The Real Heroes

Feb 27, 2014 by Dr. William E. Paer Fairmont

Perhaps a new and better definition of human beings should be: “Beings that fool themselves and give great, pompous support to their erroneous beliefs. Their objective is to avoid knowing what they’re really all about. They are therefore eminently self-destructive.” One of their best vehicles for attaining and maintaining self-trickery is the use of words.

For example, I’ve noticed that the words ‘hero or heroine’ are defined as persons who are distinguished for exceptional courage, fortitude, or bold enterprise etc. Nowadays that could include political leaders as well as those who oppose them, sports figures who break records, “saintly” self-sacrificing religious devotees, soldiers who die in battle, militant advocates of “important causes,” or authorities in science, the arts, entertainment and finances.

Curiously, when we observe these kinds of “heroes” under the “psychological microscope” we find that their extraordinary efforts and achievements are largely or totally motivated by urges to escape or compensate for some kind of shock, instability, disappointment, or humiliation suffered in their infancy and early childhood.

I could very well leave you right there so you could have plenty of time to criticize and otherwise undermine the assertion just stated, but I can’t resist carrying it a bit further to support the conclusions that I will present at the end of this declaration:

Almost all world leaders and those who oppose them, derive extraordinary, overbalanced financial and I suppose emotional “benefits” from their exploits. Their manners and means usually have a tint of dishonesty or down right criminality mixed into their professed nobility. Generally at least some people and sometimes massive quantities of them die or become permanently disfigured as a result of the intervention of these kinds of heroes.

There are no record breaking “sports heroes” who get up one day and conquer time, distance, weight, the strength of other humans etc. Every one of them has to put aside all kinds of distractions, “pleasures,” and emotional involvements in general. Instead they “discipline” their organisms to perform some extraordinary feat. Sometimes they even die in the process. In every case, their interest is personal gain. Some will stop at nothing. In most cases, involvement in their respective sports is a quirk of fate. They have physical or mental attributes that virtually oblige them to participate as well as psychological motivation that maintains their “fundamental problems” safely tucked away in subconsciousness.

“Saintly” self-sacrificing religious devotees go into supernatural spheres as they execute their “heroic” deeds in the natural world. They too are looking for “personal gain” and “satisfaction” as they “cure” people, “set the example” and allegedly “forget” all about their own feelings, options, goals, etc. in the name of someone else. Sometimes these “heroes” blow themselves up and call that a supreme sacrifice.

A first cousin of the “saints” described above are soldiers who die in battle. I wonder how many of them know why they’re there in the first place. Their medals and commendations are usually contingent on getting killed or at least maimed in the process of “fighting for their country.” It’s interesting to note that almost all of the maimed heroes have a hard time integrating in society after getting their medals.

The militant advocates of “causes” usually purported to exist in the best interest of humanity always claim “injustice.” Curiously, they need the alleged “injustice” to stay in business. The question is what do they do when the injustice goes away? Apparently their heroism goes away too when things more or less settle down.

Authorities in science, arts, entertainment, and financial matters are gratification seekers who seem to never get enough. They thrill us, intimidate us and provide us with all kinds of stimulation that are outgrowths of their personal life’s complexities. Some of them are capable of hard work and study. In quest of their achievements many of them get more notoriety from their “imperfections” and scandals that seem to accompany many heroes of this kind as they bask in the lime light.

Well if this article puts popularly understood heroism in perspective or not, who then are the “real heroes” that are promised in the title of this essay? Before I reveal their identity, it’s important to note that the heroes mentioned above inspire admiration, or fear, or hysteria, or some kind of primitive OVER reaction in those of us who walk around creating such heroes. In other words if a grand number of people didn’t get their jollies from being overwhelmed by the attributes and actions of these folks, they would likely turn out to be one more of us in search of working out some kind of solution to the problem of being alive on this planet.

Now here it comes: For me, there are real heroes among us. For me, these are the people who insist on knowing what’s really going on in their lives. That can ONLY be achieved through SELF-UNDERSTANDING so here’s a few words about what that is:

Human beings are a “package” of sexual energy. The expression of that energy depends on everything each organism is and every stimulation each organism receives. The responses of each person to the stimuli depend on the individual’s infinite number of decisions, defenses, and preferences in relation to real or imagined circumstances.

These circumstances being at birth and continue all life long. Every moment counts. The rub is however that so many moments occur that determine what we’re all about that we cannot have them all at our fingertips. Nevertheless they happen and in some way make their impact on how we are formed and therefore how we will react.

All stimulation that we encounter is stored in our subconscious mind. All of it has to do with how we experience life as long as we live. Whatever you are experiencing right now has to do in some way with all your previous experience. That is to say if you find yourself going around killing people or helping to heal them or trying to make them laugh, those choices come from preferences that were determined early in your life. (See my book We’re Having Sex Right Now! to understand how those preferences and tastes were formed in you.)

Now we all know people who think that psychology (the study of thinking and feeling) is a “bunch of krap.” Clearly these people have no interest in being responsible for their acts. They attribute the outcomes they live to fate, the will of God, their need for money, the government or something or other outside of them. They don’t want to be aware of the fact that they themselves are determining their experiences and the effects they have on others.

My heroes on the other hand are few and far between. They are very special people because above all they are interested in all the details that determine the expression of their sexual energy. These people take over the course of their lives by studying themselves for better or for “worse.” Hold it! Actually for them there is no “worse” because self-understanding automatically produces strength, confidence and satisfaction. Self-understanding automatically helps others as it enables students of themselves to set the example. These people maintain surveillance over everything they experience such that self-expression becomes externalized productively. My heroes constantly come up with new awareness of themselves and have the courage to allow their insights to become assimilated into spontaneous expression. These brave people enter the unknown (what they have not as yet discovered of themselves) with enthusiastic anticipation of self actualization. They recognize that they have been unconsciously committed to special sexual inhibitions that have become their sexual preferences. They know from experience that their suffering seeking energies cannot survive when they are perceived consciously. These people get into the rhythm of “getting better” for the rest of their lives.

My heroes don’t fit in to patterns of living set for them by others. They prize their individuality and practice self-love. There’s no way that these high principles can’t benefit all of us. Their progress is thrilling. They stand for happiness and sexual self-fulfillment. Their distinct special nature surprises and delights those in their midst. Their principal focus is self-understanding which is true responsibility. They are always curing themselves and set the example in that sense for all of us. These are the real heroes in this world because they don’t fear life. They don’t fear their fears, rages, hates, and depressions. They live them, respect them, assimilate them and in the process convert them into strengths. They know how to convert their previously subconscious energies that others may find abhorrent into their ever increasing capacity to LOVE. Living life as it really is, is only for the REAL HEROES in this world.