Review of Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) - by Ron Dart
From now on, everybody stands on his own feet
“Marxism and Monastic Perspectives”
Thomas Merton
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
Paradise Lost: Book 1
John Milton
I remember with much clarity and chagrin the publishing in 1987 (more than 30 years ago when I was doing my PHD Studies) of Allen Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. The reactions from the liberal and progressive left to the well-written tome were swift, pointed and sheer attack. Bloom had merely highlighted in his layered beauty how the western canon of literature had become dim and caricatured in higher education and, as a result, the American mind was closing in on itself within trendy texts and a narrow ideology. The liberal left pilloried Bloom and castigated him as an apologist for the reactionary right (which, of course, he was not). Those who only think within the dualistic categories of liberal left and conservative right know not how to engage those who transcend such simplistic tribes. It is also significant that Emmanuel Goldstein and the Brotherhood (whether he or they actually existed) were seen as the enemies of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984. Sadly so, there tends to be often an Orthodoxy (whether religious or secular or some combination thereof) that defines who is in the establishment Orthodox clan and who are the heterodox and heretics. Those who are attentive and alert to some of the larger issues these days of political correctness in the culture wars cannot but be acutely aware of the presence of Jordan Peterson.
The recent front stage reality of Peterson’s significance (Bill C-15, Lindsay Shepherd incident and his interview with Cathy Newman are but three in a long list of public incidences) has clarified Peterson’s heterodox or heretical positions before the Orthodox liberal clan. The reactions to Peterson are virtually identical to the way Bloom and Goldstein were treated---many are the déjà vu moments in the history of cultural clashes. But, for those who only think in a dualistic rather than more nuanced and dialectical way, Peterson is either the pre-eminent saint or sinner---it’s either hagiography or demonization---it’s either boosters or knockers. Are there more nuanced and subtle ways of reading and approaching Peterson’s all too human role in this cultural drama of sorts without slipping into a sheer and unhelpful and unhealthy intellectual melodrama?
The recent publication of Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) has, predictably so, drawn forth the “2 minutes of hate” liberal tribe (none too liberal of them, tolerance quickly dissipating like a cloud) and the pro-Peterson group think clan (equally reactionary merely from the opposite end of the political and cultural perspective).
Those who excessively focus on 12 Rules for Life and fail to see such a primer as merely a portal into Peterson’s more substantive corpus of life and writings tend to miss what Peterson is saying and doing in regards to the nature of mapping meaning, myths and transformation. Tolstoy wrote his children stories, Hesse his fairy tales and Jesus his parables. Do these approaches to insight and wisdom traditions define the fullness and maturity of such views of life? Of course not! 12 Rules for Life are, in many ways, compact maxims gleaned from life that can and do speak to those who have ears to hear. Do such rules or guidelines explain or exhaustively comprehend the more layered and finely textured nature of the human journey? Of course not! But, do such markings or cairns on the journey point in a life-giving and transformative way when read judiciously rather than dogmatically?
There is no need to do the either-or, yes or no to this key in the ignition book of sorts.
Those who are more curious and keen to delve and dig deeper into Peterson’s more refined and thoughtful approach to making sense of the human journey should take the time to thoroughly immerse themselves in his more packed and demanding classic of sorts, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (1999). There has certainly been in the last 200 years, an interest in myths, fables, fairy tales, parables, epic literature, sacred dramas and many other similar genres as means of mapping the human journey to meaning and order, the known and unknown, decisions and consequences, paths worth the taking and paths that go to cul-de-sacs. Maps of Meaning and, to a much lesser extent, 12 Rules for Living (in a more populist way and manner), stand within such a genre. The metaphors offered in such approaches are meant, in many ways, like Zoan koans, to reveal much about the layered nature of the human journey. Do such tales told and pondered answer all the troubling questions of life? Of course not! They do point, though, to ways to living into life in a more meaningful manner, tragedies, uncertainties, unpredictability and foiled expectations all part of pilgrimage through time. 12 Rules for Living is about if nothing else, each and all knowing the tentative pathways and acting on such wisdom so as not to be paralyzed by cynicism, skepticism or the slings and arrows of misfortune.
I need not list the 12 rules in this primer of a book of sorts—a superficial (much less more substantive reading of the book) will list each of the rules with an extended and pithy reflection of each rule. Perhaps the language of rules could be replaced by pointers or pathways but this is a secondary quibble. Each of the rules mentioned in the book is, in many ways, less about rules and more about self-understanding and the means to understand the deeper and truer self—sort of a Socratic “Know Yourself” and Jesus’ “Love Your Neighbour as Yourself.” There are many ways we can deceive, distract and distort more meaningful notions of a more genuine self and Maps of Meaning (to a greater extent) and 12 Rules for Life (to a lesser extent), like a well-sharpened knife, cuts away what needs to be so that what is needed is tasted well and wisely. Peterson has certainly not been shy in the last few years in posting his multiple insights on blogs, videos and much else—those keen to get a more animated and compact version of the 12 Rules need only tap in on their computer keyboard a variety of interviews Peterson has done on his recent book.
There is no doubt that Peterson has been savaged by the trendy left and, to a greater or lesser extent, adopted by variations of the crude and more moderate right. Peterson tends to be too nimble of thought and mind to be taken captive in either cage. The Christian religious community has also not been quite sure what to do with Peterson. His many lectures on the Bible (a comprehensive series on a mythical read of Genesis) has warmed him to some Christians, but his seeming lack of a theological discussion of Divine Christian seems to offend them. It seems to me that Peterson has enough humility (unlike Milton) not to try to “justify the ways of God to men”, and like Merton, he realizes, without being naïve or unduly Pelagian or Arminian, that each and all need to learn to “stand on his own feet”. How is such a standing on our feet to be done and how are humans to use their freedom well and wisely to not only stand on our feet but walk and run, ramble and climb to fine ridges and summits? 12 Rules for Life is but a primer on how, in a probing and thoughtful way, men and women, can face into their fears and insecurities, clarify their reasons for not being who they might be, then acting in a mature way and manner in becoming yet finer and fitter people for the journey.
Does this mean 12 Rules for Life is the definitive answer to the deeper inner issues or more troubling political, economic and ecological issues of our age and ethos? Of course not! It’s certainly not a silver bullet or snake oil book that will magically solve the dilemmas of the human soul and society. It is a necessary but hardly a sufficient text for the tougher questions that beset us on our all too human journey and should be read as such. But, something is better than nothing and when the something of 12 Rules for Life is read in a thoughtful manner, weighing the pro and contra on the scales of thought, the primer does have its limited role to play. A thoughtful reader need not either uncritically genuflect to the book (there are finer works of literature that are much more mature) or trash the book (rather infantile and reactionary). The task, simply put, is to see the missive for what it tentatively offers and where it ceases to serve a meaningful purpose.
I would encourage one and all to purchase, read and inwardly digest 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos. But, don’t stop there. Do read Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief—be sure, of course, to reflectively read both books in a discerning manner. Then, turn to some of the much more significant books that deal with myths, symbols and maps of meaning and what such marking mean for a more meaningful journey through our short time in history. But, do avoid, as much as possible, slipping into an either-or way of thinking---the treatment of Bloom and Goldstein assure us there be dragons if we go to such places on an ancient yet ever new map of meaning.
Ron Dart
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