The True Believer

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: 

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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. 

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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