12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson (Penguin Random House, 2018)
"Chaos is the domain of ignorance itself. It’s unexplored territory" - Jordan B. Peterson. "Chaos is order yet undeciphered" - José Saramago (The Double)
The book ambitiously seeks to find common ground between a series of dichotomies such as crime vs punishment, Christianity vs Atheism, sacrifice vs impulsiveness, constraint vs liberty, fidelity vs promiscuity and, most important of all, order vs chaos.
It is the work of Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology who has taught at Harvard and Toronto universities.
More by design than accident, Peterson has become a key social media influencer thanks to numerous TV appearances plus a series of university and public lectures posted on You Tube. The book summarizes his core beliefs and advocates rules which he maintains will help us become better citizens with the added advantage of helping to fulfill our ambitions.
He states that “making your life better means adopting a lot of responsibility, and that takes more effort and care than living stupidly in pain and remaining arrogant, deceitful and resentful.” Central to his argument is that the weak are lured by the promise of unfettered freedom which only leads to chaotic, self destructive habits. Continue reading
