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Your Hero's Journey

Welcome back okay, so we just finished our last lesson, which was lesson eight where is your mess? And now I'm really excited because we're going to start another lesson called your hero's journey and I have I'm so thrilled that we have our next guest who's coming up and um I want to tell you a little bit about how we connected name is dr e and somebody somebody authored this quote, which is every artist as an entrepreneur and every entrepreneur is an artist and I thought who said that that was so smart you're so inspiring so I hunted down on the internet and it looked at first like look like first well, it was a russell russell simmons said that or dr dre said that who said that? So it finally led me to dr elliot and he is here today to talk about your hero's journey he was a professor at pepper dying he taught a class there a business course um and I'm gonna actually introduce him and ask him to come up on stage and talk to us about you're a hero the hero's journey and we're going to...

specifically in this lesson we're going to focus on one element of homer's wise wise nous which is the element of rage so welcome dr g come on up thank you, thank you been a fun experience yeah so on you have a lot to talk about, and we have this before. I mean, he deserves his own creative live show because you got so much to talk about, and you're a professor at pepper dine and what was the name of the course? It was our music, and we hear odyssey and art entrepreneurship in technology, okay, who is in your class? Like who, who showed up for the business saturday, unc chapel hill. We've got a grant from the coffin foundation to teach classes entrepreneurship as teaching physics and always noticed that the true kind of entrepreneurs also where the artist, you know, the kids and indie bands are the kids were like learning code, like in their dorm rooms, and I actually would have to harvard. I took like, a freshman with me who was the genius coder, and he was telling me how boring, how bored it was, like the computer science classes, teaching like how to drop boxes in java and how the english classes you've already read, all the books just kindly had class for, like the self starters, the kids that were born with school. Then he went on, that was that was this student body that you were you were teaching that kind of individual wanted to create a class for those people and it ended up being everybody because it was like law students, mba students, undergrads and grad students. Right? So the first manifestation then went out to pepper died. But the funny thing was, we based it on classical mythology. So the very first class everybody got a copy of homer's odyssey today everybody go. One stuff really around gets a copy of homer's iliad that they're passing out. I went by the bookstore have it's very sweet of you. You get one too. I don't want to grill. Thank you. Thank you. And for like, about between a dollar and three dollars, depending on what version you get, you get one of the one of the great book. So I'm gonna suggest that there is a flood of these. Like I know from art school. I don't have my copy anymore. So go to go to go to amazon, goto a used bookstore and get yourself a copy. You have this and there are many lessons to learn. Now. Why is the hero's journey part of the artist's journey what's the parrot? What are the parallels? Well, well, we could begin with the very first word of homer's iliad, which is the word rage yes and basically it's not just rage in the sense that we know just plain anger but it's more of like a divine range that's the more direct translation and what it was was achilles basically had his prize taken away from them because there's like a lot of politicking and the commander wanted to show him who's who so it's kind of interesting that one of the war ethics opens on the first page with a great warrior quitting they like questioning like the whole thing of rank same weight I'm the best fighter like I'm doing all the work here and you're cherry picking all the rewards now I think that's something that an artist has to ask if you're working with the gallery if you're working with a manager if your sign away all your rights to a record label because all of a sudden you're the one you're the poet warrior on the front lines doing all the creative work but you always have an home recognized that it's what makes us human? You always have that element of people trying to reap the profits of your award taking your rightful prize so achilles was anyone experience that has anyone been stiffed by an art gallery? Has anyone like any of that ever happened? Yeah it's a it's a common theme it's a really common theme what what's what is that? Why why is that? Why is the euro vulnerable tio being taken advantage of or people assuming they can take advantage of well, you've got to get your wealth from somewhere into the hero that's out there creating and producing it and winning it uh and the beautiful thing about it is that achilles is set up is someone who just won't take it at all so very first he calls out his commander in front of everybody threatens to kill him but athena the goddess comes down and calms him down uh and so he basically quits the greek army in a huge fit of rage I think that's like something in your record label if you're not getting paid enough for if you're not being appreciated in your office cubicle like you're coming up with a lot of ideas and your boss is taking all the credit for it, then at some point you have to say, wait, you can't do that to me so homer uh s so let's pause a moment because I had a moment of rage with snotty scotty who was my last boss and it was the the igniting incident, right? It was that it was actually I made a decision that it couldn't possibly ever work for someone else again in and I could never go back to a cubicle and it was it was that moment of a rage I was so fed up you said it was he was he was he's evil little man thes actually an angel in disguise because he freed me from this this whole situation and I was just I reached my boiling point and it's s o that's a theme in biology. You the hero reaches there boiling point and they have to take another path, right? You're forced into a brand new realm and you kind of lose the life that you had working in the cubicle just like neo to find the greater higher length that you were meant for