Heroes and Sprituality

In ancient times many epics were written across many cultures glorifying the hero archetype. When I say this I am certainly not referring to what one might associate someone like say Superman with but rather to characters the likes of Herakles (Hercules), the Pandava Brothers, Samson and Gilgamesh. All of these characters' stories possessed the most important part of what makes a truly good hero epic: Tragedy. It was only natural for the greatest among us to feel the greatest of pain. Regardless of their deeds the entire world wept with them, felt their sorrow first hand. It is the pain of being so powerful. So beyond the mundane. This pain is the one ingredient from each story that has allowed their stories to survive throughout the ages. We tell these tales over and over in countless different formats, genres, and mediums. They invade our consciousness and occupy our language with metaphor and adjective (i.e. a herculean task).

Why?

I think in part it is that human beings have a natural tendency to glorify the greatest of us. To place the greatest among us on a pedestal. There is also an even more deeply ingrained tendency to believe in more. By this I mean that all of us want to, deep down on some level, believe that there is more to this existence than the everyday. More than meets the eye. When these two desires combine themselves with the very nature of storytelling (and its accompanying embellishments), heroes are born and their tragedies are magnified until the whole world weeps with them.

What I don't know is where today's heroes will come from? Who will embellish their deeds? Who will weep at their tragedies? Is it that the very nature of the world and its increasing lack of communication barriers will prevent any of that from occurring? In the ancient days so many of our heroes gained their fame through their exploits in war, but is the face of war so changed, so shifted towards the anonymity of the kill and the deglorifying of our warriors that heroes will no longer emerge from the ranks of our military? Gone are the days of warriors like the great Bhima Pandava, who sat out of a great battle, not out of cowardice but out of respect for life. (The previous battle he had killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers all by his lonesome.)

Is the world really so different from then? Has the paradigm shifted too far? Will people, in two thousand years still read about Gilgamesh? Will the Bible be the only surviving testimonial of heroism? Will any of it last?

I believe we need a hero (cue music). Someone to believe in again. It doesn't have to be a messiah. It doesn't have to signal the end of days. We just need a rejuvenation. Someone to lead us to glory. Someone who fights for no nation or sovereign rule but for right and wrong, and then just when they are at their greatest, we'll crucify the SOB. Sacrifice him in a pyre and I'll bring the BBQ grill. The world needs to be reminded of the true potential of humanity and then they need it taken away from them one more time.