How to Become a Greco-Roman Hero
The Choice of Hercules, Red Pill or Blue Pill?
Every single day we encounter crossroads where we must make a decision. Typically, there is one decision we can make which would be the easy way out. Pressing snooze, skipping the gym, scrolling on our phones, eating that insanely tasty looking chocolate chip cookie (my Achilles heel at the moment). In other words, the decision that involves less responsibility is the the easy way out.
Think of two paths diverging. On the left, the path of responsibility and action. On the right, the path of comfort and pleasure. We come face to face with the decision of which path we will go down each and every day of our lives.
This everyday decision we all face takes a Herculean effort to stick to the right path.
Hercules was a young man when he was asked to choose between two paths, on his right was a alluring and beautiful siren who told him her path was filled with pleasure and comfort and was a short-cut to happiness. On his left was an unassuming yet naturally beautiful woman who told him her path ahead was filled with hardship, turmoil and distress, but in the distance stood beautiful mountains beyond the fog. He was left with one piece of advice from the naturally beautiful woman, “There is nothing worth having that does not require effort and sacrifice.”
The Greco-Roman mythological hero heroically chose the path on the left, otherwise known as the path of virtue. He rejected the tempting but immoral path of vice on the right. He went on to face and fight beings like the Erymanthian Boar, the Lernaean Hydra, and the Nemean Lion. These foes he faced and challenges he overcame created the legendary hero whose story has lived on for nearly 2,500 years.
The story of Hercules shows that the decision to undergo a challenge that tests you and builds character is much more rewarding than choosing the path of comfort and stagnation. This is ‘The Choice of Hercules.’
In any situation we find ourselves in, we have the ability to seek the challenge which contains the power to change us into a better version of ourselves. If we consciously continue to pick out the path of Hercules amongst life’s challenges and then choose to go down that road and endure it, there is no telling how much we will grow.
The decision Hercules made is the same decision Neo made in The Matrix. Once you choose the red pill, you can’t go back, the world is forever changed. Once you choose to endure the path of Hercules, the world isn’t what it used to be. The standard you hold for yourself increases, and how you value life’s short-term pleasures drastically decreases.
The temptation will always be there. But each temptation and challenge we face is just another Nemean Lion, Erymanthian Boar, or Lernaean Hydra nipping at our heels trying to test us.
Which decision will you make? Will you choose the forever changing path of responsibility and action, despite the hardships that inevitably lie ahead? Or will you choose the alluring, comfortable, yet ungratifying path of pleasure and inaction.
Red pill or blue pill?
Loved this one Danny. Resonates. And has a particularly important message considering many aspects of the world we live in.