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12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
The 12 Rules of Life by Jordan Peterson
Looking for an author that holds whit, stamina, and punch? This is the book you will want. Jordan Peterson delivers his list of rules that appear silly and obscure when read in a straight list format (which is why I do not provide them here in the review). You don’t want to skip over the profound insight that transpires from them simply because they sound basic and humorous. The way in which these rules are written allows the reader to remember them. How often have you been given a list of ToDo and you simply forget? That is why these rules are almost laughable within their mundaneness. But is it not the everyday that we live within, and rarely the profound? The average becomes everything.
I will provide you with one Rule: Pet a cat when you encounter it on the street.
Whether you are a dog, cat, turtle, or fish lover, a cat is the ultimate Zen master. When one approaches you and gives you its attention, you need to Pay Attention. That moment can be your window into what makes up for all of the suffering within the world.
Pulling from popular culture, religion, spirituality, and entertainment, Jordan Peterson does exactly what our site and blog also do. Disney has as message for you but have you missed it? The story of Pinocchio for example is a true archetype about how all of us must shed our strings. We must go into the belly of the beast to truly discover who we are. Then he connects the dots between these stories and the biblical narratives from Christianity and Judaism. These stories are as old as man yet we keep retelling them and then transposing them into children’s fables. This is why we can consider the Disney Classics not original stories but rather retellings of profound wisdom that have been marketed to the developing minds of today. They will remain within our cannon because they truly teach us about ourselves.
My favorite Rule is #7 (if I had to pick one). Why are we pursing things that don’t bring value to our lives outside simple pleasures? Do we not often change our minds and tastes? We chase after something one moment, and then tomorrow we are onto something else. In the end, what matters the most? Is it what you want or what is meaningful? Many people loose their direction in life. This chapter will reassure you that you may waver from your path, but you must set your compass and never deviate.
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”
“You can only find out what you actually believe (rather than what you think you believe) by watching how you act. You simply don’t know what you believe, before that. You are too complex to understand yourself.”
“And if you think tough men are dangerous, wait until you see what weak men are capable of.”
“No tree can grow to Heaven,” adds the ever-terrifying Carl Gustav Jung, psychoanalyst extraordinaire, “unless its roots reach down to Hell.”
“To suffer terribly and to know yourself as the cause: that is Hell.”
12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson