12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

"Clean your room," has become a mantra for a generation of lost kids who finally found a male figure in the culture to look up to. Jordan B. Peterson has become something of a Millennial Messiah in the most unusual way. He's telling people to take on responsibility and to blame only themselves if their life isn't the way they want it. This book is a condensed version of his tome "Maps of Meaning", a much longer philosophical tract on how the myths and stories humanity passed down over the centuries influence our values. It's obvious that the last generation's drive to give out participation trophies and to tell everyone that the evil system is to blame for all your ills (think of the hippies going against "the man") no longer resonates. Millennials and younger people today are under a lot of pressure. They're deep in student loan debt, they're having trouble finding jobs that pay well, they're getting married and owning homes at lower rates because they're not secure enough financially to settle down. This could make you feel deeply powerless if you were trying to blame the system. Just look on TV at every late night host talking about how hopeless and stupid our country is right now. Jordan Peterson comes with a different message- start by cleaning your own personal room. Stop blaming other people, and get your own life in order. You can't expect to see change in the world, unless you first change yourself. Rule 1 is a great example. The basic gist is to stand up straight and face the world with your head held high- literally, not just metaphorically. Famously, Peterson looks at lobsters. Lobsters have a dominance hierarchy where they constantly fight. When a lobster loses a fight, it skulks around and lowers itself to become smaller and less threatening. If you give the lobster a drug to fix its serotonin levels- the same rewards system present in most every animal brain- the lobsters picks itself back up and goes right back to fighting. Human evolution diverged from the lobster millions of years ago, and yet we can see that even they have dominance hierarchies and societal struggle and depression. It is therefore ludicrous to think that human suffering is only a "social construct" as today's academics would have you believe. These feelings are naturally built-in to our nervous system. If we want to feel better we need to pick ourselves up and "get some pep in our step" as a previous generation might have said. The whole book is like that. A blend of science, folksy wisdom, and tales from Peterson's own life and career. From working as a dish washer to a lumber mill worker to a clinical psychologist, Peterson has seen all of humanity. His conclusions are profound, yet immediately relatable. He covers the topics at all levels of analysis- from philosophy, to statistics, to evolution, to straight up humor. Peterson's critics are having a hilariously hard time trying to downplay this book. In a famous interview, a BBC host asked Peterson if he was suggesting that we should structure our society like that of the lobster. If you're that philosophically inept or that malicious trying to slam this guy, then enjoy your life, there's little I can do to try and hold a conversation with you. In case anyone's confused- nobody's saying we should structure our society like the lobster. There's an ancient philosophical debate about "is" versus "ought". Peterson wrote this book about how the world is. The human nervous system is made in such a way that depressive factors snowball until it's hard to dig yourself out, so feelings like resentment only make things worse. This says nothing about ought- nobody's saying that we're happy the human nervous system ought to be this way nor is anyone saying that societal progress ought to revert to some crude pre-historic state. The "is" and "ought" are two different topics. If you want to lead a better life in the world that is, read this book. If you'd rather fret about what ought to be, have fun with that. If you can manage to keep those concepts straight, this book's for you. Especially if you are- or are close to- a young male in the millennial group who's struggling to face the society we find ourselves in today, this book is for you. The book reads well for any person, but the millennial male group are most powerfully affected by Peterson's work for obvious reasons. Young men have biological drives toward duty and responsibility that currently aren't fulfilled in their school, home, or professional lives. Anyone can benefit from this book- so the fact that one group needs it most should tell you something. This book is powerful, timely, and profound. Give it a read.

