By: Kari on April 17, 2025
“Why do I need to wear those?” I protested to my dad. I was about six years old, and he insisted I wear white tights before church. His reasoning? “They’ll help keep you warm in the subzero temperatures,” I remember scoffing—did he really think that thin layer of nylon would make a difference? Even then,…
By: Elysse Burns on April 17, 2025
What About Modern Ideologies? A few years ago, a rumor circulated that schools were placing litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate students who identified as furries[1]. I wasn’t living in the United States at the time, so I didn’t track how it all unfolded. Whether true or not, it’s telling that public discourse was stirred…
By: Graham English on April 17, 2025
This week’s reading, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad, critically examines the prevailing worldview and approach to life that the author attributes to leftist academia. Saad posits that there is an escalating crusade in society to concoct increasingly irrational departures from reason as a signal of progressive virtue.[1]…
By: Debbie Owen on April 16, 2025
Special assignment: Before reading The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad, answer these questions: What do I believe about “modern ideologies”? Why do I believe what I currently do? What are my current convictions and most deeply held beliefs and understandings based upon and why? Then do an inspectional reading. How have my beliefs been affirmed…
By: Adam Cheney on April 16, 2025
Pre-Reading on modern Ideologies: Let me first state that I am painting with a broad stroke here regarding modern ideologies. Secondly, let me state that I am primarily looking through a Western, American lens. There are Islamic ideologies that are also growing that I do not have space to dig into. Modernism: This ideology…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 16, 2025
Reflecting on ideologies is a little bit like reflecting on water when you’re a fish. The ideologies we ascribe to are often simply a part of our everyday lives and hard to notice unless we stop and think critically about them. As I began to think about modern ideologies, I realized that even the ability…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 16, 2025
The Parasitic Mind by Dr. Gad Saad – My Beliefs about Modern Ideologies and Why: My belief system stands at the intersection of modernity and postmodernity, shaped by a lifetime of navigating both. As a Gen Xer, I came of age during a period of cultural transition. I absorbed values from an older, more communal…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 16, 2025
Introduction The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense [1]by Gad Saad refers to the idea that certain harmful and irrational beliefs, which he calls “idea pathogens,”[2] can infect the human mind much like biological parasites infect the body. These “idea pathogens” distort rational thinking and common sense, often leading to destructive outcomes…
By: Glyn Barrett on April 15, 2025
I picked up The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense with curiosity, and, I’ll admit, a little caution. As a Bible-believing Christian and a pastor, I’m used to navigating the waters where faith, reason, and culture intersect. Much of what I hold to is shaped by Scripture, prayer, tradition, and the…
By: Jeff Styer on April 14, 2025
What I already know What do I believe about modern ideologies? Sometimes you hear a term and because of the various ways in which it is used and where you are at in the semester, you must go back to the basics and look the term up. I looked up the term ideology on Philosophy…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 14, 2025
What I currently believe and why From high school science class, I learned that a parasite is an organism, my brain says a bug, which needs to actually live on another organism, a host, to keep it alive. It feeds off the host which provides nutrition to fuel its life. The problem is that in…
By: Noel Liemam on April 13, 2025
Introduction “Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief,” by Jordan Peterson, Canadian clinical psychologist, is about how people come up with meaning of life through history, myth, psychology, and religion. The author attempts to shows the connections of myths, beliefs, science and how people try to understand life.[1] Themes Explored Peterson explores various essential themes…
By: Chad Warren on April 10, 2025
We live by stories. As a child, I tried convincing my mom that I had a radio in my head because I could recall music just as I heard it on the radio. I often imagined music playing as I engaged in playful activities, as if I were in a movie. I still love imagining…
By: Joel Zantingh on April 10, 2025
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson is a clinical psychologist, author, podcaster, cultural critic and former professor at the University of Toronto. Michelle Butterfield, writing for Global News in December 2024, described Peterson as “a public figure with a huge social media following that people appear to either fully embrace or abhor” [1]. His fame sky-rocketed when…
By: Daren Jaime on April 10, 2025
Trying to read this week’s expansive book, grasping the concepts and topics, and then bringing life application to it all-was a week of chaos. Writing this blog attempts to bring order to it. Order and chaos is the tension of this week’s text: In Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, Jordan Peterson introduces a…
By: Adam Cheney on April 10, 2025
This might have been the hardest book yet for me to digest in this program. In his YouTube videos, Jordan Peterson is like the energizer bunny who just keeps going. How is it possible for him to captivate an audience for so long? His book, Maps of Meaning, is so dense that even ChatGPT when…
By: Debbie Owen on April 10, 2025
The story of Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie captivated me as a child. Back when the only way to rewatch a movie was to return to the theater, I saw each of the original Star Wars films three times. I was especially drawn to Luke’s story—how he grew up quickly, faced his deepest fears with…
By: Graham English on April 10, 2025
During the March 31st Zoom chat, Dr. Clark introduced us to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a cognitive hierarchy that begins with memorization and sequentially advances through six steps toward creating something new based on what has been previously learned.[1] I will summarize Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Remembering: recognizing and recalling…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 9, 2025
When I first started reading Maps of Meaning, The Architecture of Belief by Dr. Jordan Peterson, I was overwhelmed with the density of the book. It was difficult to see where one topic ended and another began. I knew this book would require more than a quick read and I am glad that my decision…
By: Kari on April 9, 2025
I walked into the doctor’s office. A crowd of people was swarming the reception desk. I tried to stand in line, but people kept crowding around me. I tried to keep my place in line, but it was hard. In situations like this, when I am frustrated by the apparent chaos and disorder surrounding me,…
