Self-Mastery Advocates: Vol. 1 - Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
The self-mastery journey involves a realization that no one is coming to save us. We stop playing the blame game and decide to pick ourselves up from the depressing state of affairs. This journey begins with a step-by-step acknowledgment of our roles in our current unfavorable life conditions. We declare "enough is enough" as we venture into the world of books, coaches, seminars, interviews, positive mindset influencers, online, offline, and self-reflecting via meditation.
We all get to this point in different phases of life. Some of us require a serious dose of life crises. Others may naturally awaken as age and maturation occurs. This difficult truth hits us, and we open our minds to self-awareness, personal responsibility, accountability, and patience with the process, realizing that the decades of damage wouldn’t be reversed in a month or two.
We withdraw from our normal daily routine, carving out time to digest new information, and incorporating our findings to enable us to unlock our higher versions. A little dose of hero-complex could set in, with a desire to save our families and the world at large, but this is soon abandoned as we learn to live and let live, realizing people only change in their own time.
We soon discover that the truth has always been available, but unpopular because it often feels boring. The truth cares not for vain displays and is about the soul, not the ego. Persecution may follow as the immediate environment of the truth seeker attempts to expel the discomfort of light, shining on the darkness of ignorance and nescience.
The test of resilience follows. He who holds on to the end wins a life of bliss, free from trivialities and general stress. My heart's desire daily is to help my audience take that great leap into the world of self-mastery. The first step usually involves reading some important mind-shifting books. These books help broaden our worldview, as we break free from the mindsets that put our lives in shambles.
Below are a few of my favorite contributors to this field of soul work. Their books and general online content will prove useful to anyone on a journey of self-discovery and soul awakening. This volume is a welcome gift, from me to you. Some of these works are reputed for changing lives around the world. Check them out and let us know how it went. Enjoy.
Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist, professor, and author who has written several books on various topics, including psychology, philosophy, religion, and politics. Two of his most well-known books are "Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief" and "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos."
Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief
The main premise of the book is that humans have an innate drive to understand and make sense of the world around them and that this drive is reflected in the stories, myths, and beliefs that we create. Peterson argues that these stories and myths serve as "maps" that help us navigate the complexities of the world and give our lives meaning and purpose.
The book is divided into four main sections:
The Psychological Foundations of Myth: In this section, Peterson discusses the psychological foundations of myth and how it shapes our beliefs and behaviors. He argues that myth reflects our deepest fears, desires, and values and that it plays a crucial role in shaping our identity and the way we see the world.
The Myth of Modernity: In this section, Peterson discusses how modern society has lost touch with the deeper meanings and values that underlie our beliefs and behaviors. He argues that this has led to a sense of emptiness and confusion in modern life and that we need to rediscover the wisdom of the past to find meaning and purpose in the present.
The Structures of Belief: In this section, Peterson discusses the various structures of belief that shape our worldview and how they influence our behavior. He looks at how these structures can become dysfunctional and cause conflict, and he discusses ways in which we can use myth and storytelling to repair and heal these structures.
The Role of the Individual in Myth: In the final section, Peterson discusses the role of the individual in myth and how we can use myth and storytelling to shape our own lives and the world around us. He argues that we each have the power to create our own myth and that we should use this power to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
A review on Amazon reads as follows:
"I just finished reading Maps of Meaning for the 4th time, and only now do I feel comfortable posting a review for this remarkable and staggering book. Maps of Meaning is the most meaningful and interesting book that I have ever read. It's a very hard book to read in many ways, intellectually and emotionally, but it is absolutely worth it. MoM is also the most practically useful "self-help" book I have ever come across, and I have found it deeply transformative in my personal life in many ways. I can't recommend it enough, and I think this book should be taught in every school.
I have spent much of the last decade trying to answer a question: "What are stories/narratives made out of?". This question has driven much of my private reading, and I have read a lot of books about the structure of narratives, from Aristotle to Joseph Campbell to Robert McKee and many others. But Jordan Peterson is on another level when it comes to answering this question. MoM is the most high-fidelity articulation of the structure and architecture of narratives that I have ever come across.
