Book Excerpt: Leaving the Abyss
Excerpt from not Super but Human
In considering the Abyss as a great trial, I always find myself thinking of Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. Batman had his back broken and is thrown into a pit in the middle of the desert, helpless, as Bane throws Gotham City into anarchy. This is Bruce’s lowest point. A theme identified in the film is that Bruce Wayne essentially doesn’t care about his own life, and looks to eventually commit suicide by Batman, in a way. Though, in this pit, spirit and body broken, he is forced to confront himself. He rebuilds his body but fails to escape the pit, twice. It isn’t until he rediscovers his will to live that Bruce Wayne escapes his prison. In a wonderfully cinematic moment, he climbs to the precipice of the pit, without the rope as a safety net, symbolizing the acceptance of his will to live as a factor that will help him to bridge the gap between hopelessness and empowerment. Bats fly overhead, his face flooded with fear, then determination, as the bats represent him accepting and contracting with his personal demons. He takes the leap, grabbing onto the ledge that ensures his freedom. He escapes his Abyss, having taken with him a will to live he had to discover in the pit.
In facing your Abyss, you have an opportunity to strive for a version of yourself that does not allow these moments to define you. In doing so, you may further develop your identity as the hero in your story, having defeated this great dragon in your life. You may even learn how to make friends with this dragon, having made it out of the Abyss with an enhanced understanding of the creatures within it. An understanding that these forces, internal and external, are facets of life itself.