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Patterns We Live By

Learning to recognize the unseen patterns that shape our lives and influence our destinies with Dr. Michael Conforti, founder and Director of the Assisi Institute and creator of Archetypal Pattern Analysis.
Upcoming June Conference!

Patterns of the Fall: Lies, Lance and Life Patterns

1/27/2013

6 Comments

 
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Elie Wiesel once commented that the true hero cares more about the spiritual welfare of their community than for their own needs.  So how is it that with the perennial wisdom on heroes taught to us by Wiesel, Joseph Campbell, C.G. Jung, and Marie Louise von Franz, we persist in falsely identifying and projecting this archetypal pattern onto individuals whose frail shoulders will never carry these cultural and spiritual responsibilities?
   
  Is the saga of Lance Armstrong yet another story in our cultural and psychological tendency  to glorify and inflate and then take great pleasure in seeing the demise of our ill-fated “heroes”? In part, Armstrong’s story speaks to our illusions and mistaken ideas about the nature of the hero archetype. Unfortunately, these individuals, the great athletes, movie stars, members of the nobility, and all those others ask to carry the designation of “heroes”,often fall far from the grace of the Gods.

  Have we as individuals and as a collective lost sight of the essential characteristics of the hero, or is it that we have yet to experience a human incarnation of this illusive, eternal figure?  Are our current political and religious leaders worthy of the respect and admiration given to genuine heroes? Now with the fall of Lance Armstrong, we are yet again, left with three vital questions:

 1)     What is the effect on our psyches in continuing to
make these projections that do not fit?

2)     What will it take for us to be much more  discerning in attributing heroic values and virtues onto individuals?

 3)     What are the archetypal patterns of the hero that
we need to cultivate in our own life?

 The Lance Armstrong story is also our story of an afflicted relationship to the hero archetype, and to life patterns we engage in when struggling to become and identify with this archetype. When the individual seeks to be like a God and exceed all human capabilities, we fly too close to the sun, and our wax wings will melt, and ultimately  the life we have  becomes tragic.  

Armstrong has lost the respect of his family, friends and all the colleagues who he has implicated in this process. Perhaps we too as a collective have lost yet again, because our hero making machinery has not only supported, but subsidized all the lies which kept his need to win, and his doping practices veiled from the public eye. Many knew the truth of his actions, but to tell the truth would be to lose another of our propped up heroes? He is
our Humpty Dumpty on steroids who can ride like the wind or hit the ball even further out of the park. And then there are the football players, who enter the stadium like gladiators whose physical prowess may  be even stronger than Zeus, and whose tackles cause  more and more concussions. These are the athletes and games we see as wonderful, and encourage our children to emulate. Do we ever ask who buys the tickets for these events?

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is not what has already occurred but what lies in wait for us, and will be expressed through this never satiated need to fit yet another figure into this collectively derived, illusionary image of the hero. Here like the mythical  Procrustean Bed we contort and mutate the realities of these figures to fit this pre-conceived image of what we believe a hero should be. However,  like Icarus who sought to exceed the  limits of his human condition, these false heroes will also fall. The deeper issue for Lance Armstrong and others like him really is not so much about the hero as it is about  psychological inflation in striving so hard to be what one cannot be,  and  hoping to be like the Gods. It is from this lofty, inflated position that one will inevitably fall, and the higher the ascent, the greater and more tragic is the fall.

 Ultimately the hero is an eternal, archetypal reality that needs to find its way into our life in a meaningful and profound way.  Can we be the hero for our sons and daughters who see in us an ethical, moral and good person?  Do we have the courage to be a midwife for our own destiny, and work to bring the life waiting in abeyance to fruition, and in so doing advance in some small way, the
individual and human condition? 

If you are interested in understanding more about how this storyimpacts all of us on an individual and cultural level,
join me starting Thursday, January 31, for a free 2-part teleseminar series:
“
When the Fairytale Ends: Lies, LANCE & Life Patterns.”’
Together  with Olympic Coach Hank Lange, we’ll employ  Jungian and depth psychology to analyze the patterns at play in this complex saga. Register by emailing
[email protected] or calling (802) 254-6220 .


 

 
 
 
 
  

6 Comments
Paul Zolbrod
1/27/2013 09:31:02 am

To me, with my inclination to follow Arisotle's notion of the hero in his definition of tragedy, Lance Armstrong does not qualify as one. Even in his fall, the true hero is someone who has aimed high--impossibly high, it can even be argued, but admirably high just the same, for an ideal in behalf of others and not just himself. I think of Oedipus, of course, and of Agamemnon. I can even include Joe Paterno. As for Lance Armstrong, he duped us in an utter ethical failure, and we allowed ourselves to be duped. There is no heroism here, there is an absence of ethical concerns--on his part as well as our own. I'll be happy to continue the conversation. We all need one.

