Thor has had a rough few days:

• First he battles Surtur for Surtur’s crown.
• He returns to Asgard to find that his brother, Loki, has disguised himself as Odin and is ruling the Nine Realms. 
• After forcing Loki to drop his disguise, they head to Earth to find Odin.  Odin dies after he reveals a huge family secret — they have an older sister Hela who upon Odin’s death will attempt to take power and destroy everything. 
• Hela arrives on Earth and destroys Thor’s hammer. 
• On his way back to Asgard, Hela pushes Thor from the wormhole and he ends up on a distant planet run by an ego-maniac who enslaves him by placing an electronic device on his neck.  The ego-maniac pushes a button and Thor drops into unconsciousness forcing him into slavery.
• Thor is forced to fight the ego-maniac’s Champion, who turns out to be the Hulk. 
• After losing, sort of, Thor awakens in a room/cell with the Hulk. 
• The next day, Thor connects with Heimdall, asking to see what is happening on Asgard.  He is renewed in his struggle to find freedom. 
• After a temper-tantrum rage, he figures out how to get off the planet, and sets the plan into motion.

Thor Confronts the Valkerie

With the Hulk’s help, he is able to steal a control for the device on his neck from a fellow Asgardian warrior (the Valkerie) hiding on the planet as he confronts her:

Thor:  I’m putting together a team.  Its me, you and the big guy (Hulk)
Valkerie:  I think it’s only you.
Thor:  The Valkerie are legends, elite warriors of Asgard sworn to defend the thrown.
Valkerie:  Look I already faced her once and it cost me everything…That’s what wrong with Asgard, with the thrown…..
Thor:  I agree….This is not about the thrown.  This is about the people and they are dying…Their your people too.
Valkerie: Forget it.  I have…
Thor:  Fine. Go ahead and stay here and enslave people for that lunatic.  Keep drinking.  Keep hiding.  But me.    I chose to run toward my problems and not away from them.  Because that’s what heroes do.”

Personal responsibility invites us to run toward our problems, to face them with courage, authenticity and integrity.  As we acknowledge our responsibility and uncover that which inhibits us (our limiting beliefs), our consciousness is freed.  We are able to make the choice we desire, as opposed to the choice our limiting beliefs programmed into us.  This is how we reunite with our Power.  We free ourselves from automatic, pre-programmed responses that keep us safe.  When we run toward our problems, we are leaving that programming to remain safe behind us, freeing ourselves to change, shift, transform, grow and evolve.

Loki challenges Thor

Earlier in Thor: Ragnarok, Loki ‘visits’ Thor through astro-projection and attempts to sort of help Thor.  He suggests that Thor give up on trying to get back to Asgard to save the planet. 

Loki:  You are not seriously considering going back (to Asgard).  Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass.  She is stronger than you.  She is stronger than both of us.  You don’t stand a chance.  Do you understand what I’m saying to you?

Thor’s response is one of personal responsibility.  After challenging Loki to acknowledge how Loki’s actions have brought them here, he throws a bottle through Loki at the wall.  He is set upon getting back to Asgard and facing his problems, even if they were triggered by other’s actions.

When Loki abdicates responsibility, he gives his power away.  Loki is unable to feel for anyone but himself, unable to see outside his own selfish needs.   Thor, as he took responsibility for where he is in the present moment, stepped more fully and authentically into his power.  Thor, through personal responsibility, can connect into a reason why he should face his problems.  His heart is feeling the pain of his people, their cries for help, for justice, for protection.

Personal Responsibility invites us to think beyond ourselves.

As I wrote about earlier this week, it is challenging to take responsibility for the things that seem to happen to us.  It is a natural human response to place the responsibility on the one or ones who caused the situation, abdicating our role in getting there (whether it was through action or inaction).  When we do this, we become the victim in the situation/experience.

Loki’s victim-mindset

This is how Loki sees and experiences himself (“I guess I’ll just have to go it alone, like I’ve always done.”).  Loki feels like he has no choice — he needs to remain on the good side of the ego-maniac who runs the planet they are stuck on.  This is loss of power, victim-mindset.  That sense that you have to play the system, go it alone, wait for the one in power to make a mistake so you can take charge.   It is a way of being that encourages subjugation, apathy, silence; which in turn creates more and more power loss.  When you abdicate personal responsibility, you end up in a downward me-centered spiral toward powerlessness.

Thor’s hero-mindset

Thor choses responsibility.  We must face the challenges of our life.  When we acknowledge our role (responsibility) in getting to where we are, we tap into our personal power and are able to overcome the challenges life gives us.  Why?  Because we feel.  When you are willing to feel, you desire to create justice, compassion, and harmony.

When you are in that victim-mindset, it points you toward apathy, a numbing of your feelings.  Feeling hurt.  You feel stuck, unable to make a change, unable to see from a different viewpoint/perspective.  You are unable to take action to create what you want.  The despair inhibits your ability to create.

When you are in your Power, your feelings, no matter how painful, guide you toward a solution.  We, as humans, want to move toward healing, toward compassion, toward harmony, toward justice.  When we are in our Power and not in those feeling, we take action to create the experience we want.

You are able to step back, reassess, look at the situation/challenge differently, reach out for the help and resources you need.  When you are in your Power, you can assess the skills you have and seek out help with any additional skill you need to address the challenge/problem.

Personal Responsibility is contagious

Remember Marianne Williamson’s quote:  “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us…. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us….And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This is what Thor is doing.  It does not feel that way.  However, in each of the above conversations, Thor’s reflection of personal responsibility and his willingness to risk his life for others invites Loki and the Valkerie to reconsider their abdication of responsibility.  He shows them the way. 

For Thor can only defeat Hela because all three come together and work together to create the solution to their mutual problem.

Thor can only defeat Hela because he has taken responsibility and action, found the help he needed, and is willing to lose his fixed perspective to gain what he desires.  It all begins with his choice to run toward his problems….

What choice are you making?