This week, I broadly parse the notion of happiness in relation to life alongside the idea of an adventure that justifies its difficulties.
** Mondays of Meaning
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December 2nd 2024 | Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
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Hello,
In this week’s edition, I broadly parse the notion of happiness in relation to life alongside the idea of an adventure that justifies the difficulties it may bring. Then, I talk with philosopher, professor, and lecturer Dr. Stephen Hicks about topics of philosophical nature, including its practice uses, the giants of philosophy, and various intellectual movements, among others. From the archives, I share a personal story and then give encouragement involving romantic relationships.
Advice
Seek What Is Difficult But Worthwhile ([link removed])
People often say, “I just want to be happy.” But this is a preposterous slogan because wanting just to be happy is no small ask. It is the equivalent of wanting to dwell permanently in Paradise. But unending bliss without consequence of words or actions is not what people really want.
Careful analysis of what people actually mean when they say they “just want to be happy” indicates that what they really mean is they do not want to suffer. As humans, we are much more concerned with not experiencing an excess of negative emotion than we are with experiencing a surplus of positive pleasure. So, what people really mean is, “I don’t want to be too miserable.” And fair enough. That is reasonable.
But I would contend that it is not obvious at all that we want happiness, or even absence of misery to some degree. What is obvious, however, is that we want an adventure that is so compelling, it makes the misery of life not only justifiable, but also worthwhile. You want to look back on your life and be able to say, “That was really difficult, but it was worth it.” You want to know that even when you consider a month, a week, or a series of days. You want an adventure so great that it justifies the difficulties.
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In Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s new series, “The Gospels,” eight scholars from radically different backgrounds gather with him to examine the early life of Jesus and confront essential questions that haunt our era: What happens when a culture abandons its foundational stories? How might ancient wisdom illuminate our current crisis of meaning? Then, in the second episode, the group discusses a powerful antidote to our current crisis of meaning, a revelation that comes from Jesus’ early ministry. Join them as they discover how this wisdom, demonstrated in the stories of Jesus and Job alike, might light the way forward for a society that has lost its way — showing that even in the darkest circumstances, maintaining an upward aim yields the best possible outcome. The first two episodes of “The Gospels” are now available on DailyWire+.
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** Article Spotlight
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Substitutes For Religion Are Meaningless
More academically oriented thinkers have proposed critiques of religion that reduce it to a single dimension, and then criticize it along that dimension. The atheist types like Richard Dawkins tend to think that belief in God is like belief in a stateable proposition: Is God real, like is a table real? And it is not obvious that that is the proper way to formulate that issue. You can make it absurd almost immediately by reducing it to that sort of representation, but there are a multitude of functions that religious traditions serve. Even people like Ernest Becker basically reduced it to a single dimension: It is a defense against death anxiety. Well, it may be that, but it certainly is not only that. It is a very complex issue.
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** On The Podcast
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Reality And The Philosophical Framing Of The Truth | Dr. Stephen Hicks | EP 501
In this episode, Dr. Stephen Hicks, who is a philosopher, professor, and lecturer, joins me to discuss philosophy on a practical level. Our conversation covers the giants of philosophy, how various philosophies reconcile perception with reality, how memory affects life, truth claims and emotional responses, the notion of seeing reality through narrative, and many other impelling topics.
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** From The Archives
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Rekindling Romantic Intimacy In A Relationship
During a Q&A on tour, I shared a personal story about a time my wife and I were both deathly ill. Our illnesses unfolded over a years-long period, and we were apart for much of it. When we came back together, there was a sense of distance we had to address. We both shared the will to come back together as a couple, but how to do so is not always straightforward. For decades prior, we had consciously made dating a practice of our marriage, which is a much-needed marital priority. Otherwise, intimacy becomes displaced, especially if you are in the stage of life of developing a career and raising little children. If you do not spend about 90 minutes a week listening and talking to your partner about practical matters of the domestic economy and your shared life, you build up a huge backlog of undisclosed communication. After all, romance does not manifest itself spontaneously. You must also identify what you want, talk about what those wants are, and put them into practice. Tammy and I did
just that when we came back together.
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Thank you for reading,
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
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