Of What Matters, Jordan Peterson

 Jordan Peterson, on Pages 35, 36 and 37 of his book, 12 RULES FOR LIFE, AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, lays on his ontological thesis that order, chaos and our response to these eternally existent, ever-present, clashing elements of Being are what we must contend with to lead a meaningful life: "The scientific world of matter can be reduced, in some sense,  to its fundamental, constituent  elements: molecules, atoms, even quarks.  However, the world of experience has primal constituents as well. These are the necessary elements whose interactions define drama and fiction. One is chaos. Another is order. The third (as there are three) is the process that mediates between the two, which appears identical to what modern people call consciousness. It is our eternal subjugation to the first two that makes us doubt the validity of existence--that makes us throw our hands up in despair, and fail to care for ourselves properly It is that proper understanding of the third that allows us the only way out."

My response: Chaos and order are primal constituents of the world of experience, and we as smart beings seek to mediate between the two. By dealing with both forthrightly, directly, and ethically, we can as individuals take on responsibility and create meaning, and that is our affirmative salvation. God, spirit, matter, and mortality all flow through all these forces and happenings all the time.

J: "Chaos is the domain of ignorance itself. It is unexplored territory. . .. And Chaos is freedom, dreadful freedom too. . .. Order, by contrast, is explored territory. . .. But order is sometimes tyranny and stultification, as well, when the demand for certainty and uniformity and purity becomes too one-sided."

My response: We will inevitably know chaos and order in our lives, and how we courageously balance these impending forces dictates how successful and meaningful our lives with be. We need reason and order in our lives more than we need feeling and chaos, but we need both, lest an excess of either force predominating leads us into malevolence and needless suffering. Peterson is wise and correct here, and his ethical moderation shines through.