Totality
One of the many things that people like about Jordan Peterson’s ideas is his emphasis on the importance of responsibility in a person’s life. For him, a person can only have meaning in his or her life if he/she decides to do something for himself and especially for others. He stresses that as an individual in a society, we have the obligation to contribute something that could benefit others or that could provide something helpful to the collective as a society. Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist who also studied evolutionary biology comprehensively. He uses his own clinical experiences and from his own empirical studies he draw conclusions; meaning he knows what he is talking about and he has statistical and scientific proofs about what he claims.
With my personal observation in the context where I’m in, I see the relevance of Peterson’s works and philosophies on many different social milieus of today. And as the culture of commercial globalization by the west continues to sweep through the sphere, sometimes ruthlessly and violently, it is unarguably safe to say that what is happening in this country (the Philippines) today, in the economic and socio-cultural sense, also happens to other parts of the planet especially in the developed world. With all the distractions through endless absurd entertainments and manufactured needs that are being bombarded to us by the custodians of the dominant system, through their lapdogs in the mass media industry, people have been so detached from their real purpose without a sense of direction and meaning in life. It seems that most people, especially from the millennial generations and beyond, are not interested to cooperate and contribute anymore for the greater good. Everyone has been blinded by narcissism and selfishness and has found their contentment only on intoxication, sports (basketball, skateboarding, surfing, etc.), and other kinds of mindless and egotistical self-gratification that’s why no one wants to take a social responsibility anymore.
Sports, passion, hobbies, arts, and other kinds of recreational activities are not necessarily bad. In fact, they are a vital component for our essence as a human being; for our mental and spiritual evolution in our lifetime. However, pursuing these things while also abandoning other important social duties is a very irresponsible way to live in a society. This is one of the reasons why our civilization is falling apart and our environment is rapidly deteriorating; leading us to the apocalyptic fate of our kind. As individuals we use money, we consume natural resources, we share the same energy for our machineries to run, we share the same environment, and most importantly, we benefit from the hard work of other people that is why it’s also important to contribute something to the society and to choose tasks that are essential and helpful in maintaining and improving our country and the world in general. Therefore without responsibility and without social worth, life is also dull and meaningless.
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Featured Photo: jordanbpeterson.com/blog-posts/thoughteconomics/
