Often I wonder what it is that people live life for. Each of us has something, usually one supreme concept, by which we compare the success of our lives. Most people would say that they live life for some type of success, be it success defined by happiness, family connection, wealth, fulfillment, excitement, etc. However, I think oftentimes we find ourselves trying to figure out exactly what this core principal that convinces our subconscious to perpetuate life within our body. We know that something is driving our life forward, but we aren't always sure as to what exactly this driving force is.
I realized tonight while flipping the channels the immense number of TV shows and movies today that relate to some sort of life-saving hero. One of my favorite TV shows now is Heroes, a popular NBC TV show shown at primetime on Mondays. Now more than ever, TV networks and movie studios are producing movies about some time of Hero. Take for example movies like Spiderman, X-MEN, Star Wars (I know this one is old), Transformers, and TV shows like Heroes, Bionic Woman, 24, House -- each of these has one thing in common, a hero (or set of heroes) that is going through a particular struggle in their life while at the same time managing to provides the mean of others to overcome their struggles. I think that's what defines a hero -- someone who gets over their own battles in order to help others fight theirs.
Why is it that our culture all so suddenly expressed the need for a hero figure? The quality of the world we live in seems to be constantly growing dimmer. Most people that I talk to say that life has thrown them some curveballs recently, and that they have struggles they never saw coming. It seems that society as a whole is under the consensus they've got it bad, and they're not sure how they're going to get out of it.
I also realize that over the past few years, the allowance of religion in schools and other various public venues has been restricted. Religion provides most people with a sense of hope, a hope for something in the future that will be greater than their experiences today. Most religions have some type of core hero figure, some one being that is the driving force of goodness. I don't think its conincidence that not long after governements have acted, and us as voters have acted, to prevent the expression of religous practice in public places, that our longing for a hero is shown through other aspects of our culture. It seems as though we reason out that we don't need a God to watch over us, so we vote to prevent what we consider to be "lies" from being spread, but we find ourselves watching movies and TV shows where the central character is parallel to the "goodness" we voted against.
My point is this - if we really don't believe in this religion stuff, why is it that the best selling movies and #1 TV shows are full of religious themes? I think society has fooled itself - our intellect has led us to believe that we can exist on our own without a supreme being because we are smart enough, strong enough, stable enough, and capable enough to do so. However, our subconscious has not let go of the idea that something greater has to exist. We need to long for something better, greater, farther... this is often what drives our lives.
It is for this reason that I know there must be something out there that is greater than what we can wrap our minds around. Whatever your choice of religion is, please don't let America fool you into believing that we can exist on our own. Watch your own daily life - how many times a day do you find yourself searching for something greater? I'll bet the number isn't small...
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