Reply
LIZ HODGES FLORES link
1/28/2013 06:24:26 am

WE WERE BORN FROM HEAVEN TOWARDS OUR MOTHERLY WOMB!!!!
FATHERD BY OUR TEMPLES ( BODIES!!!!)
WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD ALWAYS!!!!
UPON CREATION WE ARE SEPARATED BECAUSE OF SHATAN!!!!
WHEN WE COME TOGETHER WE DEFEAT SHATAN ALWAYS OUT OF LOVE!!!!

Reply
Bonnie Bright link
1/31/2013 10:06:24 am

Michael: Thanks so much for this insightful post. I was really struck by your comment on heroes and our illusions about them. From a cultural standpoint we seem to have such a tremendous need to idealize a select few. And some of those individuals seem really to follow a blueprint that allows them to get caught up in our "hero worship."

At the same time, our culture is built on a legacy of heroism which allows little room for failure without being considered a "loser" so many of us are doing what ever we must to succeed at all costs--including "doping" ourselves with caffeine, media, or other addictions.

Inspired by you, I've written this in my own blog about the Lance Armstrong saga entitled "Are We Implicated?". If you're interested you can find it on Depth Psychology LIst at http://www.depthpsychologylist.com/Depth-Psychology-Practitioners-Blog?mode=PostView&bmi=1194307

Reply
Mary Jane Hurley Brant link
2/4/2013 09:24:55 pm

Hi Michael,
This was a lovely piece. I think of the misery and disappointment surrounded in projection of the hero archetype on the wrong subject but I think of the inspiration and admiration of the feelings wrought when hooked onto a real hero. I think of the children like little Alex of Alex's Lemonade and I think of my own daughter, Katie, who began Katie's Kids for the Cure which was operational for ten years.

I think there is something almost silly about projecting the hero archetype onto someone's whose shoulders were never broad enough to sustain the weight of the hero but that has come over time; I didn't know that at 40. Poor Lance who now must sit in the pool of his own meltdown. That must feel terrible for it's one thing to know we've gone off track but it's quite another when the whole world does, too.

I hope you don't mind that I've looked at this subject and wrote a few pieces and one which I would like to share with you. http://www.wheneverydaymatters.com/?p=88

Kindly,
Mary Jane Hurley Brant, M.S., CGP

Reply
Ann Lunetta
1/10/2014 02:19:03 am

The qualities of an hero/heroine involve:
one who exhibits an effort to experience Divinity and thus Love,
pursues truth and Joy and thus manifests Divine Good for self and others to experience.one who applies forgiveness, patience and other compassionate arts when our humanity generates suffering.
Namaste, Ann Lunetta
We all have the ability to "Be"... both hero and heroine. The tools required for these roles are surrender and courage to let go of attachment,

Reply
Lukas link
4/22/2019 12:11:57 pm

Love the courage and surrender references.

Reply



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    Michael Conforti, Ph.D. is a Jungian Analyst, and is the founder and director of the Assisi Institute. Dr. Conforti's work has resulted not only in a training institute based on his discoveries, but also the development of a new 
    discipline, Archetypal Pattern Analysis.

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  • Home
  • Events and Programs
    • Dr. James Hollis: Treading the Numinous Tightrope
    • Clinical Summer Intensive '25
    • Wednesday Noon Clinical Series
    • Fairy Tale Studies: Courses & Certifications >
      • Fairy Tales in Clinical Practice
      • Beginner Fairy Tale Analysis
      • Advanced Fairy Tales Analysis Certification Course
      • Fairy Tale Conference
    • Archetypal Pattern Analyst >
      • Course Modules
      • 2 Year Webinar Schedule
      • Application
    • Dream Patterning Certificate >
      • Beginning Dream Patterning
      • Advanced/Master Dream Patterning Certificate
    • Scholarships
  • Conferences
    • Fairy Tale Conference '25
    • Assisi, Italy 2025
    • Giglio, Italy 2025 VOP in Clinical Practice
    • Journey into Psyche & Soul 2025
  • International Programs
    • '25 Seminario de Supervisión Clínica
    • Archetypal Dynamics in Clinical Practice
  • About Us
    • Assisi Board of Directors
  • Library