The Typology Of Hero And Saint Essay Examples

The human reality is influenced by the struggles of the human race. These struggles are on the basis of remote forces of necessity and fate. The forces are unresponsive to the human expectations and uncertainties. As such, it is a situation that leads to a conclusion that human beings are ultimately alone and by themselves. Issues of human existence and the meaning of life are pegged on two fundamental paradigms of hero and saint. These archetypes are distinctive paths upon which human beings have traditionally pursued and continue to pursue in their bid to seek answers to the meaning of life. Eventually, the two paradigms of hero and saint provide instances where people can share, participate, and ultimately realize the answers to the question as to whether there is a meaning to life. In order to understand the hero-saint archetypes it is important to understand the meaning of the terms hero and saint.
Hero connotes characters which people admire, respect, and seek inspiration from. For the heroic character, the meaning of life is grounded upon honor and a sense of worth. As such, the ultimate purpose of life is personal fulfillment, realization of personal excellence, appreciation, and respect of a person’s societal influence through personal achievements. Hero therefore depicts a character that makes significant interventions by stepping up and making things right hence inspiring other characters as they celebrate the heroic virtues that stand out from the society. Examples of popular movies that bring to the fore the hero archetype include Rambo, Batman, and Indiana Jones.
Conversely, saint signifies the appeal of gratitude and humility from which people seek help. As regards the saint archetype, reality takes a different form in it constitutes a form of a contractual correlation among humans and divinity. Such connection is premised on a pact of promises obtainable on a mutual anticipation of lifelong and on unconditional trust. The way of a saint does not so much dwell on a definitive goal as a resolve for which human beings are responsible. Here, the purpose is love, bonds of concern, and care for which responsibility for fellow humans carry with it. The saint archetype can be found in the New Testament where everyone is described in the plural form as saints depend on a community of faith hence they are never alone.
Historically, the hero and saint connote distinctive character traits that have been passed on and inherited across periods of times past and within cultural perspectives. This can be done in a manner akin to how genetic traits are passed from one generation to the next. As such, the hero-saint paradigms have considerably strong tendencies to reproduce themselves time and again within the environmental conditions to which they are subject. Consequently, many of the characters which reveal themselves within the society can be traced back to the variation in the illustration involving the hero and the saint.
Examples of the hero-saint paradigms include the current societal debate between intelligent designs and evolution. The evolutionally perception entails the worldly view of the hero and the existence of an impersonal reality lacking any form of privileges. In contrast, the intelligent design debate takes the perspective of the worldly view of the saint where persons are the main concern and personal relationships become the definitive basis of justification. Another example is the discussions between pro-life and pro-choice as regards abortion. In this regard, pro-choice is characteristic of a hero while pro-life is inclined towards the path of the saint. Consequently, free market capitalism characterizes the hero. Any prominence aimed at societal realization communally portrays the nature of the saint.
The archetypes of hero and saint help people to become accustomed to their own logic of personal responsibility. Individuals may not consciously choose to practice the heroic or saintly personalities consciously but they surely find their characters littered with one or the other or even practicing a bit of both depending on the circumstances. For instance, the Islamic and Christian teachings take the perspectives of hero and saint. By practicing either of the two religions, one would ultimately be practicing the hero-saint archetypes. Seeking answers through the continued queries as to the meaning of life through the perspectives of hero and saint ensures that the queries are ultimately answered in the course of living.