Canadian Psychologist and college professor, Dr. Jordan Peterson, has just released a new series on the Daily Wire+ platform. I have reviewed another one of his short programs in the past – Dragons, Monsters, and Men. In that series, Peterson explains and uses real life examples to demonstrate that it is necessary to go out and conquer. He explains that it is of utmost importance to go out into the world and share what you have to offer, despite the tragedy and pain that you will certainly encounter. In this new series, Peterson elaborates on how one might do this. He uses examples from his research to “Transform the chaotic potential of the future into actuality with a vision.”

The beginning of the first episode opens with Peterson defining what “vision” is. In a literal sense it is seeing the world arrayed in front of you. It allows you to know where you are going. However, for humans, we also have the term “visionary” which defines the ability to envision not only actuality, but also possibility. This is extraordinary because it is what makes us creative. It is what allows us to take our creativity and make it manifest itself in reality. Without this ability to be abstract with our thinking, we would be one and the same with the animals. Peterson expands on this idea by contrasting humans to mosquitoes. Mosquitoes have a strategy where they mate, lay thousands of eggs, and only a few survive. Many die because of mutations, natural causes, or simply never hatch. This is darwinism. However, humans take a separate approach. Instead of having thousands of children in hopes that a few survive, we only have a few. How are we able to do this? It is because we can let our ideas die instead of us. We can lay out hundreds, if not thousands, of possible future actions and only pay attention and act upon those that will be optimal for us. Now, they may not always be optimal decisions, but they are very unlikely to be fatal. Peterson calls this “the Darwinian process conducted abstractly.” 

With our ability to abstract our visions, we are able to walk the fine line between chaos and order. The only way that we are able to move forward into the chaotic future is with a plan. We are unsure what the future will ever hold, because it is always changing. This is why we need a plan. No matter how small, a plan is necessary, and we even plan things out subconsciously on small scales. The plan to make lunch. The plan to get off of the couch to go to the bathroom. The plan to take a nap. These may not be such glamorous plans, but they are plans nonetheless. Peterson explains that those who have no long term plans are much more subject to negative emotion and anxiety. A lack of a plan is a lack of hope. On the opposite end of the spectrum, positive emotion is marked by the completion of something worthwhile. It is a series of “microvisions” accumulating into one larger macrovision that likely embodies something of meaning. 

Similar to the message in Dragons, Monsters, and Men, Dr.Peterson mentions that the only way forward is through voluntary confrontation. This message truly resonates with me, and it is a pattern that is undoubtedly verifiable across many different areas in life. I remember in my psychology class last year when we were taught that the only way for people with PTSD to rid their terrible memories was to confront them again and again until they no longer terrified them. Monsters in the closet. The knight in shining armor staring into a dark cave. 

Although I am aware of this being the best way forward, I constantly find myself falling short. It is an ideal that should always be just out of reach, but sometimes I feel too exhausted  to extend my hand. I find this to be the case in some of my classes, which I elaborated on in my previous article titled “Students Crave a Story.” Despite this, I will continue to push through it in hopes that the doors to where I belong will open. I find myself straying from the line between chaos and order sometimes (especially after spring break in Cancun), and it is difficult to return. But there is no other way to make progress. I have recently started to use Google Calendar, so I have somewhat of a plan developing. However, nothing is ever finished, just like this review. There were a few points in the episode that I didn’t dive into, but they are worth thinking about, so here they are:

• • We ignore the things that are fixed and predictable
  • The consciousness is the spirit that confronts the possibility and endeavors to turn it into good habitual actuality
  • The past is finite and bounded, but the future is infinite

• You select the game you play according to your hierarchy of desire

• You’re going to face tyrants and mobs that may only exist at microscopic degrees over the period of your lifetime

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I look forward to writing the next review in the series soon. Again, I watched this series on the Daily Wire+, which is a fantastic source for conservative news, uncensored opinions, and enthralling shows like Vision and Destiny. Let me know your thoughts on these grand ideas in the comments!