grumpyLife without Heroes
January 19th 2008 00:02
Mark Antony
The Hero is a creature of myth. The attributes of the human hero come not from their actions, but from the unconscious attribution to these actions a significance which derives from the human archetypal drama. When we stand in the place of the hero, when we substitute his mythical status for our own self awareness, we too become caught up in the archetype and are then destined to share and suffer the fate of the hero himself. The myth of the hero has specific characteristics, he is “fated’ and in the end, he has to die.
To try and prolong the fate of the hero, to attempt to make it the basis of our ongoing life, we must forfeit our Self to the myth; forfeit our own consciousness to the stasis of the archetype. In this way we become molded by a force which sets our thinking and our feelings in concrete, and whilst we might continue to age, we become no wiser; we remain stuck in the place of our youthful and callow heroic ideals.
Ultimately we suffer the fate of the hero as humans. But humans are not gods, and whilst the dying hero sets with the lowering sun only to rise again from the underworld on some new day, our fate is our doom.
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Not superheroes.
But heroes all the same.
I think it would be sad planet if there was no one to look to for inspiration.
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
No one can set our standards for us but we ourselves. Classical Greek mythology set very high standards for man to strive for; nowdays the media would have us believe that some moron who got himself lost in the wilderness initially is a "hero" for managing to survive for a few days.
Dammit, Grumpy! You're rubbing off on me, you dark S.O.B.!
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
Comment by grumpy
Psyche Science
Grumpys Blog
Photography Craft
I think you might have missed my point. Looking up to heroes is one thing, continuing to live the Hero myth within ourselves is quite another.
Dear D.
Dark and possibly dangerous - no, that was anothelife. I am a gentle old citizen now. Rubbing off, I like. And yes, horse and cow shit smells like tobacco - not unpleasant.
Talking of text speak, I must write a post in Strine, just for fun.
Comment by Roger
I would like to tell this story I heard a long time ago.
Somewhere in the world a little group of freedom fighters are caught in a bad situation. Their leader is told through the radio that they cannot expect any support but that they have to break through the enemy lines because it would create a main strategic outcome leading to the final victory.
The pressure is very high. This is calling for some self sacrifice: one of them has to go very close to the enemy line and use explosives at short distance.
The leader gathers his few men. They are standing in front him in a single row. He explains the situation and asks for someone to volunteer.
Suddenly a little guy makes a step forward. The leader congratulates him and gives him the details of the mission.
However he does not hear the little guy saying in a low voice: ‘Who the hell is the f* son of a b* who pushed me forward?’
So it came from the back, an unconscious urge. And you are right to say that the danger is, as usual, the lack of consciousness. A hero is a casual man/woman who has no other choice at one moment of his/her life. Heroism thus partakes of the call for individuation through projection. If the hero wants to fulfil his/her task and stay alive he/she definitely has to become conscious of the situation in depth. This way he can benefit of the suffering involved and grow. There is no ‘growth’ without suffering.
The trick is there: consciously suffering, that is to say consciously holding the opposites hoping for a possible third term to emerge, a ‘tertium non datur’.
But as I said before nobody will chose that except if it is the only solution left. This is hell and the way to survive.
If the ‘hero’ stays unconscious and blindly follows what appears as ‘fate’ then he/she will eventually be crushed for the point will have been missed: the expansion of his/her consciousness. Of course he/she will most certainly be praised by the collective but this is not what individuation is about. A dead unconscious hero brings nothing to life as a living conscious son or daughter of the Bitch can still help a little…
Love
Roger the plumber.
PS: please forgive my fuzzy English, English is not my native language.
Comment by grumpy
Psyche Science
Grumpys Blog
Photography Craft
Seems I know you from somewhere.
Thanks for the trouble to comment so fully on my short point.
au revoir