In this issue and the next we are publishing portions of a lecture that Eli Siegel gave in February 1965: Instinct Makes for Praise and Good Wishes. It is part of a landmark series on instinct that he was in the midst of presenting.

Mr. Siegel defined instinct as “desire not known or seen as an object.” And in this lecture he speaks on what he showed to be the deepest, most beautiful, most powerful desire in the self of everyone. It is good will: “the desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful.” Mainly, people don’t think of good will as powerful at all—but as self-deprecating and pale, a way of being that one may pretend to have while really engaged in more “practical” pursuits. Mr. Siegel, however, showed that good will is not some sacrificial matter, lauded by people who are either deceptive or foolish. On the contrary: real good will is thrilling. It is utterly practical. And we will never like ourselves, or be ourselves, without it.

Good Will Is a Oneness of Opposites

This central principle of Aesthetic Realism is true about good will, as it is about every aspect of the world: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” Good will is a oneness of care and criticism, for and against. If we have good will for a person, we want to value that person truly, not miss anything that’s fine. We also want to be as clear as we can be about what’s unjust in that person, because we want the person to be fair to what’s other than him- or herself, not unfair!… more