The Hero Within You (Pt. III): BATMAN

Even superheroes get the blues.

BATMAN:  Your Magnificent Obsession

Syllabus:  Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008)

Extra credit: Batman (1989),  Batman Returns (1992)

As a mythical archetype, Batman has always tread closer to the world of shadows and darkness than most other superheroes, and for this reason he has always been my favorite.  For although on the surface I look very respectable and conservative, I am and always have been, at heart, an uber-goth. Because I try to live by the principles of compassion, love and unconditional contentment, people might think I’m the happy-go-lucky type when nothing could be further from the truth.  Inside my heart swirls a cloud of gloom, doom and rage.  I swear I would walk around with a black cloak fluttering about me were it not for the fact that it kind of makes it harder to find a job (and dates).  My positivity, therefore, is simply how I consciously choose to express my darker emotions.

What Is True Strength? (Pt. II)

Today I  answer the question that I began in my last post.

This is actually a topic that I could easily fill an entire book in order to  fully explore it in all its subtleties and ramifications, so, if anything, this post is only an introduction, not a complete exposition of my personal vision of True Strength.

As I suggested in the previous post, True Strength is not mere physical might or stamina.   You could lift a horse and still be a wimp when it comes to True Strength.

It is not mere aggressive behavior. Go ahead, flare out your feathers and act like the Alpha Male (if you’re a guy), but unless you cultivate True Strength you are, in the big scheme of things, an Omega Male (i.e., the male at the bottom of the pack).

My, such Big, Strong Men with Big Sticks they are, ganging up on an unarmed civilian.(http://www.flickr.com/groups/freekashmir/)

What Is True Strength? (Pt. I)

Strength.

Since time immemorial humankind has bent its knee to strength, or at least a certain vague notion of  it.  Incalculable amounts of effort and toil have been expended by countless individuals, armies, kingdoms, governments and corporations in the pursuit of this amorphous idea of Strength.  Actually, power is the end result they all sought, but Strength was glorified because it was seen as  the ultimate prerequisite for power.

Might makes right... uh, right?

We live in a world that has always valued Strength above all other qualities.  So much so that it has been deified and worshiped (hence I capitalize it to emphasize this cultural deification).  In Greek mythology, the Titans were the gods who ruled before the Olympians (Zeus, Poseidon, etc.), and Cratus was the Titan of Strength.  In fact, in words that reference social power like aristocracy and theocracy, the –-cracy part comes from the name Cratus which means “strength” or “power,” so the deification of strength is embedded even in our language.