2021 is a markedly different year from 2016.
As has been announced throughout the year, with the advent of the Biden-Harris administration, a new pro-choice agenda will be unleashed upon the American population along with a revamped attack on traditional marriage.
The Church herself is wounded and scarred by corruption and confusion.
All of this pessimism is a pronounced contrast to the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election when Donald Trump seemed about to restore the life and health of not only the United States, but the entire Western world.
As has oft been remarked, Trump’s 2016 campaign was bigger than Trump; it was a “meta-political” campaign that opened the prospect for a radical shift in the Zeitgeist of the West as well as the wide world. A new, post-liberal way of being appeared on the horizon. The key question was: what sort of new Western subjectivity and Western politics?
Would it be a form of racialism under the aegis of the Alt-Right? Would it be a Steven Bannon-esque form of civic nationalism?
Or would Christendom once again, in the memorable phrase of Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, “awake”?
Ironically, all of these movements (and more) surged before, during, and after the Trump campaign, but were met with startling resistance and, in the case of the Alt-Right, practical obliteration.
One movement, however, has continued to thrive even into the emerging long winter of the Biden-Harris era: the so-called “intellectual dark web.”
This movement, consisting of a curious mixture of figures, includes former MMA announcer turned podcaster, Joe Rogan; conservative English political commentator, Douglas Murray; and, of course, University of Toronto psychology professor turned self-help YouTube guru Jordan Peterson.
Peterson, the most accomplished and credentialed intellectual among the group, began his foray into the pugilistic world of internet intellectual combat in 2016 with a series of lectures protesting Canadian Bill C-16, which sought to criminalize discrimination against persons who identify as transgendered.
Peterson’s protest and subsequent free speech debates and interviews launched the mild-mannered Canadian professor onto the international stage just in time for the raucous 2016 elections in both the United States and Europe.
With his expansive knowledge of world religions, mythology, and clinical psychoanalysis, as well as his ability to lecture with clarity and pathos, Peterson quickly became a de facto spiritual advisor to millions of people who felt disenchanted and discouraged living in the ruins of postmodernity (a common comment underneath Jordan Peterson’s videos is “Dr. Peterson, the father/teacher I never had”).
Peterson’s first major foray into the mass market publishing world was his 2018 book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, which has served as an Ariadne’s thread for those wandering through the minotaur-haunted labyrinth of the twenty-first century.
Peterson’s new book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, recently drew criticism from employees at the book’s publishing house Penguin Press, due to its allegedly reactionary and dangerous ideas (to the delight of his fans, Peterson has been releasing YouTube videos unveiling the rules over the past few weeks).
However, contrary to his critics—and, ironically, to Peterson’s own critique of what he calls “postmodernity”—Peterson’s ideas are not only modern but eminently post-modern. And therein is precisely why Catholics should exercise some caution.
Drawing from Buddhism, Christianity, as well as Confucian adages and, above all, the work of Swiss psychoanalyst and mythographer Karl Gustav Jung (two of Peterson’s most popular videos are Jungian analyses of The Lion King and Pinocchio), Peterson preaches a Gospel of discipline and constructive resistance to chaos and suffering in the world. Although his followers come from every ethnicity and religion in the world, Peterson’s principle audience consists of young white men—many of whom are on the post-millennial psychological borderland between Christian post-Christian thinking and who appear to be tenuously holding onto their faith amidst an ocean of darkness and doubt.
Peterson does have many positive things to say about the Bible, the story of Jesus Christ, and Christianity at large; in fact, Peterson’s defense of Christianity, the West in general, and what Christians call the “natural law” has prompted criticism from quick-tempered denizens of the woke left.
However, it is within this defense of Christianity that small but important elements of danger in Peterson’s thought reside.
For Peterson, Christianity is the most potent myth in the West; it is the culmination of not only Near Eastern but all of European mythology. However, for Peterson, Christianity is just that: a myth. It is a myth that has enabled the West to not only survive, but to flourish and to dominate the entire globe. Christianity, for Peterson, is just a magnificent and powerful story that is like other stories that humans have told in order to form and shape society.
It is, fittingly, in his analysis of the Bible that the limits of Peterson’s analysis of Christianity are made manifest. The stories of Cain and Abel, Noah and his family, and Christ and the disciples are not, as Peterson posits, stories about individual sacrifice for personal and collective benefit; rather, they are stories of the movement of God throughout history. They are stories of a living and transcendent God, who desires the salvation of the human person—body, soul, spirit, mind—and who become incarnate, lived among men and woman, suffered, and then died to redeem mankind.
