October 21st 2024 | Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
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Hello,

In this week’s edition, I provide a way to avoid regret at the end of your life by engaging in what may initially be difficult but ultimately worth it. Then, I talk with author and lecturer Spencer Klavan about the fruits and follies of the postmodern worldview and why God does not rule by force. From the archives, I revisit the remarkable Biblical account of Cain and Abel and examine why it remains relevant on a personal, familial, and political level, all simultaneously.

Advice

Avoid Regret By Taking Chances

When you look at your life, you might look back at travails that you have undertaken. End-of-life surveys that ask people what they regret have shown they do not regret what they did that did not work; they regret what they did not do that could have worked. They regret the chances they did not take. 

Even if you do an evaluation of your biography, one of the things you want to be able to say to yourself — maybe there is nothing better you can say to yourself — is: that was extraordinarily difficult but it was worth it. It is not like you can have one of those without the other because you cannot imagine that you could. Have some confidence in what you have managed to accomplish, the kind of confidence that would instill you with a genuine sense of self despite your fundamental inadequacy. 

To have that fundamental sense of self-regard that is grounded in something real, it has to be based in a narrative that approximates: That was extremely difficult, but it was worth it. You have to have both of those.

Slave, tyrant, or negotiator. In his new series, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson explains how to stop fearing confrontation and care more about what happens if you DON’T negotiate. In this 2 part series you’ll learn how to define what you want, maneuver through hostile situations and make deals with yourself that will last. Watch Episode one on DailyWire+.

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Wherever You Are Is Not As Good As It Could Be: Plot A Course Forward

There are deep reasons for how and why you perceive things as you do in the world. Perception is tightly related and associated to action, to movement forward, and to emotion — and those things are very important to know. For example, you live in a map or a story, and because wherever you are is not as good as it could be, you go somewhere that is somewhat better. That can occur in different timeframes. Maybe you have a plan for the next minute: You are hungry, and you want to go somewhere to eat. Maybe it could be for the next hour or the next day or the next week or the next year. But, basically, what you are trying to do is take where you are (point A) and make it better (point B). So you are always somewhere that is not quite as good as it should be, and you are always going somewhere that is somewhat better — at least, that is the hope. 

Light Of The Mind, Light Of The World: Illuminating Science Through Faith | Spencer Klavan | EP 489

In this episode, I sit down with author, lecturer, and podcaster Spencer Klavan. We discuss the fruits and follies of the postmodern worldview, how our conscious and subconscious rank order data and form perceptions, where disparate creation myths and biblical depictions overlap, why God does not rule by force, and how just about everything we uncover through science reaffirms the notion of an underlying unity.