This book provides an antidote to the cultural divide that’s destroying the West. It’s kryptonite to shoddy social justice warrior “thinking,” and the bane of Postmodern Neo-Marxist rot in academia. But more than anything, it is clear, straightforward advice for living a meaningful life. Don’t let the trendy title fool you. If this is self-help, then it’s self-help with a hammer. Here’s the core message of 12 Rules for Life: life is suffering, but you can get through it if you get your shit together, tell the truth, fix the things you’re able to fix, and make yourself strong. Think that sounds trivial? Try doing it for a week. I love Peterson’s focus on the individual. I’ve always been suspicious of group-level solutions, or the idea that you can only be happy or fulfilled if society changes. Focusing on the individual is a lot more satisfying, and the results are better too. After all, if you can’t sort yourself out, what makes you think you can fix the world, or remake Western culture? It’s an incredibly arrogant assumption. Maybe, just maybe, the root of all your problems isn’t global capitalism, or the evil patriarchy, or beliefs about invented genders. Perhaps it’s actually a lot closer to home. You can spend your time badgering, nagging or forcing someone else to do something — the Indirect approach — or you can look for actions you can take right now to improve your life. The direct approach puts YOU firmly in control of your own destiny, but it also requires you to assume responsibility for yourself. And that’s another key concept in 12 Rules. Peterson urges his readers to take on as much responsibility as they can handle, rather than whine about “rights” and entitlements. So how should you begin? Start by sorting yourself out. Look at the problems in your own life or in your own immediate environment. Choose one that you can fix, and fix it. Then chose another. It can be something as simple as cleaning your room. In doing this, you’re bringing order to the chaos around you. It’s amazing how those small actions ripple outward to improve the lives of everyone around you. Peterson’s message is also refreshing because it’s the opposite of the currently accepted paradigm that equates male virtue with being weak and harmless. If being strong, productively aggressive, and able to fight for what’s right is somehow regarded as “toxic masculinity,” then it’s probably a good time to question the core agenda of those who are pushing such a simplistic and emasculating concept. Dr. Peterson rose to prominence in Canada during a bizarre political debate on made up gender pronouns and compelled speech, not because he was an alt-right voice of hate, but because he stood up and spoke his truth in clear, logical terms. What happened since then — the massive youtube following, the sold-out lectures, repeat appearances on international podcasts and television — is testament to the power of the Logos, the Word. I first encountered his work a year or two before that controversy, through the brilliant Maps of Meaning lectures he posted on Youtube. I went on to watch his University of Toronto Personality course too, and everything he’s produced since, because it is so relevant to my life. There is no wishful thinking here, or New Age snivelling, or back-patting. 12 Rules for Life is funny and engaging, but dense with ideas based on hard science, research-derived psychological data, and the continuous centuries-long narrative that humans have transmitted through story and culture as a way to survive and thrive in a frightening world. Dr. Peterson’s most recent effort was a public lecture series exploring the psychological significance of the Biblical stories. As an atheist who spent far too much time stewing in Sunday boredom as a child, trapped in church while my dad watched John Wayne movies at home, I was extremely skeptical of this. As a writer, an anthropology graduate, and a reader of Jung, Nietzsche and the Western Canon, I soon found myself mesmerized. His explanations of the ancient Biblical stories made sense. And even better, it made them useful whether or not I subscribe to a deity. All of this is a roundabout way of saying why you should read 12 Rules for Life, and why I will be reading it again and again. This is not a lightweight book. It’s valuable. It’s meaningful. And it will cause you to look at the world and your life a little differently than you did before.

