There are generally two types of motivation for finding singular links: collaborative motivation and individual motivation. Collaborative motivation primarily seeks to benefit others; individual motivation primarily seeks to benefit the self. Collaborative is outward-facing; individual is inward-facing. Let’s unpack them both.
Collaboration
Collaborative motivation is a sharing process. In the same way that a teacher inspires understanding in a student, a mentor provides guidance, support, and expertise to a protégé. Mentors are those who nudge their young apprentices onto their journey. In mythology, literature, film and folklore, they provide an amulet or talisman to aid them. Obi Wan Kenobi gives Luke Skywalker the light saber. The Good Which Glinda gives Dorothy the ruby slippers. Gandalf gives Bilbo the ring. In The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo the red pill.
The mentor provides a spark that helps to ignite the transformation from an ordinary life to something extraordinary. The young seeker sets out on what turns out to be an epic journey, encounters resistance, overcomes adversaries, confronts fears, and escapes the threat of death; she learns valuable lessons, grows in wisdom, matures, and graduates to a higher level of mastery; she eventually returns home, transformed to the role of mentor herself, providing the sparks to ignite the next generation of seekers.
Sometimes the hero is scarred by the trials of the journey. Luke Skywalker loses an arm. Frodo Bagggins loses a finger. These scars symbolize the price paid for attaining wisdom. In Norse mythology, Odin literally sacrifices one of his eyes as a price to drink from the well of wisdom. He becomes transformed to the “All-Father,” the one-eyed chief god in the Norse pantheon. His eye patch is emblematic of his sacrifice in the pursuit of knowledge.
It all begins with a spark, a voice, or a revelation, a certain something that alerts the novice to the existence of larger, mysterious forces. Sometimes the novice will attempt to avoid the calling, preferring to stay in the safety and security of her ordinary world. But then the mentor appears and nudges her down a road to some great unknown.
In these iterations of the mentor-mentee relationship, wisdom is attained for the benefit of the culture. The neophyte completes the circle by bestowing something upon others. The mentor’s journey is analogous to the cycle of life: birth begets death begets birth begets death. Although these tales glorify the individual hero, the larger message is that the hero is a reflection of the greatness in all of us, the greatness in society, a universal greatness.
Individuation
In contrast to collaborative motivation, sometimes there are individual motivations for finding singular links.
In folklore, characters who act in their self-interest often provide lessons of caution. These characters are motivated by individual achievement, pride, or hubris. Icarus of Ancient Greece becomes infatuated with flying, ignores warnings, and flies too close to the sun where his wings melt and he falls to his death. Doctor Frankenstein, obsessed with the idea of creating life, reanimates a monster who then turns against him. European folklore has variations of men who are seduced by the beautiful “femme fatale.” She lures them into the forest where they become lost and confused, eventually dying. The sirens in Greek mythology lure sailors into the sea to drown. These anecdotes warn against the perils of temptation and the allure of external beauty.
The characters who act with self-serving motivation usually act without mentors. In contemporary culture they are often cast as lone-wolves who overcome improbable odds to correct some sort of injustice. Think of John Wick or Rambo or Bruce Lee or Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickel or the pantheon of aggrieved Quentin Tarantino anti-heroes (“Quentin Tarant-heroes”…?). Their journeys showcase the power of individual will and determination. Their lesson is, “If you truly believe, you can persevere.”
By contrast, the lesson of those guided by their mentors is, “If you answer the call, you can be part of something bigger than your own life.”
In future posts, we’ll unpack these two types of motivation in the context of finding singular links.