Deepak is hip to the Superhero

Like a New Delhian Prometheus, the noted speaker and spiritualist, Deepak Chopra has stolen some of Christopher Knowles fire by authoring, along with his son, Gotham Chopra, a new book entitled… “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes.” As the readers of this blog know, Chris Knowles of Secret Sun fame is also the author of  “Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes.” Published in 2007 (well before Deepak’s work), here is a teaser for Chris’s book…

Was Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on Aleister Crowley? Can Captain Marvel be linked to the Sun gods of antiquity? In Our Gods Wear Spandex, Christopher Knowles answers these questions and brings to light many other intriguing links between superheroes and the enchanted world of estoerica. Occult students and comic-book fans alike will discover countless fascinating connections, from little known facts such as that DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz started his career as H.P. Lovecraft's agent, to the tantalizingly extensive influence of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy on the birth of comics, to the mystic roots of Superman. The book also traces the rise of the comic superheroes and how they relate to several cultural trends in the late 19th century, specifically the occult explosion in Western Europe and America. Knowles reveals the four basic superhero archetypes--the Messiah, the Golem, the Amazon, and the Brotherhood--and shows how the occult Bohemian underground of the early 20th century provided the inspiration for the modern comic book hero.

We at Tek-Gnostics find it encouraging that a pop author such as Deepak would “get on the superhero mythos bandwagon” and publish a work dealing with the archetypical importance of the role that superheroes play in the contemporary western psyche. Although Deepak’s work may be a little… shall we say… mainstream for our tastes, it is important that the philosophical poignancy of the superhero mythos is brought to a larger audience. Here is a segment of a review from PRWeb…

For readers who draw inspiration from comic books and movies like Ironman, The Uncanny X-Men, and Superman, Chopra's "Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes," which features original art by Liquid Comics artist Jeevan Kang, illuminates the path to becoming a spiritual superhero, teaching us how to wield the great power of the human heart to work real changes in ourselves and in the world around us.

These seven new transformative laws will help us all uncover greater happiness, courage, balance, creativity, compassion, and purpose. From Buddha’s search for truth to Batman’s struggle with his dark side, from Wolverine’s exposing his greatest fears to Hanuman’s divine gifts of inspiration, New York Times bestselling author Chopra shows us how each law has the potential to awaken us to our own super powers. Together these laws offer the potential to improve our lives and the world around us. They are:


The Law of Balance


The Law of Transformation


The Law of Power


The Law of Compassion


The Law of Intuition


The Law of Creativity


The Law of Transcendence


In THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUPERHEROES, Chopra points out that great superhero stories are our own. They are metaphors for the challenges and conflicts we face in our lives and the powers—or inner wisdom—we must mine from within in order to overcome those challenges and continuously evolve.

With a wider audience being made aware of the significance of the superhero mythos within our collective unconscious, perhaps more of us will be willing to entertain the religious, mystical and occult influences that the comic book genre has had on contemporary pop culture. Perhaps we will better understand our collective identification with the superhero as an integral part of who we are.

Here is a link to Deepak's Book