The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Superheroes: Harnessing Our Power to Change the World [Hardcover]

When Gotham Chopra was young, his famous father Deepak incited his passion for comics by bringing him comics from India about Indian's legendary figures. Gotham now has a comic book company and uses writers and artists from India in their goal to reimage these Indian stories and bring them to the world. In The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes, written with his son, Deepok picks up the essence of his earlier book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes and applies it to the next generation of spiritual seekers using mythology from both Eastern and Western superheroes.

Notwithstanding, the book can be enjoyed by all ages. Even among us Baby Boomers, who wasn't impacted by Superman and all those other comic heroes we grew up with? (I myself have a nearly complete collection of Lois Lane comics, as she was my heroine!)

Each spiritual law has a chapter, each law building on the preceding law. The laws include balance, transformation, power, love, creativity, intention, and transcendence. (Interestingly, these are NOT the same laws found in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.) A concluding chapter is entitled, "Activating the Superhero Brain." Each chapter argues for the principle and includes examples of super heroes demonstrating those ideals. (Sometimes the applications of the superheroes to the laws are a bit stretched, as in calling it "transformation" when a comic character's mundane identity changes into his superhero costume.)

I would have like to have seen more real-life examples of the concepts. But there was one very compelling example from Deepok's life history: He demonstrated power by knowing instinctively what to do when a pregnant woman came to the emergency room having been shot in the head. He cut open her stomach and pulled out the baby from her womb!

Every chapter ends with exercises or principles for each law. For example, to cultivate power, welcome every day as a new day; be mindful of any tendency to react impulsively; do not give in to the luxury of distraction. My favorite one is on page 47, which has questions to undo beliefs such as in Bryon Katie's
"the work." This is probably the most important thing we need to do in order to transform.

As usual for Chopra, the book is filled with some interesting tidbits of info ("The body is not a structure; it's a process.") and great original quotes ("And fearlessness is, after all, a quality that stems from comfort with uncertainty.")
A quick and easy read recommended for anyone interested in mythology, comic heroes, or spiritual growth.

Susan Schenck, author of The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet
and
Beyond Broccoli, Creating a Biologically Balanced Diet When a Vegetarian Diet Doesn't Work

Whether or not we choose to pay attention to it, we all know the Law of Gravity is always in effect --often experiencing firsthand the consequences of ignoring this natural law. Dr. Chopra and his son, Gotham, in their new book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes: Harnessing Our Power to Change the World, build a compelling case for understanding and using the laws of superheroes to empower mere mortals with their superpowers. Through references to Batman, Spider-Man, Storm, Ram, Zeus, Vishnu, and others they teach us how these laws of superheroes influence our lives and how we can use them to quiet our mind and decide how we want to spend our lives.

When I discovered Deepak and Gotham Chopra would be in Albuquerque promoting this book, I knew I wanted to attend. The admission "fee" was simply to purchase the book from Bookworks, a local independent bookstore. (Deepak is an amazing presenter, and I encourage everyone to see him present in person.) Father and son love a good story, and each entertained us with stories that made us feel as though we were in private conversations with good friends. Although this book was not in my summer reading stack, its serendipitous arrival grabbed my attention; it is a delightful, fast read, appropriate for young adults through centenarians.

Each chapter includes clear, actionable superhero exercises to get you as far on the superhero path as you choose. In chapter one we learned from Batman's famous line from War on Crime: "It's not the moments of tragedy that define our lives, so much as the choices we make to deal with them." Batman, like many mythological characters, has embraced his shadow, the diabolical part of his soul, to understand and channel that energy into constructive behaviors. Dr. Chopra encourages us to commit to good physical and emotional wellbeing and maintaining a healthy relationship with our own shadows.

Empowering others is a key component of the Law of Power and at the heart of Deepak's core values. He felt so strongly that he needed to get his books published that he self-published his first book, and we all know this was a brilliant choice. Perhaps you, too, will be making brilliant choices if you embrace these laws.

"Superheroes have learned to live without false boundaries between the personal and the universal. Too often we identify only with an ego that drags around a bag of skin and bones. This then becomes a socially conditioned boundary that leads to a limited sense of self." -- From the Book

Pop culture and archetypal myth meets Chopra's characteristic chewy prose in his newest book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes, co-authored with his son and founder of Liquid Comics, Gotham Chopra.

Although only 167-pages, this books packs a quantum KAPOW! by showing readers the connection between superhero strengths and the Universal Field that mere humans can access, channel and embody for an integrated earthly existence.

According to Chopra--who uses diverse examples ranging from Silver Surfer to Icarus, Ram to Zeus, Jehovah to Spider-Man, Storm to Daredevil, Jesus to Superman--deities, legends and superheroes contain both the projections and potentialities of humans. By reading and studying their archetypal stories, we can learn what makes them "super", understand their fatal flaws, discover what orchestrates their triumph over darkness (whether from within or without) and apply these quantum lessons to our own life journey.

And, in The Seven Laws of Superheroes, Chopra connects the dots for readers, so even those who may be clueless about Doctor Strange, Beyonder, Lord Ravan and the like can understand the import of their stories for human potential and, indeed, global transformation.

So what are The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes? They are:

1. The Law of Balance
2. The Law of Transformation
3. The Law of Power
4. The Law of Love
5. The Law of Creativity
6. The Law of Intention
7. The Law of Transcendence

To give you a taste of some of the BOFF! wisdom in this book, here's a few of my favorite quotes:

* Superheroes understand that the moment they label or define themselves, they limit themselves.
* In superhero lore, the shadow often appears as the supervillain, but don't be fooled. In truth, the supervillain is just the superhero who's been sabotaged by an imbalance in the self...Maintaining that you do not have a shadow is actually denial of it, or standing in total darkness, cut off from the world. If you stand in the light, as superheroes do, then you will always see your shadow. With this awareness, the bright light of higher consciousness can keep an eye on the shadow saboteur.

* Superheroes like Silver Surfer don't just tap into the qualities of higher consciousness; they embody them. Like the great prophets, their selflessness comprises the highest ideals that we value as a civilization. When they look upon the world and everyone in it, they see themselves and ask, "How can I make things better?'

* Superheroes don't have to solve all of life's mysteries, because they ARE life's mysteries. With his knowledge, superheroes learn to do less and accomplish more and ultimately do nothing and accomplish everything.

* The superhero is independent of the good and bad opinions of others.

In less adept hands, correlating comic book heroes and mythological greats with practical self-help, spiritual truths and human actualization might result in a superficial mash-up of commercial (rather than cosmic) proportions. SPLATT!

But not with Deepak and Gotham steering the galactic superhero ship! No, we get the best of comics and culture--yes, both commercial and cosmic--but this father/son team demonstrates how we can reinvent our individual and collective stories to awaken dormant excellence, activate latent skills, intend for a better future and then DO SOMETHING to make our world a better place.

How cool is that?

ZOWIE!

-- Janet Boyer, author of lots of stuff