Beyond Order: 12 More Rules Of Life – Jordan B. Peterson

Beyond Order: 12 More Rules Of Life – Jordan B. Peterson
Beyond Order: 12 More Rules Of Life – Jordan B. Peterson

Jordan Peterson is one of a kind. His books are his evolved brain itself, speaking to us about things we didn’t realize we didn’t know. His work is such that first-hand quotes are the best way to understand him.

In Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson states that excess order in our lives is just as dangerous as excess chaos, contrary to what some of us may think. Striking a great balance between chaos and order, yin and yang, is the ultimate ingredient of a meaningful life.

2 Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that

We are more than our thoughts, identities, actions. We are potential. The key question is not “who are you?” but “who could you be?” Several “eternal forces” are at play in our deepest layers. Excessive order can be stultifying. A voluntary death and rebirth transformation is necessary when too much petrifying order has been established in our lives over the years. We can be much more than we currently are. But consciously deciding who to be requires careful attention and looking into the darkest places within ourselves.

12 Be grateful in spite of your suffering

There is value in authentic gratitude. Despite the seemingly inherent pain of existence, we can maintain a grateful attitude toward our surroundings. We can decide so and take responsibility for that. Pain is inherent in life. Suffering is a choice. We can, ultimately, live a life that is filled with gratitude, despite suffering.

11 Do not allow yourself to become resentful, deceitful, or arrogant

We must integrate the concept that malevolence and “good and evil” exist within each of us. Each of us harbors immense potential and the possibility for immense chaos as well. Understanding that the world can be damaging, dishonest, and a negative force playing against you means not being naive. Keeping trust in people and their innate potential for making the world a better place is an antidote to cynicism, which is an attitude toward life that we need to avoid.

3 Do not hide unwanted things in the fog

The fog is willful blindness. It is our refusal to notice emotions and motivational states as they arise—and the refusal to communicate them to ourselves and to the people around us. We, as human beings, are very capable of deception and oftentimes willing to deceive in order to remain “hidden behind the fog.” Life is primarily composed of habits and routines. Pretending to be happy about a situation when we know very well, deep inside, that we are not, is willful blindness. 

People remain mentally healthy not merely because of the integrity of their own minds, but because they are constantly being reminded how to think, act, and speak by those around them.

Sanity is knowing the rules of the social game, internalizing them, and following them.

1 Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement

While our individual responsibility and actions are the most immediate means of power we all have available, society shapes our personas. Society is composed of the people we surround ourselves with, the wider community, social institutions.

7 Work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens

Aiming at something precise is what adds fuel to our existence. If we aim at nothing, the immense array of possibilities in life manifests itself in front of us, and we can become weak and “plagued by everything.” Aiming at nothing means not having a well-defined direction, and that is a dangerous trajectory to take in life. Bad decisions are everywhere around us. But deciding something is far better than staying idle and waiting for nothing.

8 Try to make one room in your home as beautiful as possible

There is deep power and meaning in artistic endeavors. Working to make one room in your home as beautiful as possible is an artistic endeavor. Art can be frightening because of its wide and encoded nature. “We need the new, merely to maintain our position. And we need to see what we have become blind to, by our very expertise and specialization, so that we do not lose touch with the Kingdom of God and die in our boredom, ennui, arrogance, blindness to beauty, and soul-deadening cynicism.”

6 Abandon Ideology

Have some humility. Pay close attention to how you place the blame on something external to you. It is easy to fall prey to bitterness, resentment, and hostility when you can distort the truth by identifying a seemingly clear enemy that is not you. But you know full well what you are capable of. Assume you are the enemy. Your weaknesses and flaws can truly damage the world. “Set your house in perfect order before criticizing the world.”

4 Notice that opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated

Responsibility is what propels the world forward. The potential of human beings is “the meaning that most effectively sustains life.” The true source of positive emotions is not happiness. Happiness breeds hedonic adaptation. The quintessential source of positive emotion is aiming at a goal, maybe with other individuals or a broader community, and experiencing progress along the path to achieving that objective. That is responsibility. 

Turning around and confronting the future means “standing up with your shoulders back” and enjoying the journey.

9 If old memories still upset you, write them down carefully and completely

We keep a map of the world and our existence that is composed of our experiences. We understand the world through experience and shape our personality and values. Not integrating events that belong to the past into our present self is dangerous for our psychological and physiological well-being. A truly integrated person is one that has deconstructed, understood, and broken free from more or less traumatic events that happened in the past.

10 Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationship

Maintaining a healthy, long-lasting relationship is a process that requires deep commitment, patience, and a clear expression of thoughts and emotions from both parties involved. Something as complex as a marriage cannot be managed without a proper long-term balance between order and chaos. 

 

The first way you can keep the crucial romantic component in your marriage is through your authentic commitment to not lie. Lying erodes trust, and trust is the core foundation of a genuine relationship. Not lying even when things are rough—because you better be aware that tough times come and go—is a milestone in a relationship founded on negotiation.

The best player is therefore not the winner of any given game but, among many other things, he or she who is invited by the largest number of others to play the most extensive series of games

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