Eric Hoffer Quotes: Christian Remixed
Eric Hoffer wasn't a believer. He studied mass movements and revolutionaries and had some enlightening assessments, and damning truths. Upon reading some of his work and some of his aphorisms you start to see something peculiar...and something familiar. These revolutionary movements were remarkably similar to religion -- actually, I'd submit they were a religion, only, with the worship of the movement as the god, goal, and provider. Let's have some fun. Let's look at some of his quotes from the perspective of religion vs. Christ. Because religion INCLUDES the Christian Religion (as opposed to Christianity), we're not pulling any punches. And don't assume that Christian Religion means only Catholicism. No, we're not going to let us Protestants get away with that cop out. That goes as well for Methodists or Baptists or Presbyterians, or Episcopelians...or any other "ist" or "an".
Remember, you'll find no "how to's" here. Only WHO to. Seriously, not how to. It's Who to. I warned you...
"It is not at all simple to understand the simple."
The simplicity of it all being Christ is too simple for us to understand. Therefore we add all these religious things to something that is inherently simple. Here's a clue for us...If it's complex...it might not be Christ. Paul said, to know Christ and Him crucified. But what are all these hoops we tell each other to jump through? In order to "be a good Christian" you have to tithe, read your Bible daily, pray in the morning, pray before meals (like Father is saying, oh, didn't pray before eating that sushi, I'm going to have to zap you), attend this, and attend that, rededicate this, and don't touch that. Therefore you find yourself juggling (a very complex activity) all these HAVE TOs rather than simply holding His hand as you walk together through life. [And if you think I'm saying you SHOULD stop doing any of that stuff, just admit it, you don't get what I'm actually saying. But feel free to read on. :) ]
"We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails."
Often those of us so ready to teach you something (such that we cannot stop talking about it) are either enarmored of the truth (spirit) or working our flesh out in a public forum. I've found often what I REALLY want to teach is a private ail that I'm having a hard time trusting God to handle, so deceiving myself, I bring it into a public setting hoping that getting others to see it rightly will somehow fix me. Do you think I'm the only one who does this? [If you think I'm saying don't trust those who teach you.........I am. We are not called to trust one another, but God. Seriously, never told to trust your fellow man, believer or unbeliever. No, it's in trusting Father that we can love, accept, receive, listen, and learn from one another. But so often we put up our teachers as mediators between God and man, that's only for Christ. No matter how eloquent they are, how smart they are, how educated they are, and godly they appear. There is no one above you in the Kingdom. Your brothers and sisters are around you. Only Christ is Lord. It is the world's way with heirarchy and people lording over you.]
"Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us."
Christ is the Prince of Peace. We as believers have HIM in us. But when we cannot find that peace AS Him, we always find a quarrel without.
"What are we when we are alone? Some, when they are alone, cease to exist."
Do we take our life from others? Needing to be around others? Getting validation from others? Is being around and validated by others stronger than the reality that we are a child of God? Religion requires validation from others, with Father you are accepted in the Beloved (Christ).
"The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow men. Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves."
Welcome to what legalism (Religion mascarading itself as Christianity) does. If you are focused on the Law, the does and do nots, you are focused on yourself. If you are focused on trying to be a good Christian, you are focused on yourself. But you tire and are ashamed of your failings, because that's all you'll see when your eyes are on you. Therefore you find it easy to judge others, ESPECIALLY on things that you know well in yourself. Think about it, when you make so many of those daily comments about others and their shortcomings, how would you be able to recognize them so effortlessly? BECAUSE IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE.
Our eyes are not on Christ, but on ourselves. We focus on the thing that kills, the Law (which is good and holy because it does it's job quite well) rather than the One who fulfilled the Law and is now our life.
"The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own."
If we realize that Christ and only Christ is our righteousness....if we know that God and only God is love...then how can we expect our neighbor to be that thing that only God is? God will not give His glory to another (His glory is WHO HE IS). No one apart from full dependence (called faith) on Him can manifest goodness, kindness, patience, or love. Therefore for those who do not know Him, what do we expect? Do we expect God to lie and allow them to generate goodness and love within themselves and out of their flesh?
"The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than of deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without."
Ever notice that you are most strident when you are uncertain, when you cannot quite reason and argue against what is coming against you...or your idol. hint hint hint. Yep, that's religion. Truth, a Person, is more than capable of defending Himself, and He is quite certain of Himself. Therefore often the issue isn't what's going on around us, but the simple fact that we don't yet trust the only One to trust. If we didn't doubt the Person, we'd be quite dispassionate about our uncertainty. When someone offers you a Jolly Rancher, but in their hand are 4 different colors and you are uncertain of which one you'll enjoy best -- are you insecure about it? Not really. Why? Because the situation is well under control, it's not a big deal. Well how is that any different than with Christ...for anything?
"To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats- we know it not."
