“How did we get here?”

Those were the first words uttered by Thomas Riggan in the movie, Birdman. If you haven’t watched it yet, I won’t tell you to go watch the movie immediately, not that it’s not good because it’s fantastic but because it’s not for everyone. Birdman portrays Thomas Riggan as a broken man, who once was a very iconic Hollywood star due to his portrayal of surprise surprise, the fictional superhero, Birdman. Now that his alter ego days were gone and his Hollywood exploits were long and truly over, he felt a sense of loss, loneliness and possibly depression. Everyone knew who Birdman was but no one knew who Thomas Riggan was. He wanted to feel relevant, again.

Thomas Riggan may be a hero is his movies and that Birdman was admired by millions of people but in reality, Thomas was far from a hero. What he had was ego. We have all heard all about ego before. We have it. Sports icons have it. Celebrities have it. Politicians certainly do. Psychologists will recognise ego as part of Sigmund Freud’s model of the psyche. However, most people will recognise ego as the Latin word for “I”. Thomas Riggan was in every sense of the word, a highly egotistical person. He was selfish in fact and always thought that he was the centre of the orbit.

Ego isn’t bad but an extreme form of ego definitely is. Some of us have that, don’t we? It’s almost as if it is normal to let the world revolve around us and that we asked questions relating to ego and not about anyone else. I guess ego is presumed to be the path that makes us relevant or really, making us feel happy.  When something is done in our favour and that there is instant gratification, happiness seems apparent and that simply is the best way possible. Or is it?

I’m not going to act as if I know all about the works of Aristotle or pretend to have a degree in philosophy but Aristotle does teach about this. For one to be happy, one must practice virtues. When I say practice, I mean every bit of that word. Using an analogy from a friend, if you are a musician and want to be a good guitarist, you don’t just rely on your emotions and natural talent but rather depend on countless hours of practice. For one to be truly happy, one must always keep practising virtues or rather the Aristotelian virtues which are prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I feel prudence is best described by the line, “the prudent man looks where he is going”. It says that prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. Temperance means moderation or in other words, self-control. It is about setting a balance between the heart and the mind. Then, you also have justice which is best described in the following sentence, “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbour.” My personal favourite, fortitude, means the consistent tenacity in pursuing good, regardless of fear, trials and persecutions.

On top of the Aristotelian virtues, the Catholic church also added three virtues which are; faith, hope and love, which I hope you know what each one of them means. In the pursuit of true happiness, one must practice these seven virtues or so I have been told. It is not in my intention to explain what each one of these virtues are but rather introduce one to it as to what they generally are.

Having written all of that, don’t you think it is a bit silly and perhaps even outrageous to need to practice not one, not two but all seven of the virtues to be truly happy? I’m happy just eating a bar of green tea Kit Kat in my house and happy having a bowl of noodles with an egg. That’s happiness right there. But we know that’s temporary happiness. In my mind, happiness is the ultimate state one reaches and feels at one and at peace with his conscience and that one’s life is of a moral high ground. But it all seems a bit scary and complicated in truth, is it not?

No one starts being a good musician at first try. No one becomes a professional footballer in the first training session. Similarly, no one becomes a truly happy person at first go but that’s the hero’s journey. A hero is ultimately caring, tenacious, faithful, hopeful and selfless. Sure, superheroes are often depicted as broken people and in pain but they are at peace with their actions and their happiness comes from seeing the happiness of others. In actual fact, a true hero would have demonstrated all seven virtues. Reflect upon it and see if it’s true.

The virtues are learned along the way, step by step. They are not received but rather cultivated. They are not given but rather developed through pain and sadness.

I know this post is seemingly different from normal and that it is more philosophical than usual but I realized that at the beginning of the year, I wanted to expand out of my comfort zone and having all of this knowledge and insight from conversations with friends and lessons from adults, I feel I should write it out and hopefully, one will also question one’s self as to what their hero’s journey is. A regular person stumbles and falls, slides and glides, and never gets back up. But a hero will stand up and asks

“Where do we go from here?”