A HYPOTHESIS OF EVERYTHING: YOU ARE HERE

Chapter 1: Your Psyche and the Hero of Your Story

PART 1 of 5

In this chapter, the 7-dimensional hierarchy model will be the context of distinguishing your “hero core” or “imago Dei,” as applied to the story of your psyche. This chapter has an intention to it. I desire that you view your life with more clarity by the end and are empowered to embrace your trauma as access to personal confidence and a life that you love.

From the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh to every Disney movie, it is clear that the most common and critical element in every story is redemption. Yet, even if the moment of redemption seems dark and resigned, every storyteller must satisfy the listener with a reason to hear their tale.

Confrontation precedes redemption. In most stories, the protagonist or hero bears the burden of the warrior battling against that which represents despair or doom.

Have you ever wondered why many of our fictional and mythological heroes are orphans or are dramatically alienated from their families? Lilo and Nani’s parents died in a car accident, leaving Nani to care for her wild and rebellious little sister before Stitch showed up. Superman lost his birth parents and home, people, and the planet as he was jettisoned in a capsule toward his new home – earth. Young Bruce Wayne witnessed his parents being shot to death outside a theater. 11-year-old Katniss Everdeen’s father was killed in a coal mine explosion. After falling into a deep depression, her mother became useless, leaving Katniss to care for her mother and her younger sister, Prim. James and Lily, the parents of infant Harry Potter, were killed by Lord Voldemort trying to protect Harry from the same fate. Max Da Costa, the sacrificial savior in the sci-fi action movie, ELYSIUM, grew up as a troubled foster child with no parents. Merideth Quill, mother of Peter AKA “Starlord” in the film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, died of brain cancer when Peter was only eight years old. Peter’s profound grief in losing his mother inspired his final victory over his estranged immortal father, who placed the cancer tumor inside Merideth’s head. The STAR WARS stories are full of sacrificial parents. Leah killed herself so that her passing into the force would save her son-turned-dark-side, Ben. Both Rey Palpatine and Din Djarin, the Mandalorian, were hidden by their parents before they were attacked and killed.

The storyteller is compelled to present a hero that is acquainted with our deepest sorrows. What can be more brutal for a child than the loss of their parents? We require a hero that has endured crushing grief. We demand that our hero knows what it’s like to be rejected and alone, abandoned of any sense of belonging. We don’t want a hero that is strong and smart, and attractive. We want the Hobbit orphan, Frodo, that is not appealing to the eyes nor intelligent or powerful but has a heart of gold and determination to match. We want Harry Potter, who is small for his age, with messed up hair and those trademark round spectacles. Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, Shrek the Halls, Shrek Forever After, Shrek the Musical, Scared Shrekless, Shrek 5… yes, we obviously identify with this big loveable green ogre and his true love, Fiona. We want Forky from TOY STORY 4. Bonnie made Forky on her first day of kindergarten out of a spork, popsicle stick, mismatched googly eyes, and a red bendy pipe-cleaner for arms. Forky is convinced that he’s nothing more than trash until Woody explains why he’s Bonnie’s favorite toy. 

Why do we want this? It’s because we long to know that even from the darkest depths of our anguish and despair can arise a broken yet victorious hero.

In the comic strip on Earth Day 1971, Pogo announced, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Don’t you think that it’s time to meet our hero instead?

Who is YOUR favorite hero? While you’re thinking about it, I’ll tell you about one of mine. As described in the beginning chapter, “Burundi and the Life of Riley,” most of my heroes are real people. Still, one of my favorite fictional heroes is Alita in the 2019 movie ALITA BATTLE ANGEL.

What makes your hero uniquely qualified? I’ll give you an example. At the beginning of ALITA BATTLE ANGEL, a doctor named Ido was scavenging through heaps of trash to find cyborg parts. He used them as prosthetics for potential clients. A peculiar object caught his eye in the debris. He uncovered it to discover a partial human girl’s body that included a head, shoulders, and a chest cavity containing an artificial heart. That’s it—no arms nor legs. Using a portable scanner, Dr. Ido determined that there was brain activity. He carried the barely salvageable scrap back to his clinic. Dr. Ido had already built a cyborg body that he intended to use for his paraplegic daughter that was previously killed. He fitted the body to the remnant he found in the junkyard and brought the girl to life. She had no memory of anything, including her name. Ido named her after his deceased daughter, Alita. As the story unfolded, Alita began to notice that she was driven to be some kind of warrior.

What made Alita uniquely qualified was that she had nothing to lose. She had no memory of the past to limit her, and her passion to be extraordinary motivated her to get up every time she was knocked down – which was a lot.

What are the biggest problems your hero faces? For Alita, it was the gap between the innocent ignorance of her memory loss and the mighty battle angel in her DNA. Of course, she was also teased and mocked for being mostly a cyborg.

What is the percentage of your hero’s likely success? In our favorite stories, it is ZERO percent that the hero will succeed. That’s why we love the story so much. It is the impossibility of success that keeps us turning the pages or sitting on the edge of our seats. That theme is consistent in all of the blockbusters and best sellers. It’s Aladdin, a common street thief who fell in love with Princess Jasmine without any possibility of a relationship with her because he was not a prince. It’s the unlikely boy, Arthur, that takes a turn at pulling the sword from the stone to become king. It’s all of the orphaned and broken superheroes in comic books and movies. It’s the favorite son, Joseph, whose own brothers threw him into a pit to die but then decided to sell him into slavery. Joseph ended up as a prisoner in Pharaoh’s dungeon but eventually rose to power in the Egyptian empire by interpreting dreams.

Consider that you are the hero of your story and that your chance of redemption or having a fulfilling and successful life is slim to none. Now THAT is an exciting story!