As the Church has always taught, God is not limited to human reasoning. He is not the character in a myth or a mechanism for social formation; he is the living and true God, who has made himself manifest in Sacred Scripture, the book of nature, and in the holy sacraments of the Church. There is only one rabbi, teacher, and guru who will save us: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who became flesh and dwelt among us, and then suffered, died, and rose again.
Jordan Peterson does, in fact, have much to offer young (and old) people struggling to shape, as Peterson himself would call them, “maps of meaning” in a tumultuous world. However, Peterson’s work should be selectively read as being instrumental to the recovery of mental health and the right formation of our social order.
Related at CWR:
• “The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon” (Feb 27, 2018) by Bishop Robert Barron
• “Jordan Peterson’s Jungian best-seller is banal, superficial, and insidious” (Apr 3, 2018) by Adam A. J. DeVille
• “Jordan Peterson is a prophet—and a problem for progressives (Jan 30, 2018) by Anne Hendershott
• “Jordan B. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life is a call to clarity in an age of chaos” (Feb 11, 2018) by Dorothy Cummings McLean
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Have you seen the video that was recently released where Prof. Peterson talks about what Christ means to him personally? I think he may be much closer to conversion than was thought. A few more prayers might seal the deal!
Thanks for the heads up, Sarah. I’ll try (probably unsuccessfully, even if it’s possible) to provide a link to the video you referred to (Jordan Peterson podcast season 4 episode 8 Pageau). Start watching at minute 19:00, keep watching for about 6 minutes. Here goes….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rAqVmZwqZM
and Peterson on Dostoyevsky/Crime and Punishment (at “Daily Wisdom Chunks”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUgLK1-nAgI
In an age of advancing atheism, C.S. Lewis made the intellectual and spiritual leap to embracing the True Myth so maybe Peterson can too. But who will be his Tolkien?
Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for the rich man to do what he is called to do.
This about myths, from C.S. Lewis:
“Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened:
“and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s myth where the others are men’s myths: i.e., the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call ‘real things’.”
As one who sat through tiresome Scripture courses in the seminary, Peterson’s take on biblical stories is nothing short of incredible and astonishingly credible, in the deepest sense. He never claims to be a Catholic theologian, and he certainly doesn’t capture the totality of orthodox Christian theology, but who has? Russell’s critique of Peterson derives from his own lack of understanding of the concept of myth. It is not fanciful but profoundly truth-full. Peterson never calls into doubt the facticity of biblical narratives. Rather, he uncovers the psychological soundness of those narratives. Yes, listen and read Peterson with a critical mind, as you would anyone. But do read and listen to him. He shows a way out of our moral and cultural morass, a way that is thoroughly Catholic. Is he infallible? No. But that whole concept has been brought into disrepair as of late, anyway, hasn’t it? Speaking of whom … I will take Peterson’s critique of post-modernism and advice any day over Bergoglio’s capitulation and Church leadership’s complete and utter refusal to offer resistance, much less a way out of it and overcoming its utter self-destructiveness. Bravo to Peterson.
Thank you for your very nice review. Another “guru” fellow is James H. Fowler (UC San Diego). He splices things together and comes up with all kinds of composites. To make it more complicated, he can isolate something, like, say, “overconfidence”, which he calls an “evolutionary” trait; to use it as a premise really to argue for survival of the fittest once you can harness the your forces between self-interest and group success. He subjects these things to “mathematical modeling” to determine their “values”. It has something to do with “happiness”. In this kind of thing some questions will always arise though: what basis? how reasoned? how much maths? purposes and aims changing? if other motives matter and in what way? As for the mathematics, there is an interesting counterpoint offered by Ed Feser, which is discussed in the Mind Matters link here. I can’t say Feser had Fowler in mind with this; just that the 2 vectors approached momentarily near each other at a locus in space and time and I was able to notice the juxtaposition, or coincidence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Fowler
http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/evolution_of_overconfidence.pdf
https://mindmatters.ai/2020/08/why-the-brain-cant-be-understood-simply-in-terms-of-particles/
Re-read the article but substitute the name of Pope Francis for Jordan Peterson. You’ll be surprised what you come up with.
