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"During the early stages of the journey, the hero will often receive aid from a protective figure."?
Who or what is the aid?

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i'll stay with the original two examples...

in the case of the spilled milk the 'aid' could be the manufacturer of the souls on the hero to be's shoes... a protective barrier between harm and success... the list could go on forever of the aid which this person has and will continue to receive.... the floor he/she stands upon was provided by a 'protective other' from the past in the simple act of building the floor... a family member nearby who relays the towel...

the source of income for the dustpan and broom is a 'protective aid'

in the matter of the hostages there would of course be specialized training, education, and materials... all provided by protective others...

the list of protective and helpful others is a very large list indeed... proving the importance and truth of your statement that 'we all matter' ...

regarding the mandala question:

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What if we keep going inthe same circle?
are we suppose to?

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transcendence is the key to growth .... life and human experience on both large and small scale can be comparative to the wheel of the merry go round....

learning lessons during the course of the journey allows the 'hero' to acquire knowledge and transcend to healing by applying the lessons learned along the path.....

as one learns to clean up spilled milk, one may also learn to rescue hostages....

we are limited only by our own self made restrictions...

when the restrictions are lifted away and lessons have emboldened the individual, 'spilled milk' will slowly be diminished as a high anxiety event...

in any event... the axiom holds true.. we all matter..