Gurren Lagann and the Birth of Odin

For this extraordinary episode, I’ve tailed the script into three segments. The first is for everyone, whether you’ve seen the show or not, so no spoiler warnings just yet - you’re free to enjoy. Then there will be the first spoiler warning - in which I will discuss episode 1, which is a safety net for those who haven’t seen it, are curious about it, but don’t want to ruin the whole thing. Then there will be a second spoiler, in which I highly encourage ANYONE who hasn’t seen the show, to stop watching and enjoy the full series, and then come back because we’ll be going deep into the whole thing!

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, translating mostly to Heaven Piercing Crimson Face - is a show about the transformation of the soul. It’s about brotherly bonds and finding true love, and recognizing when someone else is oppressing you and overcoming the evil forces at all odds. It’s a narrative on modern society and the spiritual movements that lead to a collective awakening of the human spirit, and rising to overcome our inner deadness and become full of life, love, and burning willpower! It’s about the activation of the human DNA and the intrinsic evolutionary spiral power inherent within each one of our hearts and how if we work together - there is nothing we can’t accomplish! It’s a story of redemption, grave emotional hardship, the craziest trials and tribulations, and above all else - it’s about learning to believe in yourself.

Honestly, words cannot describe the love that I have for this show. It planted some spiritual seeds within me when I was in high school, which activated several years later during my spiritual awakening at 19. The show has been so meaningful to me that even plant medicine will show specific scenes or character arcs in a ceremony from time to time, to teach me lessons, and you’ll also find references to it in Patch Tarot. 

As a fair warning, not only is the show amazing, hilarious, and epic as epic can be - it’s also wildly sexy. There’s no shortage of fan-service here, and I genuinely believe this was done to get more young men to watch it and wake up to higher spiritual wisdom. 

Gurren Lagann is an expression of the lessons of brotherhood, and along with FullMetal Alchemist, there aren’t too many shows like it that hit this mark dead center, straight and right. Gurren Lagann will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and with every single episode, except maybe chapter 4, you will find yourself loving this show more and more until it’s done, bringing out an ending more epic than epic can be - it’s bittersweet, it’s beautiful… honestly- this show is a force to be reckoned with. You can probably tell, I have an affinity for this adventure, and so I am thrilled to present you with this extraordinary episode - Gurren Lagann and the Birth of Odin.

 With that, here is our first spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen the show but want to get a feel for it, keep going. Here’s the hidden spirituality of Episode 1.

Gurren Lagann begins with Simone the Digger and his Brother in Spirit - Kamina. The entire concept spirals around the bonds of brotherhood and the spiritual connection that we form in life with those we care about. At this point, humans are all living underground, isolated from other pockets of civilization. There is a very strict dogma in their village - there is no surface, and anyone who believes that there is a surface is a foolish fool, so they don’t dig upwards because of how ridiculous an idea is.

Right from the start, we have this metaphor for our society and the dogmatic ideologies in the world. In the story, the people all live in darkness, and they are convinced that there is no such thing as the expansive surface. The conversations of higher spiritual or heavenly realms, astral dimensions or other similar concepts are often ridiculed, despite a never-ending stream of testimonials from individuals who have personally experienced these different planes of conscious awareness.

Speaking to Simon and Kamina, they beautifully depict a man in his fullness, and a boy in his weakness. Kamina fulfills many roles for Simon, supporting him and reminding him that he is meant for something great. Simon, who is a digger - is told by Kamina that his drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens! It’s beautiful to see how Kamina’s encouragement gives Simon the confidence and motivation to believe in himself. He says, “Don’t believe in yourself, believe in me that believes in you!” 

The moving lesson here is that so many of us today struggle with confidence and self-worth issues. There are many introverts, shy; we make ourselves lowly and weak and stay in the shadows of the world. Then others are outgoing, confident, and sometimes brash and arrogant, which Kamina is. This is very important because the world needs these kinds of people to pair up. If you are confident and healthy and see someone who is shying away on the inside from stepping into their inner power - you can be that strength for them, and that is such a special thing. In fact - to you who is watching this, if you can’t believe in yourself, believe in me that believes in you. Because I believe in you, and the world is ready for you to shine your light be the highest expression of who you indeed are! 

What’s remarkable here is that Kamina mostly plants this seed within Simon. He sees the light in Simone that even Simon doesn’t know there, and by telling him, reminding him, encouraging him over and over, Simon grows as a person to overcome the obstacles he faces. 

One of the things that are very motivating here that gives Kamina his strength - was his father and experience that he had when he was a child. His father sought to find the surface, and he was also called crazy, but one day... he did! Kamina was with him, he saw the surface with his own eyes, and while he didn’t stay with his father up there, he knew it was true. This is a powerful lesson in TRUTH. When we experience the truth, even if the world tells us we’re crazy, we know it deep down.

