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September 7, 2020 | DR. JORDAN B. PETERSON

Why the Serpent Lurks Eternally in the Garden

The following is from a draft of 
Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life

(Estimated Read: 2 Minutes)

The presence of the serpent in the garden also signifies something even deeper: the impossibility of the order suitable for human beings existing without some admixture of chaos. There is simply no way, even for God himself, to wall off some isolated portion of the greater surrounding reality and make everything permanently predictable and safe within it. Some of the reality that has been so carefully excluded will always sneak back in. A snake will therefore inevitably appear, no matter what care is taken. Even the most assiduous of modern parents will not be able to protect their children from internet porn, drugs, or alcohol, even if they lock them in the basement (in which case they only end up exposing them to the snakes they harbor within themselves). We might have learned such things by watching the great, degenerate totalitarian utopias of the 20th century. Leaders and citizens alike attempted, with ever-increasing desperation, to force everything that existed into a defined, comprehensible and too-perfect order. That merely ensured that chaos burst forth without reserve into their souls, and then into their societies. 
 

"Even God could not make a place so safe that it did not have a snake in it."


Recent Media Releases

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast 
Maps of Meaning 07: Images of Story & Metastory

In this lecture, Dr. Peterson discusses how the basic or archetypal categories we use to frame the world are represented in image, where they existed long before their nature could be articulated. These categories include the individual (hero/adversary), culture (wise king/tyrant), and nature (destruction/creation). The heroic individual (the knower) is typically masculine, as is culture (the known), while the unknown is feminine. These categories can be conceptualized, as well, as explorer, explored territory, and unexplored territory. The most abstract category is the dragon of chaos, the monster who guards what is most valuable. It is from this most primordial of categories that the other three emerge. Our existence as prey and predator is reflected in the ambivalent representation of the absolute unknown.


Recommended Reading

How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place
Bjørn Lomborg

If you want to change the world, this inspiring and enlightening book is for you. Bjorn Lomborg presents the costs and benefits of the smartest solutions to twelve global problems.
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Also view: 
Jordan B. Peterson Podcast w/Bjørn Lomborg

 

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