I saw my therapist reading this book one day and when I found it at the local library on audio, I decided to pick it up while driving. The audio version is read by Peterson himself and when I didn’t finish it on time, the book was fortunately on sale on Kindle so I picked it up then. I remember when I saw the book the first time in the therapist’s office, I looked through the table of contents and some of the rules surprised me. Taking a look, many of us would be able to say to some of them, “Well, I never did that so I’m good.” One that stood out to me was “Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.” Okay. I don’t think I have ever done that so I am good. However, each rule has a principle behind it and a long chapter where Peterson goes on about the lesson involved. When he talks about religion, though he is not a Christian at this point, he does hold a high respect for Jesus and thinks there is a lot of wisdom in the Bible. His reading of the text does provide interesting food for thought. Other rules include assume the other person might know something you don’t and compare yourself to who you were yesterday and not who someone else is today. The second is to treat yourself like someone else you are responsible for. Peterson points out that many of us sadly take better care of our pets than we do of ourselves. Also, watch your friends. Choose friends that will build you up. Many of us especially in the age of the internet make friends way too easily and choose friends that will bring us away from that which is good for us. This is not to say these people are necessarily people with evil intentions, but that their desires are not like our desires and their idea of good is not like ours. The last rule was an odd one about petting a cat. The only reason I don’t do this is I don’t know if stray cats around here have fleas and I don’t want to risk bringing something home to Shiro. So what is the meaning behind this rule? You have to read it to the end because it’s only at the very end that he explains the lesson. Much of the book focuses on psychology which shouldn’t be a shock, but there’s a lot of history as well. Peterson looks at events throughout time and finds the parallels that he needs. The man is, no doubt, highly read and very intellectual. Of course, this material is useless if you don’t apply the rules to your life. This is a process and Peterson himself has said in interviews he struggles with them, especially the one on telling the truth to people, or at least not lying. That can be hard to do in an age where we want to make sure we don’t “Hurt someone’s feelings.” I wouldn’t mind reading another one of his books after this one. Peterson I find to be a stimulating thinker and on the issue of Christianity being true, I think a meaningful dialogue could take place, especially if the rules are followed. Many of these rules are really common sense rules when studied further and ones we can all benefit from. Go out and get this book and it will be a good topic of discussion if others you know read it as well. In Christ, Nick Peters (And I affirm the virgin birth) Deeperwatersapologetics.com

I took about a month to finish Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, in part because I wanted to slow down and try some of the advice in my life. 12 Rules for Life is an interesting book. Equal parts philosophy, psychology, and self-help book, it covers a broad range of topics, with Peterson drawing from life experiences, religion, and history to build a strong case for his points and provide what seems on its surface to be very good advice for people. This is where Peterson's background as a clinical psychologist comes in handy. 12 Rules for Life is billed as an "antidote to chaos", and that is what its primary focus is. It's not great at helping you be more successful if you're disciplined and self-reliant already. As someone who always struggled with grasping the world, however, I found it very helpful. Since I started reading this book, I lost 12 pounds, went from writing five hundred words a day to three thousand words a day, started waking up earlier in the morning consistently, and have been much happier. Some of that is attributable to the fact that I was already willing to make changes, and many of the things I was doing were obviously bad ideas. But there is something to be said for the lessons Peterson teaches. They are complicated, sometimes a little indirect, and mired in allegory. This makes them more valuable, if anything. Peterson doesn't use a magic formula, he uses principles of right action. This book provides general ideas and positions that can serve as a great tool to understanding how people think and why things go wrong. Not everyone will agree with it. There is a chapter in the book where Peterson reflects on the fact that he has opportunities with clients where he could tell them one thing or another and their minds would make it to be total truth either way. Perhaps that is what Peterson has done here: perhaps most systems like this are sufficient to improve lives if brought diligently into practice. Or perhaps there is something to Peterson's words. His indictment of meaninglessness and his calls to purpose echo soundly throughout the book. There have been those who say that Peterson's calls for people to get themselves organized and his oft-mystical language is a cover for something sinister. But I don't think they've ever really listened to him. Approaching Peterson a skeptic, I was not sure that reading a book would have the power to change anything in my life. The first few chapters were met with nods, hesitancy, and the concession of points that sounded good. I wasn't hostile to him, and I found many of his points quite clever. But when Peterson delved deeper into the archetypes and depth psychology I became suspicious. I had a moderate distrust of the Jungian method; I use it to teach literature, but I did not believe in using archetypes to assess personality. Peterson's point is that we are all part of something great and interconnected. Because it is so massive, we need to be working to make sense of it. It won't happen automatically, and if we go for an easy explanation we may find ourselves walking dark, treacherous paths of misanthropy and rejection. We are complicated pieces in an even more complicated puzzle. Peterson's approach is one of self improvement. When we take steps to sort ourselves out, we also need to enter a symbiotic process of bringing order to our world. The purpose of this is not to achieve some sort of superiority. It is to achieve survival. The world will change, and we will be forced to adapt. Peterson states that "life is tragic." His point is that people need to be ready to deal with adversity. Anyone can handle good times, because that's what we are able to rest and relax during. The true test of a person comes when they lose a loved one or a job or their health. They need to make a decision: what will they do in response. Peterson uses haunting examples to illustrate what happens when this goes wrong. Using everything from Dostoevsky to the Soviet Union (and countless other insights from modern and historical figures), he creates case studies of what happens when things go wrong and people turn to dysfunction rather than improving their situation. His 12 Rules serve as a guide on how to go from that point of failure to a point of redemption, offering a series of suggestions and guidelines to take a life that is becoming corrupted by hatred of the world and everything in it and turn it into a vessel for growth and self-improvement. Is it a perfect guide to living life? No. Is it helpful? Does it give insight to great truths? Yes.

