In 1951, Eric Hoffer wrote a small book, entitled “The True Believer” that became a
university campus “have to read”.
“In one of the boldest ventures in original thinking since Machiavelli’s
The Prince, Eric Hoffer examines the
mind of the true believer, the man who, multiplied by tens of thousands, shapes
the world to his own image.” [Arthur
Schlesinger, Jr.]
Curiously, more than a half-century later, “The True Believer” phenomenon is alive
and well. In fact, it’s almost beyond belief in the emerging run-up to
the 2016 Presidential Campaign, never mind recent happenings with the County
Clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, or the gubernatorial race in the Commonwealth!
As it turns out, anyone who can claim an “inside track” to
the truth or to some covert “reality” – particularly if life outside that
reality is non-ideal, or ... well, soberingly de facto – quickly grabs our attention. The last person we want to fool or be fooled –
or to be “left out of the loop” – is US.
We want to be owners of “inside knowledge”. Above all else, we want to have some “edge”
on the competition with a privileged “corner” on Truth ... even to a point, as
both Hoffer and Schlesinger suggest, of making it up as we go to fit our personal
view of how the world should
be.
NOTE: We come by such fabrications
“honestly”. The seeds for all of the
above are hard-wired inside us. In order
to function at a peak performance level, we need to have a clear idea of how
the world works (and the simpler, the better!), so that, without paralyzing
uncertainty or equivocation, we can proceed to do what Destiny calls us to
do. (In fact, those most prone to the
pursuit of peak performance often become most adept at filling in gaps of
knowledge and understanding, much of which is pretty heavily varnished
fabrication!)
The above came sharply into focus during a recent visit to
the local race track -- Keeneland.
Betting the odds on a given horse in a given race brings
“True Believers” out of the woodwork in droves.
Yes, they may make every effort imaginable to hedge their bets by
choosing the tallest horse, the jockey and trainer with the most wins, the
horse with the best overall record, the horse with the best genetic heritage,
the most “spirited” horse, the horse with the largest nostrils (an unsolicited
tip offered in the course of events), or the horse with the brightest chestnut
sheen. But these are all gratuitously
“weighted” assessments. When it comes to
the point of actually moving dollars through the window, the “educated guess”
becomes “True Belief”, and “Lady Luck” is your femme fatale!
I was amazed to note the number of “True Believers” engaged
in passionate discussions asserting – along with “chapter and verse” rationalizations
– their absolute confidence in one or another horse, jockey, trainer, etc.,
clear down to the finish line crossed first by other horses! Gambling operations are almost entirely
underwritten by “True Believers”, each absolutely convinced that one day their
“ship” is going to come in … and THIS will be the day! Hope springs eternal, and dogmatism reigns
supreme in its own light.
Here’s an associated entry I found interesting:
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Time, October 5, 2015 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
(Yes, the basketball star!)
American students – and politicians – need
to stop waging war on reason
Embracing reason is an uphill
battle for humans.
“The human understanding, when it has once adopted an opinion, … draws
all things else to support and agree with it.
And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found
on the other side, yet these it either neglects [or] despises … “ Francis
Bacon
“ … it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until
they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for
it.” Drew Westen
We seem hard-wired to discard
information that contradicts our beliefs.
We have the Internet, the single most powerful information source and
educational tool ever invented, but many of us use it only to confirm
conclusions we didn’t arrive at through examining evidence. We go only to sites that agree with our
position in order to arm ourselves with snippets that we can use as ammunition
against those who disagree with us.
When I think of some of the beliefs
I had when I was 19 and how different they are now that I have had more
experience and education (both formal and self-induced), I’m astounded by how
rigid I was.
If you don’t want to read [certain]
books and develop [critical reasoning] skills … Don’t attend college. Spend the rest of your life huddled among
those who agree with you.
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The unfortunate thing about “True Believer” fabrications is
that they tend to unravel in the harsh light of reality.
So how do we conduct ourselves otherwise? In place of engaging “True Believer Dogmatic Doctrination”
where life is uncertain or open-ended, we should adopt approachable hypotheses. Such are workable, testable, revisable, postulations/propositions
that drive us more assuredly to the next discovery, the next goal, the next
benchmark in life and work. Hypotheses
are not places to hide and stake claims with impervious certitude; they are
bridges to sound understanding, bankable investment, and reliable accomplishment. They do not shelter from risk, but encourage,
and even thrive, on calculable and
conscionable risk. The dynamic,
reality-based pursuit of hypotheses, with reality-check revisions/upgrades – or
with complete discreditation and replacement, as necessary – is the surest path
to eventual ascendency and ultimate surmountability. One has to be strong enough and resilient
enough to live with a certain amount of uncertainty. Quartermaster
