the impossible. It is a device to camouflage their shortcomings.  For when we fail in attempting the possible, the blame is solely ours; but when we fail in attempting the impossible, we are justified in attributing it to the magnitude of the task."

Obviously, I give my strongest of recommendations to pick up this 168 page gem, "The True Believer."