The popular video game series Persona, which has become one of the most recognizable franchises in role playing games worldwide, is drenched in esoteric and occult metaphysics. Its stories involve a rebellion against a false deity that embodies the worst flaws and passions of humanity [...]

Comic books have traditionally been loaded with esoteric and occult symbolism, being a faithful reflection of the counterculture where they gained special importance as a means of transmitting alternative ideas to the prevailing materialist worldview. Their influence, moreover, has been growing over time [...]

The Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise is famous for its particular use of Christian, Gnostic, Kabbalistic, and psychoanalytic terminology and symbolism, many times twisting their original meaning to fit its narrative. Less well known, however, is the philosophical and religious origin of its central dilemma: the problem of the One and the Many.

Stoicism is an ancient worldview that has recently become popular as a solution to the hard times in which we find ourselves. In addition to providing guidance for creating hard men, Stoicism is first and foremost a metaphysical philosophy characterized by its pantheistic Monism, its Materialism, and its notion of a dual Universe, as well as by its cyclic cosmology and the primacy it gives to the notion of the Logos, or the Rational Principle of the Universe.

The interactive world of video games has experienced an enormous boom in its level of symbolism and the presence of metaphysical elements in its narratives. While inspiration from ancient myths was common from the beginning, nowadays the technology allows for more complex narratives that many times are full of repeating esoteric and mystical concepts.[...]

The Ouroboros, the snake that bites its own tail, is one of the most ancient symbols in existence, present in a multitude of ancient civilizations. Beyond its widely known meaning related to temporal cycles and the renewal of life, it also represents a concrete vision of Ultimate Reality: the Absolute.

Popular media is nowadays saturated with different layers of symbols that convey ancient metaphysical ideas. Whatever the medium in question, the same doctrines are repeated over and over again, showing a clearly intentional pattern. Among these tenets, the most insistent is that of an impersonal Monad as Ultimate Reality (the Absolute).

One of the most paradigmatic cases in modern popular culture where metaphysics plays an important role, although it is not always recognized, is in Marvel and DC comics. In both of them, curiously enough, we can find the same doctrines, which at the same time derive mostly from the same mystical and esoteric traditions.[...]

Neo-Platonism is famous for is description of its First Principle as The One. However, its impersonal Godhead, as well as many of its core doctrines, are common to most panentheistic systems of thought. Gnosticism was one of those systems, prevalent at the time and known by Plotinus, who criticized its negative view regarding the intermediate deity that they believed shaped and ruled over our world, the Demiurge.

Esoteric symbolism is nowadays not only present in mass media but also in more intimate ceremonies attended by the high political and economic spheres of the world, offering us a taste of the worldview that they may adhere to. One of them, the inauguration of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps, became especially famous for its dark and oppressive atmosphere, as well as for its pagan symbolism with satanic overtones.[...]

Gnosticism is a worldview highly represented in modern Western society. Its metaphysical basis, although often mistakenly classified as dualistic, is based on impersonal Monism. It is also characterized by its doctrine of gradual emanations, its conception of matter as intrinsically evil, its esoteric elitism, and the belief that knowledge is the only thing that can save us from this prison world in which we live, ruled by a tyrannical secondary deity.

Buddhism is a complex worldview composed of different traditions that have evolved along different paths. From the extinction of Nirvana pursued by Theravada monks, to the awakening of our inner Buddha-Nature pursued by Mahayana and Vajrayana practitioners, the goal of the different traditions, as well as the numerous means developed to achieve them, vary.