I just finished this book, and have a mix of emotions. I loved it; I was inspired and dove deeper into myself. I was disappointed; after listening to hours of his material, most things were familiar and well-trod paths. I disagreed with two parts vehemently and hope they do not sink the book as it ages. My two critiques: Rule 1: Jordan is wrong about serotonin. I should say, he only presents one side of serotonin while not showing its truly dark side. Lobsters are not humans. Humans are infinitely more complex. Nature does not waste. If it has a system in place, it will use it for its purposes. This is why certain hormones or drugs cause opposite reactions in animals compared to us. The system is there, but nature has used it for different purposes . If you want to raise your serotonin without drugs, you can do it quite easily. Eating hard to digest vegetable fibers, gums, and allergenic substances will irritate your intestines and release more serotonin into your system. You can also follow that up with solitary confinement, which also raises serotonin. Serotonin in humans elicits apathy and detachment, which can be fantastic for people who are deeply depressed. The serotonin system is there to detach you from stress that you cannot do anything about. This also comes with something called learned helplessness, and is the exact opposite of what Peterson is aiming for. Take a rat, and hook him up to electrodes, and shock him over and over again. Do the same to another rat, but give that rat something to gnaw on, to fight against. Then take the two rats and put them in a pool, and measure how long they struggle to swim before drowning. The rat that could fight the stress swims much longer then the rat who is shocked over and over again with no recourse. That is called learned helplessness, and serotonin helps get your there. I could go on and on, but look into Ray Peat, who has done some of the best research into serotonin. He has article after article detailing how serotonin robs you of your vitality, destroys your metabolism while raising other stress hormones like cortisol, and should be avoided at all costs other than the direst of circumstances. If only he had not used lobster research...I really hope that in 30 years, when the true cost of SSRIs and increasing serotonin in other ways comes to light, this rule does not sink his book which otherwise has fantastic wisdom. Rule 5: What a wonderful chapter, until about the end, when he deals with spanking and striking children. I wish he had gone with the research on this subject. I understand where he is coming from. If you take physical force off the table, you are weakening yourself as a parent. As part of a well thought out disciplinary approach, his logic is sound. I have no doubt that his approach would result in very little spanking or striking, with the implication that it is on the table for the worst offenses…but most people will not bring his rationality to their kids. The research is pretty clear that spanking your kids does not work. Spanking will give short term compliance followed by long term rebellion. The top reason parents stop hitting their kids? Their kids hit puberty and get big, at which points most parents then start wanting to reason. Funny how that works. The examples Peterson gives as possible reasons why striking your kids is justified are laughable. Sticking a fork in a socket? Having your kid bolt through a busy parking lot? For every situation that arises, there is something rational that you can do which will prevent the need for spanking. Any…situation…I am serious. If your kid is a bolter, do not take them to a busy parking lot, period. Child proof the electric sockets. Are you really going to put your soul at risk by being violent with these little ones you love so much because you are unwilling to make sure your kid cannot get a hold of a metal fork? Here is a different aim that will do you well. Take spanking off the table, no matter what. Your child KNOWS you are bigger, stronger, and smarter. They KNOW you can physically hurt them. The kids who did not respect their parent’s power were the ones not fed during famines in our evolutionary history. Why lose their respect by using your power? You WILL lose their respect too. When you are older, getting into your second childhood, why not spank you to gain compliance? You are ornery and stuck in your ways. You taught them how to deal with children who act this way. Why not threaten you with violence if you do not go to bed on time at the home. Many old people homes subconsciously institute this policy. Take spanking off the table, and you will find your creative facilities jump into action on how to solve light socket problems. Children are people just like adults; they just have this disease called childhood. This means they are bad at paying attention, get emotional, don’t think things through, etc. Do not punish them for that. They will grow out of it if you follow Peterson’s wisdom in this chapter, minus the hitting. Do not risk your soul by opening the spanking box. Most parents do not know that spanking doesn’t work. They start and it works a little, and then it gets worse. So they spank harder, and it gets better, but then worse again. Then the years have gone by, your kids don’t respect you, and you realize you have been hitting them for years. You are a tyrant, have given birth to tyrants, and are now getting weak and old. Can you face that? If not, don’t open the box.

