I want to do a whole series on how images are the currency of consciousness, but here is a snippet that has some real cash money value.
An image works like a symbol. It's a very small container that holds a large amount of information. An image of a red bullseye represents all of the Target Corporation. The stores, the stuff, the dog, the employees, the ads, the HQ in Minneapolis. Everything. That vast array of ingredients are baked into that one logo-symbol-image. The Target logo is an atomic, alchemical thing from which we can pull more and more things out of this one single hat.
If you want to get a lot out of your life, set intentions. Set goals. Write it down. New-age believers and scientific materialists will both agree that goal-setting is critical to getting what you want out of life. But if you're ambitious, you've probably got too many goals to keep track of and remember. After all, variety is the spice of life. Chances are you have goals all over the map.
A great hero works as a logo-image that synthesizes your vast array of goals, making it easy to remember and easy to focus. A hero is someone you discover that strikes a resonance within you. You resonate because their values are your values, their hopes are your hopes, and their dreams for the world match yours. You are moved by the content of their life - things they've accomplished, art they've made, books they've written. And more importantly, you're drawn to the character of their life - their style, the way they act, their morals, their choices, and the kind of energy they give off.
Heroes help you become the person you're trying to become. Instead of having a list of achievements you want to summit, skills you want to acquire, issues you want to fix, habits you want to form - all you need to do is find a few heroes that inspire you. Read everything they write. Learn to see the way they see and think the way they think. Your heroes will work as logos, making it easy to remember the summits you are aiming to climb. Before you know it, you will have accomplished the kinds of things you set out to accomplish. The kinds of things that inspired you to look up to your hero in the first place.