Biggest unpleasant truth. This whole "Christian thing". I cannot do it. Quiet times, tithing, gathering together, reading your Bible, attending events, being patient, being kind, be self-controlled, being wise, and being that odious thing we keep saying, "I want to be a good Christian," is impossible. Why does God allow me to keep running on that hampster wheel? ANSWER: How else am I going to learn I cannot do it?
We say, trust God, but listen closely, notice what comes not a minute after anytime that is said, a FORMULA for how to weasel your way into His blessing. In other words, I SAY trust Him, but I MEAN trust MY methodology.
"The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure."
[The technique of a religion aims to infect followers with a malady and then offer the religion as a cure.]
Religion, even the Christian Religion, always offers itself as the cure. [Note, the true cure is Christ, a Person.] So if you find that what you're offered as a cure is based on reading something, saying something, doing something, attending something, rededicating something, giving something, or experiencing something. Perhaps it's not a Person you are being offered.
Let's back up...Religion, even the Christian Religion, infects people with shame and guilt (whether through the righteous Law or some hundred year old tradition handed down and assumed to be from God) and offers hoops to jump through as cures. It may put a name of a person on it, like the Christian Religion (as opposed to Christianity), kind of like the name on a product...we in the business call it branding. Por exemplo. "Dude, you got a Dell." Does not mean you have Michael Dell. Religion is the same way. Christianity is completely different, "Dude you have Christ. He's in you and you are in Christ." Religion will give you a box with a nice name on it, but inside it's packed with instructions. And once you "get it working", the batteries explode, because it's defective. [No insult to Dell. It's just the first brand that's named after a founder I could think of]
"Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves."
[Religious doctrine does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.]
Religion does not offer us anything new. It's just the same thing offered to us in the garden. We can be our own god, by eating from the tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL. So religion offers us a script for how to eat from the same tree of death. Rather than the Tree of Life, the Cross of Christ.
"The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations."
["It was for freedom that Christ freed us." (Gal. 5:1)]
If we're still stuck in religion we immediately think something's wrong with that verse. Because that means we can do anything we want.
Think about it for a second. "The reason I didn't take heroin was because I thought I was going to hell. But now that I know I've accepted Christ...you're saying I'm free to take heroin?"
Does that sound like someone who knows their FREE, to you? You're back in bondage. Freedom means freedom. Did eating from the Tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL bring freedom or bondage? Did Adam and Eve say, "Wow, I can see what's GOOD and what's EVIL now. How freeing." No, they felt extreme shame. That's bondage. So if you constrain freedom to mean what you in your finite mind see and want, then perhaps your definition of freedom is a bit off. True freedom can only be found in the One Who is Life, Truth, and Love. Free to do as I want in a the 6 by 6 cell of my finite mind is not freedom.
But the "freedom" religion offers isn't freedom either. The heavy yoke is not freedom. It is not of Christ.
"The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto."
If we are not holding onto the Person of Christ...then we'll need to hold onto something. We laugh at those who hold onto the silliest of things. You heard many of the crackpot whacko ideas out there. Why are they weird? Because they are holding onto an illusion, something that is not really real. But that's the same with any religion, even the Christian Religion. Actually the Christian religion is even sadder. In that religion you are holding onto things ABOUT Christ rather than Christ Himself.
Here's a metaphor of it for you. The whackjob tries to ride the rabbit to work. Another a gerbil, and another a pineapple. Nuts. The Christian gets in his car (which is Christ) and drives 50 miles to work without breaking a sweat. The Christian Religionist has a PICTURE of a car and tries to ride to work in it. But it doesn't work. And so the Religionist seethes and rages and judges the other Christians because the cars they are riding in doesn't look like the picture the Religionist straddles. But a picture only captures one viewpoint of the car, from one angle at one instant of time. It's not the real thing. But the Religionist continues to burn in scorn and toxic incandescence, because inside the cars the people do not dress "properly", carry themselves "properly", eat "properly", or talk "properly". What's even sadder? Many Religionists have the car in their driveway, but refuse to drive it, because it does not look like the picture they are trying to ride to work. Now who is the craziest? [This is one of those stories where if you can think of many people who fit with the depiction of the "bad guy", then chances are you are "the bad guy."]
"The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others."
[The less satisfaction we derive from being who we are in Christ, the greater our desire to be like others around us.]
Here's a corollary to this. We see some other great believer who can usually speak well...STOP STOP STOP. Why do we assume that the godly must be eloquent? That's how the world decides things, are we so fascinated with the ways of lost and blind that we constantly have to emulate them...unless so many of us are blind as well, d'oh! CONTINUING... and hear about their experience and what they did and how God powerfully met them in their need or for their success. And what is the NEXT thing we do (after the perfunctory, "Hallelujah"), we think of how WE can use the same method to get into God's good graces. Notice, the focus is NOT on God, but on ourselves. And notice we don't think of Him as a Person, but as a combination lock to be manipulated to get to the goodies. See rather than see something new about Who God is in God's relationship with this person, we barge past all that and try to see some new way to get the goodies.
