{"id":967,"date":"2012-05-10T02:35:25","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T02:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/?p=967"},"modified":"2012-05-10T02:35:25","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T02:35:25","slug":"the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html","title":{"rendered":"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Avengers Assemble!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll make a deal with you.
\nI won\u2019t spoil the movie for you with this article, but rather explain to you why the movie is worth seeing, and more importantly why the mythology that made the Avengers possible is worth paying attention to.\u00a0 As of the time of this writing, The Avengers is leading at the box office, and receiving generally positive reviews.<\/p>\n

The Avengers is the 6th<\/sup> installment of the franchise that Marvel, and now Disney have been building since 2008; moving from Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger to the ultimate super hero movie: the Avengers.<\/p>\n

The reason why this film is so compelling, and why super hero movies are so popular in general, is because they speak to a basic human need.\u00a0 Since the dawn of time, people have been telling stories about heroes.\u00a0 Think about it, across time, we could have been telling stories about anything; and yet a few basic ideas keep coming up again and again.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

One of the biggest discoveries of the 20th century was Joseph Campbell\u2019s discovery of\u00a0The Heroic Journey<\/em><\/a>.
\nIn a nutshell, the Heroic Journey is a story where \u201ca hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed that Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and now the Avengers are all basically the same movie?
\nWhat the Heroic Journey teaches is that certain stories keep getting told again and again across time because they apply to all of us, and the stages we all have to go through in our own quest for spiritual growth.\u00a0 It\u2019s outside the scope of this article to explain all 17 steps of the journey here, but it would serve you well to read them and see how it applies to what you\u2019ve gone through up until now, and will probably face in the future.
\nWikipedia gives\u00a0an excellent overview of the stages<\/em><\/a>, and how they apply to famous stories and even bible passages.<\/p>\n

For our purposes here, let us talk about mythology, and how it still applies to our day to day lives.
\nYou may be wondering, what does mythology have to do with the Avengers? \u00a0The short answer is: everything!<\/p>\n

Thor and Loki come directly from Norse mythology; Captain America is basically Perseus, slayer of Medusa.\u00a0 Hawkeye is the Greek god Apollo, and the Black Widow would be Artemis, or possibly Athena.\u00a0 The Hulk would be Gilgamesh\u2019s wild friend Enkidu, and Iron Man would either be Hephaestus or possibly Icarus.<\/p>\n

But more importantly mythology was never meant to be a collection of \u2018boring old stories\u2019, but the living breathing history of the human race. It\u2019s a combination of actual events and fundamental lessons that should never be forgotten.<\/p>\n

The Avengers (loosely) combines to major aspects of Greek Mythology; in the previous movies we\u2019ve seen each of the characters go through their own small Heroic Journey, which lead them from their humble beginnings to becoming the heroes we know and love.\u00a0 \u00a0Now this film shows the journey as the team transforming from a group of individuals, into Earth\u2019s Mightiest Heroes!<\/p>\n

Again, rather than give any details about this movie, let us look at how our ancestors used mythology to teach us about who we are and where we come from.<\/p>\n

For instance, in Greek Mythology \u00a0Cronus, God of time, overthrew his own father Uranus who was the God of the Sky.
\nThen Cronus married Rhea (Goddess of motherhood and female fertility), and had his own children: Zeus (God of sky and weather, law, order and fate), Poseidon (God of the sea, rivers, flood and drought, earthquakes, and horses) and Hades (the King of the Underworld, the\u00a0God\u00a0of death and the dead).
\nIn time, Cronus\u2019 children overthrew him like he\u2019d overthrown his own father, a cycle that played out again in the hero Theseus\u2019 life, and his prophesied salvation of humanity.\u00a0 Theseus\u2019 story was told very recently in the extremely popular movie Immortals.<\/p>\n

But here is why this story is important:
\nBeyond just an interesting story about war, deception, intrigue, and sex (as if that wasn\u2019t enough!), these stories give an insight into the very foundation of reality and all of creation.\u00a0 Notice, Cronus (Time) is the offspring of Uranus (the Sky) and Gaia (the Earth). Without an earth and sky to observe, how would we even know time was passing? Once the limitations of a 24 hour period was established, it was possible for the Earth\u2019s own creative ability (Through Gaia\u2019s daughter Rhea) to combine with time (Cronus) to give rise to weather and seasons (Zeus), oceans, tides, and droughts (Poseidon) and even death and an underworld (Hades).<\/p>\n

Add to that the continuing evolution from huge general concepts like Uranus as the entire sky, and the entire Earth (Gaia) down into a more concrete time (Cronus) and femininity (Rhea) into the even more distinct forms of their children Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. And their children are even more specific.<\/p>\n

For instance, Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) has an affair with Ares (God of War) to give birth to: Deimos (fear, dread, terror), Phobos (panic), Harmonia (harmony), and Eros (love). Passion and aggression can unite to create both beautiful and terrible things.<\/p>\n

Thousands of pages have been written about mythology across thousands of years, so there is far more that could be said then I have space to write.
\nIf you want to find some easy introductions to mythology, see Immortals, or Clash Of The Titans (new or old)! Or NBC did a great version of\u00a0the Odyssey\u00a0<\/em><\/a>a few years back and there is also\u00a0Troy<\/em><\/a>, which was like the Illiad without the Gods, but still tells a good story.<\/p>\n