Jordan Peterson is a beacon of light in this chaotic world, a psychologist whose writing combines science and common sense. One of his talents is his ability to articulate complex ideas to a wide audience. Regardless of whether you have a background in psychology or not, you will understand this book. It covers his twelve rules for life, which are intended not only as a guide for life of the individual, but as a remedy for society’s present ills. Peterson believes that the cure for society starts with curing the individual, the smallest unit of society. Peterson’s well-known advice to clean your room is a reflection of the truth that if you can’t even manage the most basic and mundane responsibilities of life, then you have no business dictating to others how to fix society. One of the main themes of this book is: Personal change is possible. There's no doubt you can be slightly better today than you were yesterday. Because of Pareto's Principle (small changes can have disproportionately large results), this movement towards the good increases massively, and this upward trajectory can take your life out of hell more rapidly than you could believe. Life is tragic and full of suffering and malevolence. But there's something you can start putting right, and we can't imagine what good things are in store for us if we just fix the things that are within our power to do so. The 12 Rules for Life: In Peterson’s own words, it’s 12 rules to stop you from being pathetic, written from the perspective of someone who himself tried to stop being pathetic and is still working on it. Peterson is open about his struggles and shortcomings, unlike many authors who only reveal a carefully curated façade. Rule 1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back. People have bad posture, and the meaning behind it can be demonstrated by animal behaviors. Peterson uses the example of the lobster. When a lobster loses a fight, and they fight all the time, it scrunches up a little. Lobsters run on serotonin and when he loses, levels go down, and when he wins, levels go up and he stretches out and is confident. Who cares? We evolutionarily diverged from lobsters 350 million years ago, but it’s still the same circuit. It’s a deep instinct to size others up when looking at them to see where they fit in the social hierarchy. If your serotonin levels fall, you get depressed and crunch forward and you’re inviting more oppression from predator personalities and can get stuck in a loop. Fixing our posture is part of the psycho-physiological loop that can help you get started back up again. Rule 2: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. People often have self-contempt whether they realize it or not. Imagine someone you love and treat well. You need to treat yourself with the same respect. Take care of yourself, your room, your things, and have respect for yourself as if you’re a person with potential and is important to the people around you. If you make a pattern of bad mistakes, your life gets worse, not just for you, but for the people around you. All your actions echo in ways that cannot be imagined. Think of Stalin’s mother and the mistakes she made in life, and how the ripple effects went on to affect the millions of people around him. Rule 3: Choose your friends carefully. It is appropriate for you to evaluate your social surroundings and eliminate those who are hurting you. You have no ethical obligation to associate with people who are making your life worse. In fact, you are obligated to disassociate with people who are trying to destroy the structure of being, your being, society’s being. It’s not cruel, it’s sending a message that some behaviors are not to be tolerated. Rule 4: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. You need to improve, and you may even be in real bad shape, but many unfairly compare themselves to some more seemingly successful person. Up till around age 17, random comparisons to other people can make sense, but afterwards, especially age 30+, our lives become so idiosyncratic that comparisons with others become meaningless and unhelpful. You only see a slice of their life, a public facet, and are blind to the problems they conceal. Rule 5: Don't let children do things that make you dislike them. You aren't as nice as you think, and you will unconsciously take revenge on them. You are massively more powerful than your children, and have the ability and subconscious proclivity for tyranny deeply rooted within you.If you don't think this is true, you don't know yourself well enough. His advice on disciplinary procedure: (1) limit the rules. (2) use minimum necessary force and (3) parents should come in pairs.It's difficult and exhausting to raise children, and it's easy to make mistakes. A bad day at work, fatigue, hunger, stress, etc, can make you unreasonable. Rule 6: Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. Life is tragic and there's malevolence. There's plenty to complain about, but if you dwell on it, you will become bitter and tread down a path that will take you to twisted places. The diaries of the Columbine killers are a chilling look into minds that dwelled on the unholy trinity of deceit, arrogance, and resentment) . So instead of cursing the tragedy that is life, transform into something meaningful. Start by stop doing something, anything, that you know to be wrong. Everyday you have choices in front of you. Stop doing and saying things that make you weak and ashamed. Do only those things that you would proudly talk about in public. Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient). Meaning is how you protect yourself against the suffering that life entails. This means that despite the fact that we’re all emotionally wounded by life, we’ve found something that makes it all worthwhile. Meaning, Peterson says, is like an instinct, or a form of vision. It lets you know when you’re in the right place, and he says that the right place is midway between chaos and order. If you stay firmly ensconced within order, things you understand, then you can’t grow. If you stay within chaos, then you’re lost. Expediency is what you do to get yourself out of trouble here and now, but it comes at the cost of sacrificing the future for the present. So instead of doing what gets you off the hook today, aim high. Look around you and see what you can make better. Make it better. As you gain knowledge, consciously remain humble and avoid arrogance that can stealthily creep on you. Peterson also says to be aware of our shortcomings, whatever they may be; our secret resentments, hatred, cowardice, and other failings. Be slow to accuse others because we too conceal malevolent impulses, and certainly before we attempt to fix the world. Rule 8: Tell the truth—or, at least, don't lie. Telling the truth can be hard in the sense that it’s often difficult to know the truth. However, we can know when we’re lying. Telling lies makes you weak. You can feel it, and others can sense it too. Meaning, according to Peterson, is associated with truth, and lying is the antithesis of meaning. Lying disassociates you with meaning, and thus reality itself. You might get away with lying for a short while, but only a short time. In Peterson’s words “It was the great and the small lies of the Nazi and Communist states that produced the deaths of millions of people.” Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't. A good conversation consists of you coming out wiser than you went into it. An example is when you get into an argument with your significant other, you want to win, especially if you get angry. If you’re more verbally fluent than the other person then you can win. One problem is that the other person might see something better than you, but they can’t quite articulate it as well. Always listen because there’s a possibility they’re going to tell you something that will prevent you from running headfirst into a brick wall. This is why Peterson says to listen to your enemies. They will lie about you, but they will also say true things about yourself that your friends won’t. Separate the wheat from the chaff and make your life better. Rule 10: Be Precise in Your Speech: There is some integral connection between communication and reality (or structures of belief as he likes to say). Language takes chaos and makes it into a ‘thing.’ As an example, imagine going through a rough patch in your life where you can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong. This mysterious thing that’s bothering you—is it real? Yes, if it’s manifesting itself as physical discomfort. Then you talk about it and give it a name, and then this fuzzy, abstract thing turns into a specific thing. Once named, you can now do something about it. The unnameable is far more terrifying than the nameable. As an example, the movie the Blair Witch project didn’t actually name or describe the evil. Nothing happens in the movie, it’s all about the unnameable. If you can’t name something, it means it’s so terrifying to you that you can’t even think about it, and that makes you weaker. This is why Peterson is such a free speech advocate. He wants to bring things out of the realm of the unspeakable. Words have a creative power and you don’t want to create more mark and darkness by imprecise speech. Rule 11: Don’t bother children when they are skateboarding. This is mainly about masculinity. Peterson remembers seeing children doing all kinds of crazy stunts on skateboards and handrails, and believes this is an essential ingredient to develop masculinity, to try to develop competence and face danger. Jordan Peterson considers the act of sliding down a handrail to be brave and perhaps stupid as well, but overall positive. A lot of rebellious behavior in school is often called ‘toxic masculinity,’ but Peterson would say to let them be. An example would be a figure skater that makes a 