So one of the things that intrigued me was the idea that a messiah-like figure is a universal constant in human literature. The idea that we will at some point have this one savior who will appear and show us the way to salvation/victory/a better life shows up in all kinds of stories, especially those that have to do with the ending of the world. Since humans are a social species, this is interesting since due to the shift in focus away from the group as a whole, and to an individual leader-figure. One wonders why a social species would have such a universal agreement that when everything seems to be (literally or figuratively) going to hell, there should be one single figure to guide us forward.
Thoughts on this anyone?
I think people do not only want a leading figure to solve our problems but also to blame. The figure represents the group and what it stands for. For example, the president is a figure head. Most of the power is in Congress. However, if the economy is bad or employment has not gone down enough, the first person to blame is the president. I don't think we stop socializing or working as a group. We just want someone to believe in,tells us what we want to hear, keep order, and guide us to our goals because of our negative outlook due to bad events.
ReplyDeleteI don't think focusing on one single leader is particularly contrary to humans' social nature. In times of crisis, doing so can help a group feel more unified. In addition, I would think that a necessary element of crises is that they make everyone feel somewhat helpless, and in that case, a leader could not be more valuable for the purpose of reminding eveyrone that they are not helpless and giving them direction.
ReplyDeleteYour other thoughts about messiah figures also inspired a post on my blog.
http://religionworlds.blogspot.com/2013/03/messianic-figures-and-how-they-work.html