Adventure and wanting to be a hero
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
It seems to me that in much of childhood I wanted to go on adventures and I wanted to be a hero. A game like Dungeons and Dragons has this in its very DNA, I created many a character and loaded up on heroic traits and good archetypes. It is possible to act out the fantasy, to be that in the role-playing theater. This way you charge up your ideals, you keep the fantasy alive.
But in reality, heroes are something different from the invincible clean-cut figures of childhood. Heroes go into dangerous situations, often take wounds and sometimes die. In the Second World War, heroes were often the figures who led the charge, or rescued comrades, or an efficient killing machine who slew many enemies. A real-life gritty view of heroism is very different from a childhood fantasy.
It seems to me now that heroism is something that may accidentally happen to a good man in difficult circumstances. But wanting to be a hero seems very much like a fool’s errand to me now, a story perpetuated by society to create young men ready to embark on a soldiers life. Games kept the fantasy ideal alive, beyond the point where a real-life understanding may have dawned.
Coming to the realisation that you were not the hero but merely the player of games is a big internal change. I’ve found that the people I have respect for are people of Zen, spiritual people, shamans, people of real clarity.
Comments
AH HA!
Heroic @Jeroen
Ah, heroes are not so much the valiant the warrior standing alone against the horde. Rather, the hero is performing the mundane tasks of daily life. The greatest heroes give their children or their elderly parent a bath. a hero helps a friend or neighbor or stranger with a needed task or a simple helping hand.
A hero is one who does simple things, as simple as a smile, making another's day or evening just a little brighter.
We may not notice that are surrounded by heroes and that we ourselves may be the very heroes - without capes, titles or fanfare.
Be a hero - just smile, care, say "hello" and "thank you".
There is nothing special about being a hero. But a hero is special to someone.
Hello Heroes!
}Peace to all.
This is the thing. The game and movie hero stereotype obscures the reality.
I am Captain Mundane . I don't think they'll be making the movie anytime soon. 😂
Ah but maybe they will. Remember during the COVID epidemic, when people would stand outside hospitals and applaud the nurses and doctors within? That was an act of heroism.
Anyway maybe they will make a movie about the heroism in ordinary life, the wives-slash-fulltime-carers who look after husbands with Alzheimer’s, the good neighbours who make a pan of soup for you, the volunteers who look after the sports society for the neighbourhood kids.
I hope so. I'd gladly watch such a movie. 👍
Metoo (remember them?)
Here is something for those trying for heroically saving the planet
https://permacomputing.net/library/
Just signed in from my all new Epithany web browser (on GNU-Debian)
I'm a bit of a romantic so it makes sense to me that we are all heroes and all of the heroes are we.
In my mind, each one of us is living out a Jataka tale and so I bow down and take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
🙏
I’ve never really looked at the Jataka Tales. I’ve heard of them but never looked more deeply. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a look at them, if only from a standpoint of myth and understanding Buddhist people.
Namaste 🙏 @David, good to see you around again