Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha

inherent in his confronted worldview—that was going to be a challenge for him, and that was going to be his first step. And it was my challenge to help him accomplish that.
    But before either of us could take that step, Colin first had to accept that I knew something he didn’t—that someone twenty years his junior was privy to secrets he was not.
    In order for anything else to happen, Colin had to accept my role in his quest: his guide, his friend, and his teacher. Just as Luke realized in that swamp on Dagobah, Colin had to realize—as you must—that Jedi Masters come in all shapes and sizes.

    ENTER THE MENTOR
    Within the context of the monomyth, the first real transition—the first step in moving out of the Ordinary World and into the Special World—is known as Crossing the First Threshold, which is stage four in the journey, for those keeping score at home.
    At this point the hero (you) has been shown that there is more to life than what he’s experienced. He’s come to an understanding that although he may not live in the Special World, it exists —and that realization fills him with fear and longing in equal measure.
    The hero is made aware that there’s a world outside his job—or his farm or his hometown, or whatever other incarnation of familiarity he is bound to—that there’s success outside his cubicle, that there’s a body he can’t (yet) see in the mirror.
    Unfortunately, mere awareness isn’t enough to pull the hero from the Ordinary World into the Special one. Crossing the First Threshold is often the hardest part of the journey, but of course it must be crossed in order for the story to advance—you must take the hardest step, the first step, in order to move forward in your development.
    In many cases, the idea of moving past the familiar and into the unknown is too great and leads to Refusal of the Call.
    At that point, the hero requires something—or someone —to help him get over the proverbial hump. It is no surprise that stage four often overlaps with another extremely important event: Meeting with the Mentor.

Work
Hero
Mentor
The Sword in the Stone
Arthur Pendragon
Merlin
Lord of the Rings
Frodo Baggins
Gandalf
The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins
Gandalf
Star Wars: A New Hope
Luke Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Professor Albus Dumbledore
The Karate Kid
Daniel LaRusso
Mr. Miyagi
Hook
Peter Banning / Peter Pan
Tinker Bell
The Lion King
Simba
Rafiki
The Monster Squad
Sean
Scary German Guy
Dracula
Jonathan Harker
Abraham Van Helsing
The X-Men
Wolverine/Cyclops
Professor Charles Xavier
Any Given Sunday
Willie Beamen
Coach Tony D’Amato
Major League
Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn
Jake Taylor
Rocky
Rocky Balboa
Mickey Goldmill
James Bond
James Bond
Q
Cinderella
Cinderella
Fairy Godmother
Men in Black
Agent J
Agent K
Myths of Hercules
Hercules
Chiron the Centaur
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Perseus
Ammon
Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire
Dicky Fox
Hitch
Albert Brennaman
Hitch

    It should come as no surprise that mentors play a role in creating a better life. Almost every successful person has a mentor, and the mentor archetype—or wise man—appears with the hero in nearly every story you’ve ever heard, from antiquity to pop culture; * in fact, it’s so familiar that it’s sometimes easy to overlook just how ubiquitous it is. Just to drive home how important it is for a hero to have a mentor to guide him on his quest, we’ve compiled a list of examples from some of the most popular books and movies of our time (see chart on previous page).
    In the above table, we touched on the first Star Wars film, but the relationship actually appears in nearly every episode. It changes a bit from film to film, but it’s there. Here’s a breakdown, arranged in order of the story’s chronology:

Episode
Hero/Student
Mentor
The Phantom Menace
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Qui-Gonn Jinn
Attack of the Clones
Anakin Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Revenge of the Sith
Anakin Skywalker
Darth Sidious
A New Hope
Luke Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The Empire Strikes Back
Luke Skywalker
Master Yoda

    In fact, the only episode that doesn’t prominently feature the hero/mentor relationship is Return of the Jedi . The reason for this is that George Lucas is a bit of a Campbell geek and recognizes the importance of the monomyth storytelling—and at the point that Jedi occurs, Luke is already a developed hero.
    No matter, Campbell—and apparently, most screenwriters—agree that mentors are hugely important, so whether it’s