Jordan Peterson says life is chaos. A statement I agree with.
To me chaos results when our subconscious need for consistency (aka, safety) overwhelms what we consciously know to be the right thing to do or when our conscious need for inconsistency (aka, expansion/entertainment) overwhelms what our subconscious recognizes as the safe thing to do.
The question then becomes... Which need are you more driven by? Consistency and safety or inconsistency and expansion?...and how has it effected your life?
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8 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.When Jordan speaks of chaos, i don't believe he is trying to convey that life is always chaos. Rather life is filled with moments of chaos.
I also get the impression that by chaos Jordan is referencing that which falls outside our expectations or unplanned negative events rather than just a basic opposite to the idea of order. It goes deeper than that.
KnowThyMind
Level 4
Mar 28, 2019
0
I think this is a personal journey we all need to go on at one point or another.
Our Sojourn in to the wilderness of ourselves. To be deprived, and tempted, and forged in the process to come out as someone who knows what they are when measured against the weight of the world and can still stand against it.
I believe being driven is more than being propelled or fleeing from something. Being driven means you're focused on something intently, and take in to account all the hurdles one must jump while running for that particular goal. Being driven exposes us to all those things and ideas but there is no consistency or safety in the world these days really. Viruses, gangs, accidents, machine failures, careless drivers, careless doctors... Anything we interact with on a daily basis could wind up killing us without going too far outside the realm of realistic expectation.
SpaceWillie2000
Level 6
Mar 23, 2019
0
I tend to lean toward consistency and safety, being a more cautious person. And i think you are wise to ask which one each and every person aligns with, as opposed to "which one is better" (as there is no single objectively correct way to approach it). Consistency usually keeps communities afloat, whilst expansion is necessary to evolve and adapt. So in short, i believe its a Ying-Yang concept.
theNecromancer
Level 4
Mar 20, 2019
1
Where is an aspect of his arguement for order if you are presenting chaos in the mix? Too much consistancy can breed chaos from being overly ridged(look up physical forces acting upon a metal member) shear, compression, tension, bend and torsion. I have been witness to metal roofs unscrewing themselves by constant temperature heating cooling cycles. In fact it is common knowledge within the sheet metal roofing trade and is attempted to be minimized by engineering. Every 10 years or so someone has to jump up there and hunt the wigglers down. The condition can be considered ever present, since day night cycles are the catalyst as well as wearher patterns. It is not constant as the forces applied change with the temperature, but consistant as it is patternable action throughout the workcycle of the roof.
On The opposing condition of expansion.
Sometimes you gotta blow off some steam or you may have a nuclear meltdown
CuriousFury
Level 7
Mar 19, 2019
1
Life is a conflict between chaos and order: with both being necessary. Chaos represents the new, the challenge... order represents the old, the understood, pattern, tradition...
VonO
Level 7
Mar 18, 2019
5
In 12 rules for life he links order with the masculine and chaos with the feminine... like a yin/yang thing.
I’ve had some problems accepting this, as a female, mostly because I think of myself as an orderly, stable person. Most of the women in my life (mom, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends) are pretty much the same way. Women seek stability. Women are less erratic than men (more men in prison, men statistically take more risky chances, bar fights, drive recklessly etc - all being “chaotic” ).
I just can’t get onboard with JP’s link. I’m very convinced by about everything else he says.
You seem to have read the 12 rules for life (I’m assuming because your comment makes it sound like you have), and I wanted to get someone else’s perspective.
@Ehague Mother Nature is chaos, childbirth and raising small human beings is chaos...pms is crazy chaos (for me it really is)....chaos is not necessarily a bad thing so saying that it is the feminine is not a bad thing....change the way you think of the word and you will see how beautiful chaos can be...
@MWhite I agree that chaos is beautiful - it’s why we have art, comedy, modern medicine etc (chaos = anything new, scary, or exciting). I argue we would cease to exist without it. But, men have been intricately involved in art, comedy, modern medicine etc., and to exclude them from the beauty of chaos and to exclude women from the stability of order just seems to me like a mischaracterization of men and women. I guess I just don’t agree with the polarization of men and women. I think men and women are much more complex beings than that. Men and women’s abilities/thoughts/feelings/actions etc overlap much more than what the polarizing effect of order and chaos would allow. Men are fun, exciting, and innovative just as much as women, and women are scheduled, disciplined, and responsible just as much as men. And of course, specific people have a higher degree of these traits than others. If we are to group men and women as “orderly” and “chaotic” then we can only be talking about the outliers (the boring, extremely disciplined, unoriginal, accountant that’s a man, and the glitzy, hyper sensitive, flippant, crazy stripper that’s a woman). The vast majority of men and women don’t fit within these categories. We are our own mixture.
@MWhite
I just saw this and thought it a welcome addition to my last comment 
VonO:
@Ehague I'm not big on the 'yin/yang' thing myself, but the feminine as chaos and masculine as order makes a lot of sense. GK Chesterton, in his book 'What's Wrong with the World' (public domain, available free on the web) goes on for several chapters on similar issues, but from a different (paleo conservative) perspective. You might want to read and react to him.
@michaelBurns1
I’m definitely not taking it as literal... did you read my post earlier? When I used literal “boring male accountant” and “flippant female stripper” I was merely describing outliers.
I don’t take what JP says about masculine and feminine as derogatory - I just think it isn’t accurate... or isn’t helpful, rather. When we talk in terms of feminity we think of female, and masculinity as male. That’s definition of those terms - you can’t ignore that fact. To say masculinity isn’t creative, communal, growth-oriented, or magical is incorrect. To say feminity isn’t powerful, strong, centered, or safe is also incorrect. My point is that it does a disservice to males and females to group them in such a way - and it isn’t true. Masculinity is strong AND creative etc. Feminity is magical AND powerful etc. I think JP’s definitions of masculine and feminine are too narrow.
I suppose I believe that when humanity thinks in boxed terms like X versus Y, male versus female, conservative versus liberal, this or that etc, we aren’t able to capitalize on the strengths of the individual. It’s only natural to think in boxed terms though, it helps us make sense of our surroundings, and it’s not incorrect a lot of the time, but it is incorrect when we heavily rely on it. To teach our sons that because they are male/masculine that they shouldn’t embrace community is hurtful to them, and to teach our daughters that because they are female/feminine, they should never take on leadership roles is also hurtful. We should be teaching them to capitalize on their individualized strengths.
I apologize if my opinion interferes with the way you conceptualize the world and the things in it. Give it some thought.
Wow, dude. You’re so brilliant, you’ve totally changed my mind.
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