On a spiritual level, this is akin to having a mystical experience in life, perhaps synchronicity, an out of body experience, or some mystical experience that proves without a doubt for us that there is something more significant than the mundane world we are presented with. Even in the face of scrutiny and ridicule, you keep on believing, because you know in your heart that it’s real. These scenes depict an awareness striving for something more significant in the face of those who would mock and ridicule, which we all must do if we are to attain a higher light. 

Throughout this first episode, Simon discovers this little drill necklace and a giant face underground, revealed to be a mini-mech that he can ride in. Kamina names it Lagann, which represents the vehicle of our soul, but I won't be able to explain that until later. 

Everything changes when suddenly, a massive mech falls from the ceiling, illuminating the cavernous village. Along with it comes a compelling woman named Yoko who swings in firing a large rifle. Yoko is a character who, throughout the series, is revealed to have tremendous depth, and stands as a powerful archetype of the divine feminine. She’s not a girly girl as so many women are depicted to be, and despite her outfit, she isn’t just there for the looks. She is a strong woman entirely in her power who can fight off giant mechs single-handedly with nothing but her rifle. Throughout the series, she carries many very human moments, with a wide range of emotional depth. 

Yoko teams up with Simon and Kamina and explains to them that this mech is called a Gunman and that she comes from a nearby village. They do battle against the great enemy, and from an unknown source of power within Simon, as he overcomes his fear, Lagann ignites with energy and they blast off into the sky, destroying the enemy gunman and liberating themselves from the cavern, and into the surface world - giving us a view that’s so beautiful, it makes for excellent desktop wallpaper. 

Alright, if you’ve not seen the show yet - this is as much as I can give you. I hope this is enough to inspire you to watch it because it genuinely is an INCREDIBLE show. If you have any intention to view the full presentation, I’d recommend giving it a go first, because you don’t want to ruin the surprises that await throughout this series. 

 Now, we’re about to enter a spoiler void. Please DO NOT PASS THIS POINT UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN IT! OKAY?! 

 OKAY. 

 See you on the other side… maybe!

 ~ ~ ~

 So, was it worth it to wait and watch it?

One thing I love about this show is that it wastes no time. In contrast, from the beginning of his journey, it took Goku 575 Episodes from landing on the planet earth to embodying cosmic ultra-instinct superconsciousness. Naruto took over 700 episodes to become Hokage and Luffy… jeez, it’s been over 900 events, and he STILL hasn’t found One Piece yet! 

But Gurren Lagann? 27 Episodes take no time at all to go from living underground suppressed by the entire universe, to the ultimate colossal superconscious mega ultra cosmic Gurren Lagann! I mean seriously! They do not waste any time! This is important because not all of us have time to watch 900 episodes of Luffy not finding his treasure. 

Built into the fundamental fabric of this show - The ability to believe in anything makes it possible. Kick logic to the curb and do the impossible! We can see this practice throughout human history - how many people told the wright brothers that it was impossible to build a flying machine? How many people said Michael Faraday that he was insane for believing in the electromagnetic field? Yet, these people in history felt in something more significant than the limits of what society said was true, just like the village chief in Jiha village. They created and discovered things that completely changed the world forever. 

To that end, we also see the wisdom of the ancients coming through. The powerful mech that Simon finds in episode one is a remnant of an ancient technology known to humanity. Today, we say “hogwash! There was no advanced technology so long ago,” - and yet we have evidence of ancient civilizations with advanced technology in several different ways all over our planet, from Gobekli Tepe to the Baghdad battery. And this weaves in very well to Episode 5, as Team Gurren falls into the pit of Adai Village, and discover that this isolated community believes that the Gunmen are face-gods from the celestial lands. 

There are so many lessons and allegories from this one episode alone, such as how the theoretical perspective of the village is used to keep their town from overpopulation due to the lack of food they have, and how they would necessarily kill people by sending them to the surface, except its under the guise that they are going to some supreme world. It’s curious then why they all wouldn’t just go there freely, with this belief, which is very similar to the process of Ascension from Cloud Atlas, where the slave women would be killed, all the while believing they are about to ascend. This episode stands as a lesson to the use of dogma to shroud the truth. Once conditioned to a particular way of being, especially after generations of these beliefs, some people are simply not ready to hear the truth. When Kamina tries to tell everyone the truth, the people of the village reject it. 

The episode title, mirroring Kamina's line, is called “I don’t get it, not one bit” - and I think this reflects how many people feel when looking at other belief systems and perspectives of the world. It takes a gentle mind and compassionate wisdom to understand that the leader of Adai village knew the truth all along. He deceived people because he could see that the people were not at a level of consciousness to receive the fact, at least not without creating havoc in the village. Herein we find a valuable lesson for all of us - Team Gurren was forced to leave the town and move on, they were not in Adai to be saviors of anyone, even though it may have felt good to awaken everyone - we must learn for ourselves that we cannot save anyone. Still, we must each follow our path to its completion, and let go of others on their way. We cannot take anyone except for those who are already walking alongside us or choose to join us on our journey. 

