Based on what you’ve read so far, it might be easy to conclude that goodness is right, and greatness is wrong. That antiheroes should eschew greatness altogether.
But it is not quite so simple.
Heroes operate in a black-and-white world of good and evil, right and wrong. Antiheroes operate in a world of color and many shades of gray. They know that wisdom, beauty, and peace are found in balance.
Acts of greatness, or rather acts of individuation, are not fundamentally bad or sinful. In fact, they may be a fundamental human need, an essential element of self-expression, and what Abraham Maslow, in his much-debated “hierarchy of needs,” calls self-actualization. There is unspeakable beauty in the interconnection and interdependence of all things. But there is just as much beauty in the diversity of life, all the different shapes, colors, and flavors that unique individuals bring into the world. Without them, we wouldn’t have Pablo Picasso or Nina Simone. Or this book.
Goodness orients us toward serving the greater whole we are part of. Greatness orients us toward distinguishing the self. Both are indispensable ingredients of genius. Opposing forces within one motion. Yin and yang.
To contribute to the greater good, we often must harness our capacity for greatness, our ability to do something truly new and exceptional, not as motivation for action or a way to validate ourselves, but to bring something transformative, beautiful, and nourishing into the world.
Antiheroes aren’t ideologically opposed to greatness. They oppose striving for greatness from a place of inadequacy, at the expense of what’s truly good for them and the world. Instead, they shine their light out as brilliantly as they can, but to make the world a brighter place.
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book The Antihero’s Journey: From Burnout to Real Contribution in Polycrisis Times. To read other excerpts, go here.
