Kill Your Fucking Heroes!

Kill your heroes, everyone you worship.

Take the metaphorical blade and slit their metaphorical throats. Slaughter them!

Have no mercy.

They are fictions, and are no use to you. They keep you from your best work and enslave you in the false idea that they have come to represent in your mind.

I have few heroes now. Maybe when I was a teenager I had more, people I looked up to etc., but now as an adult, they don't seem to hold as much weight as they did.

I have put them to the sword.

Why should I have heroes anyway?

Who else should I aspire to be, imitate, shine a light on or replicate? Who would I follow and obsess over, purchase merchandise from, listen to, watch and promote?

Sure, there are people whose work I admire. I go to gigs, I buy books, I watch videos of speeches on YouTube and documentaries about famous bands and musicians on BBC4.

Certain people impress and inspire me by the work they do, but should I worship them? Should I cry when they die?

Who do I think I am in relationship to them? Do I wish I was them? Do I want their fame and notoriety?

Will I be a better person, complete and fulfilled if I reach where they are?

Why do I abdicate my sense of self for this fictitious version of someone that I see on a screen?

Belief In A Fictional Character

Lot's of questions there but important that we ask them of ourselves.

When I read the likes of Zen In The Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, I'm reminded to reset, to look inside for direction and answers.

Too many ideas from others tend to lead me astray.

The more of the world I tune into the more distorted I become.

This raises other questions such as; who am I without others to compare myself to? If I didn't see what others are making then how would I find inspiration?

The reality here is that everyone you know is a fiction. Be they living in TV or internet land, or in your immediate vicinity – they are an illusion.

You and I form a version of them in relation to ourselves. They are not real.

When you and a friend talk about someone you both know, you both have differing opinions. Both ideas are a fabrication.

This is why to some of you I am great, and to others, I am an asshole. This is why to some I am one thing and when I appear to change they are left confused. To these I am losing it, lost or depressed.

Fuck them. Really, I mean it. I say that with a clenched fist. They know fuck all about me. They nothing of me and very little of themselves in fact.

Ultimately I am who I decide to be.

I am the same conscious entity but with varying aspects of myself prominent to different people. I choose to display who I am, where I am.

Ultimately I am a fiction, so are you and everyone else you think you know.

This is what Carey was trying to illustrate, although he left more people scratching their heads than enlightened by his revelation

Maybe he'd have been better off saying fuck all, or not. I'll address this is a future article methinks.

We Are Self Hypnotised

Imagine you went off into the woods and lived there without any human interaction for a year or even 10 years. Who would you be without your family and friends, gurus and socialites?

Imagine no TV, Radio, or Internet. No Buddha or idea of God, Jesus Christ, Ariana Grande or Kim Kardashian…

All you had was the trees and nature to keep you company. Would you find out who you are in absence of all this commentary and static?

Maybe.

Our reality comes out of this noisy and frantic world. From the moment we wake up to the time we retire there are massive amounts of manmade stimulation vying for our attention.

For me, it gets too much. I can't stand the noise anymore.

I led that frantic existence for a long time. Meeting demands of others, striving for success, fulfilling responsibilities and ideas that were not my own.

I can still hear the voices coming from faces of people I know. They feel pity for me, they argue against my views in their own mind and in mine. They seek to verify themselves in my agreement.

And once I relinquish they are alright.

They find that in the winning of the argument they are content, for now. That is until someone else presents a version of the truth they are uncomfortable with.

On reflection, it seems we are completely hypnotised by the noise of other people.

All Heroes Must Die

Behind these fictional characters we pedestalise, there are personalities just as fucked up and neurotic, if not more so, that every one of us, and they must die.

End of story.

Superhero comic writers know that all heroes must die.

Spiderman, Batman, Supergirl, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern are all eventually written off by their creators. They're doing their fans a favour you see.

But we insist living our entire existence in the shadows of other people.

Unless we are willing to separate ourselves from our fascination, idolisation and vilification of other people we'll never really find what we're looking for.

Yes, I said vilification. We idolise the villain too, taking relief and gratification in their downfall.

That's the flip side of the personality insanity coin.

In our fucked up society, we blame the government or the health service or the education system. Everyone else is to blame for our suffering except us.

All that said, I happen to believe that every version of reality is valid.

So whatever one you make, it will play out for you.