Continuing throughout the entirety of the series, starting with Episode 3 - is the principle of Combining! Brotherly, epic combining! Combining seems like a fun idea on the surface, but how does it practically relate to any of us? It’s quite simple - the truth is, we gain tremendous momentum when we can collaborate and work together to make things happen. When we put our heads, hearts, and bodies together, items become more accessible and more possible than ever! Take Spirit Science, for example - Team Spirit, the name of which was inspired by Team Gurren - is comprised of this ragtag team of people from around the world, and together we do things that would be impossible for one to do alone. 

If you think “Wow, Spirit Science is great! Go, Patchman!” Just remember that behind Patchman is an entire team of people. Sure, we have a Simon, but we also have our own Yoko, Kittan, Dayaka, and everyone that makes it possible to produce all of the videos and content that we do! Everyone whose enrolled in Spirit Mysteries is contributing to the spiral energy that allows Spirit Science to level up and evolve, so if you’re in Spirit Mysteries - you are also a part of Team Spirit! This is the power of combining, bringing our energies together to make things happen, to make the impossible, possible! 

Now, moving on - I think Episode 4 is a test to see how many people will react, vs. Respond. You might have noticed the animation is weird, and the story on this one doesn’t lend TONS to the show. This episode was animated differently because it had a different director. It was a bit of an experiment on the part of the producers. Some people see it and think, “oh, this show went to crap” and stop watching. Yet, for those who see it through, you get some heavy-hitting deep stuff in the immediate next episode, and the rest of the show is beautiful and moving all the same. 

Continuing in these core themes of the show, we have fighting spirit - which is more than just a feeling, but a mysterious power that allows their machines to activate and even increase in power. We see this from Episode 1 when Simon suddenly getting fired up creates a surge in Lagann, and this is a continuous thing throughout the show. It even allows Gurren Lagann to repair itself in the middle of battle temporarily. Kamina’s attitude here, in the face of EVERYONE telling him he’s insane, brings about one of my favorite micro-scenes in television history. 

*play scene* It repaired itself? FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!”* 

He just yells at them with this told you so attitude, I mean come on, weren’t you listening to me all this time?! 

What’s especially surprising here is that they weave this into the core of the show at the deepest level. Fighting spirit is a reflection of Spiral Power, the limitless untapped potential within our spiraling DNA. And this ALSO holds a convenient lesson for all of us. Here’s a short example - When I was a kid, I played soccer on a team. I remember several times when I was there, out on the field, being exhausted and weak, but time was running out, and we needed a goal. I’d get fired up somewhere within me, so I would get so motivated inside to perform that out of nowhere. All of this energy would surge through me, and it was as if I could temporarily repair my systems and provide my body with peak performance. 

Sure, we can call it adrenaline on a physical level, of course - yet it was the burning will-power, this feeling within me that motivated me into that state in the first place. In many occasions, I would start running or moving faster than I usually would, and helped the team to turn around and get those last-minute goals! The adrenaline wouldn’t have kicked in if the motivation was not there.

Now, I know this is not exclusive to me, so the lesson here is that this burning fighting spirit lay dormant within you. It’s waiting for you to turn the key of your drill, activating the motivation to do the impossible, see the invisible, row row, fight the power! 

This motivating drive is one of the show's driving forces, and we see a brilliant unity here between Kamina and Simon. In their combining, they form the head and the heart of everything they stand for and believe in, both literally and figuratively. However, we also see the counter energy to this; what happens when fear takes over? It makes sense that Simon, the one with the most fear, would be seated in the Head of Gurren Lagann, representing the Ego before and after self-actualization. Simon is forced to learn some painful lessons, even fatal when Simons's fear ends up distracting the team in an epic battle, and Team Gurren suffers a deadly blow to the heart. The death of Kamina. 

Up until this point, Kamina carried this thing almost single-handedly. He was the one who inspired humans to take control of the Gunmen. He was the one who gave everyone this dream that they could be free and overcome the tyranny imposed on them. He inspired everyone to believe in themselves against all of the odds and no matter the opposition… and then, suddenly… he was gone. 

Instantly, everyone has lost their faith. What’s more so, they discourage Simon from his greatness too. Kamina always said it was Simon who gets them out of a bind, and it was Simon who had the keys of importance within him, that it was HIS drill that would pierce the heavens… yet, when Kamina was gone, nobody believed this anymore. Nobody showed faith in Simon, and in fact, they treat him like he’s nothing, a loser, a wimp. 

