I have developed a little philosophy about what it means to be a hero. As a bunch of you know or may remember, I believed and still do that God, or The Greater Good, is the universal will towards the formation of intelligent, wise and "enlightenned" life. No, man is nto the height of that. Man could've been the epitome of enlightenned life but simply sold out way too early in the game. But anyway, it is still possible for humanity to resume the path to enlightenment, but, without even saying, it'll take a tremendous amount of work. Heroes? Heroes are people who do not accept the world they are in. They aren't particularly enlightenned, by definition, but they don't take what's given to them for its face value. Nor do they reject the current reality, they just see it and say "Yes, but..." In other words, a Hero, by my special definition, starts being a Hero by creating a reality for themselves that is coterminous with the reality of the masses of humans, but is also on something of a deeper, or higher plane of being, ("being" in the Descarte sense). That said, a Hero continues to be one by walking a careful line. They have, if they are this far, made themselves relatively unimportant, not meaningless, but compared to thsi "new reality" they now operate in, they are virtually ciphers. Ciphers is relative, so what are they ciphers in relation to? The greater good. The must now walk donw a careful line of self-secrifice. Not sefl-degredation, not self-destruction, not self-denial. These Heroes recognize the importance, for the greater good, of their own awakenning, and use this new standard of thought to give up every indulgence so as to spend their life in this manner. And no, fate has nothing to do with it, Heroism, by my special definition is difficult, but can be done by anyone at any time.

end rant

Interesting, I have often thought about similar concepts, most commonly a phrase from the "Matrix" sticks with me.

Morpheus(to Neo):You know something, you've known it all your life. What you know you cannot explain, that there is something wrong with the world, like a splinter in your mind.

A Hero has the 'courage' to sacrifice everything, to suffer ridicule etc.(Shakespeare:to suffer the the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes), in rejecting the current world for its deviation from conceivable greater good.

Makes you wonder how many heroes exist, but are not in a position to bring about the changes they believe need to take place in order for re-alignment with the greater good.

a hero for me is one who can teach me something positive, enhance my life and make me happy...but i'm easy to please

A hero is usually in the eye of the beholder. These days, heroes get torn down.

Well i think one of the saddest things about our current post-modern environment is how we view heroism. Many think it's the people who are exceptionally successful, that their hero is someone who has done what they want to do to the "t." We idolize performers and entertainers because they are everything we think we should be.

On the other hand there are the antiheroes. People who are so apart from the greater good and yet claim to fight for it. People who use violence and hatred and are demonstative of all kinds of destruction. Yet they are portrayed as idols because they direct all hat monstrosity against someone who suppsoed deserves it.

yes but the definition of an anti-hero seems to have some "Heroic" qualities......such as they destroy something, for example Galileo was an anti-herp in a way, albeit not violent or hate filled, but definately destructive.....

The differance between a hero and an icon is becoming less and less pronounced, true.

what i meant, sixx, is, if you take my special definition of hero, then an anti-hero would be, by no means a Galileo or a hero of any sort. To repeat: A Hero redifines his/her relaity so that they may mroe easily serve the greater good of peace and enlightenned life. An Anti-Hero, therefore, would do the contrapositive, that is, Use the current paradigm so that they may aerve goals that furhter destruction and violence.

and i guess what i am asking is whether or not the greater good and enlightened is justified so by mankind or the hero....or, if you like, the higher powers that be

I'm nto sure quite what you mean, would it be terribly rude to ask you to rephrase that?

is the enlightened life the hero lives by then an enlightened life justified by mankind, the hero, or the greater being?

a person can only view themselves as enlightened or not, it has nothing to do with god...an external person can see someone as enlightened, but if you ask that person if they think they are enlightened, chances are they'll say no(unless it's a prideful vanity like mine) and vice versa...some people think they are "enlightened" when really they are just big bellow winds of pompous knowledge

like me......