We are so dissatisfied with how God loves and interacts with us individually, that we desire to have Father deal with us like someone else -- especially someone with a golden tongue.
Remember, you'll find no "how to's" here. Only WHO to. Seriously, not how to. It's Who to. I warned you...
"It is not at all simple to understand the simple."
The simplicity of it all being Christ is too simple for us to understand. Therefore we add all these religious things to something that is inherently simple. Here's a clue for us...If it's complex...it might not be Christ. Paul said, to know Christ and Him crucified. But what are all these hoops we tell each other to jump through? In order to "be a good Christian" you have to tithe, read your Bible daily, pray in the morning, pray before meals (like Father is saying, oh, didn't pray before eating that sushi, I'm going to have to zap you), attend this, and attend that, rededicate this, and don't touch that. Therefore you find yourself juggling (a very complex activity) all these HAVE TOs rather than simply holding His hand as you walk together through life. [And if you think I'm saying you SHOULD stop doing any of that stuff, just admit it, you don't get what I'm actually saying. But feel free to read on. :) ]
"We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails."
Often those of us so ready to teach you something (such that we cannot stop talking about it) are either enarmored of the truth (spirit) or working our flesh out in a public forum. I've found often what I REALLY want to teach is a private ail that I'm having a hard time trusting God to handle, so deceiving myself, I bring it into a public setting hoping that getting others to see it rightly will somehow fix me. Do you think I'm the only one who does this? [If you think I'm saying don't trust those who teach you.........I am. We are not called to trust one another, but God. Seriously, never told to trust your fellow man, believer or unbeliever. No, it's in trusting Father that we can love, accept, receive, listen, and learn from one another. But so often we put up our teachers as mediators between God and man, that's only for Christ. No matter how eloquent they are, how smart they are, how educated they are, and godly they appear. There is no one above you in the Kingdom. Your brothers and sisters are around you. Only Christ is Lord. It is the world's way with heirarchy and people lording over you.]
"Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us."
Christ is the Prince of Peace. We as believers have HIM in us. But when we cannot find that peace AS Him, we always find a quarrel without.
"What are we when we are alone? Some, when they are alone, cease to exist."
Do we take our life from others? Needing to be around others? Getting validation from others? Is being around and validated by others stronger than the reality that we are a child of God? Religion requires validation from others, with Father you are accepted in the Beloved (Christ).
"The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow men. Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves."
Welcome to what legalism (Religion mascarading itself as Christianity) does. If you are focused on the Law, the does and do nots, you are focused on yourself. If you are focused on trying to be a good Christian, you are focused on yourself. But you tire and are ashamed of your failings, because that's all you'll see when your eyes are on you. Therefore you find it easy to judge others, ESPECIALLY on things that you know well in yourself. Think about it, when you make so many of those daily comments about others and their shortcomings, how would you be able to recognize them so effortlessly? BECAUSE IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE.
Our eyes are not on Christ, but on ourselves. We focus on the thing that kills, the Law (which is good and holy because it does it's job quite well) rather than the One who fulfilled the Law and is now our life.
"The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own."
If we realize that Christ and only Christ is our righteousness....if we know that God and only God is love...then how can we expect our neighbor to be that thing that only God is? God will not give His glory to another (His glory is WHO HE IS). No one apart from full dependence (called faith) on Him can manifest goodness, kindness, patience, or love. Therefore for those who do not know Him, what do we expect? Do we expect God to lie and allow them to generate goodness and love within themselves and out of their flesh?
"The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than of deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without."
Ever notice that you are most strident when you are uncertain, when you cannot quite reason and argue against what is coming against you...or your idol. hint hint hint. Yep, that's religion. Truth, a Person, is more than capable of defending Himself, and He is quite certain of Himself. Therefore often the issue isn't what's going on around us, but the simple fact that we don't yet trust the only One to trust. If we didn't doubt the Person, we'd be quite dispassionate about our uncertainty. When someone offers you a Jolly Rancher, but in their hand are 4 different colors and you are uncertain of which one you'll enjoy best -- are you insecure about it? Not really. Why? Because the situation is well under control, it's not a big deal. Well how is that any different than with Christ...for anything?
"To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats- we know it not."
Biggest unpleasant truth. This whole "Christian thing". I cannot do it. Quiet times, tithing, gathering together, reading your Bible, attending events, being patient, being kind, be self-controlled, being wise, and being that odious thing we keep saying, "I want to be a good Christian," is impossible. Why does God allow me to keep running on that hampster wheel? ANSWER: How else am I going to learn I cannot do it?