9.9 on her performance, essentially perfect. Then the next skater that follows her seems to have no hope. But she pushes herself closer to chaos, beyond her competence, and when successful, inspires awe. Judges award her 10’s. She’s gone beyond perfection into the unknown and ennobled herself as well as humanity as well. Rule 12: Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. This chapter is mainly autobiographical and he writes about tragedy and pain. When tragic things are in front of you and you’re somewhat powerless, you must keep your eyes open for little opportunities that highlight the redemptive elements of life that make it all worthwhile. The title of this chapter comes from his experience of observing a local stray cat, and watching it adapt to the rough circumstances around it. Another thing you must do when life is going to pieces is to shorten your temporal horizon. Instead of thinking in months, you maybe think in hours or minutes instead. You try to just have the best next minute or hour that you can. You shrink the time frame until you can handle it, this is how you adjust to the catastrophe. You try to stay on your feet and think. Although this chapters deals about harsh things, it’s an overall positive one. Always look for what’s meaningful and soul-sustaining even when you’re where you’d rather not be.

This is a magnificent book. And part of that magnificence comes from the fact that it is “complete” in the same sense that All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Fulghum, 1989) was complete. The rules are simple: from “stand up straight with your shoulders back,” to “do not bother children when they are skateboarding.” They are, however, all-encompassing. When you finish reading it (and it is a long book) you are sure to ask, “What else is there to say?” At the risk of grave oversimplification the book is based on the non-linear worldview most often associated with the Taoist concept of yin and yang. In this case, however, yin and yang become order and chaos, and the spiritual foundation is not Eastern philosophy but the stories of the Judeo-Christian Bible, offered liberally but in a non-dogmatic context. The key to this worldview is not what you call the two opposing forces as much as it is the realization that knowledge, consciousness (Dr. Peterson’s preferred description), harmony, virtue, and enlightenment are all found along the border between the two. And that this is a border that is in constant evolution. At another level, Dr. Petersen is a Pyrrhonist, although he never uses that term or makes any allusion to the famous philosopher who traveled with the armies of Alexander the Great into India. A Pyrrhonist rejects all dogma because while dogma states a belief (or law or regulation), it concurrently states a non-belief. Which is why laws inevitably have loopholes, rules always have exceptions, and language is often an inadequate convention with which to convey ideas. At the heart of Taoism, Pyrrhonism, and, indeed, this book, is the recognition that everything in life and the universe is a dichotomy. There is a pro to every con. There are two sides to every coin, perspective, story, etc. Which is why every dogmatic argument, as Petersen argues throughout, contains internal contradictions. They are the inevitable byproduct of every dichotomy. The dogma that he rejects most forcefully is ideology, particularly of the socio-political variety. He rejects all ideology, but particularly relativism (including feminism and environmentalism—the ideology not the objective), and the blind ideology of both the liberal/progressive left and the Tea Party/libertarian right. And what he dislikes most about both ideologies is the finality of its supporters. More than anything else, it appears, Petersen believes in mindful growth and continued evolution as both a fact of life and the desired response to its challenges. And therein lies, I think, the one weakness of the “12 Rules for Life” worldview. It is not wrong per se, but it presumes that all other ideology is essentially both failed and fixed. Such ideology is, in other words, inherently flawed, negating the value of any further discussion or experimentation. We are all shaped by our experiences and Petersen’s worldview seems to have been shaped by the atrocities of 20th Century fascism and Stalinist Russia, and more specifically the Holocaust and the Cold War, which he, like myself, came of age during. Both are clearly appropriate targets of disgust and revulsion as manifested, but how broadly do we paint with that brush? He paints pretty broadly, suggesting, for example, that Stalin did not pervert communism; it is inherently perverted. That my be true of communism although I am reminded of the fact that Marx never truly articulated what happened after his presumed proletarian revolution, so I’m not sure we can use Stalin to exile Marx once and for all. And I do think that socialism and relativism, particularly