The 'Clark Kent' aspect of us as individuals, VS the 'Superman' aspect of us as a Psychic Collec

Have you ever thought that the Superhero comic book genre is like a quasi-mythology for modern culture? The structure is often similar to religion, but in a form that can't be taken literally. I mean, we all know superheroes are just made-up characters, not like gods and heroes. So no matter how similar in structure comics and sci-fi is to a religious theme, if the characters aren't real, then the it's all just a bunch of fictional stories with a moral lesson or two.

Right?

Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal

In many ways, twentieth-century America was the land of superheroes and science fiction. From Superman and Batman to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, these pop-culture juggernauts, with their "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men," thrilled readers and audiences—and simultaneously embodied a host of our dreams and fears about modern life and the onrushing future.

But that's just scratching the surface, says Jeffrey Kripal. In Mutants and Mystics, Kripal offers a brilliantly insightful account of how comic book heroes have helped their creators and fans alike explore and express a wealth of paranormal experiences ignored by mainstream science. Delving deeply into the work of major figures in the field—from Jack Kirby’s cosmic superhero sagas and Philip K. Dick’s futuristic head-trips to Alan Moore’s sex magic and Whitley Strieber’s communion with visitors—Kripal shows how creators turned to science fiction to convey the reality of the inexplicable and the paranormal they experienced in their lives. Expanded consciousness found its language in the metaphors of sci-fi—incredible powers, unprecedented mutations, time-loops and vast intergalactic intelligences—and the deeper influences of mythology and religion that these in turn drew from; the wildly creative work that followed caught the imaginations of millions. Moving deftly from Cold War science and Fredric Wertham's anticomics crusade to gnostic revelation and alien abduction, Kripal spins out a hidden history of American culture, rich with mythical themes and shot through with an awareness that there are other realities far beyond our everyday understanding.

A bravura performance, beautifully illustrated in full color throughout and brimming over with incredible personal stories, Mutants and Mystics is that rarest of things: a book that is guaranteed to broaden—and maybe even blow—your mind.

Is there a paranormal and hidden side to the history of comics?

What if comics are a Trojan Horse?

From the perspective of comparative mythology, the comic book mythology is like a cross-cultural bonanza. Especially when the paranormal experiences of certain artists are considered. It gives us insight into the way religions are inspired by paranormal forces and patterns which take on different forms in different ages. Forms that are so subtle and unconscious that they can influence the development of the superhero mythology right under our noses.

Inside the Trojan Horse are the same archetypes of the collective unconscious that are inside all the imagery of world religion, but as seen through forms appropriate for a secular culture of science in the atomic-age. It's an ever-renewing cycle... we write the paranormal as it writes us.

As culture changes, the symbolic forms that the archetypes take in art and religion change too. When we became an atomic culture, mystics became mutants. When we entered space, heroes and gods became astronauts and aliens. But turn back the clock and they become fairies and angels and gods and demi-god heroes.

Since the superheroes aren't real historical characters, we have to consider them as metaphors if we are to decode the language of the collective unconscious. Take for example Superman and his secret identity as Clark Kent.

"Absolutely. I mean, again the phrase, “the “human as two”” is meant as sort of the balancing point because of course the history of religion, the history of these experiences were usually understood to be some kind of God or deity or transcendent world intervening in the life of the person, wherewith these modern mystics, these authors and artists, they’re usually suspicious of those kinds of religious projections. They don’t see these experiences as proving the existence of God, per se, or some Heaven or some Hell.

They see these experiences establishing that the “human as two”, not that the human being is experiencing God but that the human experience of God is actually a human experience of some other aspect of the human being. God is, if you will, a name previous cultures and eras have given to this other part of who we actually are. So this ends up effectively divinizing human beings, but not the social self or the ego, not what I call the “Clark Kent” aspect of who we are but this sort of secret self, the other side of it that peeks through very rarely but fairly consistently throughout human history. So it’s really a way of trying to humanize and bring down the divinity into human experience." -Jeffrey Kripal

So, lets suppose that enlightenment is to us as becoming Superman is to Clark Kent, but in consciousness terms not in physical terms. Lets suppose that there is a part of us that we don't usually think of as a part of us... a part we sometimes call God.

Then what?

Comic books, especially superhero-based ones took off in the post-WWII era of nationalism and threats of nuclear war. The concept of the hero is timeless, and the 1940s heroes are prime examples of modernizing tales of Hercules and such.

Interesting thread. I feel many people aspire to BE the hero rather than be a beneficiary of his/her conquests.

Originally posted by BlueMuleI mean, we all know superheroes are just made-up characters, not like gods

Ahh, you what?

god is a made up character. Without silly humans, he'd be very lonely with no one to have written about him from the time when it was good to have a unifying god to scare all your converted followers into obeying your rules.

where do you think god is real?

Originally posted by winofiend

Originally posted by BlueMuleI mean, we all know superheroes are just made-up characters, not like gods

Ahh, you what?

god is a made up character. Without silly humans, he'd be very lonely with no one to have written about him from the time when it was good to have a unifying god to scare all your converted followers into obeying your rules.

where do you think god is real?

Where? Underneath the Clark Kent part of us. Just get to the fortress of solitude and find yourself.

reply to post by BlueMule


Serves our minds, so why not:



Path to higher consciousness begins with childlike innocence.

Promote action to gain various types of understanding.

Condense units of such understanding to council.

Integrate this council into a single director.

Utilize director to reach out to others.

Reach out to others via sacrifice.

Become sacrifice to expand.

Expand to unite as "One."

Originally posted by winofiend

Originally posted by BlueMuleI mean, we all know superheroes are just made-up characters, not like gods

Ahh, you what?

god is a made up character. Without silly humans, he'd be very lonely with no one to have written about him from the time when it was good to have a unifying god to scare all your converted followers into obeying your rules.

where do you think god is real?

What you don't realize is that the 'individual' you believe you are is a 'made up character', living in a made up world, made out of made up time. The individual is a dream of separation.
Where is time? Time appears as words - the 'idea of time' gives rise to an 'illusionary stage' for a 'pretend person' to play on.
Only the presence is real - have you ever known any other time but the present. You might hear words that say past or future, tomorrow or yesterday but they can only be said in the present. Past/future, tomorrow/yesterday are just words appearing presently - nothing can appear outside of presence.
If you realize 'presence' you will have realized 'God' - timeless being.
If you live as a 'person in time' you will suffer.

God is not a person who expects you to obey. God is all there is but if this is not realized then suffering happens.