The challenge
It was often a practice of my peers to dare someone. Daring you meant that they were willing to make a bet that you would not do some crazy thing. For those that were not afraid of adventure or the unknown, they accepted the dare. If in fact the dare was dangerous they suffered their fate but would be proud that they actually went through with it. ” Maps of Meaning” seemed like a dare to me. The difficulty of grasping the thoughts of Peterson when there was already a foundation laid was a challenge. But our quest in leadership is to hear all sides of a thought. It is not to sway or be persuaded. So my challenge was to hear ,understand and dare myself to finish like a leader. In this blog I will speak to several take ways from both the reading and video.
Importance of speech
As I was listening to Peterson talk about the power of speech, I thought of the numerous times Jesus asked individuals to speak as a resolution to their challenges. Peterson stated that speech was ” our chaotic potential to actuality”. I did not quite follow what he was saying but I likened it to faith. The reason that I likened it to faith was because faith is believing something and/or someone that you can not predict or touch. The chaoticness of faith is something that is almost indescribable. You believe because you do and any explanation would just confuse things for others even more.
Very few of Jesus followers refused to do what he asked. Their reality was that he was the son of God and he was known for miracles. In today’s society that would be seen as unrealistic. The pages of the Bible are being challenged more and more each day. And why ? Because we have moved away from faith being the evidence if things not seen to what is reality. Peterson tells us that we as humans need to believe in something. My opinion as one christian person in a world of so many more people, believing in something is just not enough.
Naming
Peterson calls our attention to how God had Adam to name the animals. He noted that before the animals had names they had no meaning. Yet another test of what was. This statement caused me to review the “8 Incremental Brain Energies and the Acts of Consciousness : which included a person’s perception, response, acknowledgement, denial, or agreement of the difference”2. Peterson mentions the “Acts of Consciousness” as he explains Genesis. I researched this meaning because I disagreed with his statement about the animals not having meaning. My thoughts carried me to the birth of a baby. My beliefs tell me that God has purposed the birth of that baby into this world. The birth was no accident in Gods sight, so there must have been a meaning. Where there is purpose there is meaning. I dare to believe that God makes mistakes.
Peterson, Jordan B. Maps of Meaning. Taylor and Francis, 2002.
Shulum,Robert G. “8 Incremental Brain Energies and the Acts of Consciousness”. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199838721.003.0008, Pg. 133–148. 2013.
About the Author
Shonell Dillon
A daughter of the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. A lover of LIFE!2 responses to “The challenge”
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Shonell,
I would love to hear more of your thoughts on your closing statement:
“I dare to believe that God makes mistakes.”
I agree with you:
“I disagreed with his statement about the animals not having meaning.”
How do you believe animals have meaning? I do not recall reading this. It is interesting that Peterson takes this view.
I also wonder this…. Do you mean that you believe he DOESENT make mistakes? If not… can you explain more?