Peterson lays out an extremely detailed framework for understanding narrative structure, and grounds this framework in the latest psychology and neuroscience research. MoM was enormously helpful for me to understand the structure of narratives and stories. So if you are interested at all in storytelling/narratives/marketing, you will truly love this book and find it practically very useful.
Deeper than answering my questions about stories though, Peterson articulates a rational framework for understanding our relationship with the transcendent/divine. I have read the complete works of Carl Jung and have found his rational framework for understanding the transcendent (The "Collective Unconscious", Shadow, Anima, Animus, Self, etc) very interesting and helpful. But Peterson's framework for rationally understanding the transcendent/divine (Unknown, Known, Knower, Precosmogonic Chaos) seems to go deeper than Jung's and is grounded more in the latest neuroscientific research.
Our modern scientific minds are in desperate need of a rational framework for understanding our relationship with the irrational transcendent, and Peterson has done an extremely admirable job of solving this problem. So if you are interested in the works of Jung, or are trying to find a rational way to understand your relationship with the transcendent, this is the book for you.
One area of MoM that I found very helpful in the context of Jung's work is the final chapters of MoM about Alchemy. I have read Jung's work on alchemy, and although I found it deeply interesting and engaging, it was very hard for me to get at what he was talking about. Peterson's chapter on Alchemy is a fantastic introduction to Jung's alchemy work and goes deeper than Jung's in some key ways. Peterson does an incredible job mapping the heroic pattern of action to the process the alchemists projected into their attempts to transform base metals into gold. I have always been stunned by Jung's work in alchemy, but it wasn't until I read Maps of Meaning that I really started to understand it. So if you are interested in Jung and Alchemy, I'm sure you will find this book deeply interesting and helpful.
Peterson's conclusion in MoM is a fascinating and deep idea that I am still trying to wrap my head around: "the divinity of interest". Peterson lays out an argument that our sense of meaning/interest is guided by the transcendent divine and that the proper path to heroic action is to follow your sense of meaning/interest to its end. He also lays out the adversarial patterns of action, how they reject meaning/interest, and how this shirking of responsibility and rejection of meaning (through the lie) is the core act of evil. Peterson showed me that my sense of meaning/interest is divine and that following my sense of meaning to its end is how I can interface with the divine in my own personal life.
Since reading MoM my life has certainly become more meaningful, and following my sense of meaning has quite radically transformed my life direction. Finding this deeper sense of meaning has come through accepting deeper responsibility though, so I have also had an increase in conscious suffering during this time. But as Peterson lays out in MoM, if you accept the burden of responsibility and accept your deepest suffering, you will find the meaning within that will allow you to transcend that suffering. Peterson's conclusion to Maps of Meaning, the "divinity of interest", is a staggering idea that I am barely able to wrap my head around, but after acting this idea out in my life, I can see that it is deeply important. So if you are looking for meaning in your life, and trying to understand the relationship between meaning and your own Good/Evil actions, this book should be a great guide for you.
It's difficult to write a comprehensive review for such a foundational and groundbreaking book. I personally think that Maps of Meaning is one the most important scientific/philosophical/religious works of the 20th/21st centuries, and perhaps human history. Peterson has provided us with a high-fidelity framework for understanding how we humans behave, and more importantly, how we can behave heroically in the face of the ever-present Unknown. It's going to take another 30-50 years before people truly start to understand the value of Peterson's great work, and I daresay that this book will have a huge impact on the future of humanity.
Bravo, Jordan Peterson. God bless you for creating such a useful masterpiece. I will continue to read Maps of Meaning every year, and I'm looking forward to reading it a 5th time a 6th time, and many more times to come. As I said above, Maps of Meaning is the most meaningful and important book that I have ever read. I don't think I have ever read a book 4 times before. It's a very tough read to get through, but it's worth it. If you are curious about stories/narratives, or if you are a fan of Jung and psychology, or if you are simply trying to figure out how to live your life meaningfully, I highly recommend Maps of Meaning, and I hope it is as meaningful for you as it is for me." They wrote.
204 people found this helpful
Check it out and tell us how you found the book in the comments.
Comments
Post a Comment