The Everyday Hero
Excerpt from not Super but Human
Joseph Campbell (2008) discusses the loss of the power and awe myth once had over us due to our enhanced understanding of the universe in comparison to people that crafted those myths. True understanding of the internal experience of the human being is to be the modern journey, the individual ego to be transformed in order to connect with life. This presents an opportunity for a heroic Call to Adventure.
The modern hero simply can’t wait for society to change, nor can they count on society to save them. The modern hero must first save themselves, make the courageous decision to live their life as if their time is now (Campbell, 2008). They must take on the challenges presented in order to make their world a better place. This heroic work is not always embarked on during times of perfect health and incredible personal success. The hero acts even in the midst of their personal suffering, perhaps even in the face of it.
The Everyday Hero is someone courageous enough to seek a light at the moment they risk losing themselves to the darkness of their moments in the Abyss. They connect themselves with their purpose in life to bring this light to others in their time of need.
Acts of heroism don’t always need to entail intense physical feats to defeat our enemies. Nor are our enemies always physical, but they can be emotional within ourselves. The hero doesn’t need to seek to defeat others, but seeks to defeat self-doubt, criticism, and a lack of compassion within themselves.
At the core, we must seek to love ourselves more than we’ve been giving ourselves permission to. If we are so harsh in our own self-talk, we diminish our worth and it is subsequently harder to see the worth in others. When we do permit ourselves to have compassion toward ourselves and others, we recognize the humanity we all share.
We all have the ability to contribute to our world to make it a better place for all of us. There is a fork in the road at various points in our lives, with the option to step foot onto a path that leads us toward this shared goal. Each Call to Adventure in our lives serves as this fork in the road, an invitation to grow and share that growth with those who surround us. At times we haven’t noticed these calls, or other times downright refused. Having followed the path through the Hero’s Journey once, the hope is that this calling becomes easier to accept over time to continually empower and strengthen yourself.
Different paths lead us toward this growth in our lives, and everyone’s paths will be different. However, all paths may converge at the focal point in seeking to make the world a better place, whatever that means, however we choose to contribute. Nothing is too small. No deed is meaningless. No choice is insignificant. Continuously make the decision to walk the heroic path to live a purposeful life. We all have a profound ability to serve as a driving force for positive change. It doesn’t take a perfect person to do so. Someone can be at the losing end of their personal Abyss before discovering the way out, obtaining meaning in their own suffering. This meaning may serve to support others in need.
To discover one’s way out of the Abyss means to take command of our choices. In considering the potential to navigate or be consumed by the Abyss, I consider the final confrontation between Batman and his evil alternate earth counterpart, Owlman, in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
“There is a difference between you and me. We both looked into the Abyss, but when it looked back at us, you blinked.” – Justice League, Crisis on Two Earths
We don’t need superpowers to affect positive change in our world. No super strength, super speed, flight, teleportation, or telepathy. Not having superpowers gives our heroics weight in our real lives. These heroics are propelled by a refusal to remain steeped in the problems that once bound us. A refusal to accept the only way as out. This quiet defiance of hopelessness is the catalyst for the Everyday Hero’s Journey.
You don’t have to be super, just human.
Read from the beginning and start your journey
References
Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. Joseph Campbell Foundation.
Liu, S., Montgomery, L. (Directors). (2010). Justice league: Crisis on two earths [Film]. Warner Premiere.