We say, trust God, but listen closely, notice what comes not a minute after anytime that is said, a FORMULA for how to weasel your way into His blessing. In other words, I SAY trust Him, but I MEAN trust MY methodology.
"The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure."
[The technique of a religion aims to infect followers with a malady and then offer the religion as a cure.]
Religion, even the Christian Religion, always offers itself as the cure. [Note, the true cure is Christ, a Person.] So if you find that what you're offered as a cure is based on reading something, saying something, doing something, attending something, rededicating something, giving something, or experiencing something. Perhaps it's not a Person you are being offered.
Let's back up...Religion, even the Christian Religion, infects people with shame and guilt (whether through the righteous Law or some hundred year old tradition handed down and assumed to be from God) and offers hoops to jump through as cures. It may put a name of a person on it, like the Christian Religion (as opposed to Christianity), kind of like the name on a product...we in the business call it branding. Por exemplo. "Dude, you got a Dell." Does not mean you have Michael Dell. Religion is the same way. Christianity is completely different, "Dude you have Christ. He's in you and you are in Christ." Religion will give you a box with a nice name on it, but inside it's packed with instructions. And once you "get it working", the batteries explode, because it's defective. [No insult to Dell. It's just the first brand that's named after a founder I could think of]
"Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves."
[Religious doctrine does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.]
Religion does not offer us anything new. It's just the same thing offered to us in the garden. We can be our own god, by eating from the tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL. So religion offers us a script for how to eat from the same tree of death. Rather than the Tree of Life, the Cross of Christ.
"The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations."
["It was for freedom that Christ freed us." (Gal. 5:1)]
If we're still stuck in religion we immediately think something's wrong with that verse. Because that means we can do anything we want.
Think about it for a second. "The reason I didn't take heroin was because I thought I was going to hell. But now that I know I've accepted Christ...you're saying I'm free to take heroin?"
Does that sound like someone who knows their FREE, to you? You're back in bondage. Freedom means freedom. Did eating from the Tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL bring freedom or bondage? Did Adam and Eve say, "Wow, I can see what's GOOD and what's EVIL now. How freeing." No, they felt extreme shame. That's bondage. So if you constrain freedom to mean what you in your finite mind see and want, then perhaps your definition of freedom is a bit off. True freedom can only be found in the One Who is Life, Truth, and Love. Free to do as I want in a the 6 by 6 cell of my finite mind is not freedom.
But the "freedom" religion offers isn't freedom either. The heavy yoke is not freedom. It is not of Christ.
"The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto."
If we are not holding onto the Person of Christ...then we'll need to hold onto something. We laugh at those who hold onto the silliest of things. You heard many of the crackpot whacko ideas out there. Why are they weird? Because they are holding onto an illusion, something that is not really real. But that's the same with any religion, even the Christian Religion. Actually the Christian religion is even sadder. In that religion you are holding onto things ABOUT Christ rather than Christ Himself.
Here's a metaphor of it for you. The whackjob tries to ride the rabbit to work. Another a gerbil, and another a pineapple. Nuts. The Christian gets in his car (which is Christ) and drives 50 miles to work without breaking a sweat. The Christian Religionist has a PICTURE of a car and tries to ride to work in it. But it doesn't work. And so the Religionist seethes and rages and judges the other Christians because the cars they are riding in doesn't look like the picture the Religionist straddles. But a picture only captures one viewpoint of the car, from one angle at one instant of time. It's not the real thing. But the Religionist continues to burn in scorn and toxic incandescence, because inside the cars the people do not dress "properly", carry themselves "properly", eat "properly", or talk "properly". What's even sadder? Many Religionists have the car in their driveway, but refuse to drive it, because it does not look like the picture they are trying to ride to work. Now who is the craziest? [This is one of those stories where if you can think of many people who fit with the depiction of the "bad guy", then chances are you are "the bad guy."]
"The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others."
[The less satisfaction we derive from being who we are in Christ, the greater our desire to be like others around us.]
Here's a corollary to this. We see some other great believer who can usually speak well...STOP STOP STOP. Why do we assume that the godly must be eloquent? That's how the world decides things, are we so fascinated with the ways of lost and blind that we constantly have to emulate them...unless so many of us are blind as well, d'oh! CONTINUING... and hear about their experience and what they did and how God powerfully met them in their need or for their success. And what is the NEXT thing we do (after the perfunctory, "Hallelujah"), we think of how WE can use the same method to get into God's good graces. Notice, the focus is NOT on God, but on ourselves. And notice we don't think of Him as a Person, but as a combination lock to be manipulated to get to the goodies. See rather than see something new about Who God is in God's relationship with this person, we barge past all that and try to see some new way to get the goodies.
We are so dissatisfied with how God loves and interacts with us individually, that we desire to have Father deal with us like someone else -- especially someone with a golden tongue.
posted by GBT at
Friday, November 10, 2006