great, uh, and that's kind of ah it's a recurring classical theme as definitely applicable because, uh, kelly says, look, I'm just going to go down and, like, hang out by my ships so that's kind of like a brand new world that's like, free of war and there he kind of contemplates the whole active war. Like, why am I fighting? I've got nothing against these people yet I'm doing all the work here, taking all the rewards uh eventually, like an envoy sent forth to beg to have him back. But achilles basically states like, look, no matter how much money you offer me, you insulted my honor and that's what I'm fighting for and there's a beauty to I think artists with those are the ones we always appreciate the most kind of the ones who did it for honor above all else but at the same time the whole point of this class and curriculum is how khun van gogh like capitalize in his own lifetime because certainly he deserves to make some money off the sunflowers if people are going to come in like years later make hundreds of millions of dollars off it right? So, uh that's kind of the whole question and something that artists need to be cognizant of that look you're going to be doing stuff for honor, so if anybody should get paid, you should and you should get paid first yeah, you should and you need to get paid that you continue you can continue to make your art and have an impact yeah that's an important message that homer's telling us because on the very first page it says when achilles quits, the greeks begin to lose and the will of zeus was done uh it's a little more complicated that but what he's saying is zeus the highest of the gods, the god of justice sides with lone individual speaking truth to power so let's talk about this whole concept of rage and I'm wondering if you could bring in some contemporary examples for those who haven't read the classics haven't gone and got a copy of the book what do you think of a contemporary examples where there were moments of of rage and an epiphany and a change I know, um you've cited some examples with me, but, you know, people in the music industry or or others who else really, um, illustrates this this moment, it well, one was mean whenever somebody quits, because they don't think they're getting a fair deal and they move on to start their own thing and the music industry's filled with that that somebody's feels like their labels ripping them off so they go off and, like found their own, are there not being appreciated? A big message? Uh, big one that I shared was the academy, a ward winning movie film braveheart and that was all ridden because the writer was working in tv, but you didn't feel like they were producing likas, good as they could like is high for really intelligent, smart people, but his producer kept saying, well, those intelligent, smart people don't exist, so what we have to do is just keep on doing our same old fair so you know the whole idea, like, wait, we can do better so he's kind of driven teo end up quitting and writing the movie braveheart going off ozone of course another phase thank god he quit right it's like it was the opening was the opening to his journey yeah, it was a combination is also force because the whole thing of like crossing the threshold right and that's also kind of like hand and have being forced to cross it right so his boss kind of like let him go but the same time by speaking out against your boss so much you're kind of quitting because you know what it's gonna lead to so they're kind of like mutually length like that right? But then steve jobs of course is another famous example cause would there be a pixar if he'd never been forced out of apple that first stage and it's kind of when steve jobs brings in like a brand new manager john sculley the former ceo of pepsi is very much more of like an administrator but you could see like the general the greek army who pulls rank on him and says, look, I have I'm the ceo I've got experience of pepsi you're just like a young like upstart you don't know what's going on so he basically takes apple from him and then apple begins to fail because again juices will is done and if you don't have the poet warrior on the front line and then it tends tio go that way I mean homer's trying to tell us something I think it's trying to tell us to value our talent and value what we bring value that it's just like this is because this is an ongoing theme with a lot of artists is that they're under undervalue their work they underpriced their time it's pretty it's a pretty common problem yeah, he knows that humans have short attention spans that's why in the very first paragraph of the whole elliot he puts the word rage and say and the will of zeus was done meaning that zeus sides with the rage of achilles because it's something that he would have felt himself if you're feeling wrong so that right there god's side that got the most powerful god sides yeah with artist with the artist yeah the artist who's demanding to be fairly compensated that's all something great to keep in mind that if you're doing the work you should reap the reward right course I think that's the foundational promise you'll see in the hole because there's well parallel context is the judeo christian teaching thou shall not steal, you know, one of moses this ten commandments you should not take from those yeah, it was very parallel mythologies because it kind of teach the same lessons just in different ways uh jerry christian could be a lot more succinct because like that's not steal whereas in the iliad is kind of showing what happens when you do take uh, what from what a man does, you know, all management? I think that science, that whole science of offering stock options like the most successful companies are often the ones that share with the talent cause they're able to attract the talent because you don't pay your talent, your talent quits and goes off on their own it's pretty amazing that homer thought of that all twenty eight hundred years ago, but yeah, and it's still a very applicable lesson today. So so let's pretend for a moment that, um you are you're homer, right? And you're giving a prescription for artist today, musicians today, writers, craft crafters what on and I'm asking you to, you know, just engage your imagination what do you think his advice would be today? Based on the mythology that he created, you guys are all pride familiar with the stages of the heroes odyssey like that