Events vs. States Rule 3 in Jordan Peterson’s Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life reads, “Do not hide unwanted things in the fog,” and it is about neglecting apparently small problems, the risks of living with and tolerating these problems for too long, and cumulative effect of doing so over time. A useful distinction here is between one’s general state and particular events one faces. Small, repetitive problems might not themselves count as significant…
After writing Part 1 of this series, the idea of the fool and Peterson’s inadequate treatment of it stayed with me, and in my mind I continued searching for good examples that embody the idea of the fool. Then I remembered the character, Sabina, from Milan Kundera’s the Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is an excellent example. Another character from the same novel, Tomas, goes through the process of becoming the fool in the story.…
I have decided to go through Jordon Peterson’s recent book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, and record a commentary here. These are quick notes, which is to say I’m leaving room for reconsideration and changing my mind in the future. Let’s begin. Rule 1: Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievements. There isn’t much new material in this chapter, compared with Peterson’s earlier “12 Rules for Life”, with the exception of…
Review of “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading, & Life” by George Saunders Saunders’ book contains seven short stories in addition to his commentary on each. Out of the seven stories, three are by Anton Chekov, two by Leo Tolstoy, and the others are by Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Gogol. The book is based on a university course on nineteenth-century Russian short stories that…