Hero or Zero: Discovering Your Superpowers

By Anna Maris Kirkes, Robert S. Maris and Taibi Kahler

Hero or Zero: Discovering Your Superpowers© is a guide for adolescents who want to explore their unique abilities or superpowers, how they communicate, what they "must have" in order to stay healthy, and how to use their gifts in effective and fulfilling ways. Readers will also learn to watch out for "Warning Signs" alerting them to often unconscious and unmet "Psychological Needs," "Deceptions" they may fall prey to, and the negative behaviors of their "Distress" sequence when trying to meet these Needs on their own. Ultimately, the purpose of this book is to help youth understand and find joy in who they were created to be. This book presents the Process Spiritual Model™ based on the original work of Dr. Taibi Kahler’s Process Communication Model®.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780990507413

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Superheroes | 01

What if you have a special gift?

What if there is something hidden inside of you that the world desperately needs?

What if you are a part of a plan so big you can’t even begin to comprehend it?

What if you are a...

Batman. Spider-man. The Avengers. Thor. Captain America. Green Lantern. X-Men. Fantastic Four. The Hulk.

We LOVE our superheroes. And the films, comics, and TV shows just keep on coming. We simply cannot get enough.

As a student of people and what makes us tick (or buy movie tickets), I ask the question: Why are we so captivated by the idea of superheroes? What makes them appealing enough to gross $65 million in one weekend at the box office? Why do we keep seeing new versions of the same superheroes, perhaps with a different main actor or a new and improved villain to combat?

Perhaps we keep buying those movie tickets because superheroes remind us that one individual can alter the course of history. That one person’s special gifts or skills—whether moving objects with her mind or shooting fireballs from the palms of his hands or controlling the weather or having spiderlike abilities— actually do matter in a life and death kind of way.

If Spider-man couldn’t climb up buildings, react to and sense his surroundings with spiderlike efficiency, New York City would have been destroyed a thousand times over. Toast. Demolished by various villains including but not limited to a huge Lizardman, the Green Goblin, and a menacing Doctor Octopus.¹ A disastrous fate avoided only by the presence of the friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

We all want to matter this much. We desire to believe that some quality in us, a previously unrecognized or underappreciated unique ability will unexpectedly save the day. That in the moment of truth, in the thick of the battle, we will be indispensable. And that our indispensability will be linked to what makes us most distinctly us.

But does this ever happen in real life, outside of the dark, popcorn-crunching atmosphere of a movie theater?

ARE THERE HEROES, SUPER OR NOT?

Check this out. Michel Lotito, featured on the Oddee blog of unusual or bizarre stories and facts under Real-Life Superheroes, is a man with a superhuman stomach. He can consume glass, metal, and otherwise toxic materials with no physical harm due to a uniquely thick and acidic stomach! Performer Tim Cridland can tolerate excessively high levels of pain, including skin punctures and scorching or frigid temperatures.² These physical skills are simply part of who these men are, not something they have created in themselves.

And superheroes aren’t just something of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. They go way, way back.

Meet Etti

For example, there was this lady...let’s call her Etti. Etti was raised in a country and in a time where women had few rights. In this culture, marriages are arranged, and women wear veils to cover their faces. No woman who knows what is good for her raises her voice to express an opinion in the presence of men, even in the presence of her husband.

Etti was lovely. If beauty were a superpower, Etti possessed it in full measure. And like many superheroes, Etti came from difficult circumstances. She was an orphan. Fatherless and motherless, Etti’s only family was a loving older cousin named Mori, who raised and protected her as his own. Both Etti and Mori were foreigners in their current land, originally from a small but proud country to the west. Here in this land, their religious views were considered unusual; yet they persisted in following their beliefs.

The powerful leader of the land began searching for a new wife. He had recently separated from his former wife due to some domestic squabble, and the nation needed a queen. Because of her stupendous beauty, Etti was chosen. From orphan to queen in one, stunning moment. Everything about Etti’s life was forever changed. Mori, Etti’s cousin, advised her not to reveal her foreign nationality and strange religious beliefs to her new husband, fearing that if she showed her true self, her very life might be in danger. Now Etti had more going for her than her beauty. She had wisdom beyond her years, and she possessed the ability to listen to sound advice and to obey. Admittedly, wisdom and obedience are not very glamorous superpowers...but these qualities eventually saved thousands.

In every superhero’s story, there arises a point of crisis. A climax of action that demands a response. And, usually, a dastardly villain who brings about said crisis through a desire for power and control. Enter Haamed. The king promoted Haamed to a position of greater power and honor, and frankly, the new position went to his already inflated head. Haamed demanded that ordinary folks bow down to show him honor. Due to his foreign religious beliefs, Etti’s cousin Mori refused.

Haamed’s anger at this slight was explosive. Like many villains, Haamed lost all sense of reality and became bloodthirsty. It was not enough to punish Mori; knowing of Mori’s foreign descent, Haamed determined to destroy Mori’s entire people.

Talk about over-reaction.

