Ghost Rider

[DISCLAIMER]

When living in a children’s home from half of seventh grade to the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, and then again for the remaining half of my senior year, I was introduced to the Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider. According to one source:

Ghost Rider is the name of multiple superheroes or antiheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider.

The first supernatural Ghost Rider is stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, who agrees to give his soul to “Satan” (later revealed to be an arch-demon named Mephisto) to save the life of his foster father. At night and when around evil, Blaze finds his flesh consumed by hellfire, causing his head to become a flaming skull.

He rides a fiery motorcycle and wields blasts of hellfire from his body, usually from his hands. He eventually learns he has been bonded with the demon Zarathos. Blaze is featured in the series Ghost Rider (vol. 2) from 1972 to 1983.

The children’s home in which I lived was sponsored by the Churches of Christ, as any form of entertainment media that glorified evil was forbidden. Nevertheless, residents found ways to sneak in material such as comic books, Playboy magazines, hip hop cassette tapes, and so on.

Many of these items were also attainable when living with my mom, before abandonment by sending my younger sister and me to live in the children’s home. In retrospect, it was in my best interests not to remain in the care of someone from whom traumatic stressors stemmed.

Also, the reason there’s a gap in my residential placement from my sophomore year through half of my senior year is due to having been taken in by a family with whom I attended church services. They had a daughter who was one year my junior, who I’ll call “Antebellum.”

I was head over heels in love with her. Yet, as stated in a blogpost entitled DND, “Unwaveringly, the mother of the family told me there was no scenario in which Antebellum and I would ever be permitted to date, let alone marry.” This relates to Ghost Rider, as one source states:

Johnny was deeply affected by the abandonment of his mother to the point that it caused him to repress many memories that he had of both her and his siblings. Shortly after the loss of his mother, Johnny would also lose his father Barton to a stunt accident and came to be adopted by their friend Crash and his wife Mona Simpson.

The couple hoped to hide the truth of Johnny’s painful past from him and instead fabricated a less tragic backstory for him, including that his mother “Clara Blaze” had died. Johnny grew up happy among the Simpson family and grew ever closer to his foster sister Roxanne, leading to their relationship growing beyond a familial sibling bond as they fell in love.

Whether relating to abandonment from my mom or romantic attraction to a non-biological sibling, Jonny Blaze’s backstory was somewhat similar to my own. As far as committing my soul to Satan in order to save the life of another person, Blaze’s story diverges from mine.

Still, I knew nothing about the psychotherapeutic modality I now practice – Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) – and so I experienced a Hell of my own making. Whereas Blaze chose to endure suffering when becoming Ghost Rider, I was tormented by my own beliefs.

For context, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, and not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as self-disturbance.

In essence, people hyperbolically sell their souls to irrationality (illogical and unreasonable beliefs). Addressing how people upset themselves with such attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive assumptions in order to explore Effective new beliefs.

Additionally, REBT uses the technique of unconditional acceptance (UA) to relieve suffering associated with one’s own hyperbolic Hell. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance.

Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who developed REBT, was reportedly “devoutly atheist” while simultaneously able to demonstrate “how core REBT values and principles are compatible with many religious systems of beliefs.”

Although Ellis may not have believed in Hell, I recall a time when I once did. While I’m currently agnostic about spiritual and religious matters, I remain aware of how similar Jonny Blaze’s backstory is to mine, as well as the parallels I maintain with Ghost Rider.

For instance, when residing in the children’s home, I began the informal practice of life coaching. Though not fighting crime, I set out to improve the level of functioning and quality of life for residents of the home, as well as some of the staff that worked on campus.

In adulthood, I became a psychotherapist and continued to try to help people with matters such as major life transitions, over and above which includes the impermanence and uncertainty of existence. In specific, a large portion of my practice involves existential matters regarding death.

When contemplating this matter further, I’m reminded of a time when it seemed as though No Limit Records released an album per week from its extensive panel of hip hop artists. One such act was the rapper Young Bleed, hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On his debut studio album My Balls and My Word (1998), Young Bleed released the track “Ghostrider” that was produced by Happy Perez. Lyrics include:

‘Cause you never know

And every day could be your last day

Smokin’ blunts, flickin’ ashes in your ashtray

With a pistol full of lead, when the light turns green

Steady trippin’ off them voices in my head

“Voices” in Young Bleed’s head relate to either thoughts or beliefs. The former is descriptive while the latter is prescriptive. Thoughts merely suggest things (e.g., every day could be my last day). Alternatively, beliefs demand things (e.g., every day shouldn’t be my last day).

While it’s natural for people to describe things, such as an aversion to death (e.g., I hope that I don’t die today), unhelpful prescriptions about the inescapability of death are what cause self-disturbance (e.g., I mustn’t die today). Even in the tale of Johnny Blaze, death is inevitable.

If a child living in a children’s home during seventh grade could accept the inexorableness of death, I suspect that you can also agree to its obviousness without use of inflexible conditions (e.g., if every day could be my last day, then I oughtn’t to be content with the days I have left).

Favorably, I’m able to daily practice UA regarding both descriptive and prescriptive “voices in my head.” This is how I’ve come to not upset myself pertaining to the 2007 film Ghost Rider. (If you’ve seen it, then you likely understand why disputation of unhelpful beliefs may be needed.)

In any event, I’m a fan of Ghost Rider for a number of reasons—not the least of which is a reminder of my forthcoming death. (It’s only a matter of time.) While I haven’t exchanged my soul with a malevolent spirit, I have chosen to try to help as many people in life before I depart.

Instead of using hellfire in this regard, I advocate use of Ellis’s model to un-disturb oneself. If you’d like to know more about REBT, then I look forward to hearing from you while there’s still time. After all, as stated by Young Bleed, “every day could be your last day.” There’s still time!

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, artist: NostalgicSUPERFAN, property of Marvel Comics, fair use

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