Or even go to the book store or library and check out a children\u2019s book on mythology; don\u2019t feel embarrassed, it is easier to get started when it\u2019s written in plain English! Every nation on Earth has their own mythology, if Greek isn\u2019t your thing, maybe Chinese, African, Native American, or some other nation or culture\u2019s is!<\/p>\n

I hope you see and enjoy the movie, but even more I hope you start a love affair with the same stories that have captivated the minds of people for thousands of years.<\/p>\n

And when you see the Avengers, make sure you stay through all the way to the end; there are two scenes after the credits!<\/p>\n

You are great, and I love you!
\nAnd if you love me back, click ‘share’ up at the top!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
B. Dave Walters
\nWriter, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host<\/div>\n
\n

Find out more about me:
\nhttp:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalter<\/a>s<\/p>\n

Ask me anything:
\nhttp:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Pages I support:
\nJesus and Buddha<\/a>\u00a0— Interfaith dialog<\/p>\n

Gnostic Theism<\/a>\u00a0— Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)<\/p>\n

Love One Another<\/a>\u00a0— A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ll make a deal with you. I won\u2019t spoil the movie for you with this article, but rather explain to you why the movie is worth seeing, and more importantly why the mythology that made the Avengers possible is worth paying attention to.\u00a0 As of the time of this writing, The Avengers is leading at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,80,35,15,29,38,88,49,48,30,17],"tags":[95,3,58,34,13,12,11,109,36,14,26,25,24,59,42,50,96,113],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotions-2","category-family","category-getting-over-it","category-god","category-happiness","category-hope-inspiration","category-mind","category-religion","category-spirituality","category-the-past","category-universal-law","tag-avengers","tag-b-dave-walters","tag-bible","tag-breakthroughs","tag-change","tag-emotions","tag-gnostic-theism","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-life-coach","tag-peacelovemoney-com","tag-psychology","tag-relationships","tag-scripture","tag-self-talk","tag-spiritual-but-not-religious","tag-super-heroes","tag-universal-law"],"yoast_head":"\nThe spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019 - A Reason to Smile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019 - A Reason to Smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ll make a deal with you. I won\u2019t spoil the movie for you with this article, but rather explain to you why the movie is worth seeing, and more importantly why the mythology that made the Avengers possible is worth paying attention to.\u00a0 As of the time of this writing, The Avengers is leading at…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Reason to Smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-10T02:35:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/avengers-cast-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"B. Dave Walters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019 - A Reason to Smile","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019 - A Reason to Smile","og_description":"I\u2019ll make a deal with you. I won\u2019t spoil the movie for you with this article, but rather explain to you why the movie is worth seeing, and more importantly why the mythology that made the Avengers possible is worth paying attention to.\u00a0 As of the time of this writing, The Avengers is leading at…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html","og_site_name":"A Reason to Smile","article_published_time":"2012-05-10T02:35:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/avengers-cast-300x168.jpg"}],"author":"B. Dave Walters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html","name":"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019 - A Reason to Smile","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/avengers-cast-300x168.jpg","datePublished":"2012-05-10T02:35:25+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-10T02:35:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/#\/schema\/person\/bcf42d892eff535aad3a062b7d9534c9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/avengers-cast-300x168.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/avengers-cast-300x168.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/the-spiritual-lessons-of-the-avengers.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The spiritual lessons of \u2018The Avengers\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/","name":"A Reason to Smile","description":"Beliefnet Voices - B. Dave Walters","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/#\/schema\/person\/bcf42d892eff535aad3a062b7d9534c9","name":"B. Dave Walters","description":"B. Dave Walters is like a mix between Joel Osteen, Tony Robbins, and the Old Spice Guy. He is the winner of the \"Be the Next Beleifnet Featured Blogger\" contest for Beliefnet.com in the Hope & Inspiration category. He is also the host of Rise UP with B. Dave Walters on Party 93.4 FM out of Hudson Valley, New York, as well as a nationally syndicated columnist on the topics of spirituality and relationships for the Examiner.com. He is the author of one book, \"49 Lost Secrets of Peace, Love, and Money\". For years, friends and relatives looked to him for guidance and support during difficult times, and he realized at an early age that his purpose in life was to serve and inspire. While touring as a personal coach with a prominent rock band, he was discovered by one of the top trainers of the Anthony Robbins companies, which lead to him settling down to open and operate a Marketing, Business Services and Coaching firm in Los Angeles. Armed with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, he brings the same discipline and determination that helped him earn Black Belt rankings in Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi to all areas of study and focus. In addition to earning a degree in English from Morehouse College, he has mastered the science of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and other communication, healing, counseling and spiritual systems from all over the world. He brings his empathy, insight, and vast personal experience into all his relationships, which has lead to him being one of the most sought after Coaches in the world today. He lives in Burbank, California with his wife and two daughters.","sameAs":["http:\/\/about.me\/bdavewalters"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/author\/dwalters"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":971,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}