And we must understand that because of Kamina’s death - Simon becomes a mopey, angry, very emotional little guy, but yet it’s impressive to see how other people treat him as a result. Because he’s not acting like a leader, they cast him aside very quickly, leading to one of the most emotionally challenging three episodes in anime history, at least in my books. It’s such a sharp turn for the series, yet it’s so incredibly necessary because Gurren Lagann - while on its surface might seem like it’s about mech fights and explosions, reveals that it’s about so much more than that. 

Because of this twist, we get to experience deep emotional heartbreak. We get to see Yoko having some extremely human moments and overcoming the loss of the man that she loved… Perhaps most of all, we discover that the show itself is not at all about Kamina, as much as he was the center up until this point. The show is about Simon - about the individual who didn’t, and couldn’t believe in himself due to his traumas in life, like losing his parents. The lesson here is that it’s about all of our souls, that light within us - rising into becoming genuinely incredible people, embodying the light of who we are. 

Yet, as a door closes, a window opens, and we have the introduction of a new character named Nia, with a very different energy. She represents the innocence and purity of the world, nature, and human consciousness. She is literally like a flower, which you can see by the way her eyes are drawn. She is also the next step for Simon in his journey of learning to believe in himself. One of my favorite scenes of the show is that after his three episodes of Trauma, Simon saves the entire team, comes to Nia's rescue, and defeats one of the Spiral Kings generals. It’s so moving but not because it’s a heroic rescue, but because it’s the first time when Simon steps fully into manhood. It’s a coming of age when he reveals that he is not his bro, but he is himself, and his bro lives on through the emblem on his back, and inside his heart forever. 

His bro set the stage for his ascension, and Simon will keep moving forward, keep drilling to the heavens, and overcome all obstacles in his way. Several places in this show make me well up, and this is one of them. He expresses the real quality of his soul, and even his entire team just watches with amazement at how incredible and beautiful soul shines are. From then on, they see it too, and they know what Kamina saw from the very beginning. They believe in Simon, and it fuels all of them to save the world from the Spiral King's tyranny. 

And now let’s just jump straight there. First, it’s worth exploring the name itself. He is the spiral king, Lord Genome. A genome is a complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism, so Lord Genome is named as such because he is the overlord of spiral power of the planet, controlling and maintaining that people stay at low spiral energy, while also creating the Beastmen to rule over the world and keep people from standing up for themselves. Yet, he reveals that no beastmen will ever be able to stand up to a spiral being entirely in their power, which also carries a powerful lesson for us - that the spiral power, that burning energy within us, when truly awakened is infinite. 

In the Spiral King fight, there is so much on the line, but it doesn’t seem like Simon himself is enough to defeat Lord Genome, who has the same tech as Simon, but a more muscular body. Yet, in the final moments of their epic duel, Simon defeats the Spiral King with his core drill, demonstrating that the power is not within the robots, but within the people, flowing through us all - and he explodes Lord Genome, leaving a massive hole. The spiral king plummets to his death, but not before giving a grave warning… That the moon shall one day become hells messenger and destroy this world… 

It’s fantastic because we get all this way in the series and you think “hm, this would make for a great ending!” - but we haven’t even gotten started yet! Season 1 ends with the fall of Teppelin, the Spiral King's order, and a new world to emerge, a world where humans can live on the surface… 

 ~ ~ ~

Seven years later… Wow! I must say, seeing all of these beautiful characters all grown up was fantastic to see where this show was going, and there’s no stopping the powerful reflections on human consciousness. After the 7-year jump, we know the world has taken an entirely different form… Reflecting on modern civilization, what happens as more considerable technological advancement is given to humans, and even shows how people behave today. We see this with people focused so much on themselves and their luxuries, taking for granted everything that brought about their liberation, and forgetting the past struggles from only seven years prior. 

They have forgotten the courage of Team Dai Gurren. Even the old Jiha village chief, which was horrible to Simon and Kamina, now has all of this wealth and status, saying things like, “oh yeah, I raised those boys.” It’s such a stark contrast to how things were, and a strong reflection of the world, how humanity generally isn’t very heart-centered… they can be, but how quick we are to forget when there is the potential for luxury and wealth. Let this be a reminder for us to stay in the heart, as Simon does, no matter what circumstances befall us. 

What’s worse, with no more battles to face, the warriors of Team Gurren are forced into becoming political leaders, which - interestingly, is exactly what is described by Avatar Airbender in the transition to Korra, another series that we will one day explore in Hidden Spirituality. The job is especially hard on Simon, who suddenly finds himself having to sign stacks of paperwork, a position that just really isn’t suited for him at all. Out of all of Team Gurren, the one with the most sense about her is Yoko, who leaves the team to go and become a teacher way off on basically Hawaii, which reflects her following her dreams and passions. 

