Construct Meaning Around Eternal Infrastructure
In the book Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, Jordan Peterson takes the reader on his journey in making sense of his own life choices along with the world events that surrounded him as he grew up (predominantly the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare)[1]. His observations, musings, and research led him to the idea that beliefs make the world”[2]. By that he seems to mean that the belief systems and value systems that we hold to (i.e. religion) influence not only how we see the world but how we act in the world and create reality itself.[3] All these different belief systems would seem to clash, but Peterson posits that universal moral absolutes can be discovered by examining myths and images in what he calls “comparative mythological material”.[4] The three parts of the world is differentiated between the known and unknown and the navigation between those is the most important for humanity.[5] I’m curious how this plays out because different cultural interpretations of these three facets have led to radically different ways of thinking and modes of being. Peterson, while he acknowledges there are differences, seems to mostly hint at Christian images and themes while also refusing to dive deeper into any of them.
There’s some truth to Peterson’s idea of how humans create meaning. I admit that reading his book was a chore in part because I find his internet presence to be a nuisance. Who he has become does at least seem to have grown out what he believed even when he wrote this book. Building on Jung’s idea of persona, he rids himself of the social norms and education that he had learned and put his identity in over time. Instead he has taken the base desire that people have to do (or at least say) whatever they want and given it a psychologists OK.[6] I will admit that perhaps I’m not understanding Peterson correctly. His style of writing, and perhaps the immensity of what he is writing about, were hard to follow and almost unnecessarily dense. In the midst of that density and maybe obfuscation, he did seem to drop some nuggets that even if they are not totally original, are still worth mulling over.
Speaking of disruptions of the infinite unknowns into our idea of known and familiar ways acting, Peterson says our “instinctive response drives learning – particularly, but not exclusively, the learning of appropriate behavior. All such learning takes place – or took place originally – as a consequence of contact with novelty, or anomaly.”[7] If something breaks the way we’ve ordered our world and/or our lives, we have to reorder it to accommodate the new thing. At its very core that is learning, adding to the world that we know whether it is a new object or new meaning. Even here there are shades of Christianity. Paul, in Romans 5, states that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts…”[8]. Suffering, as Paul seems to imply further into the chapter, is a slow death of the things we once identified with (Adam), and a reordering toward a life in Christ. In that, perhaps we don’t have to wait for sufferings to come to us in the traditional sense, but perhaps we can find ways to break out of our current methods and means of doing things (repent), or at least soften the barriers of our known world (humility) and make this process less hurtful and disorienting. The key however, should be not just reorienting to whatever works for us, but perhaps around the infrastructure of love, for God and others, along with the fruits of the Spirit.[9]
[1] Jordan Peterson, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (London: Rutledge, 1999), 7.
[2] Ibid, 13.
[3] Ibid, 13.
[4] Ibid, 13.
[5] Ibid, 14.
[6] Ibid, 10.
[7] Ibid, 28.
[8] Rom 5:3-5
[9] Gal 5:22-23
About the Author
Caleb Lu
11 responses to “Construct Meaning Around Eternal Infrastructure”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hey Caleb,
Yes, Peterson is a polarizing intellectual figure. People either take everything he says as authoritative truth, or incredulously dismiss all he teaches. Thank you for your honesty in finding his internet presence a nuisance. I find he is far more credible and interesting when he is giving a lecture and not when he is being an “internet personality.”
I really appreciated what you wrote here: “If something breaks the way we’ve ordered our world and/or our lives, we have to reorder it to accommodate the new thing.” This makes me think of the journey of faith. For many who have deconstructed, when something broke in their faith, the whole system was subject to an iconoclastic end.
Great work Caleb!
I’ll have to give his lectures another try. I tried tuning in to one I found on YouTube and it was 2 hours long and a little ramble-y. Similar to his book though, I’m wondering if it’s at least partially because he’s grappling with such a large concept that there is a lot to touch on.
As Jenny puts in her blog, maybe I’ll take on some more of Peterson’s thoughts and work “at leisure”
Caleb,
yes ….
“we don’t have to wait for sufferings to come to us in the traditional sense, but perhaps we can find ways to break out of our current methods and means of doing things (repent), or at least soften the barriers of our known world (humility) and make this process less hurtful and disorienting.”
I agree with this. I like the Biblical approach to learning that you emphasize.
This is an interesting observation
“while he acknowledges there are differences, seems to mostly hint at Christian images and themes while also refusing to dive deeper into any of them.”
I purchased Liebermans 12 Rules: Antidote to Chaos. I have not read long enough to see how he might engage Christian thought. It is interesting how is touches it and then takes a different route. Your observation makes me think- Maybe Peterson should spend some time learning more/taking a deeper dive to understand Scripture.
Great blog
Kristy, I’m also curious… maybe he gets into it later in the book and I missed it. I was bummed that the link to his Bible series that was posted in our schedule doesn’t seem to be working.
I’m looking forward to reading your blog next week on Lieberman’s Spellbound!
Great post Caleb,
I too found Peterson’s book challenging to read.
I would like to hear more about this “If something breaks the way we’ve ordered our world and/or our lives, we have to reorder it to accommodate the new thing.”
Do you have one example where this has been true to you personally?
Jean, thanks for your question! I think it happens in small and big ways. Perhaps one of the most important recollections I have of my world needing to be rearranged was when one of my good friends passed away suddenly in college. It was so shocking and so disruptive that I ended up taking a full calendar year off from school even though I was in the middle of my last term of my undergraduate studies.
It took that entire year to rearrange my world. When I was at school, I had begun to organize my life and arrange my world apart from God. My friend passing, as horrible as it was (and maybe because it was horrible) helped me to recognize my need for Jesus. It began this journey I’m still on of constantly reorganizing my life and world around him.
Thanks for sharing, Caleb,
That was very hard for you. An entire year of rearrangement, yet something of great value came out of it.
Caleb,
Great Post, I found Peterson to be challenging as well.
Caleb, I really enjoyed reading your blog. I so appreciate that you were able to discuss the things about Peterson that you did not like, and at the same time, pull out some “nuggets,” as you mentioned.
I especially liked this quote of yours: “…perhaps we don’t have to wait for sufferings to come to us in the traditional sense, but perhaps we can find ways to break out of our current methods and means of doing things (repent), or at least soften the barriers of our known world (humility) and make this process less hurtful and disorienting. ” I love that! It sounds very exciting to be able to be engaging with God and learning regularly in our lives, so as to see and understand God and the world more clearly. I think that is our natural journey with God, but I’m not sure we’re always deliberate about being open to the learning process, at least I am not. Thank you for this reminder. I’m eager to listen and learn more intentionally!
Caleb,
I shared your feelings of a nuisance with this author. I had to work really hard to stay in a positive space while getting through this one!
What is a way that you can build and share an infrastructure of love, for God and others, along with the fruits of the Spirit?
Yeah! It’s funny, even as I was in that negative space I had to admit… well my perception of this book is undoubtedly being morphed by my belief of who Peterson is.
I think what I mean by constructing meaning on an infrastructure of love and the fruits of the Spirit is that even in the process of disruption and reordering to never reorder in a way that loses sight of those things. Perhaps “foundation” would have been a more accurate word that “infrastructure”….
P.S. glad to have you back in the blogs! I missed reading your posts and thinking about the questions you ask!