Question: For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass (57).
What such a figure [the old crone or old man] represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a reassurance - a promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first with the mother womb, is not to be lost; that it supports the present and stands in the future as well as in the past (is omega as well as alpha); that though omnipotence may seem to be endangered by the threshold passages and life awakenings, protective power is always and ever present within the sanctuary of the heart and even immanent within, or just behind, the unfamiliar features of the world. One has only to know and trust, and the ageless guardians will appear. Having responded to his own call, and continuing to follow courageously as the consequences unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the unconscious at his side. Mother Nature herself supports the mighty task. And in so far as the hero's act coincides with that for which his society itself is ready, he seems to ride on the great rhythm of the historical process. "I feel myself"; said Napoleon at the opening of his Russian campaign, "driven towards an end that I do not know. As soon as I shall have reached it, as soon as I shall become unnecessary, an atom will suffice to shatter me. Till then, not all the forces of mankind can do anything against me".(59)
We end this series of tough philosophical questions with an easy one. I cannot help but think of one of my favorite Bob Marley tunes when I read this quote: "Don't worry, bout a thing. Every little thing, gonna be alright"; What does Campbell think is the true function of the Mentor? Both in literature and in real life?
Napoleon's quote is poignant, and I have to wonder if he knew what was going to happen at Waterloo, would he have been so glib, but besides that he seems to have a pretty wonderful life philosophy here. What is it, and why is it wonderful?