What He Wrote

 On Page xxvii of his book 12 RULES FOR LIFE AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, Jordan Peterson writes this: "I proposed in Maps of Meaning that the great myths and religious stories of the past, particularly those derived from an earlier oral tradition, were moral in their intent, rather than descriptive. Thus they did not concern themselves with what the world was, as a scientists might have it, but with how a human being should act. I suggested that our ancestors portrayed the world as a stage--a drama--instead of a place of objects. I described how I had come to believe that the constituent elements of the world as dram were order and chaos, not material things."

My response: I think Jordan is onto something vital here, and it will be a challenge to unpack it. As a Jungian psychologist, one would expect Peterson to zero in on the great myths and religious stories from long ago. I am intrigued and impressed that he interpreted their intent as moral not descriptive. If humans are to dramatize their lives and their actions are implicitly overflowing with moral implication, then it would seem likely that an existent set of engaged, rival deities were clashing and vying, each seeking to direct the earthly play among millions of actors. These directors are duking it out: the malevolent Satan and benevolent Father Sky God. God or Fate created the physical and biological world, but those aspects of the world grow into moral significance with each human decision and action.

He then goes on to describe the constituent elements of the world as drama were order and chaos, not material things. This metaphysical stance seems ripe with spiritual application by the actors on the earthly stage.