His YouTube lectures clocked tens of millions of views and his international bestseller 12 Rules for Life was translated to over 30 languages, including Korean and Hebrew.
Peterson’s immaculately articulated lament over our civilization in peril made him a household name – synonymous with the fatherly, often life-saving advice he has for young men searching for meaning.
Peterson’s new book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, revealing deeply thought out wisdom designed to bolster your resilience and prepare you for when misfortune strikes.
Unlike traditional self-help gurus, Peterson’s narrative centers around finding meaning and purpose through responsibility. Where others will most likely assure you that you feeling anxious or depressed is “normal” and guide you to the nearest safe-space area, Peterson will urge you to treat your anxiety as an alert to “a fault” in your system that must be addressed. Even a bad mood, argues Peterson, is a red light and should never be ignored. A Beyond Order example he gives of that is his elderly father in law’s baffling eruption over his lunch being served in small plates, even though this has been the practice for many years.
Don’t hide unwanted things in the fog, says Peterson – meet your fears and unresolved problems head-on. Remember that however painful this process might be, it is guaranteed to be less painful than the consequences of ignoring your problems.
This also applies to memories that still make you cry – these bad feelings are a sign that a part of your soul is stuck in the past, says Peterson. You need to write these memories down carefully and completely, explore them and bring that part of your soul to the present. Investigate these memories so you can untangle the chaos-creating knot that was tied in the past to restore order in your life.
Overcoming obstacles and pushing yourself even to the point of exhaustion makes you stronger.
“Difficult is necessary,” explains Peterson, and we actually thrive on hardship. This is the reason we place restrictions and laws in games such as chess – we up the challenge to reap the sweet rewards on completion.
Aim at something, Peterson advises young men and women, shoulder the cross and you will find meaning in your life. To parents and society Peterson says to stop shielding your children. Let “the evil queen” into their life so they encounter the real world. If you don’t, they will grow up to be weak, immature and vulnerable. Peterson also speaks about the importance of discipline, dismissing many parents’ assertion that it will suffocate creativity. It is exactly the opposite, he argues. Discipline brings structure to your child’s life and ensures that he/she will produce something of value in the long run.
BEYOND ORDER, just like 12 Rules for Life, is about the balance between order and chaos and the fact that we need both. The first rule urges us to not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement. We need the order provided by the tradition of our past, explains Peterson, but also the creative, rebellious people to regenerate our institutions. The trick is to balance these forces and not allow the pendulum to swing too far in one direction for too long.
The new rules urge you to try to make one room in your house as beautiful as possible, imagine who you could be and aim single-mindedly at that, work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens, do not allow yourself to become resentful, deceitful, or arrogant, do not do things that you hate, be grateful in-spite of your suffering and abandon ideology.
“Like God, ideology is dead,” says Peterson, “killed by the bloody excess of the 20th century.” We would be better off abandoning it altogether and concentrate on smaller, more clearly defined problems instead.
Rules are expanded on with great depth, enhanced by references to the Bible, Niestche, Dostoyevsky, Harry Potter, Blake, Wordsworth, Whitman and Disney tales among others. There are also moving references to Peterson’s family members, such as his son Julian who at four years old was afraid to get close to a dinosaur in a museum. He was acting upon humans’ innate fear of reptilians, explains Peterson. A child has very little experience, he adds, but at the same time, he is “an ancient creature.”
Beyond Order has captivating insight into Peterson’s practice and several real-life cases he has treated. He speaks in great detail about problems patients encountered and his tribulations over the treatment applied, including hypnosis.
The rule “Plan and Work Diligently to Maintain the Romance in Your Relationship” would be of interest to anyone in a relationship. People tend to be naive with regards to their relationships, says Peterson, thinking that romance should just happen spontaneously, but you need to perfect it, like anything else. Peterson urges couples to make the effort, negotiate when necessary so they can have romantic pleasure in their lives.
It is important to note that Peterson wrote Beyond Order during long stays in various hospitals over the past year, when he and his family members were battling life-threatening illness and unforeseen misfortune. Peterson’s “disappearance” from public life was the subject of media speculation, much of which he attempts to clarify in Beyond Order’s overture.
Peterson is a deep thinker with tremendous powers of articulation and a captivating sense of wonder. A master storyteller, he draws on a multitude of sources, including his personal life, clinical practice and long marriage to enlighten readers about the fundamentals of human behavior and our civilization. Beyond Order is a call for action and self-improvement. It is a mind-blowing journey where the lessons learnt are lessons for life.
BEYOND ORDER: 12 MORE RULES FOR LIFE
By Jordan Peterson
Penguin
432 pages; $24.92