are outlined in books and go over those real quick go there in the real quick yeah, because they're, uh, put on this t shirt because I think people going fifty thousand dollars in debt in college now every year and they never liberal arts education ology so you spend a dollar ninety nine like on homer's iliad and buy a t shirt you're ahead of the game where can they buy that plus fifty thousand dollars oh like here's odyssey dot com okay, all right let's check this out over forty five serve heroes but on that day on the outer circle here we have the hero's odyssey us the basic stages and I did it mourner barista tilly in three act structure you guys don't really read it from back there that's okay? But then also on here I put a lot of my backgrounds physics so I have a lot of the drawings that are actually there's newton's like discovering of orbits like basically the whole idea that the same thing makes the apple fall keeps the moon in orbit which is like a huge deal and then copernicus like of course emilia centric universe and faraday's drawing and maxwell's. And one thing you'll notice is they're all just circles and down here we even have einstein circle ready like has a son bending starlight for his general theory of relativity so I kind of thought of that uh that fits well with the heroes that's ok that's beautiful. Thank you very much. So let me let me sorry let's go back to this so let's make because not everyone is familiar with because not everyone is and it is an opportunity to at least like hopefully get you interested in the classics because there's actually a good business advice in the classics I could do the stages really fast, okay, that was like cool so if I just orient the shirt like grace I get in the right place so uh act one you always have the call to action and adventure or the call to honor adventure is that deeper call that you feel like you know this is what I really need to do it could be the call to like these are the call to create for example the call to make music well too right every artist has always felt that need like I don't think if if you never felt the need to pick up a guitar piano you're kind of not so much an artist but then there's always the refusal of the quest which is the next stage and that could be your parent's voice telling you that's not practical you're going to major and you need to get a lot agree exactly become a doctor and you internalize those voices so even after your parents stop saying that you're going to say it to yourself that the refusal call becomes mohr uh inside then I kind of had a mastering talents and craft I added this to the heroes odyssey so I think like too many professors will just throw like the heroes odyssey at you and say they're now go ahead and do it but they never really tell you that one of the secrets like almost the only way into it is not to follow the stages but to follow your honor and to follow your honor through some type of medium so give me an analogy for the artist so in this stage what's the analogy for the artists we'll just as luke skywalker picked up his lightsaber him after the force which is spiritually in les sabers physical like the artist has like the spiritual sense and being but you have to pick up that paint brush him after the paintbrush you have to master your medium it's really essentially master your craft yeah, you have to learn all the rules of photo shop in light room toe like master your craft, but you're holding these at the same time like, for instance, reading the great books and classics while you're working on all this okay, you can actually see that when you look at classical art that pays homage to all these like great books and classics it's like, oh my gosh that's exactly what they're doing right there are not two there they're teachers aristotle contemplating the bust of homer that's a famous rembrandt you know? And there he was like like basically honing his craft as he's reading the great books and classics so what's the other stages yes, the next stage is seeking mentors uh, mentors in gods and I think that one of the great overlook manners these days a cz andrea here and also uh the iliad so, uh, we kind of like I was just telling somebody here that creative lives a little bit sylmar to the classics, because what they're trying to do is take the best of the best like experts and make it someone immortal. Seacon, treating any time just like the classics office would take the best of their spirits and put it in a book because otherwise just have professors, like droning on and, like, forgettable lectures involves scene the way to the next stage here, uh, leaving port and then the soul on stormy seas to that whole first thing of, like, setting out and a lot of times that could be the point of no return. Depending out. Bigot is thankfully on the internet. So how does it would say the analogy for the artist? So leaving the port right? It could. What is? What is that? What's? Give me an example is quitting your job. Is it trying to sell your first painting? Yeah. I mean, what other things? Like, if I mean the best way they say the like third to swim is to jump in the water of your head. Those cops. Sometimes it can be a little bit of that point of no return. Like I'm really gonna try to make us an artist but I need all my time now so you quit your job that's a lot of the point of no return I mean it's nothing to your all in you're all yeah and you're and you're challenged where if you buy a camera that you really you know it's like your savings you've been saving a long time and you know that's gonna wake you up in the middle of the night and getting up early to shoot the sunrise so once you get out there and then it's soul in stormy seas I say because there's kind of khun b this dark period of disorientation because it because scary you know you're in debt or you like took this camera took a lease out on a gallery and you're not selling quite what you thought you have all that disorientation but you should have review that is failure because that's a necessary part of of the process and part of the journey right and and hero has the courage to sustain that journey and to never give up yeah and that's exactly the great books in classics teachers like uh that if a discus would have given up I mean he had ample opportunity throughout the whole thing like facing all of these like untold horrors that he couldn't just like turn around they had a lot of