Casey Estep: Outside Reading 3

Another book that I have recently finished is Twelve Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. Peterson is a modern day philosopher and professor of psychology. He also has a clinical practice. I had known about his work before reading the book, but I felt that I much better understood his purpose for his work after finishing it. Twelve Rules is a self-help book of sorts, listing and articulating Peterson's 12 rules for living a life of significance. The rules are as follows: 1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back. 2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. 3. Befriend people who want the best for you. 4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today. 5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them. 6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. 7. (my favorite) Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. 8. Tell the truth - or, at least, don't lie. 9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something that you don't. 10. Be precise in your speech. 11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding. And 12. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

I especially like rule 7. Within it Peterson talks about addictions and life choices. It seems that there is a large amount of honor in pursuing what is meaningful over what is expedient. Comparing it to this class: Hiking is not expedient. Hiking is perhaps the least expedient thing there is. It is one of the slowest forms of travel. However, it can be incredibly meaningful if you let it.

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