Friday, August 10, 2018

Sneaking in under the radar

The Atlantic magazine has an article about how young men started watching Jordan Peterson before the establishment discovered the guy.

I don't always understand Peterson, and I don't always agree with his conclusions, but you know, listening makes  you think, and presents new ways of thinking about things.

His Freudian/Jungian approach to the bible, which echoes mythology, for example is not something that will push fundamentalist Christianity, but like Tolkien, he presents the bible as myth in it's original meaning: myth is a way that teaches the deeper truths that fiction or even non fiction cannot.

And he makes one think of the larger picture of the story: for example, when he reminds us that the trickster/chaos is also there for a reason: even if it is just to renew the world.

And Peterson makes it personal: Make your bed. (then go and change the world).

Back to Marcus Aurelius: stressing personal responsibility first.

So the one teaching young men to be responsible and ethical grownups is a pagan. How ironic.

Or is it? "Make your bed" sounds right out of Therese of Lisieux (start to serve God by doing the little things well).

Peterson came out of nowhere. Well, out of Canada, which is even less likely than nowhere, since they are light years ahead of the US when it comes to political correctness. And he got into teaching by posting first on internet discussion sites and then posting his college lectures on youtube: under the radar so to speak.

But isn't this what one should expect?

in the many myths, it is the younger son or less respected one who saves the world from chaos, but if you look closely, there is also a meaning behind the chaos, an alternative story that has to be understood

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