Why the World Doesn't Need Superman
Do you ever feel like Superman? Like there is something inside you that can fly, can't be hurt and is from somewhere else because it just doesn't fit in our world? I do. I don't feel invulnerable about anything in reality, but inside me there is something that despite stupid mistakes or fear keeps on keepin' on.
Icons. Ideals. Ignorance. Superman is a proponent of all three. He knows a lot more than he says. Instead of showing us things he spends his time listening for danger and then flying to the rescue. Instead of helping us build a better world he is constantly trying to keep us from killing ourselves and others. The Superman inside of me is a lot the same. He hides in there listening, but until crisis happens he is content to pretend that he's Clark Kent. My main problem is that I don't want to jump off a building. I don't get shot at. Catastrophe doesn't happen daily in my life. I want to be Superman. I want to feel like I can fly. I want to be invulnerable. Or do I?
Do I want to pay the price for it? Superman only shows up in the dire straits, but do I want to live my life in constant danger? It's true that human beings feel most powerful when they are stimulated. That's why people go to rave concerts or skydive or anything else that gets the adrenaline pumping. I love how it feels when the endorphins are freed into my bloodstream. I can't stay up there for long though. If I'm an endorphin junkie I will likely develop a lifestyle of extreeme highs and extreeme lows because the human body just can't handle being stimulated 100% of the time. It runs out of chemicals.
But that's the ideal. Ideally everyone is stimulated all the time. It's what most of our icons represent. Marilyn Monroe, Taylor Hicks and Tom Cruise are all icons to us of stimulation. Granted, Tom Cruise isn't really a good example of the kind of stimulation people can relate to, but still he seems to keep himself pretty stimulated and is a great example of how unnatural it seems. While I'm glad that there is a part of me that is unbreakable, why do I have to support a world that idealizes unhealthy behavior? Because I want to be stimulated too! I feel great when I am, and when I'm not I feel like there is something missing.
Something is missing. It's not the cape. I've tried that. It didn't work for me. It's not the icons and the ideals. I know that I want stimulation, society has given me ample examples of why. What is it?
It's the man behind the symbol. I don't mean the S either. I mean the divinity. Each of us are divine. Whether we are stimulated, happy or not we are still a part of this universe. Just like a spec of dust cannot be snuffed out of existance neither can we. We are powerful beings. We are super men and women. We can't really fly. Bullets do hurt us. But there is something inside each of us that is really super. The real icon is a real Savior. We don't need a replacement for Him. He is what is missing. Everyone may recognise Him in different ways, or honor Him in various ways, but the fact underlying all of it is that He is real and we need to recognise Him more often. We need to remember to separate the icons from the ideals and keep in mind that there is someone who cares and will fly to our rescue in reality.
Icons. Ideals. Ignorance. Superman is a proponent of all three. He knows a lot more than he says. Instead of showing us things he spends his time listening for danger and then flying to the rescue. Instead of helping us build a better world he is constantly trying to keep us from killing ourselves and others. The Superman inside of me is a lot the same. He hides in there listening, but until crisis happens he is content to pretend that he's Clark Kent. My main problem is that I don't want to jump off a building. I don't get shot at. Catastrophe doesn't happen daily in my life. I want to be Superman. I want to feel like I can fly. I want to be invulnerable. Or do I?
Do I want to pay the price for it? Superman only shows up in the dire straits, but do I want to live my life in constant danger? It's true that human beings feel most powerful when they are stimulated. That's why people go to rave concerts or skydive or anything else that gets the adrenaline pumping. I love how it feels when the endorphins are freed into my bloodstream. I can't stay up there for long though. If I'm an endorphin junkie I will likely develop a lifestyle of extreeme highs and extreeme lows because the human body just can't handle being stimulated 100% of the time. It runs out of chemicals.
But that's the ideal. Ideally everyone is stimulated all the time. It's what most of our icons represent. Marilyn Monroe, Taylor Hicks and Tom Cruise are all icons to us of stimulation. Granted, Tom Cruise isn't really a good example of the kind of stimulation people can relate to, but still he seems to keep himself pretty stimulated and is a great example of how unnatural it seems. While I'm glad that there is a part of me that is unbreakable, why do I have to support a world that idealizes unhealthy behavior? Because I want to be stimulated too! I feel great when I am, and when I'm not I feel like there is something missing.
Something is missing. It's not the cape. I've tried that. It didn't work for me. It's not the icons and the ideals. I know that I want stimulation, society has given me ample examples of why. What is it?
It's the man behind the symbol. I don't mean the S either. I mean the divinity. Each of us are divine. Whether we are stimulated, happy or not we are still a part of this universe. Just like a spec of dust cannot be snuffed out of existance neither can we. We are powerful beings. We are super men and women. We can't really fly. Bullets do hurt us. But there is something inside each of us that is really super. The real icon is a real Savior. We don't need a replacement for Him. He is what is missing. Everyone may recognise Him in different ways, or honor Him in various ways, but the fact underlying all of it is that He is real and we need to recognise Him more often. We need to remember to separate the icons from the ideals and keep in mind that there is someone who cares and will fly to our rescue in reality.
posted by Luke at 10:29 AM
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