The one who is most suited for leading a civilization is also the worst for it all - Rossiu, who has a lot of ego blocks he has to overcome first. He becomes a great leader by the end, no question, but in his position, there is a lot that he too has forgotten about the days of the triumph over the spiral king and the power of the spiral in general. He doesn’t truly understand the nature of the spiral and is led by fear because of his upbringing in Adai village. Because of this, and his fear of the prophecy of the moon from Lord Genome, he actively sets his goal on controlling and maintaining the population of humanity to protect them, but doing so becomes a tyrant in his own right, inflicting rigid control over everyone, forcing people from their caves even if they didn’t want to leave… and then later, forces Simon to trial, and also sentences him to death. 

We are shown a lesson here of the power of fear to destroy faith. The people are so quick to blame Simon for making the moon fall, they live in terror of their demise and don’t have faith. We also find the lesson that it’s far easier to point the finger, instead of taking responsibility for ourselves. Not only is everyone ungrateful for the lives that they now have thanks to Simon and Team Dai Gurren, but they are also instantly to reject him and throw him under the bus for the impending doom to come. Further, Rossiu is more interested in people's cheers and making the people “satisfied” rather than doing the right thing and solving the problem at its core, and a great piece of wisdom is revealed here. When you live in a fear-based mentality, freedom is not an option with that kind of thinking.

Rossiu says to Simon, “you know nothing, Jon Snow,” when he was the one who knew nothing but acted as if he did. Spiritually speaking, we can look at this whole thing and see the influence of fear on our lives. Rossiu actively lives from fear in all of his decisions until the Arc Gurren returns to the Earth when he realizes the true nature of Spiral Power. Fear causes him to become a rigid tyrant, fear causes him to close his heart to his friends, and while fear can be a powerful motivator in life, we must see the results that we create when we act from fear ultimately only leads us down a path of despair. Also, a side note - the Arc Gurren is likely a reference to the story of Noah’s ark, as the Arc Gurren is a great vessel that Rossiu wants to use to help humanity to survive the impending cataclysm that is coming towards them, with the Moon crashing into the earth.

Now, be mindful that there is a difference between fear and caution, for Rossiu could have acted very similarly, except being more open-hearted, keeping people informed about what he was doing, and how he felt. Instead, by keeping everyone in the dark, he created a division between the truth, his team, and the entire human population. This is another great lesson for us all, to live in reality, and to remain open, especially with those we love and trust. This is especially important for political and social leaders in the world today, by keeping information from the public, we limit others from having proper information to make informed decisions. 

Speaking of uninformed decisions, we also see Gimmy playing out a familiar role that many young people experience growing up - arrogance. Gimmy is so proud of his mass-produced Grappurl machine, talking about how the old Gunmen were outdated - yet the Grappurls are ineffective against the Mugan because they were not designed to fight such an enemy. Gimmy shows arrogance and ignorance towards Simon, before being humbled by the revelation that he cannot take on the mugan, and needs Simons help. 

Okay - so one significant twist in the show throughout this is that - when the millionth human is born, Nia is suddenly overtaken by anti-spiral consciousness, and serves as a messenger, speaking about the destruction of humanity to prevent the spiral nemesis. For the rest of the season, Nia is no longer herself but mentally enslaved by the anti-spirals, who we’ll explore shortly. This is a profound reflection for us, in that the divine feminine, and the christ Sophia, the pure-hearted feminine christ consciousness - that which Nia represents, has been lost or purged from the world. Nia disappearing movingly shows us this, which fuels Simon to the show's inevitable conclusion. 3 

Now, as the show continues, more of the truth is revealed to us. Until episode 18, the show is shrouded in mystery. What is spiral power? How does this all work, why does it work? Up until now, it hasn’t been explained… and then, at last, we get some answers. We discover that Lord Genome, who we all thought was a villain, was protecting humanity to survive all along! Does that information suddenly change your perspective of him? In a way, he is benevolent, perhaps his methods were cruel, yes, but if not for him, humanity may very well have gone extinct entirely.

Speaking of changing our perspectives, perhaps one of the most remarkable and most heartwarming transformations is found with Viral. For all of season 1, Viral is one of the main enemies, continually showing up with the Spiral Kings generals to try and subdue the team. However, after the fall of Teppelin and the time skip occurs, he is trying to protect humans, giving them the freedom to live underground if they wish, where Rossiu is forcing people to the surface count them. 

After Simon and Viral are imprisoned together, the once enemies become friends, ultimately leading Viral to pilot the body of Gurren Lagann, Kamina’s seat. When Viral first sits down in that chair, it is such a heartwarming moment, because it shows the transformation through illumination, wisdom, and love. There is no better pilot than Viral for this final mission, showing that Beastmen and Humans - or people of an opposing mentality and consciousness, can work together for the betterment of all. Sometimes, it just takes getting to know someone else better. Deep down, we all share a common understanding that brings us altogether if we can get to the heart. What’s more, Viral is sitting in the center of the body of Gurren Lagann, a demonstration of his care, even though he’s a beastman. 

