What’s Wrong With You? Psychologically, I mean.
Come on. You’re dying to know, right? If you’re brave enough to be psycho-analyzed and review the results, then there’s no better way than to read 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. If you’re intellectually honest and you want to really dig in to that noggin of yours, now’s your chance — especially if you fall anywhere to right of Karl Marx on the spectrum of social, economic, and political theory. If you fall on the left of that, there’s no point in reading it. It will just make you mad, because, … facts, and the rest of us know you hate those pesky things. Facts are just a social construct, after all.
As you begin reading, you may get your ego stroked a little, because he will likely validate what you already believe, and in a way that you’ve never been able to articulate. That’s good. But as you continue, you’ll begin to recognize a few little things about your way of thinking, and in his masterful way, Dr. Peterson will let you know that “you’re doing it wrong.” In fact, you’re probably doing it all wrong.
Perhaps it’s good that discovering these things about yourself all remain private. There’s no need to announce to the world that many of your long held beliefs and the way you’ve behaved your entire life are, in fact, based on some very scary stuff. But fear not, because many of the things you’ve done throughout life are also explainable and quite natural, whether they be good or bad. You will learn why when you read it.
Like many others, I started following Dr. Peterson shortly after his initial fame on YouTube regarding his position on being forced to use newly ‘established’ pronouns. I then began following him more closely. Then the universe decided to propel him along a little further with the appearance of his interview with Cathy Newman (infamous British Channel 4 News anchor). He is no doubt on his way to being a gazzillionaire now since that happened just as he published his new book. It was an instant number 1 bestseller, worldwide and remains so today. No doubt, Dr. Peterson wouldn’t subscribe to the modern day notion of Karma, but one has to wonder after that “coincidence” occurred.
Unfortunately, all this fascination with Dr. Peterson comes with a down side. First, in my case, it qualifies me as a fan-boy. And being a fan-boy at the age of 62 is just, well, … unbecoming, is it not? Of course being fortunate enough to have actually survived some of my poor choices in life also qualifies me to not really care much about being unbecoming, so there is that.
Many of us go through life looking for answers to things we don’t understand. Some of those questions are philosophical and some are more existential. Many of these are ‘why” questions. But all of us hope to find meaning, and by extension, the answers to those questions. While I deeply wish Dr. Peterson would have come along at a much earlier time in my life, it is nevertheless, deeply satisfying to have many of those questions answered before I become worm-chow. For that, I have Dr. Peterson to thank.
Back to being a fan-boy. Judging by his book sales and his view count on YouTube videos, it is safe to say, I’m certainly not alone. Unfortunately, this kind of attention will always draw out detractors. There will be those who challenge anything popular – particularly from those who are threatened by his teaching. Dr. Peterson even explains that phenomena quite well in his book. That he uses his intellectual skills, which I surmise are off-the-charts, and couples them with a long history of research backed up by real science, is of course one of the things that makes him so popular. But it’s more than that. He has an interesting and effective way of communicating these sometimes abstract notions in a way that people like me, his intellectual inferiors, can understand. And when we do, it’s almost epiphany-like. How often do you get the opportunity to have multiple epiphanies, one right after the other, in a single reading?
I actually find it amusing, though it has also become tiresome, to read the musings of his detractors. It’s like observing the smack-down of the century, a classic mic-drop, and watching it in slow motion, as the pseudo-intellectuals try to take on his work. I’m sure Dr. Peterson quietly smiles as he reads these, knowing the writers are actually smacking themselves down, without him even being present. The irony is that those pseudo-intellectuals are nearly without exception, calling him a pseudo-intellectual.
Only the hard-left leaning would dare consider these criticisms worthy of intellectual review. Rarely will you read or hear an actual argument against his theories. Nope, it’s all about the ad hominem with his critics. It reminds me of the classic, and ever so effective retort, “Oh yeah, well your mom’s and idiot.” Argument over, right? Seriously, even some of the most brilliant thinkers and modern-day interviewers today admit to being intimidated by him, worried that interviewing him might reduce them to looking like lizard thinkers. Those that are not nearly as humble, such as Cathy Newman, won’t even realize how badly they’ve been destroyed on the platform of intellectual debate when they attempt to take-on Dr. Peterson.
Anyhow, you by now know I highly recommend this book. Where else can you get psycho-analyzed for less that one dollar per hour? I purchased both the Kindle and Audio version, using Whispersync to enjoy it at home and on the road. I think I’ll buy the print version now too and put it on my coffee table, just so I can be reminded that pure brilliance still exists in this world.
If you want to know what’s wrong with you, and more specifically, why, get this book and read it.