Greetings, Are there any other Jordan Peterson fans here on NF? I adore his work and have been following him for several years. Perhaps an active discussion about self-discovery can be held here. Please forgive me if this question has been asked already in these forums.
I've signed up to his podcast. He is able to defend every aspect of Christianity but I don't think he identifies as a Christian
I used to watch Jordan Peterson a lot. But he fell of my radar ever since I gave up caring about politics I figured that what I believe won't make much of a difference. I also came to the conclusion that the left and right would love nothing more but to place my head onto a stake as I can see through and question their materialistic ways.
He is secular and does not identify as a Christian (Yet. Praying hard for him), and I also don't follow him for political reasons, neither do I believe in the dialectic of politics. I realize he is controversial. I'm speaking about him more from the perspective of mental health awareness and sorting oneself out: His philosophy on overcoming addictions, compulsions, anxiety, past traumas, taking hold of the future, building discipline, etc.
He's awfully close. He's had a couple conversations with an Eastern Orthodox guy where he's basically said the only reason he hasn't committed to Christianity is the terrifying implications, but admits the alternative is equally terrifying. His first book, Maps of Meaning, is said to be extremely complicated and in-depth. That's more his atheist phase, but rather than discount religious myths as hogwash, he assumes all enduring stories continue to endure because they resonate with the human condition and have something to teach us. He affords Egyptian mythology and Christian mythology similar value, then places Pinocchio on the same level and it's not as "abzurd" as that might sound. He's a fan of Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitzyn, and a couple others, which keep showing up in his work. His first self help book, 12 Rules for Life, has been criticized as being too basic, but a lot of people have found they lack some of those basic pieces to get their lives together. I've read it, he wanders off the point quite a bit into lighter versions of Maps, but that's how his mind works and it's rarely boring. If you're struggling, as many addicts are, it's good stuff & if you're not, eh. It might be worth a look. Up to you. His newest book, Beyond Order, is supposed to be between his other two in terms of complexity. If you find 12 Rules too light, this one might catch your interest. I've not read it yet, though, I can't vouch for it. In personal life, you might say he doesn't have it together. He's famously struggled with a dependence on benzos, which he took to treat his chronic depression. After having a rare reaction to the drugs and discovering his dependence, Canadian and US doctors couldn't or wouldn't help him quit so he tried a Russian clinic, then another in... Serbia? I think? He almost died, but he didn't. He's also on an all meat diet, last I checked. His daughter, who has RA, swears it cured her condition and he swears it's cured most of his chronic health problems as well. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he has some strange personal stuff going on. He's not evil, and though I think he politically would disagree with everything my own psychologist believes in, they say the exact same things about maintaining mental health. Learn to manage something small before you manage something big, be kind to yourself, only compare yourself to who you were yesterday, choose optimism without being a sucker, that kind of thing. I'm paraphrasing. Hope that helps.
Huge fan here, I've consumed a lot of his content. I think that he will be one of the most influential people of our time. He's certainly been for me. I personally don't care too much about politics or religion (even though I find he's perspective very interesting on both fields). What I've found most impactful is his call to take up responsibility for yourself and your life, to "clean up your room" instead of pretending you know how to fix the world, which is often just a way to avoid dealing with you own shortcomings by drowning them in a superior goal. I find this message to be much needed in an age when liberty is often mistaken as claiming the "rights" to indulge in every impulsive desire while being shielded (by parents, by the government) from their consequences, instead of being allowed to enjoy the benefits and pay the price of our own free choices. Accidentally, this message is also particularly pertinent to the mission of this forum.
JP for prezzz. Love that fella. I dunno if y'all are the audience to be interested in someone like Wim Hof, aka the Iceman, responsible for a lotta the breathwork and cold exposure therapy buzz over the last several years, but Peterson was just on Wim's podcast. It was great, it's like the wise philosopher king meets the ecstatic warrior-shaman, and Peterson seems to be getting healthier and healthier each podcast so lets hope that continues... Prayers for JP, aye?!
Aye. He is looking much healthier! It's great seeing such a giant grow into becoming even more powerful. I'm going to reply to this forum in more detail when I get the time....
Dependence, not addiction. It's an important distinction. He got caught in it because he has chronic depression (medical condition), his daughter has a brutal auto-immune disorder, his wife was battling what was supposed to be terminal cancer, he was on that tour (he insists that wasn't a factor but come on, there was stress involved), and he was frequently being attacked in the press (again, partially his choice since he made himself a high profile target by speaking against C-16 and taking those interviews and debates, but still a factor). He was under a lot of stress, and his doctors prescribed benzodiazepines. He took them as prescribed. He had a rare but known reaction to the drug, but when he tried to withdraw, found he was dependent on them. He made it clear he no longer wanted to use the drug, but was told by multiple doctors in Canada and the US there was nothing they could or would do for him. That's how he ended up detoxing in a Russian clinic in the middle of a global pandemic. He's painted as a hypocrite and a charlatan because a lot of people have a vested interest in doing so. However, his clinical advice, the kind found in 12 Rules, his lecture tour, and YouTube videos from his classes in Toronto, are relatively basic and apolitical. A lot of people, like yourself, don't like 12 Rules because it's too basic. You already know to hold your shoulders back and treat yourself like someone worth helping. That doesn't come naturally to some people, though, especially those raised by the State, who have been told over and over in a series of small but powerful ways that they don't deserve to hold their shoulders back, and they are not worth helping. As for your comments on suffering, I'm glad your sociological circumstances and neurological makeup allow you to see life that way. Sure would be easier for us all if we were all like that.
Most people have a steady stream of dopamine and serotonin to help combat the tragedy of suffering in life. If there's an interruption to that supply, or if the suffering overwhelms your capacity to deal with it, prescribed drugs are a logical choice. Peterson said life is suffering, he didn't say it was a good idea to embrace it or wallow in it, or take a masochistic pleasure in it. He should have read up on the side effects of benzos, but instead he trusted his doctors and that turned into a mistake. Again, he turned out to be one of the 1 or 2% susceptible to the debilitating side effects, and nobody could have predicted that. Not that benzos are good for you anyway, but most meds offer some kind of trade off. We just count on our doctors to estimate when the cure's side effects will be better than the disease. I've had similar objections, but on examination, he never over promises the consequences of following his rules and he never contradicted them in his conduct. His advice isn't about eliminating suffering, it's about reducing it, and finding meaning in it. Rules like "Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them" doesn't prevent them from getting RA. It helps you teach them how to be kind and tolerable to others while they are being treated for RA. "Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world" doesn't mean the world has not earned criticism. It means you have to take responsibility for the problems inside your own control before you tackle the ones outside of it. In the end though, it's up to you. I think he's a smart guy, but that doesn't make him right. I believe he's admitted he sometimes feels like a fraud. He's been incredibly transparent, there's hours and hours of footage of him, and he's a sensitive guy, prone to the same doubts and inconsistencies as anyone else. He just chose to do all that in public, which to me is a questionable choice, but he felt he had to do it like that to maintain personal integrity with his "Tell the truth" rule. I also think his fanbase acts like a cult, and while I detect no racism or misogyny in him, I see it in some of his followers.