This transformation with Viral was prophesied throughout, though, in a way that most people would miss. The name of his Mech was Enkidu - named after the character from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, a character who is quite literally a beast-man, a wild man who roams in the wild with the lions and the bears and the other creatures of the wilderness… In the Epic of Gilgamesh, he transforms into a more normal human, after being introduced to them, and mating with a woman. So the fact that Virals name is Enkidu indicates that he too - over his story - slowly transforms from more of a beast-like individual to a more conscious and awakened being. x

Now, we discover that the war between the spiral races and the anti-spirals was the secret cause of everything from the very beginning, and the Anti-spirals represent those who would push down human evolution and progress, stopping the inherent spiral power within us because they believe it would lead to the destruction of the universe. We see this in the world today, the Anti-Spirals are reflected by the corporations, social systems, and politicians who would seek to slow down evolution and direct the focus into keeping things from changing, out of fear of what would happen if humanity was to attain too much power. 

What’s more, the anti-spirals also represent that part of ourselves, which colonizes our desire to grow and evolve by keeping us little. It’s like the part of Simon who didn’t believe in himself, that was afraid, that would keep himself small- which means the Anti-Spiral energy is within us - as they describe at the end, they are trying to inflict absolute despair, to quench the human spirit from wanting to spiral, to grow at all. 

The Anti-Spirals are also noticeably enjoyable because they are different kinds of enemies, not physical. Still, energy, or a particular consciousness imposing control, so they are animated entirely differently. Their weapons are almost wholly animated in 3D - demonstrating that they are more like energy bodies than real bodies. We also see this with the Anti-Spiral himself, who is animated 2D because the Anti-Spirals were once spiral-beings, but changed their DNA and became a different kind of being, so they are animated with scribbles instead of typically drawn like everyone else, and his colors are inverted. Usually, character outlines are drawn in thin black lines.

What’s more, we even see a fun visualization from the Mugan, which demonstrates what it might look like to move between dimensions, which is an entertaining way of visualizing multidimensionality. And I mean, how amazing is it to see the Ark Gurren Lagann punch the mugan so hard it rips a hole in the space-time continuum. I wonder if we opened up a dimensional portal, might it look similar in real life? 

And of course, there is the revelation that the moon isn’t real, which was probably drawn upon from the conspiratorial source material that suggests that the moon isn’t real, or was placed there artificially by aliens, due to several curious synchronicities about the moon that stand out and indicate that the moon is not a naturally occurring phenomenon on the planet. Its size and position in alignment with the Earth are so precise, such as being a perfect match to the sun to create a complete solar eclipse, it seems like it didn’t just appear here so correctly in an ancient collision so long ago, but seems to be carefully calculated and precisely shaped and place to offer such unique alignments to our planet. Even the great Geologist and educator Randall Carlson today provides us with the wisdom - the Moon is one of the greatest mysteries for all of humanity today. We would do well to take that mystery seriously, and not pretend we have all the answers to the secrets of the moon. 

Now, I don’t venture a guess, to tell the truth about the moon in this particular video. Still, it’s interesting that Gurren Lagann draws upon this, and offers this idea that the Moon is a giant Gunman itself, the Cathedral Terra, but which had been purposed by the Anti-Spirals to become Hells messenger, watching over the planet and destroying all of life if the human population grows too large. Further, they later show that the real moon also exists, but was hidden in-between dimensions. After the Cathedral Terra is free from the Anti-Spirals control, they can retrieve the actual satellite, which restores the gravitational balance to the planet. Fascinating material!!

At last, only after this, we are explained Spiral Power, which they do in a brilliant way, where Leeron explains all of the details about it. Nobody gets it, and so he simplifies it for everyone. Essentially, the Spiral Power is the infinite helix spiraling power of our DNA, but manifests as Fighting Spirit, and that Love powers the universe, and it is through the power of love that we can break through the limits that bind us, and do the impossible! 

Leeron also offers another piece of wisdom when he is on the Ark Gurren… The Faster we spin - the faster we break free of the bonds of gravity. We can relate this not just to severity - but that “raising our vibration” breaks free of the relationships and limits of our old life and sets us on a course for a new kind of tomorrow! 

What’s also uniquely special, that after Rossiu realizes his grave mistake and tries to kill himself, Simon offers him the same advice that Kamina gave him all of those years ago. You better grit those teeth! Followed by words of compassion and wisdom. We all make mistakes, sometimes we need to have a loud wake-up call, to snap out of our funk, but that doesn’t mean that we are inherently bad or wrong… We keep moving forward. This is especially amazing because when they return to Team Gurren, everyone forgives Rossiu as if nothing happened. They treat him as if he was one of their own, with a compassionate understanding of what he went through and the tough position he was in. Powerful lessons of forgiveness right here, indeed! 

