Take man s most fantastic invention, declared Hoffer, God. Man invents God in the image of his longing, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it. As for religion, to Hoffer it was not a matter of God, church, holy cause. These are but accessories. For those who look for a Strongman to follow blindly, to obey, to die for, the cause is not something to be understood and comprehended on a rational basis.
Reason is an enemy, a cumbersome inconvenience better replaced by faith, belief and obedience.
The Cause it is to be embraced as a blind passion, a holy calling, a higher imperative which demands that its believers prepare to sacrifice themselves on the altar of ideology and belief. The critical and skeptical individual, that annoying person who asks questions and seeks explanations, become an enemy. All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification, wrote Hoffer. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium. The fanatic wants to follow, to be reduced to an instrument of higher purpose.