The Goal

 

Jordan Peterson narrated a Prager U video on 1/29/2018, entitled Fix Yourself. I took notes on his video and will comment on it.

 

Jordan: “Blaming others for your problems is a complete waste of time; when you do that, you cannot grow, you cannot mature. Thus, you cannot make your life better.”

 

My response: as a proponent of egoist-individual ethics, I agree here with Jordan that moral problems are personal territory; only you own your moral puzzles and only you can solve them, not by serving others so much as improving yourself as a means of serving others indirectly.

 

Jordan: “I have learned there are two fundamental attitudes towards life and its sorrows. Those with the first attitude blame the world.”

 

My response: If you seek to change the world out there, blaming it as the source of your problems, and out there is the cure for your problems, you are an altruist-collectivist, but you are on the wrong track. You will find no relief for your problems in the community.

 

Jordan: “The second attitude is what can I do differently. Other people are not the problem. You are the problem. You can’t change other people, but you can change yourself.”

 

My response: The individual is the problem and moral solutions emerge with his effective self-care regimen taking hold. The conservative, mature kind of egoism that I envision is a program of self-improvement through self-discipline, as one’s unloved, low self-esteemed but the selfish, self-indulgent self determines to sin no more or at least less by self-realizing. Whether he is a victim or not, the maverizer blames himself for his shortcomings, and comes up with a working plan of self-improvement to make something of his life. He knows he is flawed but is residually benign that he can get better if he works hard at it, consistently, over time.

 

Jordan: “It is hard to change the self, requiring courage, admission of fault, and it takes discipline.

 

It is much easier and much more gratifying to your basest desires (Ed Note: To escape from growing by immature self-indulgence, strengthening one’s low self-esteem, selfishly ensconcing oneself in non-individuated pack-living.)

 

Blame others for your misery. Consider the youthful activist making a ‘statement’ against the ‘corrupt’ capitalist system. He smashes in the window of a business establishment. What has he done other than to bring harm to people who have nothing to do with his real problems. The guilt, doubt, and shame he will inevitably feel in consequence will have to be suppressed so his beliefs can remain unchanged. And that suppression will do nothing but foster his anger and alienation.

 

There is a woman in a TS Eliot play that is very unhappy and she consults her therapist. She admits that she hopes her mess is her fault so she can do something about it, but it the mess is in the nature of the world she is doomed. She can’t change everything else, but she can change herself.”

 

My response: As individuals start to maverize, the changes they make to themselves will revolutionize society and that is how the egoist helps the collective.

 

Jordan: “There are some people that suffer greatly, but most of us have a chance to make our lives better.

 

Start small. Ask yourself a few questions. Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you? Are you working at your full capacity at school or work? Have you set your own house in order?

 

If no, stop doing what you know to be wrong. Stop. Today. Don’t waste time asking how you know that what you’re doing is wrong. You can know it is wrong without knowing why. Inopportune questioning can confuse without enlightening and deflect you from action. You can know something is right or wrong without knowing why.

 

Pay attention. Do you procrastinate, show up late, spend money you do not have, or drink to much?

 

It is not a matter of accepting some externally imposed morality. It is a dialogue with your own conscience. What are you doing that is wrong from your own perspective? What could you put right, right now. Get to work on time. Stop interrupting people. Make peace with siblings and parents. Diligently utilize everything you have at hand.

 

If you do these things, your life will improve. You will become more peaceful, productive, and desirable. After a few months of attentive effort your mind will clear. Your life will be less tragic, and you will be more confident; you will see right from wrong more clearly. The path is front of you will shine more brightly. You will not get in your own way.

 

 You will no longer be trouble yourself, your family or society. You will be a positive and reliable force.

 

Life will still be difficult. You will still suffer but that is the price of being born. Maybe you will become strong enough to bear that burden and even act nobly and with purpose.

 

The proper way to fix the world is not to fix the world or even assume you are up to such a task. But you can fix yourself; that harms no one, and may make the world a better place.”