A final word on Jordan B. Peterson's 12 Rules

One of the fascinating (and maddening) things about Jordan B. Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is the way that he  presents each “Rule”.

He usually starts each rule by giving practical examples from this life to show why this rule is important. Then he proceeds to wander over hill and dale with illustrations and reflections that seem to have little or no relation to the supposed rule. 

All very interesting, but what happened to the “rule”?

Finally though, at the end he comes back to the rule and says, “there, you see how I have explained my rule”. 

For example with rule 11, “Do not bother children when they are skateboarding”, he wanders into post modernist Marxism, power dominance theory versus competency and biology. He critiques the idea that all gender differences are only socially constructed and therefore not biologically based – and so on. OK, maybe he has used his catchy “rules” to get us to listen to his philosophy.

Actually I found it all very interesting. Only don’t get too hung up on the tangled sequence of events.

I really enjoyed reading this guy. I did not say that I agreed with all that he says but he sure provokes one to think. (By the way he grew up in northern Alberta, not northern Ontario). He leads you on a wild and wonderful chase as he develops each of his 12 rules.

Rule 10 “ Be precise in your speech”. Yes, Jordan and how do you illustrate this? By musing on the complex interconnection of the digital world and how we try to interact with it by our computers. He is always dealing with his favourite themes – chaos vs. order, life is marked by suffering, the soul and the spirit alone gives meaning to it all, and we need to take responsibility. Shirking problems on to others and culture will not work. In a way that is pretty precise.

And finally there is the strange

Rule 12 “Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street”  What do we have here but a gripping portrayal of all the struggles and pain that he and his wife have gone through with their daughter who was stricken with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This is where he had to put his philosophy into action. The daughter is now happily married with a child of her own. But what about the cat on the street?

In the CODA Peterson tries to sum up the application of all his 12 rules. He speaks very personally, especially how he has dealt with disagreements with his wife during their 30 years of marriage. This is one of the charming features of this book. He is just not spinning idle philosophy. He speaks out his own experience and illustrates much from his decades of clinical counselling.  There are lots of Christian quotes as he works to bring spiritual principles into present day reality.

A really inspiring read!