At the time of writing this article, here in my home country, the United Kingdom, the rather marvellous Paralympic Games have just come to a close, bringing to a close a quite remarkable summer of sporting events which also included the UEFA European Football Championships, the Olympic Games and even Britain's first ever winner in the Tour de France.
One of the regularly heard tunes during such big sporting occasions is a well-known track by British band M People, which has probably earned them a nice big heap of royalties over the years. The track is entitled 'Search For the Hero'. If you are not immediately familiar with it, we include a version which we found on YouTube below.
Inspiring as the some of the fantastic performances at the Paralympic Games have been over the past 11 days, in this article I would like to suggest that perhaps an alternative interpretation can be given to the message 'search for the hero inside yourself' that the song promotes. Even though athletes tend to be rather fond of asserting during their post-event interviews that 'you can do anything that you put your mind to', I would suggest that this is not really true. For instance, there are only a relatively small number of people who are born with the physical ability to achieve sporting success at an international level. The majority of us who occupy the middle or the left of the sporting ability bell curve can train with immense dedication just as the athletes do, but will still never come close to the level of physical fitness or performance required to perform on an international stage.
So there are only a small percentage of individuals in every nation who have the potential to become a national sporting hero. This is not to suggest that the achievements of our athletes are not remarkable. Those born with elite sporting potential still need intense commitment, dedication and personal sacrifice if that potential is to be realised.
I now wish to take you back to a time when I was a small boy. Before state education had been given a chance to stifle my natural imagination, I used to enjoy reading Marvel comics featuring some now very well known Super Heroes who are enjoying a bonanza of new blockbuster movies recently. Batman, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, X-Men and other such super-humans captivated an eager young mind with their struggles against 'evil' both external and internal.
Now, as with the great sporting heroes mentioned above, as a child I was not under any delusion that it was possible for me to personally achieve any of the super-human feats that the comic-book heroes could. But nevertheless, reading the comics and watching earlier, less spectacular attempts to turn them into movies and animated cartoons, inspired a kind of magical enthusiasm for every day life.
I might, for example, have just been riding my bike around the neighbourhood, but in my imagination I was Super Bike Boy. I even had my own theme tune and imaginary daft outfit including cape and mask. I may have only been riding at about 15 km/h, but in my imagination I was racing bullets, smashing through barricades and leaping over impossible obstacles like Evel Knievel.
I am now reminded of a comedy show which used to air on Channel 4 in the UK entitled 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' In the show they used to have a very amusing section which featured the comic performers improvising various different unlikely super heroes.
"All right, Swifty, what's your point?" I hear you impatiently asking. "You are rambling again. For goodness sake, get on with it!"
All right. All right. Give me a chance!
Since the publication of the Eckhart Tolle's popular book The Power of Now, it is now very common in The Affluent West to hear talk about present moment awareness, being 'in The Now', 'here and now' and other such phrases which echo more ancient Eastern wisdom traditions such as Taoism and Zen.
Even though as a kid I had not heard anything about any of these notions, it might be argued that 'in the moment' was essentially the state which was arising. I was just riding my bike around the block, but with intense focus on the task at hand, and so also with a great child-like enthusiasm. I can compare that to more recently perhaps, when I might find myself riding an exercise bike at the gym, trying to 'stay healthy', with my mind drifting, wishing it was elsewhere or worrying about some thing that happened yesterday or might happen tomorrow, occasionally glancing at the clock on the screen and wishing that my 20 minutes minimum exercise could somehow take less than 20 minutes. The second scenario is very seldom enjoyable, but perhaps if I was to remember the power of imagination and present moment focus, it could be.
This could be another way of interpreting the message 'search for the hero'. Every human life is filled with some seemingly repetetive, mundane tasks, which seem boring, which we wish we didn't have to do. They cannot really be avoided. So how can the boredom be alleviated? The Zen tradition and more modern Masters such as Osho remind us - be total in whatever it is you are doing.
Perhaps I can remember the trick I used when I was a young lad. Instead of reluctantly trudging my way through the housework, how about: "Today Swifty is The Incredible Vaccuming Man - the greatest carpet cleaner the Earth has ever known." Instead of staring with a distinct lack of enthusiasm at a pile of creased laundry - "Today Swifty is Captain Iron - single-handedly saving the world from unkempt clothing."
Why not give it a try some time? Next time you are bored with a task and wishing you were elsewhere or elsewhen - search for The Hero - and see what a difference it can make.
So long for now, remarkable reading legends!
"The perfectionist is bound to be a neurotic, he cannot enjoy life, until he is perfect. And perfection as such never happens, it is not in the nature of things. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible." Osho
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