Superheroes and Philosophy

That’s from a section called “The Great Paradox” in Chapter 1: “The Real Truth about Superman: And the Rest of Us, Too.” (Contributed by comics writer Mark Waid.)

The Great Paradox? There are really two of them.

First: When Superman fulfills his authentic destiny, he is simultaneously helping himself AND helping others.

In his discussions on the self-actualizing individual, Abraham Maslow echoed this same basic idea. He tells us that the best among us move beyond the *apparent* dichotomies of life.

We’re able to say “Yes, and” to a LOT more stuff.

In fact, in our Notes on Motivation and Personality, we talk about the 19 characteristics of Maslow’s self-actualizing individual.

The 19th characteristic is on what he calls “Resolution of Dichotomies.”

Maslow tells us: “The dichotomy between selfishness and unselfishness disappears altogether in healthy people because in principle every act is both selfish and unselfish.”

The Second Great Paradox (which is really just part of the first): Superman (aka Kal-El) needed to embrace his alien heritage to show up most powerfully in our world.

More from Mark: “How does Kal-El connect with the world around him? Not by turning his back on his alien heritage, though that was certainly his instinct while growing up in a small town. No, he ultimately connects by embracing that heritage—by creating as an adult a new identity for himself that is as Kryptonian as Clark Kent is human. Kal-El knows instinctively that it is only when he puts his gifts to use that he truly feels alive and engaged. Only by acting to his fullest potential, rather than hiding on the sidelines behind a pair of fake eyeglasses, can he genuinely participate in the world around him. Only by being openly Kryptonian can he also be an Earthman with exuberance and excellence. When he lives as who he really is, in full authenticity to his nature and gifts, and then brings his distinctive strengths into the service of others, he takes his rightful place in the larger community, in which he now genuinely belongs and can feel fulfilled. It is no coincidence that, when the philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) wanted to understand the roots of happiness, he began to explore what it takes to live with excellence. Superman, in his own way, discovered the same connection.”

Gotta love it when Aristotle and Superman show up in the same paragraph, eh?

Superman living with arete-excellence expressing the best within himself to high five his inner (alien) daimon to live with eudaimonia for the win! :)

So… What is YOUR authentic destiny? How are you (and will you!) use your greatest strengths in greatest service to the world?

Here’s to embracing our inner alien a little more Today so we can be even more fully human.

High fives from me to Superyou.

P.S. Marianne Williamson’s epically inspiring wisdom makes an appearance in this chapter. It’s always worth keeping in mind. In A Return to Love, she tells us: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

That’s from Chapter 2: “Heroes and Superheroes.” It was contributed by our beloved philosopher Tom Morris and his friend, writer Jeph Loeb.

Exemplary, heroic humans have been celebrated for, well, pretty much ever. Why? Simple. They provide a shining example of what WE are (all) capable of.

A “normative concept” as the philosophers would say.

Let’s take a look at some ancient wisdom and modern science that echoes this perspective.

First, remember that SCIENCE SAYS one of the most powerful ways to build your confidence is to see SOMEONE ELSE do the thing you aspire to do. (See the Science of Self-Confidence.)

Ancient wisdom wise, Tom quotes Seneca. Two thousand years ago he told us: “Choose for yourself a moral hero, whose life, conversation, and expressive face all please you, then picture him to yourself at all times as your protector, and as your ethical pattern. We all need someone whose example can regulate our characters.”

So… Who are YOUR heroes? What potentialities within YOU do they reflect?

When at a choice point Today, how about we reflect on our Hero and ask him or her what THEY think we should do?

Combine their wisdom with our Optimus-best selves and we’re ready to rock.

That’s from a chapter called “Why Be a Superhero? Why Be Moral?” by C. Stephen Layman.

Stephen is a Professor of Philosophy who, and this no joke, once had a student named Peter Parker. (Hah.)

For those who may not know, Peter Parker becomes Spiderman when he dons the sweet tights and goes out to save the world.

So… Why be a superhero? Well… If we step back far enough from that question (which Stephen helps us do in his chapter), we see that the REAL question hidden in there is: “Why be moral?”

