Last updated on July 12th, 2023 at 11:35 pm
An Antidote to Chaos
Rating
3/5
Date Started
11-1-2022
Date Completed
11-14-2022
Five Powerful Quotes from the Book
Quote 1
“Rule 1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back. Rule 2: Treat yourself like you are someone you are responsible for helping. Rule 3: Make friends with people who want the best for you. Rule 4: Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today. Rule 5: Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them. Rule 6: Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient). Rule 8: Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie. Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t. Rule 10: Be precise in your speech. Rule 11: Do not bother children when they are skate-boarding. Rule 12: Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 2
“To treat yourself as if you were someone you were responsible for helping is, instead, to consider what would be truly good for you. This is not “what you want.” It is also not “what would make you happy.” … “Happy” is by no means synonymous with “good.” … You need to consider the future and think, “What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly? What career would challenge me and render me productive and helpful, so that I could shoulder my share of the load, and enjoy the consequences?” “What should I be doing, when I have some freedom, to improve my health, expand my knowledge, and strengthen my body?” You need to know where you are so you can start to chart your course.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 3
“Pay attention. Focus on your surroundings, physical and psychological. Notice something that bothers you, that concerns you, that will not let you be, which you could fix, that you would fix. You can find such somethings by asking yourself (as if you genuinely want to know) three questions: “What is it that is bothering me?” “Is that something I could fix?” and “Would I actually be willing to fix it?” If you find that the answer is “no,” to any or all of the questions, then look elsewhere. Aim lower. Search until you find something that bothers you, that you could fix, that you would fix, and then fix it. That might be enough for the day.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 4
“What’s the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful? The successful sacrifice. Things get better as the successful practice their sacrifices. The questions become increasingly precise and, simultaneously, broader. What is the greatest possible sacrifice? For the greatest possible good? And the answers become increasingly deeper and profound. …
“Pain and suffering define the world. Of that, there can be no doubt. Sacrifice can hold pain and suffering in abeyance, to a greater or lesser degree—and greater sacrifices can do that more effectively than lesser. Of that, there can be no doubt.
“Everyone holds this knowledge in their soul. Thus, the person who wishes to alleviate suffering—who wishes to rectify the flaws in Being; who wants to bring about the best of all possible futures; who wants to create Heaven on Earth—will make the greatest of sacrifices, of self and child, of everything that is loved, to live a life aimed at the Good. He will forego expediency. He will pursue the path of ultimate meaning. And he will in that manner bring salvation to the ever-desperate world.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 5
“Why refuse to specify, when specifying the problem would enable its solution? Because to specify the problem is to admit that it exists. Because to specify the problem is to allow yourself to know what you want, say, from friend or lover—and then you will know, precisely and cleanly, when you don’t get it, and that will hurt, sharply and specifically. But you will learn something from that, and use what you learn in the future—and the alternative to that single sharp pain is the dull ache of continued hopelessness and vague failure and the sense that time, precious time, is slipping by.”
Pithy Summary
About the Book
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – “What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson’s answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.”
About the Author
Jordan B. Peterson – “Dr. Jordan B. Peterson is an author, psychologist, online educator, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. The Jordan B Peterson podcast frequently tops the charts in the Education category. He has written three books, Maps of Meaning, an academic work, presenting a new scientifically-grounded theory of religious and political belief, and the bestselling 12 Rules for Life, and Beyond Order, which have sold more than seven million copies. With his wife, Tammy, Dr. Peterson’s international lecture tour has sold out more than 400 venues, providing live insight into the structure of mythology and narrative to hundreds of thousands of people. For twenty years, he taught some of the most highly regarded courses at Harvard and the University of Toronto, while publishing more than a hundred well-cited scientific papers with his students and co-authors. Dr. Peterson’s online programs, selfauthoring.com and understandmyself.com have helped tens of thousands of people inquire deeply into the structure of their personalities, develop a vision for their future, and sort out the details of their pasts. He maintained an active clinical and consulting practice during this period, helping individuals across the full spectrum of ability and temperament deal with the complexities of their lives and situations. In conjunction with the Daily Wire Plus, Dr. Peterson recently led and released a 17-part seminar on the biblical book of Exodus, as the continuation of his critically and publicly acclaimed lectures on Genesis.”
Additional Resources
Tags
Nonfiction | Philosophy | Psychology | Self-Improvement