Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on our deep-seated beliefs and attachments to various aspects of identity and community as a way to cope with the notion of existential annihilation.
Eric Hoffer's quote delves into the human tendency to cling to faith in various entities such as family, nation, or religion as a means of creating meaning in a world where the self is ultimately fleeting. This faith serves as a psychological refuge against the fear of oblivion by allowing individuals to envision their ties and identities as part of something eternal and larger than themselves.
In practice
In a speech about community values, one might say, 'As Eric Hoffer expressed, our faith in humanity is what allows us to believe in a better future.'
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny.
I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.
Our Nation, a great stage for the acting out of great thoughts, presents the classic confrontation between Locke's views of the state of nature and Rousseau's criticism of them... Nature is raw material, worthless without the mixture of human labor; yet nature is also the highest and most sacred thing. The same people who struggle to save the snail-darter bless the pill, worry about hunting deer and defend abortion. Reverence for nature, mastery of nature- whichever is convenient.
Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.
But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.
The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.
I don't think I understood the full extent of the trauma experienced by people who churn through America's prisons until I began taking the time to listen to their stories.
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