The situation is bad. Very, very bad. An entire people group about to be wiped out because of one crazy guy’s pride. And if Haamed’s plan is carried out, Etti, unbeknownst to the king her husband, could lose her life as well. The king listens to Haamed’s plan (really, buddy?) and authorizes this mass genocide. Life lesson here: be careful whom you hire as your trusted advisers.

Mori decides that it is time to talk. The clock is ticking for the lives of thousands. Who will save the day? Who is uniquely gifted and positioned to speak up to the king, to use her gifts and abilities on behalf of those condemned to die?

Etti. But like any good superhero plot, things are a little more complicated than a conversation over tea. Because if she approaches her husband without his first asking for her presence, Etti herself could be killed on the spot. Wandering into the king’s throne-room is something you just didn’t do, not even as a wife, not if you wanted to keep your head.

Mori begs Etti to do just that...to risk her life for the sake of thousands of her people. And Etti utilizes some of her best qualities—her ability to listen, to see the bigger picture, to take sound wisdom, and to follow clear direction—and risks.

Do you know what Etti says before her daring act of bravery?

IF I PERISH,I PERISH.

If that isn’t superhero language, I don’t know what is.

After praying and preparing, Etti approaches the king without his permission, no doubt steeling herself for any number of responses from welcome to immediate death. The king’s response: Whatever you ask for, I will give it to you!

In a climactic scene that looks more like a dinner party than a battle, Etti reveals to the king that her life too is threatened by Haamed’s petition against her people. She begs her husband to spare her and her people and to punish the true villain, Haamed. Though she does not fight with superhuman strength or agility, Etti’s bold plea defeats the evil villain. The king issues a new decree allowing Etti’s people the chance to defend themselves against attack, and after an epic battle, her people emerge victorious!

Evil villain—defeated. Evil plot to kill thousands— destroyed. Hero status—confirmed.

This is the ancient story of Esther, found in the Jewish Old Testament. I tell it to you because I believe it beautifully illustrates how someone ordinary can indeed be heroic. Esther’s beauty, her courage, her position as the wife of a powerful king, her willingness to listen to sound advice, her ultimate decision to risk her own life for the sake of thousands—all of these qualities and circumstances worked together to accomplish God’s plan of saving the Jewish people from annihilation. Could someone other than Esther have stopped this evil plan?

She was uniquely created, specifically trained, and personally called in God’s perfect timing.

May Parker, the loving aunt of Peter Spider-Man Parker, saw this potential to be a hero in every individual:

I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams...³

Do you believe the same could be true of you? Ultimately, does who you are matter? Not what you do or achieve, but simply who you are...the quirks and skills and strengths and weaknesses that compose the substance of your personality, your you-ness, your soul. This you-ness includes the circumstances of your life as well: your background, your family situation, the choices that have shaped you. God takes all of this mishmash and declares:

I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.⁴

I may not convince you that you are a superhero. But, I am trying to show you that however you have been made, whoever you are, you were created 100% on purpose. That you have been marvelously and uniquely made according to God’s design. That He likes who you are. And that you being you is exactly what God wants for you.

Living into who He has created you to be is part of God’s plan for bringing you satisfaction and filling your life with light and meaning!

Uniquely Created

Extrovert or introvert, athletic or not, planner or go with the flow, brunette, blonde or redhead—each small detail of how you have been made is part of a loving and good Creator’s plan for your life and for the world. You are unique on purpose. Esther’s stunning beauty may have looked like a simple gift of nature, the luck of genetics. But God created Esther as a knock-out so that she might be chosen as queen and thus save the Jewish people.

Specifically Trained

Our specific training for the purposes God has for us is often hidden in the back-story of our lives—those things we either take for granted or might rather forget. Whether you are good at math, English, music, or bikeriding, whether your parents are divorced or happily together, whether you have had every opportunity or have had to struggle each step of the way—all the circumstances of your life and background are used by God to train you for the good work He has for you. He wastes nothing. Simon Peter was by nationality a Jew and by occupation a fisherman. Peter’s heritage as a Jew made him a perfect ambassador for Christ to the Jewish people. Jesus used his training as a fisherman to make him a fisher of men. King David went from lowly shepherd to a Shepherd of God’s people. Though people are far from sheep, David had already learned what it meant to care humbly and selflessly for a flock.

Personally Called

Whether you believe you have what it takes or not, whether you are outwardly popular or impressive—God has called you to be a part of His great plan of redemption. God’s people throughout the ages have struggled with understanding why God would choose them to do great things, even with their failings or weaknesses. Moses became a great leader of Israel, obeying God to powerfully lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Yet Moses argued with God about his personal calling: But why me? What makes you think I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?⁵When God answered that objection, Moses countered with an even deeper insecurity: Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.⁶ Despite Moses’ protests and his self-doubt, he was personally called to God’s work. His calling on you is not a mistake. For:

He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.⁷

Identity Crisis

Every superhero goes through some major identity questioning. Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I the way I am? And those things that make me different and unique, are they burdens or privileges? Are they bad or good? Do they make me a better person, or do they just make me weird or complicated?

// Peter Parker, also known as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, struggles with the reality that his uniqueness means his life can never be normal: "Not everyone is meant to