We learn that Simon and Nia have a love that extends beyond time and space, and through Simons love itself, they can track her to the farthest reaches of the universe, and even into other dimensions where she is hidden. It’s curious too; the Anti-Spirals are presiding in their own created aspect, between the 11th and 12th dimension, demonstrating their artificial imposition upon the universe and created reality itself. This, in a way, reflects the Demiurge's idea, a concept that we previously explored in our Hidden Spirituality episode of Final Fantasy 7!

Finally, seeing the way that the Anti-Spirals are animated and operate also reveals to us more wisdom we find within the Emerald Tablets of Thoth - The difference between the Curved Dimensions vs. Angled Dimensions, that the realm of angles is dangerous, speaking to the difference between organic vs. inorganic. 

The legendary Team Dai Gurren band together for one showdown, the final battle against the forces of oppression, and head out into space. When they finally meet the Anti Spirals, they appear as these bizarrely elongated ships with many faces. Hey, who the hell do you think you are, having so many faces?! These ships represent vessels of absolute despair, existing purely to inflict torment upon the spiral life forms. Their smaller ships are hands and feet with singular eyes, which speak to the manipulation of heartless beings, forcing others into submission. They do this by pushing the Cathedral Terra into a dense mass of energy, that actively drains their spiral power.

What we discover here is that they are now inside of a giant anti-spiral toroidal field. It is eerily reminiscent of the Martians synthetic Merkaba's idea from the Spirit Science Human History Movie - using natural forms and forces but for evil purposes. At first, their solution to this is to increase their spiral output, but eventually, Simon gets too tired to keep up this energy and needs a new plan. Another piece of hidden wisdom comes from their solution - to destroy the energy field at its core. 

We can see this as a common problem in today's world, as often when we face a challenge, the default response from most people is to treat the symptom, instead of going to the core. Yet, going to the center, which sometimes is more complicated, has much higher rewards. It is sad, yet a very heroic end to Kittan, who surrenders his life for the more significant cause, manually flying in and destroying the anti-spiral vortex. Amazingly though, Kittan is not truly dead. It is only his body that dies, as later on, we see Kittan and the other comrades who died along the journey in Simons's vision when he becomes trapped in the labyrinth of his mind Anti-Spirals… So let’s jump there!

This is one of the final significant challenges of Team Dai Gurren, even once free of the anti-spiral field, and releasing tremendous spiral power, they are then trapped mentally by the Anti-Spirals, once again showing the method by which people are controlled in the world today. We are manipulated by our beliefs, our ideas about who and what we are, or what the future may hold, and it stops us in our path. The Anti-Spiral then walks freely around the deck of their ship, multidimensional space. 

Yet, it’s not over - because the way we free ourselves from this entrapment is to find the truth within. First, we see Simon does this by connecting with the spirit of Kamina. He is presented with an alternate reality, one where they live under the capital, stealing from the beastmen and living off the riches. However, then we jump to seeing them being caught, and this version of Kamina falls into submission, begging for forgiveness. Yet, a second Kamina appears to Simon and asks Simon to choose which version he likes. One is the Kamina we all know and love, and the other is the one kneeling on the ground like a dog. 

This scene presents each of us with a choice. Which reality will we choose? We are creators of our realities, but we are trapped within our minds, each of us. We have to be the ones to choose freedom, doing what’s hard to create massive change in our lives… we can do this, we can make each free ourselves of our entrapment, but it takes recognizing that we have a choice first. Simon delivers a mega punch to the false Kamina and reclaims power over his mind. In a very emotional scene, he says goodbye to Kamina for the last time, something he didn’t get to do the first time that Kamina passed. 

Simon transforms and whisks himself away back to the Anti-Spiral fight and Nia. We are then shown the same scenes with the other members of team dai Gurren, what fantasy is playing out inside of everyone's minds, keeping them trapped there. Yoko’s story is especially moving. Kamina assists her in her mental release, and Viral is revealed to just want a loving family deep down in his heart, providing even more depth to the nature of his being. 

And then… The entire team Dai Gurren warped to Nia just in time, and we entirely a few fantastic lines, it’s a special moment! 

Even when trapped by the Karmas cycle, the dreams we left behind will open the door! Also, if the universe stands in our way, our seething blood will determine what will be! We’ll breakthrough time and space and defy all who would stop us, grab hold of our path! 