feminism and the oppression of the white patriarchy (which he doesn’t deny but contains), to differing degrees, still offer plenty of room for productive development. In the end, the dichotomous worldview that is at the heart of Petersen’s twelve rules, I believe, is the right one, so long as we don’t exclude all other worldviews and their ideology. He is right that fulfillment is found on the forever-evolving border between the two sides of the dichotomy. The rule of rules, therefore, is “to have one foot firmly planted in order and security, and the other is chaos, possibility, growth, and adventure.” (Which, he notes, is where good music resides.) I think of it as the border between inductive and deductive reason but the fundamental concept is the same. This is a very good book that is very well written. It’s chock full of stories and references, from the stories of his Canadian prairie upbringing, which I can certainly relate to, to his very appropriate references to the great minds of history, from Socrates to Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky. He is a very gifted and passionate storyteller and I hope he continues the conversation. A must read for all, but particularly those on the cusp of adulthood.

Let me be clear from the start. I have a borderline passionate dislike for the vast majority of the self-help industry. Legions of self-anointed gurus promising miraculous changes to the reader's life if only s/he follows some simple set of prescribed rules leave me feeling cold and less-than-optimistic about the human race. A book called 12 Rules for Life superficially sounds like one of those lesser works and I frankly would most likely have avoided it had I not already been familiar with Dr. Peterson's Jungian analyses of mythological works which I have found quite interesting. As such, I eagerly picked up a copy of this work and was not at all disappointed. While it's true that this is a self-help book, it's entirely devoid of the "quick fix" solutions promised by the ethically-challenged majority of the self-help industry. Instead, it offers a rich psychological treatment of twelve simple (one might even say common-sense were it not for the fact that such wisdom seems anything but common these days) "rules." Nowhere does Peterson claim that he is possessed of any extraordinary wisdom or that his methods will be easy for anyone. On the contrary, he suggests that the application of his twelve rules, while emphatically not easy, is conducive to a more productive and fulfilled life. This is a justifiable claim. Let's take a moment to examine the twelve rules themselves, each of which is presented as the title of a chapter dedicated to its more detailed analysis: 1) Stand up straight with your shoulders back 2) Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping 3) Make friends with people who want the best for you 4) Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today 5) Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them 6) Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world 7) Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient) 8) Tell the truth--or, at least, don't lie 9) Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't 10) Be precise in your speech 11) Do not bother children when they are skateboarding 12) Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. If these seem simplistic, it's because they're meant to be. They're meant to be expressions of wisdom we'd all struggle to disagree with (which is perhaps why none of the critical reviews of this book actually take issue with the rules themselves), yet which many of us fail to live up to. The book is well-written and well-argued, making it a pleasure to read. Dr. Peterson's analysis is thorough yet informal and punctuated with plenty of anecdotes to make his psychological expertise more palatable to a lay audience. The result is a book that can be quickly and easily digested yet which has sufficient depth to withstand multiple readings. Far more difficult than reading the book will be the task of heeding its advice, but I can say from personal experience that Dr. Peterson's rules are important (if not essential) to psychological prosperity. Though the book does not dwell on the reasons why people seem to have forgotten the once-common wisdom contained within its pages, Dr. Peterson's mission does seem to be to correct an epidemic of psychologically unsound thought that has gripped the Western world in recent decades. I think other authors (Lukianoff and Haidt in The Coddling of the American Mind, for instance, and Hicks in Explaining Postmodernism) have done an admirable job of documenting the problem. This book, rather than discussing the problem, offers an individualistic solution that is arguably as important to societal health as it is to individual psychological well-being. Highly recommended. I'm already eagerly awaiting Dr. Peterson's upcoming follow-up book.