Not even remotely true or accurate. Remove the log from your own eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.
No, there is some truth to it. Consider that Peterson does a kind of “dialogue paradigm” number (I will refrain from saying “act”) and he offers adaptive ideas and examples for others to follow. This mode of action would fit right in with the picture of life of peace often described by the Holy Father. One difficulty that is present is that it has gotten a blanket endorsement and you never know when it will be said you have been too critical. Catholics have it harder because they wish to be faithful.
I suggest this Peterson versatility partly explains his popularity: students and young people get fascinated by it, by the resilient intellectual adding-on and confident productive delving that Peterson can demonstrate and by his representation of it as belonging to everyone in common. He is pitching a sense of personal idealism and self-reliance they suppose is immensely admirable. And yes there is the elusive order in it that is very “attracting”.
And I don’t mean to denigrate the goodness in the Holy Father.
Nonsense and mendacity recoil on your head Athanasius. You repeat yourself a lot like a stuck record. The would-be log in my eye is shown to be no advantage or service or consolation to you real or not.
If you are not Jordan Peterson why do you speak for him a lie as if he would say it; and if you are Jordan Peterson why you are lying.
Not only are you lying all over again, the lying recapitulates all the earlier lies and both of these are the hallmarks of the sub-culture now laid bare by so many and by me.
It reflects and proves the very practices that we have condemned including in the self-contradiction in your own implicit “agreement-condemnation”. From where you got that?
Do you really expect to condemn it by condemning me! What a fraudulence.
So the lying then is on top of the nondescript amoral-ist “coaching” positioning and positivism discoursal arrangements. Lying didn’t just arrive with you, it’s all in there a long time and from the beginning in the roots.
Jordan Peterson is advancing and trying to standardize and canonize the business. He has only protracted the problems. He has not declared against them nor even alluded to them meaningfully.
There never was anything in it for the Church. You say “conspiracy theory” but it is misdirecting. The design even without an intentionality is not Church and never can be.
And in reality it is not “a happening” singularly but action with well-formed intent. This is knowable on three other levels in addition to the malapropos, the malapert and the objective maladies.
1. The very intention in the beginning explicitly avowed by Dr. Robert Sabga and others was exclusion and “defeat” of faith and the Church -never abjured by UofT. Militant and vicious not benign and accidental.
2. Atheism in the heart or mind or will has distinctive results, like the king walrus with the hefty beard and tusks sunning on the beach fully satisfied that God doesn’t exist because the gull and the penguin are close. Expert!
3. Your use of Scripture shows that you are ready and willing to misuse it and actually do it as if it were yours to do so. You mean to manipulate and evoke disgust. You failed.
So there you are scrambling the new fraud telling me “You don’t know what you are talking about and Peterson already did all the work that was needed.” You are discovered!
Well, I didn’t tell you before but beside the pat label list we have the false father figure! for whom the losers exult “He is the father I never had and always desired to have!” Losers!
Jordan Peterson is, interestingly enough, one of the vehicles God used to lead me away from a destructive progressive worldview back to the Faith. It was his practical philosophy, based largely on Judeo-Christian principles, that helped snap me out of my hypnotic state of “wokeness” to realize the injustice of the destructive philosophy of the Left, which is based largely (if not entirely) on the principles of Marxism, Communism, Socialism, and their accompanying Atheism. I would love to say that my return to the Faith…and I mean a complete, radical transformation to a devout Catholic man pursuing an MA in Theology from an orthodox Catholic educational institution and to being a leader within the Church…was because of a Catholic book or a Catholic man (or woman) helping me find my way back to Jesus Christ and His Church – but it sadly was not. So, I say good for Jordan Peterson…I think he is not far from the kingdom of God. And since what he promotes supports the natural law, as well as true social justice and good living (kind of like Proverbs), let’s promote his books and videos while at the same time keeping close at hand our Bibles and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I appreciate the fact CWR runs this piece, after Prof. Deville’s much less positive review of JP way back. You guys seem to give differing voices within the framework of orthodoxy a place to speak.
But “Donald Trump seemed about to restore the life and health of not only the United States, but the entire Western world.” I wouldn’t go quite that far. LOL. I felt like Trump’s victory did not restore anything so much as it brought some encouragement by suggested there were still lots of voters notes fully indoctrinated by the Zeitgeist that they wouldn’t buck media consensus. I hope that remains true today.
