Thoughts on Jordan Peterson

[PT89]

I find this UofT psychology professor absolutely brilliant and someone who is trying to better mankind through helping people to work on themselves and personal development.  Listen to some of his youtube videos/lectures if you're interested in psychology, relationship advice, or politics.

One thing that I'd like to discuss more is I found out that he takes anti-depressants- my limited understanding of these are that they increase serotonin uptake in the brain and make you feel good.   I believe he's halved his dose over a few years, but he's quite a proponent of using them if bettering other areas of your life doesn't seem to make you satisfied.  I'm wondering what other people's thoughts are on using anti-depressants in this field of personal development work? My initial reaction is that it's a short-cut to avoiding some deep issues that may need to be endured for future growth, and inhibits ones path to spiritual development/awakening.  I find it interesting that such an incredibly smart man with everything going for him, and whose devoted so much of his life to helping others uses them.  I really don't know a whole lot about depression so I don't want say anything that might offend someone on this subject.  Would just like to open a discussion on the matter.

[Psyche_92]

He's a cool guy who truly knows his stuff. I'm watching him more and more on YouTube lately, and he's making a lot of sense to me. Wish he was my psychologist back in the days. Think i would have changed stuff a lot more quicker. I don't know if he's taking anti depressants, and i don't really see him differently if he is. 

[Leo Gura]

Jordan Peterson on anti-depressants?

For fuck sakes! Oh the irony...

Do NOT take anti-depressants! They will screw up your entire system and are difficult to quit and they solve nothing.

Psychedelics will actually treat the root cause, like your dysfunctional psychology, your rationalism, and your energetic blockages.

Yoga too.

Of course fixing even ALL the aspects of your life will never make you satisfied. It is impossible. Real satisfaction only comes with ego-death. Which is something Peterson doesn't understand because he's too busy waging an intellectual war with his favorite enemy, the post-modernists.

It would be funny, but for the fact that he has to take anti-depressants to feel satisfied and is encouraging his followers to do the same. This speaks to the fundamental incorrectness of his method and his understanding of the human psyche. This is the kind of bullshit that academia and rationalism produces.

If you want happiness, do not trust academics to deliver it to you. They have no idea what happiness is. They are lost in a world of mental concepts, which is a breeding-ground for depression.

There is only one way to happiness: consciousness to the point of ego-death.

P.S. You will be far better off micro-dosing LSD or mushrooms than taking anti-depressants.

[StephenK]

I must say, I'm not surprised that he is on anti-depressants. I've always sensed a immense sadness in him when he speaks. He also seems to take life way to seriously. I don't resonate with him. 

[MM1988]

Maybe Anti Depressants can help really depressed people to see stuff from a positive perspective for a time WHILE doing the inner work or therapy. And then they go off them. That sounds like a reasonable use for them.

Warning to anybody on anti depressants here, do NOT take psychedelics while on them, they both screw with the serotonin system. Especially MDMA can be deadly.

[Monkey-man]

He is great for beginners and also very great for understanding mythological symbolism and archetypes - this is his true strength, but in terms of advice to life, on some point on the path you will realise that you should throw away ALL advices made by psychologists. They are useless coz psychologists have zero big pic understanding of human-being and reality so they don’t know how to really grow, they can only fix some tiny problems here and there, give you instant short-term relief pills but they can’t really change psychology of human-being. Only TRUE spiritual path can. Also, JBP relies too much on his intellect, typical obstacle, Jesus didn’t use his own brains when he gave people real deal wisdom on how to be transformed, he received all the wisdom from higher planes of consciousness. That something JBP should do too in order to understand depths of human-being and life. See this is typical problem of all great scientists and artists, JBP is ready to undertake spiritual transformation but he doesn’t do it because he can’t stop his thinking process because he thinks that true knowledge about human life can be found inside his own limited mind but it’s not the case.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Monkey-man

[d0ornokey]

i was shocked too... hes more underdeveloped than i thought 

[frnsh]

I don't think being on anti- depressants means some one is undeveloped. Maybe they are going through something and they are just too deep in it to be able replace it with something else. 

