I believe that we all need archetypes to help us grow into healthy, mature, and fully functioning adults. An archetype in Jungian psychology is a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches. An archetype allows us to develop aspects of ourselves that we can rely on to help us through our daily lives. It is a prototype that we can use to mold who we will become.
There are numerous archetypes in our lives to model various parts of ourselves from. The caregiver, the innocent, the rebel, the lover, to name just a few. Today I am writing about the hero archetype that played a crucial role model in my late childhood and early adolescent years, and has been an important and deciding factor in who I am today.
The summer between my 9th and 10th birthdays my father was diagnosed with a serious illness that required he and my mother travel to Boston for treatment. I was left with my grandmother for the 6 weeks of his treatment. During that time there were two occasions when it was not certain if he would survive and as an only child I really felt there was no one I could turn to.
I had discovered a TV show on Saturday nights called Have Gun Will Travel. Richard Boone played Paladin; the character this story was built around. Paladin was the dark knight always fighting for the downtrodden, the weak, and the disenfranchised; he was as the theme song said, a knight without armor.
As a child he became my archetypal hero. A man who was ruggedly handsome; at home on a horse roaming the wild west as well as in fine hotels and restaurants of 19th century San Francisco. He smoked good cigars, liked fine wine and cuisine, but he could eat simple food around a campfire, drink whiskey and beer in saloons, and related to people in all walks of life. His gun was for hire, but he often quoted Shakespeare and other writers and philosophers, engaged in violence but only as a last resort, and in each episode of this series left the viewer with a feeling that right will prevail in the long run. He was truly a Renaissance Man. He came into my living room every Saturday night via the TV screen, and through the persona of Paladin he was my archetypal Hero figure.
Archetypes come into our lives in many ways; books, movies, TV, special people who play roles in our lives, well known personalities that we admire, and others who impact how we think and live. During the summer that my father almost died, and following his return home in a very weakened condition, Paladin rode into my living room on a horse and helped me navigate the confusing emotions that played out in me. He was a hero archetype that I could rely on to show me new ways to think about and live my life.
My father, who up until that summer, had been my hero. The man who came back from Boston could no longer play catch with me, take me ice skating, or share the Tom-boy interests of his 9 going on 10 year old daughter. By the time my father had fully recovered I was approaching adolescence and my interests, and me, were changing.
But Paladin, my hero archetype, was not subject to real human frailties and each Saturday evening he served as the archetype of who I was to grow into. Actually I didn't realize this until quite recently. As I grew into adolescence I outgrew the need to watch him on TV. Consciously I did not know the impact he had on my young psyche. By the time this series was cancelled I no longer spent Saturday evenings in front of the TV. Saturday evenings were for friends, boyfriends, parties, and dating. I had moved on in my life.
Like a good archetype Paladin was buried in my deep unconscious; the archetype guided me without me consciously realizing it was doing that. Fortunately he was a positive role model. In looking back on my life I can see how this archetype influenced and guided me. My choice of a career, my choice of a mate, and the values and code I live by and instilled in my children came from this archetype. At a time when my young life was turned upside down the wonderful man in black rode into my living room and rescued me from the fear and loneliness that threatened to devastate me.
I understand how the great unconscious influence of a powerful archetype, unknown to my thinking, rational mind, can impact my choices throughout my life. Even though I experienced this I am still amazed. In those moments when my mind wanders, flowing from one thing to another, the theme song of Have Gun Will Travel often plays quietly in the back of my memory.
Have Gun Will Travel
Reads the card of a man
A knight without armor
In a savage land
A fast gun for hire
Heeds the calling wind
A solider of fortune
Is a man called Paladin
Paladin, Paladin
Where do you roam
Paladin, Paladin
Far, far from home....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s
It can be heard at this site.
Richard Boone died many years ago, but one of his alter egos lives through the values that Paladin brought to me. Such is the power of an archetype. Paladin still roams in my psyche; his values and teaching still live in me and through me. Truly he is the Archetypical Hero.
No comments:
Post a Comment