Today Feast Day of St.Frances of Rome and her bio with mention of how things in her life were not as she had planned , yet trusted in the better plans of God and the family , to thus lead a saintly life .
Having only the limited time that is allocated to each of us , being able to read up on the cultural icons at CWR site is a good help , grateful for not spending time on such , time that can instead be allocated to good talks such as here , by Rev.Fr. Iannunzi , with background in exorcism as well .
https://radiomaria.us/learning-to-live/
He quotes the Pope Emer . to help do away with serious / grave errors , such as the critical truth that the the Antichrist is NOT A person , ? instead , to be careful about ideologies that dangerously mimic The Truth , thus leading some to blame /accuse innocent persons / Fathers ! His talks also mention that we are indeed in a time chastisement ( and hopefully the Reign of The Divine Will to be soon enough after the time of purification ) that the safe refuges are the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts , that there is protection promised also through meditation on The Passion , to help bring the deep compassion by taking in The Truth of what sin costs .
The endearing scene of the departure of the Holy Father after his blessed trip to Iraq , the heart of a tender Father in the joy that comes with holiness and trust in the Divine Will , so evident , with its goodness reflected in those around – hope all the ‘sons ‘ who are searching for the Father , would see same in the blessings and love given us , through this good and faithful son of St.Peter .
The participation in The Passion too , in painful steps and tiredness , yet , on return , gratefully running to The Mother as her faithful child –
St.Frances of Rome would be smiling too , with all of heaven ; let us hope that such is not missed by many . 🙂
I have no respect for atheists. Given the near universal belief (about 97%) in the supernatural, if there is any fact more obvious than the existence of God I can’t think of one.
Then there is clear evidence for God’s providence.
Even if I wasn’t convinced about the existence of God or life after death , who would want to take a chance on that? Where we spend eternity is a pretty serious proposition. If I’m wrong about it, oh well, nothing lost. But if eternal life is real I’d better prepare myself.
People spend more time, worry & money on long term care insurance policies than contemplating eternity which lasts far longer.
I found these comments so far very engaging. I should add I have not read Peterson’s works or listened to his talks; nor have I followed elsewhere what others would have said about him. The people at RT seem to be enamored of him and he was noticed before he went for treatment in Russia; interviews were done and whatnot but I hadn’t watched them. The Lord said the thief comes only to destroy. I wonder what provisions Peterson would find in his philosophy to guard against guile and too much swaying and openness. Meantime I sense he has a very discursive approach where a lot is acknowledged but nothing is really set down firm/firmly. Richard Dawkins has a similar rambling intensity.
Dr. Peterson apparently knows much about Buddhism and Christianity, but I wonder if he’s ever linked the two together.
There’s a website that evaluates the Great Religions of the World and then demonstrates how Buddhism validates the truth of Christianity. This portion of the website starts at:
https://www.raging-truth.com/great-religions-of-the-world
Jorden Peterson was a powerful speaker, much deeper and had more evangelical virtues than many catholic preachers who are boring. Peterson knew how to speak of religion, history, psychology, literature and culture and put all together to present it in a simple, yet profound, statement…. This is what attracted many including myself, he also debated top notch heretics, and other devils and won or would quiet everyone… We do not have any Catholic speakers today who can do that… Peterson was needed during Trump’s last year, however the devil made sure he took him completely out of the picture by having him go on a one-year tour with the a devil himself… check it out… Catholic preacher and teachers should study Peterson and copy in his style…
No, a.d., the work of the evangelist is the witness of grace not an imparting of materialist rationalism in a chemistry. I haven’t read Peterson’s books but very likely if he converted he would feel impelled to renounce them and in addition the “andragogic” things he is inculcating like a toxic potion in a rotten snake oil.
It’s sad that you have that barrel way of thinking… You need to listen to Jordan Peterson objectively when he’s teaching a class and talking about the great writers and literature and how he talks about culture and history and he’s his anti-communism topics are fantastic.. he was the only one that took on the gender pronouns, in debates and he beat them all and he was a tremendous advocate for free speech. Is why our church in countries going to hell God bless
In the hands of Jesus Christ Lamb of God I am certain God will make me as clay God wants.
But in the hands of Peterson I will be nothing like that. Maybe it might appear to you and to him as “wooden and clunky” or whatever and something worse. But so what. He is not the answer to my sins or my love or my weaknesses or my true needs or my visions and never will be.
