Today we're exploring the fourth stage of being a hero (from Joseph Campbell's book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
4: The hero is encouraged by the wise old man or woman.
By this time many stories will have introduced a Merlin-like character who is the hero's mentor. In JAWS it's the crusty Robert Shaw character who knows all about sharks; in the mythology of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, it's Lou Grant. The mentor gives advice and sometimes magical weapons. This is Obi Wan Kenobi giving Luke Skywalker his father's light sabre. Buffy has Giles, and access to his resources and weapons.
The mentor can only go so far with the hero. Eventually the hero must face the unknown by himself. Sometimes the wise old man is required to give the hero a swift kick in the pants to get the adventure going.
What about you?
Do you have a mentor? Is there some wise person you can go to for advice, resources, or moral support? If not, how could you go about finding such a person? Or is it up to that person to find you? Is it true that "when the student is ready, the teacher appears" ? Or is it the other way around? Have you had a mentor in the past? Do you mentor others? Thoughts, ideas, observations?
We all
-
“We all not only could know everything. We do. We just tell ourselves we
don't to make it all bearable.”
~Neil Gaiman
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3 comments:
This is where I've wanted to be for a long time - having a mentor, a wise person, a knower of Shirley to go to for advice and insignt, for support and magickal tools.
This morning, Daniel and I had a great conversation about mentoring and what the heck is it anyway, and do I really need it, and in the course of that conversation I found myself a mail order husband (see him here: I Found My Man, and pulled an Osho Zen Tarot card which said, in effect: get simple and follow your heart. Anyone else have any insights or thoughts?
And it only just now occured to me that I must have found my mentor! Be it my heart, or the Osho Zen Tarot, doesn't matter! Either way I'm ready to move on to the next step. No, wait, I have to get simple first... ok... getting off the internet so I can get quiet.
Could you please be quiet so I can get centered. LOL Seriously I think my mentor(s) are my closest freinds, oh and books. But my ultimate source is the voice inside me. Which I believe is what the Osho card was saying.
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