good excuses that people would have understood and respected he didn't give up and even when he made it all the way home to get blown back all the way back to the beginning again which means he has to go through the whole thing all over again so oh yeah I stuck with it cool and then the first showdowns wound and I will say that that's important like the first time you take on like some bigger client or it could be a critic the tele ji's sock you never got hater on the internet somebody who says something really nasty about what you were so vulnerable about expressing yeah, you get that first hateful remark right that's an example of that wound yeah or you lost like today city the treated failure as an investment right like that whole time that the first time that you lose but a lot of times you've heard that expression wounded deer leaves the highest so is that a wounded deer leaps the highest? Yeah, I've never heard that but I really emily dickinson said that ok dear leaps the highest stating and she's talking about the artist in that sense that often when you feel that pain and the whole all the blues air composed around that like the first wound lost love and all that have you never tried and gone for it you wouldn't then have this whole thing of art that's the next stage I call it arden innovation because it's out of that first wound that you're able teo inspires you to innovate and create something you and that's kinda like the end of the first act that you're out there on the stormy seas all alone and for the first time you've created something new, but you're still a long way from home, but the whole fact is because you took that first step you now have at least something to show for it kind of like a starting that first step is it is the most challenging and it is what you know, a lot of us and it's it's like it's almost like there's a siri's of first steps, right? So you take the first step where you actually put yourself out there and you'd say I'm gonna I'm going to get paid for this article or I'm going to get I'm going to actually enter my work and this show and I'm gonna hope where I'm gonna put my stuff online and hope but then you kind of have to take another step another first step where you're taking it to another level, right? Yeah like uh now I'll just review real quick the three acts okay act one is dreams of ideals and act two's rendering ideals riel and the third act is ideals rendered, so if you can think of those three things and our embarking on the rendering ideals real part and that's kind of like the whole epic road of trials. And the whole idea of, like, fortune favors the bold which comes from virgil. So at this point, it's kind of like, if you start backing down ah, you're not never going to make it past that next step so often times it is all in all the forces seem arrayed against you that's the time where you charge full steam ahead and justice is told that he's going to encounter which at one point and if he backs down from her it's gonna be transformed into a pig. But if he like, runs straight atter then he's gonna, like, make it on by her, does the whole idea of taking your truck? Randy hasn't changed much has it? No, uh, forming the fellowship. And we remarked on that earlier that one time when, uh whenever you set out following your own ideals, no matter how crazy they are, their ideals and that's, what we're saying that homer's endure these twenty eight hundred years because he speaks to you, these ideals and what's gonna happen is if you're following those ideas were going to meet other people, you set out walking alone following the same ideals, people he would have never met a little bit like an calling me on the phone like if I hadn't put that we didn't know each other yeah, like and then all of sudden we had all of these things in common but it's both because we're working from a common set of principles and which is the third what's the third were coming to our end of our segment oh oh the third one is we'll just act three is ideals rendered riel and uh that whole idea of the apotheosis and what that is is uh it's basically your soul and spirit rendered riel via action and it's your greater potential uh so basically what is his head? You never taken that action had he never set out your greater internal potential that you're capable of from within would have never been realized and that kind of like leads to the end, which is the whole idea of the return of the king and the whole idea of the freedom to live in service on the truth that says he's free. So is basically the whole idea is that the artist ends up serving everybody with the truth that they deliver. And I think that, uh that makes art in one sense easy all of a sudden when we started thinking well, what we're trying to do is actually help people and make them see things, make them see beauty, make them see truth, make them see these imperishable ideals of nobility and honor uh sometimes sees somewhat short supply these days depending where you look all right but maybe it's always been that way, right? But so that's the whole idea that you kind of like all of a sudden say wait part of my fellowship is home or part of my fellowship is virgil part of my fellowship is dante oh, so when you start reading those books on that level it kind of gives you this great fellowship uh to ride forthwith that is so wonderful and deep and rich and there's obviously so much to say and so many lessons to teach so where can people find you? Oh heroes odyssey heroes odyssey dot com if you can think of really prescriptive three quick piece of advice based on this thiss ancient lore and wisdom for the everyday artist who everyday creative who's trying to build a profitable enterprise what's one thing what's one thing that you would tell them uh besides read the elliot reveal serve serve others with your sons of honor those things that make you inspire honor within you infuse your heart with those and try to serve others with those and hopefully people will find value in that uh and that's uh it's pretty that's that's pretty good guys that's pretty good guide and serve people with your sense of honor so thank you so much doctor even appreciate it and came all the way up so we're gonna go into our next lesson, which is lesson number ten, which is, where is your pain? So get out your calendars. Get your mastermind buddies and market progress in the book. Thank you so much. See you next time.