How may you use me in that way to advocate for him!
I noticed your input yesterday coincides with the “life coach” article in ZENIT in the Arabic section, all posted around the same time. If this is what is going on how will they be vetted? And how can it be it just gets posted up like that like a kind of pre-emptive. We simply obey?
https://ar.zenit.org/2021/03/12/%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b0%d8%a7-%d9%86%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%88%d9%84-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b6%d9%88%d8%b9-%d8%aa%d8%af%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d9%88%d9%85%d8%a7-%d9%87%d9%8a/
Since you definitely have a mind that is overactive and it’s not quiet or reflective it’s hard to dialogue with you in a constructive way..I suggest you look up a tape that Jordan Peterson was was in advertising atheism where he has a 6-7 person conversation regarding atheism and how he defends God in this talk he doesn’t get specifics but he defends objectives morality and based on God he’s also able to comment on psychology history amongst other things he has tremendous depth and was very very instrumental in bringing a lot of young people back into hope and that’s a good thing.. I would be classified as a traditional catholic however ice don’t see many Catholics with the range that Jordan Peterson had many years ago especially in debating even though we may have some good speakers they’re very limited very boring and actually sometimes too religious in a negative way it’s not going to bring people into the faith or awaken their sense of hunger for truth Jordan Peterson did this .. and I will say it again and hopefully you or somebody will read this he was specifically taken out of the picture by evil check it out when he went on his tour that’s our serious problem and that’s what we should be concerned about the evil that took out Jordan Peterson.. God bless and as a benedicting oblate pox but I don’t think you’ll have too much pox you seem too narcissistic and over over zealous in your own self. Also the thing you stated that I commented it I never commented it on anything so I don’t know what you’re talking about
Here is more of the life coaching stuff at ZENIT, again in the Arabic section. It has a motif with the Amazon-like type “arrows” here resembling spermatozoa en route. I am sorry to say that; but we do have to be more scrupulous in the things we choose sometimes.
As for you A.d., Jordan Peterson went on to prove himself, true to his own form. To emphasize it he took Dave Rubin along with him “for everyone’s sake”. I am making sure you didn’t miss it.
https://ar.zenit.org/2022/08/23/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a4%d8%b3%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%a8%d9%88%d9%8a/
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/open-letter-to-jordan-peterson-your-promotion-of-same-sex-parenting-betrays-innocent-children/?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=usa
I didn’t have any input yesterday into that thing that you submitted. I encourage you to look at the tape advertising atheism where Jordan is among seven other speakers and is able to rise above the conversation and bring about an intelligent talk that without God all of their discussion is basically nonsense and very damaging commands existence on Earth this was done about 9 10 years ago..the sad thing with Jordan Peterson is he was taken out of the picture is making tremendous converts into finally coming back into thinking properly he was Awakening students and improving dialogue on the college campuses but he was specifically targeted and taken out and I heard you to investigate who took them out it was an evil and evil that continues to ruin our society and our church God bless.
…
Dear a.d., here are things you will not hear from Peterson.
Peterson is part of a systematic atheism activism in the University of Toronto establishment going on since the 1970’s and perhaps earlier. The video you refer to was not something novel at that time: atheism “advertising” debates were already happening in the early 1980’s, TV, radio, etc. The debates are choreographies, they do not have the candour of what they are really doing and all activist participants have a part to do. In the video you mention which comes much later in the timeline of these things, the representative for religion would seem to be implicated also. Peterson himself is a highly distilled form of that activism where he comes in as a moderator.
Once you know and understand this you can recognize that Peterson does not stand out actually nor does he elevate anything. He merely reiterates “hear both sides” and “atheists are not necessarily violent but can be”. So yes, this time I did go and watch Peterson in action and I found exactly what I expected to see. Search what you can find concerning Professor Mario J. Valdés. Search all the names that will present including de Unamuno, Northrop Frye, etc. One name that will not appear easily is Dr. Robert Sabga. He was an early disciple in the psychology department in the 70’s when he earned his first degree and generated and participated in the public activities.
The main entry point for atheism for UofT students at the time was the psychology department but I believe it has spread into many areas including literature. In the late 1970’s at UofT, my cousin had a literature professor who used literature themes to discuss religion in open terms and contrast the “local culture” and all the “flowing current affairs that were raging”. Sophisticated counter-measures were set in motion. Systematic atheism has spread to many if not all departments and colleges and law school. It is called Modernism. Young people going into the UofT milieu should be forewarned about these things. But Peterson covers up for it and distorts reality. And this is called lying.
