What’s The Appeal Of Jordan Peterson?

[BlessedLion]

I’ve watched some of his stuff and I guess I get it but it’s basic and surface level personal development work. He rarely speaks about life purpose or anything metaphysical (in fact he seems mostly brainwashed by Christianity and religion) and emphasizes just working for the man. 
 

His 2 major life principles out of seven are 

 

-Make your bed 

-Walk with your shoulders upright 

 

Like really? You can share 7 principles for LIFE and you waste two on this shit? 
 

I can see how he helps people get out a rut or something but after a while your spinning wheels. Foundation is important. Very important. But it only goes so far and ultimately foundation should support something higher like life purpose. 
 

Maybe people just aren’t ready for that hence his popularity 

[NoSelfSelf]

You forgot the most important principle : pet the cat when you see it on a street, you being myopic without that one 😄

[Princess Arabia]

I remember before all this spiritual stuff, I heard him speak, subscribed and was like, yes, I like. Now I'm like wtf. I guess it depends on where you're at and what you're into.

[emil1234]

28 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

I remember before all this spiritual stuff, I heard him speak, subscribed and was like, yes, I like. Now I'm like wtf. I guess it depends on where you're at and what you're into.

yes excactly the same for me.

i worshipped him when i first got into personal development, and now i basically cringe every time i listen to him

[Princess Arabia]

15 minutes ago, emil1234 said:

yes excactly the same for me.

i worshipped him when i first got into personal development, and now i basically cringe every time i listen to him

I know, I can barely listen to him talk anymore. Shows how it's all about perception and change is within you. Also not to get so attached to the current because one day you'll be a totally different person than you are today; looking back like, was that even me.

[Cireeric]

I think he gets dismissed way too easily here on this forum. He has some really deep and profound takes and great articulation of his ideas. If you watch this one earnestly I think it is hard to make the argument that he is on surface level personal development, neither it is just christian fundamentalism: 

 

[LordFall]

I've listening to a lot of him lately. He helps me cover my stage blue shadow that I was too arrogant to work through before. Responsibility to your society and lack of hedonism basically. 

[Yimpa]

2 minutes ago, LordFall said:

I've listening to a lot of him lately. He helps me cover my stage blue shadow that I was too arrogant to work through before. Responsibility to your society and lack of hedonism basically. 

You feel blue when you feel green 

 

[gambler]

The appeal of Jordan Peterson is he steelmans what has long been characterized in an uncharitable way. One example of a cartoonish narrative that is seeped deeply within western culture is that the patriarchy is just men hungry for power and unashamedly want to oppress the poor members of the opposite gender. It's way more interesting to hear a perspective that challenges this one-sided view than listening and repeating the existing narrative.

[Leo Gura]

The appeal of all right-wing media is to tell closedminded people exactly what they want to hear.

You tune in to have your deepest biases reinforced.

Edited July 26 by Leo Gura

[Heaven]

He is extremely charismatic and highly educated. You don’t need to agree with him to see it.

[BlessedLion]

3 hours ago, Princess Arabia said:

I know, I can barely listen to him talk anymore. Shows how it's all about perception and change is within you. Also not to get so attached to the current because one day you'll be a totally different person than you are today; looking back like, was that even me.

It’s interesting because some get better with time like Ralston or Wilber. I think I’ll be studying their work and perspectives for decades but some get so cringe like David Goggins and Peterson. I used to love Goggins now I see his message as pretty toxic 

[Joshe]

26 minutes ago, BlessedLion said:

It’s interesting because some get better with time like Ralston or Wilber. I think I’ll be studying their work and perspectives for decades but some get so cringe like David Goggins and Peterson. I used to love Goggins now I see his message as pretty toxic 

Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't hate on Goggins though. He doesn't seem like a bad guy. He might be driven by things I wouldn't want to be driven by but I don't think he seems driven by toxic ego like JP. I haven't followed him closely though so I'm not 100%. 

My favorite evergreen teachers are David R Hawkins and James Allen. Those guys know some shit. Well, they knew some shit. 😂

I first saw Jame Allen's genius when listening to The 8 Pillars of Success. I prefer audio but his written books are in the public domain. https://james-allen.in1woord.nl/?text=eight-pillars-of-prosperity. 

I don't think I'll ever outgrow James Allen or David Hawkins. I've tried to get into Wilber but just never seemed my style. I should probably try harder.

Edited July 26 by Joshe

[Carl-Richard]

The West is spiritually dead and any glimmer of meaning in the darkness is celebrated as the new God.

[gambler]

Just now, Carl-Richard said:

The West is spiritually dead and any glimmer of meaning in the darkness is celebrated as the new God.

i think you nailed it

[Carl-Richard]

9 hours ago, gambler said:

i think you nailed it

While I say that, I think JP is mostly the shit. There is a lot of depth to his personal development stuff (and psychological and religious stuff). Just because something seems simple on the surface, doesn't mean it's not deep. Just because something is foundational, doesn't mean it's not important. A huge trap is to neglect the foundational by mistaking it as not important. That is why sayings like "make your bed" or "walk with your shoulders upright" can be worth hammering in, certainly in a culture that regularly trivializes the foundational.

Edited July 26 by Carl-Richard

[Buck Edwards]

I think he appeals more to right wingers. Most of his perspectives is what the right wing indulges in. 

[Jannes]

Although I really liked him back in the day I needed to think about that for some time because its some time since I watched him and I inhaled all the criticism I saw about him on the forum. But I have got some points:

- The way JP explains concepts of psychology through archetypes is epic and simple.

- He helps to integrate stage blue values

- JP to some extend is a very nuanced stage yellow thinker and this is not very common. I have listened to his takes on feminism back in the day and was amazed by his nuanced thinking where he crushed stage green opponents who couldn't think in that sort of detail. Not sure if I would agree with all of his takes nowadays but they were certainly sophisticated. 

Sucks that he has a stage green shadow and (because of) that his political takes are so bad as I think there is much potential in JP.

[Cireeric]

Just watch the first 5 minutes of this. This is about Truth, Life Purpose and Meaning in life, very similiar to the teachings of Actualized. This is about living your unique story and finding your passion. This is what drives real activism. Yes, he uses christian religious analogies, but this does not make it stage blue. I think he gets mostly strawmanned for his sometimes bad takes on politics and dismissed entirely. 

Edited July 26 by Cireeric

[bambi]

Peterson gets dismissed as he himself has a very low level of spiritual or conciousness development, and hides behind a highfalutin self-aggrandising intellectual veneer.

Hes in no position to give anyone advice on development. Hes rude, resentful. arrogant, domineering. He nearly died from drug use. And has almost 0 humility, joy, lightness, happiness

Essentially to me he has suffered deeply in life,  and then uses his intellectualism as a coping mechanism for doing any deep self-reflection. Imagine how hard it would be for him, at his age, after all his life, as intelligent as he thinks himself to be, to admit he completely fucked it and got it wrong, all his mental masturbation and gymnastics was not only for null, but led him to completely wrong decisions and ways of being in the world

 

Edited July 26 by bambi