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January 8 - January 12, 2019
But the story of the golden calf also reminds us that without rules we quickly become slaves to our passions—and there’s nothing freeing about that.
Highlighted by many and makes sense. This is the truth & I speak with experience. 31 10 18.
unchaperoned, and left to our own untutored judgment, we are quick to aim low and worship qualities that are beneath us—in
Also clearly true and to be remembered. Any good is fleeting and over any period of time degrading to self and self worth.
Similarly, in this book Professor Peterson doesn’t just propose his twelve rules, he tells stories, too,
In Maps of Meaning, and again in this book, one of the matters he cautions readers to be most wary of is ideology, no matter who is peddling it or to what end. Ideologies are simple ideas, disguised as science or philosophy, that purport to explain the complexity of the world and offer remedies that will perfect it. Ideologues are people who pretend they know how to “make the world a better place” before they’ve taken care of their own chaos within.
The conviction that something is absolutely & unquestionably right to the exclusion of other beliefs or answers.
Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.
Above all, he alerted his students to topics rarely discussed in university, such as the simple fact that all the ancients, from Buddha to the biblical authors, knew what every slightly worn-out adult knows, that life is suffering.
Rearing kids is hard, work is hard, aging, sickness and death are hard, and Jordan emphasized that doing all that totally on your own, without the benefit of a loving relationship, or wisdom, or the psychological insights of the greatest psychologists, only makes it harder.
They are, I believe, the first generation to have been so thoroughly taught two seemingly contradictory ideas about morality, simultaneously—at their schools, colleges and universities, by many in my own generation. This contradiction has left them at times disoriented and uncertain, without guidance and, more tragically, deprived of riches they don’t even know exist. The first idea or teaching is that morality is relative, at best a personal “value judgment.” Relative means that there is no absolute right or wrong in anything; instead, morality and the rules associated with it are just a
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Aristotle defined the virtues simply as the ways of behaving that are most conducive to happiness in life. Vice was defined as the ways of behaving least conducive to happiness.
virtues always aim for balance and avoid the extremes of the vices.
they cannot live without a moral compass, without an ideal at which to aim in their lives.
In this manner, the most useful answers rise to the top, while the others sink into oblivion.
Most popular not necessarily the most useful?
meaning
Meaning? Or something else? Balance? Effectiveness? Purpose?
And that’s much better than happiness.
but is also a system of value—a hierarchy of value, where some things are given priority and importance and others are not.
because both action and perception require a goal, and a valid goal is, by necessity, something valued.
value.
Or at least measurable.
Because we are vulnerable and mortal, pain and anxiety are an integral part of human existence. We must have something to set against the suffering that is intrinsic to Being.fn2
So: no value, no meaning.
We need to stay on the straight and narrow path. Each of the twelve rules of this book—and their accompanying essays—therefore provide a guide to being there. “There” is the dividing line between order and chaos.
willingness to take on that responsibility is identical to the decision to live a meaningful life.
dominance hierarchy.
The part of our brain that keeps track of our position in the dominance hierarchy is therefore exceptionally ancient and fundamental.17
Under such conditions, we can’t easily put up the kind of fight that life demands, and we become easy targets for harder-shelled bullies.
There is an unspeakably primordial calculator, deep within you, at the very foundation of your brain, far below your thoughts and feelings. It monitors exactly where you are positioned in society—on a scale of one to ten, for the sake of argument.
The bottom of the dominance hierarchy is a terrible, dangerous place to be.
watches how you are treated by other people.
the counter restricts serotonin availability.
This renders you confident and calm, standing tall and straight, and much less on constant alert.
is for this reason that routine is so necessary.
They must be turned into stable and reliable habits, so they lose their complexity and gain predictability and simplicity.
Other bad habits can also interfere with the counter’s accuracy.
complex positive feedback loop.
NB described as positive but in fact negative in consequences.
Addiction to alcohol or another mood-altering drug is a common positive-feedback process.
temporary.
Its not a cure but a deferral.
But just as often, people are bullied because they won’t fight back.
temperament compassionate and self-sacrificing—particularly
It also happens to people who have decided, for one reason or another, that all forms of aggression, including even feelings of anger, are morally wrong.
cannot call forth the genuinely righteous and appropriately self-protective anger necessary to defend themselves.
If you say no, early in the cycle of oppression, and you mean what you say (which means you state your refusal in no uncertain terms and stand behind it) then the scope for oppression on the part of oppressor will remain properly bounded and limited. The forces of tyranny expand inexorably to fill the space made available for their existence.
Naive, harmless people usually guide their perceptions and actions with a few simple axioms: people are basically good; no one really wants to hurt anyone else; the threat (and, certainly, the use) of force, physical or otherwise, is wrong.
something needs to be said, if not done (not least because honesty demands it).
It is in this manner that the willingness of the individual to stand up for him or herself protects everyone from the corruption of society.
To say it again: There is very little difference between the capacity for mayhem and destruction, integrated, and strength of character. This is one of the most difficult lessons of life.
If you slump around, with the same bearing that characterizes a defeated lobster,
but can also work to get you ahead.
those who start to have will probably get more.
You might object: the bottom is real. Being at the bottom is equally real. A mere transformation of posture is insufficient to change anything that fixed.
Standing up physically also implies and invokes and demands standing up metaphysically. Standing up means voluntarily accepting the burden of Being.
Your nervous system responds in an entirely different manner when you face the demands of life voluntarily. You respond to a challenge, instead of bracing for a catastrophe.