Literature now has a lot to do with “word maps”.
Canadian systematic atheism is not confined just to academia. Like Draculas Modernists straddle times and distort chains of actions and results. To me Peterson is fully purposed and outfitted. It is possible to leverage Orthodox sympathies. One question that arises is the part it has played in fostering Bolivarianism and helping it become more extreme, Chavez to Maduro. And helping it spread abroad.
The reason some of my posts appear at “4am” or so is not because of restlessness. It is because of the my location relative to the CWR platform. The list of names you (seem to) label me with, is the pat method of attacking students used by the atheists at the UofT since the 1970’s. Once a youngster introduced whether intentionally or naturally, a religion or faith element, or charity, or basic truth, someone would invoke a label and the discussion would turn into that avenue instead. This would happen in class and in the public forums and in the dorms. Many do not “take it on” because they just mean to get on with their careers.
I am not a “benedictine oblate”, merely a sinner as I already said. If you are trying to insinuate something on Benedict XVI with the word “pox” which you use twice, you are dishonest. In the 1970’s the label “benedictine oblate” would likely not have been a common descriptor. It would be “fanatic” and “naive” and “immature”. But as you see things have been evolving. The pat list would contain the following and more.
restless
over-active mind
narcissist
naive
immature
religious
religious minded
fanatic
fatalistic
zealot
over-zealous
searching for answers
in your own self
need to be specific
reflect more
make room
learn constructive dialogue
able to attract.
It would be wise for you to actually read Peterson’s writings and listen to some of his lectures before posting unsubstantiated false accusations about atheistic conspiracy theories here. It’s obvious that you are not even remotely familiar with Peterson’s views or arguments.
No. The evil milieu has been exposed and marked in sound details. Let Peterson name out what is going on inside the University of Toronto and outside that he knows of and renounce the Modernist books, get ups, improvisations and historical threads.
Same advice to the previous poster. You should read his books and listen to his various lectures to get a sense of what he is talking about before you criticize unjustly. The very fact that you think Peterson should be calling out what’s happening in the university and in the broader culture, when that is exactly what he has been doing now for several years, is a testament to your ignorance about these matters. And ignorant people are not intellectually or morally qualified to make the judgments you are making, or to participate in these important conversations. “Remove the log in your own eye first…”
Good. Let’s see how it goes then.
While I was looking for a log in my eye, I had these intimations. No-one is called to be a Petersonian. If you have a log in your eye it’s for Jesus and the glory of God the Son.
The things I identify and upturn, are all true irrespective of any log in my eye. They also indicate there is no long in my eye. What I identify does not depend on Peterson, his views or popularity etc.
My not having read Peterson is not a log in my eye. If Peterson was always redressing the bad things I have pinpointed, neither that nor the things I name, to my knowledge, ever got publicized.
If it was ever publicized and where he actually redressed them, you have not said. If he always intended to do so -redress them and renounce them- is still an unknown not a log in my eye.
The matter of it however, is that he has been trying to balance and even out all kinds of mutually exclusive positions, using them to develop, promote and establish methodology for doing so.
I already told a.d. not to utilize me to advocate for Peterson. You are using me to advocate for Peterson and asserting that I have some obligation or need to read Peterson. Humbug.
I do not have to read Peterson to find out what I already know and said. Peterson can still renounce all that now even if I have a log in my eye whether or not he did or didn’t already do it.
Peterson warns you against lying Athanasius! But from what I can gather by “hell” he means “a life of hell” or “hellish living”. The Robert Sabga I mentioned was “counselling” the same things in the late 70’s at the level of a bachelor’s degree only, actually.