The final battle is just legendary… It’s so epic that words cannot even describe it. You just have to see it. And - if you’re a true fan of the show, and want to go all the way, you can watch the movie version, which takes it to a whole other level, with each member of the team getting their galaxy-size gunman, and then they all merge into a universe-size Gurren Lagann too. 

What’s impressive is that in the final fight, the Anti-Spirals decide to fight on equal terms now. They no longer resort to tactics like spiral absorbing fields or mind control, and this is another lesson for us. That our egos, the force within us that keeps us limited, inflicts fear and despair that energy can only fight you at your level. It will never be a power higher than that you can achieve, so they cannot be more reliable than the spiral beings when operating from max capacity. 

When the fight is done, the anti spirals are destroyed, and the game is over. They can return home and receive cheers from the entire universe who witnessed the battle. Free of enslavement, the whole world may now explore what it means to exist unobstructed by the imposed limits of the anti-spirals. 

Now… the ending of the complete series is something that sometimes gets people a little riled. Simon and Nia get married, and then suddenly, Nia disappears, robbing us of our happily ever after ending that seemed like was a shoe-in at this point. The idea is that the anti-spirals created nia’s consciousness. So she was no longer able to exist for long after they were destroyed, and to be honest - the movie version did a better job of revealing that ahead of time, as a method of the anti-spirals trying to inflict despair on Simon during their fight, because it does come as a bit of a shock for viewers at the end. 

Yet, the lesson here is sound. It is revealed that the story is once more, not about what we think it was. It is Simon's journey, yes - but it wasn’t about Simon finding love; instead, it was about Simon becoming his sovereign being. It was about him finding completion as a human, as a soul, not leaning on, nor relying on others to help him lift himself. Upon the end of his story, he walks away, not sad or angry about Nia leaving, but accepting the completion of the journey. He is not trying to use spiral power to bring back people who have died because they would just get in the way of the new people coming into being. 

After the credits, we also get our first and only post-credits scene, where we see Leeron and Rossiu as older men, having organized intergalactic councils of spiral life across the universe, a meeting of the greatest of civilizations to discuss the future of spiral lifeforms, and making sure that what the Anti-spirals said about spiral lifeforms destroying the universe - doesn’t come to pass. We also see Simon as a wise hermit, reflecting Odin from Norse Mythology. He is the wise wanderer, and even one of his eyes is illuminated with spiral wisdom, another reference to Odin - who only had one eye. 

And so - we finally come to what may very well be the deepest parts of this entire show... What everything has been building up to from the very beginning. The birth of Cosmic Wisdom within Man. In Norse Mythology, Odin gave many sacrifices to attain divine wisdom and to understand the workings of the cosmos, and here we see this reflected within Simon. The idea here is that Simon is ultimately a man who within himself took on the responsibility of breaking through the limitations imposed upon not just him, but the entire universe. At the end of his quest, he becomes a keeper of sacred knowledge, a sage who wanders the world, taking care of others, planting the seeds of wisdom everywhere that he goes. Even though the child he helps at the end was not ready for this cosmic understanding of the spiral, he still imparts simple wisdom to the boy - the virtue and power of being gentle with one's energy, and that the lights in the sky are stars\. We are apart of something so much bigger than we know…  

With that… I guess that’s it. I mean, there’s always more! One of the main theme songs of the show, Rap wa Kan no Tamashii da, teaches us amazing lessons throughout the show, every time it plays. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of rap, but I can listen to this song on repeat for hours. It teaches us to Do the impossible! See the invisible! What you’re going to do is what you want to do, just break through the roof and see the truth! It also even has lines telling us to open our third eyes, and that the revolution ain’t never going to be televised. We cannot expect the mainstream media to cover the awakening of consciousness and the transformation of humanity. We have to be the ones to connect and make it happen ourselves. 

Bringing this mighty episode to a close… I just have to say - this show has such a special place in my heart. It was a massive part of my awakening journey in life and is so much more than just a show. It’s an encoded message for us all about liberation, truth, and freedom. Maybe this is just me, but I’ve had ayahuasca journeys that used the archetypes in this show to teach me lessons about myself. I can’t watch it without crying, and even writing this script brought me to tears more than a few times with just how beautiful and well presented these ideas are. 

Thank you, Gurren Lagann, for being such a moving teacher in my life, and the lives of all those who connect with it. And thank you - for watching through this massive episode. I hope you enjoyed it thoroughly, and may this episode of Hidden Spirituality aid in your deepening of wisdom in all aspects of your life. 

If you enjoyed this, and want to connect more in-depth, I might suggest exploring the seven-day transformation. Using a number of the same wisdom teachings found within this show, we have created a seven-day course that helps you create lasting change in your life to live a life free of the imposition and limitations upon you. If you connected with this episode, or any aspect of Spirit Science, consider checking this out by using this link or in the author's comments below. 

Thank you again, be blessed, and we’ll see you again for something new, very soon!!