Which makes me think about Deepak Chopra and that book he wrote with HIS son. In The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes he tells us: “When people are connected with their superhero self, in touch with their true essence, they not only have the ability to change the world, they have an obligation to.”

In other words, as per Peter Parker’s wise Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Deepak also tells us: “Buddha, or “the enlightened one,” as he was known at this stage of his life to his disciples, proposed that there was a step more evolved than even enlightenment, or personal release from suffering. It was to share with others the wisdom gained and the experience of higher guidance, and in doing so elevate them to the same stage. Compassion in action. Love as the ultimate superpower encoded in total self-knowing and self-awareness.

Buddha called those who had evolved to this stage of sharing the ultimate truth bodhisattvas. It should be no surprise that the word bodhisattva translates as “heroic-minded one,” or in common parlance “superhero.””

In other words, as per Peter Parker’s wise Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Here’s to stepping up to that responsibility and giving the world all we’ve got.

Heroically. Today.

Those are the final words of the book. They’re from Tom Morris in the final chapter called “The Secret of Secret Identities.”

First, let’s talk about “heterosis.” What a fascinating idea. Cross breed two plants and get the best of both? I’ll take it!!

Kinda reminds me of Stephen Covey’s Habit #6: Synergy. He tells us: “Synergy is everywhere in nature. If you plant two plants close together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total weight held by each separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one equals three or more.”

(btw: Did you know that the root (pun intended) of the word synergy is from the Greek word sunergos and literally means “working together.” Yep. 1 + 1 = 3 when we do it right!)

Second, whenever I think of secret identities and superheroes, I immediately think of Todd Herman and his great book The Alter Ego Effect. He tells us: “Your Alter Ego is really about defining how you want to show up, defining the Superpowers, and borrowing the characteristics of an existing person, character, superhero, animal, or whatever to help Activate your Heroic Self.”

Then he walks us through some astonishing research on the power of pretending to be Batman (and/or Dora the Explorer). Get this: “The idea of using Alter Egos to create some distance between how you currently see yourself and how you’d like to perform is not only smart, it’s backed by research. A lot of my clients initially talk about how their Alter Egos protected them, only to later realize that their Alter Ego is actually who they always were and who they had always wanted to be.

This idea of creating distance between our identities is something that researchers are starting to validate. A recent University of Minnesota study of four- and six-year-old children found that to teach kids perseverance parents should teach children to pretend to be like Batman or another favorite character– because it creates psychological distance, the very thing my clients like Ian talk about, and what I’ve observed happens when people create alter egos.

The study split kids into three groups. The researchers put a toy in a locked glass box and gave the kids a ring of keys. The catch? No key work. The researchers wanted to see how to improve the children’s executive functioning skills and were interested in seeing how long they would try to unlock the box and what they would try. To help the kids, the researchers gave them what they called strategies. One strategy was to pretend to be Batman. The kids could even wear a cape! Dora the Explorer was a choice, too.

Researchers found that the kids who worked the longest were the ones who impersonated Batman or Dora, followed by children who just pretended, and, finally, the kids who remained in the first-person perspective. The kids impersonating Batman or Dora were flexible thinkers, they tried the most keys, and they were calmer. One four-year-old even said, ‘Batman never gets frustrated.’

The study shows us the power of identity–the power of how we see ourselves–and what happens when we, for a moment in time, can call forth a different self.”

That research was done over 100 years after one of the great American philosophers/psychologists William James said the same thing.

We talk about his wisdom in Richard Wiseman’s great book The As If Principle where he tells us: “The notion of behavior causing emotion suggests that people should be able to create any feeling they desire simply by acting as if they are experiencing that emotion. Or as James famously put it, ‘If you want a quality, act as if you already have it.’ I refer to this simple but powerful proposition as the As If principle.

This aspect of James’s theory energized him more than any other. In one public talk, he described the potential power of the idea as ‘bottled lightning’ and enthusiastically noted, ‘The sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness . . . is to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. . . . To wrestle with a bad feeling only pins our attention on it, and keeps it still fastened in the mind.’”

All of which leads us back to the ultimate question:

Who are YOU at your superhero-Optimus best?! Is TODAY a good day to act like that?

Fantastic. Up, up and away! Let’s do this.