07 March, 2018

Jordan B Peterson

A colleague has recently introduced me to the work of Jordan B Peterson. He is a critical thinker of great depth and I encourage you to subscribe to his youtube channel. He is a clinical psychologist and a lecturer.

Recently, he has discussed 'trans' issues and this has generated an emotional response from a great many. I watched his interview with Cathy Newman and was very impressed with his ability to maintain a human interaction with someone whose monkey was running rampant. I say 'monkey' and he says amygdala. Same sort of thing.

His depth and breadth of understanding is far greater than mine. With one exception. I do believe that he is on the edge of a break through and I wish to simply nudge him into it. I don't have the right to do this. However, I have chosen to do it. He has the right to completely ignore me or even to completely disagree. I do this as I believe that he can develop this 'exception' far better than I and I believe that it is important. Not just to me but to the billions of humans on this planet.

The exception is this. He, to the best of his ability and brilliantly, advises people on how best to get along in society. Creating value for themselves AND society. However, he is hovering between two worlds. One world is 'society' and the other is 'civilisation'.

Basically, society is based on hierarchy. Civilisation is based upon 'nodes'. I believe that he would understand this fundamental difference without having to read my other work.

Now, let me use an example to explain the 'trans' issue. Society is breaking down. The financial burden of government promises is increasing. Economic growth is not happening at the level that government and financial figures tell us. Most people are not aware of this intellectually but do feel that something is wrong somewhere. Now, the human brain requires an explanation. So, governments tell us that gay muslim transgender terrorists claiming benefits are the problem and so vicious arguments erupt. Muslims say this is nothing to do with us. LGBT's state this is nothing of our doing and so on. Society becomes ever more emotional and our amygdala / monkey gets far too active for our own personal and collective good. WWI and WWII are great examples of this phenomena. As would be Witch trials and the 'are you a communist' era from the U.S.

This is all due to our monkey / amygdala forcing a hierarchical structure on our personal and collective humanity. This is basically what our 'society' is and 'society' will and should fail. Now, my problem is ensuring a 'civilisation' springs up in the place of 'society' rather than a far more brutal 'society'. A good marker for noticing our collapse into a brutal society will be WWIII. Intolerance of differences in others will define us. All of us.

Where I work, I am destroying the society / hierarchical structure quite easily. I just give my colleagues a better structure. A nodal structure. We are all basically equal, with differing areas of responsibly and accountability. Despite being basically equal, we all have different strengths and weaknesses. At varying times, we all need the support of our colleagues and that support is readily available. We all work for our own benefit, as part of a team and to meet the requirement of our customers. In that order.

Society says that I am of low rank. Reality or 'civilisation' laughs in the face of this absurd statement. Now Jordan B Peterson would have me create a schedule and have goals and targets. In ten years time I could live in a big house, drive a new car, wear a Rolex watch and be a director where I currently work. No thanks. That may happen. It might not. I live in a great house that I love. I drive a sixteen year old car, that I love. I wear an automatic watch that I love. I am happy and content. I know who I am. I am me. I am already far more powerful than those society calls powerful. I know of no-one who is more powerful than I. In what alternative universe would a new house, car and watch make any difference to me whatsoever? I will still be me. In ten years time I hope to be more human. Not be higher up a hierarchical structure imposed by everyone's collective amygdala / inner monkey.

Society is the collective result of our amygdala / inner monkey
Society is founded upon fear

Civilisation is the collective result of our humanity.
Civilisation is founded upon love.

Both co-exist. Both will forever exist. The balance is crucial.

I choose to interact with others on a human basis and to be aware of when my monkey / amygdala has simply seized control of my words, actions and more importantly THOUGHTS.

Anyway, it is my great hope that Jordan B Peterson will eventually grasp the magnitude of this 'exception'. I look forward to his future work regardless.

My thanks to Joe for bringing Jordan B Peterson to my attention and to Jordan B Peterson for his contribution to civilisation.

Be seeing you


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