But as a person who has taken them a long while ago, I know they generally suck if you really can find other ways. I know I was stuck and was not deep in self development. They don't work magical, they just keep you in a better mood by numbing some of your senses until you find another way. Actually when I improved my situation, they didn't have so much to numb so they hit me so strongly that even my tasting sense was compromised! Let alone the other ones.   

[Charlotte]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

If you want happiness, do not trust academics to deliver it to you. They have no idea what happiness is. They are lost in a world of mental concepts, which is a breeding-ground for depression.

There is only way to happiness: consciousness to the point of ego-death

+1

[MisterMan]

49 minutes ago, d0ornokey said:

i was shocked too... hes more underdeveloped than i thought 

Man, peterson, what a dong. Not like you or I. 

 

Peterson has discussed psychedelics in depth with Duncan Trussel and has had the same experiences. He has a self autorship program that helps you write what your thoughts of the past, and future was and will be. Basing it off that we are practically story tellers and base our identities and lives on the stories we tell ourselves.  So listening to his stuff you kind of can deduct the subtext of his messages is that he knows this is all one big play and maybe he's just playing the part? 

[Leo Gura]

16 minutes ago, MisterMan said:

So listening to his stuff you kind of can deduct the subtext of his messages is that he knows this is all one big play and maybe he's just playing the part? 

No, he has a vague conceptual understanding, but conceptual understanding does not produce liberation and happiness. Conceptual understanding is NOT consciousness.

All academics suffer from the same predictable problem:

• Confusing the map for the territory.

Is such a simple trap, but almost impossible to escape once you've fallen into it.

[Clown]

The wisest thing I've heard JBP say so far is "Clean your room".

[MisterMan]

I've been listening to allan watts and i am aware i am coming off more of a parrot than someone with that level of intellect but one thing i picked up was that he said that when you're in a play, the whole purpose of the play is not to play yourself, you're supposed to play the part, don't give it away. That sort of thing, so once you go there, liberation. That which cannot be said. You return into your persona and participate in the theatre with a deeper appreciation and are able to live it not holding anything back. because you know it's a play. 

Could it not be possible he is doing this?

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by MisterMan

[Ry4n]

On the issue of anti-depressants: 

If someone has a shit life, or some psychological issue like a victim mentality, then obviously antidepressants won't do much, but if someone has a good life and tries to think positive but still feels immensely depressed, then there should be no reason why antidepressants shouldn't be considered. Of coarse, look at improving diet and exercising first as well as meditation and therapy, but simply dismissing antidepressants entirely is ridiculous. All treatments should be looked at with an open mind. Of course they can have side effects, but so can psychedelics even if one takes precautions. Personally I think Ketamine is the future of depression treatment, but for the time being, antidepressants should be looked at as a tool for those struggling significantly to get better and successfully implement practices that they can use for the rest of their life, and at some point leave antidepressants behind. 

I hope no one in this thread thinks that resisting the urge to use antidepressants is a logical thing to do if one is on the verge of killing themselves. 

[AlwaysBeNice]

It's cool that he's promoting some form of Dharma to so many people pretty successfully, he teaches right speech/action and karma yoga in a way.

Yet he says that the way out of suffering ends with this kind of picking up responsibility, which is finding (arbitrary) meaning in service, whereas that's just a stepping stone for ultimate surrender. 

And that's kind of dishonest, to say that is should end there, because he had a mystical glimpse himself

 

[Pristinemn]

Jordan Peterson is just as stuck in his conceptual (dogmatic ?) worldview as the SJW's he is battling.

[MisterMan]

Well, Jordan Peterson is in Australia now.  ahem, which is more i can say for....... someone 

[Ayilton]

11 hours ago, Clown said:

The wisest thing I've heard JBP say so far is "Clean your room".

????... LOL

[John]

Well worth checking out this interview

[d0ornokey]

17 hours ago, Ry4n said:

antidepressants should be looked at as a tool for those struggling significantly to get better and successfully implement practices that they can use for the rest of their life, and at some point leave antidepressants behind

agree but the dudes been on it for more than a decade

though I can see situations where it can be helpful