“…a heroism is needed that cannot be seen from the outside. It does not glitter, is not belauded, and it always seeks concealment in everyday attire.”
Carl Jung, Collected Works, 7, ¶72
The idea that the hero is dead and buried is not new at all. But doesn’t history clearly illustrate that systemic oppression cannot be overturned without heroes? Pictures in our daily newsfeeds of soldiers lifting babies and children over barbed wire fences, of deeply etched faces of nurses and doctors putting in superhuman hours battling a still-raging global pandemic, reinforce an untenable paradox: We live in a historic moment that has toppled the collective ideal of a single country or leader as the romanticized hero while at the same time, presented us with life-threatening challenges that call for the heroic, in some form or other, more than ever.
In his book, A New Therapy for Politics?, Andrew Samuels writes:
“We need to imagine a better politics because it is almost impossible to imagine a worse. On that journey, we will have to own infatuation with heroic leaders, and try to end the abusive relationship we have with them by making it possible for good-enough leaders to come on stream.” (p. 28).
This panel discussion will use this insight as a springboard into a nuanced conversation that explores contemporary ideas of heroism from political, depth psychological and cultural perspectives. Some of the themes the panelists will be speaking to include:
– The Changing Face of Heroism – Is There More to the Story?
– The Hero as Pacifist, The Hero as Warrior – which is it?
– Is the Ego to Blame for Heroic Excess?
– Heroic Virtues – Heroic Actions – Battling Existential Overwhelm
