2: Revolutionary Mentalities: The Mystic and the Jacobin
Le Bon's consideration of the qualities of character the are evident in revolution gives rise to four types or categories of mentality: the mystic, the Jacobin, the revolutionary, and the criminal. The first two are discussed in this chapter, the last two in the next.
On the Classification of Mentalities
Before getting into his classes, Le Bon acknowledges that the very act of classification is greatly artificial, and entails some generalization and exclusion that fails to be inclusive of the idiosyncrasies of the individuals being categorized. This is sometimes necessary to make sense of things in a general way, but is always with the acknowledgement of its inaccuracy.
In fewer words: categorization exchanges accuracy for lucidity. It is necessarily so as things such as they are cannot be understood but merely accepted - and understanding them requires sacrificing details that are incidental to the system of categorization.
The Mystic Mentality
The defining quality of the Mystic is appealing to the mysterious power of spirits, gods, and supernatural forces. The individual who practices mysticism claims some special connection to unseen forces that other men somehow lack, and by this virtue he demands other men comply with his will, even in the face of all reason.
The Mystic mentality is the foundation of all religious beliefs and quite a few political ones. Where there is neither logic nor reason, an idea must be accepted on faith, and for fear of incurring the wrath of capricious supernatural entities whose demands must be placated without question.
This gives rise to the "savage zeal" of revolutionary leaders, who demand blind obedience of their followers to ideas that make very little sense from a perspective of worldly logic. Anyone who disagrees, for any reason, is declared a traitor that must be ostracized or eliminated, often by means of violence.
Thus, the scaffold is a prominent tool in revolution: the torture and death of nonbelievers - in a manner that is highly visible to others - is used to reinforce the threat implicit in Mystic power.
Mysticism abounds on both sides of a revolution, and Le Bon gives a number of examples of prominent individuals in the old and new regimes who dealt almost exclusively in mysticism.
It is also considered that, over time, the passions cool and reason re-emerges. The mystical ideals of a revolution must give way to the practical necessities of daily life, and this is where many revolutions are seen to change their character once power has been established.
Of the mystics, Le Bon proposes that "we must hope for the sake of liberty" that religious fanatics will never become our masters. But it cannot be denied that these "empty illusions" are to be considered the most potent motives for the most violent behavior that humanity has ever known.
The Jacobin Mentality
Le Bon acknowledges that the term "Jacobin" does not belong to any general classification, but pertains to a particular movement in the French revolution that did not conform to any such category, but was nonetheless a clearly defined and highly identifiable pattern of thought.
The Jacobins were like mystics in most regards, but did not derive their power from the supernatural. Instead, they placed blind faith the dogma of a body of ideals that may have began with reason, but degenerated into blind faith. The Jacobins of the French Revolution were in fact disdainful of religion and claimed to embrace logic and reason as their sole guide to conduct.
In essence, the Jacobin is a rational dogmatist, in that his reasoning leads him to embrace certain ideals - but once these ideals were defined, reasoning stopped and that set of ideals became defended against reason itself, and once reasoning stops what is left is emotion and conviction without thought, which takes on the character of religious faith.
"The Jacobin is a mystic who has replaced the old divinities with new gods." He may have arrived at a belief in the importance of an ideal through a rational process, but sustains his belief irrationally - and in that sense the ideals that are products of reason become supernatural and mysterious, to be blindly accepted rather than rationally considered.
Like a theologian, the Jacobin leverages a logical process, but only to a certain extent: he interprets what must follow from his premises, but never questions those premises.