‘ Alongside love of humanity, horror at totalitarianism, recognition of Christ at the centre of Western Civilization, and acceptance that suffering is inevitable, Peterson reveals a fascination with truth-telling. In his famous interview with Britain’s Cathy Newman, Peterson stated that he is very careful with his words; having read his book, I realize how very true this is. Under “Rule 8: Don’t Lie”, Peterson describes his quest to always tell and act the truth, an endeavor which is much harder than it sounds, involving strict self-policing. While reading Peterson on the importance of telling the truth (“or, at least, don’t lie”), I was reminded of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who thought any lie was an abuse of God’s merciful postlapsarian gift of language. Peterson thinks hiding from the truth, or lying, is deeply damaging to the character, leading ultimately to disappointment, failure, vengefulness, and hell. ‘
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/02/11/jordan-b-petersons-12-rules-for-life-is-not-the-usual-fluff-filled-self-help-book/
You do have a good mind- if you can listen to the Dave Rubin show 2018. “Peterson,Shapiro – Religion, trans-activism and censorship.””. you will hear wonderful dialogue between him and Shapiro on this show. Dave Rubin is totally lost and it’s over his head but they’re talking about Aristotle Aquinas and they’re talking about deep dialogue on God on the scriptures on the difference between Judaism and Christianity these are the types of dialogues we need good healthy constructive dialogues that was yearned for during Vatican II and which has been twisted by the devil… And if you listen carefully to Peterson you will see that a man is very religious and is searching and is coming close to accepting and I believe what this article originally stated was is he now almost there especially in the Catholic Church and if we can get him to convert we will have a powerhouse if his mind is what it was during this conversation and he doesn’t need to change much all he needs to do is just accept our Lord and the Eucharist… If you’re looking for someone to condemn Protestants and Jews and yoga people Peterson’s not going to do that he’s on a much higher level than that although you do have to have people that keep you back down to the basics God bless.
You who are immersed up to your ears in this thing-load of thing, you know who you are and you had better tread with due care now that I have demarcated how large the thing-field is and plumbed the depths of the thing piled up so high upon the field, where you don’t /didn’t even know the landscape as it was when it was bare.
Every farmer knows the thing-field and that it is there for farming out the thing-loads to the area farmers to have generous thing to work into their hungry soils!
Individuals curious of and exploring the Catholic Church, encouraged by Peterson to do so, come here on account of of the algorithm of search engines, and leave here disappointed and search no further. Hubris from atheists, hubris from Catholics. I at least know that I know nothing. I’ll take Tolstoy’s exploration of Jesus as a great philosopher and be on my way, and let be sufficient. It would appear that the Church has no place for seekers, only those who already follow some specific singular path.
Ananda, one meaning of the word “seeker” is “qualifying Freemason at the door”.
It has other meanings depending on if you are Muslim, Rosicrucian, Buddhist/Yogi, Shaolin novice, etc., etc.
What has been said here about Peterson here by me, is not hubris. It’s just true.
Brian Young AUGUST 24, 2022 AT 9:04 AM below here, you are attaching yourself to grave error.
Dear Elias:
When I am in error, it is good to be corrected. Would you be kind enough to point out the error?
However, it won’t be scripture because it is inerrant, God breathed.
Looking forward to your perspective.
Blessings,
Brian
Actually Brian Young all the indications were already supplied on this page after which Peterson then “came out” to support homosexualized “family life”. He did it via a big splash “tour” undertaken with Dave Rubin THAT WENT 1 WHOLE YEAR.
I gather the conjunction with Dave Rubin is an offering in some kind of Platonic friendship/affinity but I am not accepting it on face value; as I believe there is more going on there than merely the (attempted or quasi-) homogeneous dialogue. Do be forewarned.
I gather you are Christian and may not be Catholic. In our faith as in life we don’t always directly instruct, rather, we lend some tip or other; and this is what I propose to you now. And in our faith, we pray for grace to discern what it is might be left in us, wanting.
It can be easy or hard or both but the Lord is always our refuge. For example, herein, one a.d (or A.d.), first called me a over-active benedictine oblate pox and shortly after seem to oblige that I have a good mind. If you are familiar with boxing, you could imagine it’s like the old one-two, the compliment coming last like the knock-out upper-cut. I am not benedictine oblate.
I might have begun a reparation to the Lord on being reminded of my defects, only to find that a.d. & co. felt they had to be on top of that too! I do not even know who a.d. & co., is.
Notice it’s a pen name, a publication handle. For all I know “a.d.” could stand for his or her initials. Clearly I have to be careful what guides me but I did welcome the opportunity presented in the first part of the one-two, to accept the cause for sorrow that, alas, admittedly, I am no more than of the stock of men and of Eve.
May God make up the flaws and failings in me.
Jordan Peterson is an anti-contagion against todays liberal folly. Clarity and truth is what people are searching for.
James 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.
Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.