I have compassion for his sense of cause, but I am nauseated by his sanctimonious performative self-celebrating brand of leadership that isn’t leadership.
Still, I don’t blame him. Like Trump or Musk or Tate, they are symptoms of our state of uninitiated immaturity and delinquence as a society.
The fact of him, not his literal message, is a canary in the coal mine of our existential crisis. That such an effete preening man child should be the leading spokesman and household name associated with masculinity and masculine leadership is more an indictment of our immaturity, not only his.
Friend, be careful of assuming ANYONE throughout the whole history of humanity had stalwart character and “perfectly” chosen actions to match whatever intellectual wisdom their words or deeds may have had. We live “now,” not “then.” It’s a long learning curve for us all. There never was any “golden age” that will fit today with what (we think!) we know. And the physical means to deliver what us going on is as suspect as ever. No negativity reflected to your thoughts. The “emperors” (and empresses to be) have never had any clothes.
I’ve followed Peterson starting just after this crisis. Went back and watched old lectures. Read three of his 4 books. I’ve heard him say enough to ascertain where he really is. And your take on it is correct. The question I used to ask was why.
I firmly believe the why is that he genuinely believes he is not worthy of very much. He thinks there is no way an ineffable creator could even know who he is, much less care for him and love him in spite of his failures. I’ve heard him say such. And when the DW mask comes off, he’s so humble he can’t accept any goodness. This stops him in his tracks from “experiencing the profits” of his own words.
Seems like JP stepped up to be a leader, an inspirator. I never heard an entire lecture, never read his books, but I thought him a man of his time, our time. And his collapse does not, in my opinion, negate anything he has said. The truth is the truth. Reading some of the comments on here, I'm disappointed in my fellow men. When the flag bearer gets cut down, we must retrieve the flag and push on. Who among is is not prone to weakness?
I'm 76 and should know by this time what a man is. I think I do, but maybe I don't. I know a man is hot and cold, brave and cowardly (at times), good and bad, right and wrong, weak and strong. A man is just a man. Seems like some men want their leaders to be gods.
There is one God and there are many men.
God bless Jordan Peterson! And may us men continue pushing forward...
Your words hold much truth. Most people want “the abridged version” of enlightenment; less hard work. We (humans) repeat ourselves as ages change: still frail humans.
Brilliant reflection. If you've watched a brilliant mind like Peterson's buckle under the weight we placed on his shoulders, you've witnessed something Scripture warns us about repeatedly: the danger of making mere mortals our ultimate guides.
Isaiah 2:22 cuts straight to the heart: "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" Not because humans lack value, but because they lack the divine durability we desperately want them to have.
Peterson's story reveals the exact problem Matthew 11:28-30 was designed to solve. Peterson offered brilliant analysis of life's burdens, but Jesus offers something fundamentally different: "Take my yoke upon you... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
The beautiful paradox? Christ's yoke is lighter precisely because it's designed by someone who can actually bear the ultimate weight. Peterson, for all his gifts, was carrying intellectual and emotional loads that were never meant for human shoulders alone.
Your point about moving from analysis to embodied practice resonates deeply. Peterson helped many of us rediscover the questions, but the biblical answer has always been the same: we need a Leader whose strength doesn't depend on perfect sleep schedules, optimal diets, or freedom from family crises.
The communities you're building sound like they understand what Peterson's brilliance couldn't provide: transformation happens in relationship, not just revelation. Thanks for the honest, hopeful reflection.
What a charitable and well thought out piece. You nailed it. So many of the great mystery religions promise salvation through knowledge, but this is the antithesis of the Gospel. We have to be transformed within community under the authority of those who’ve been running the race much longer than us. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I've noticed a trend with people commenting on Jordan recently. They often start with "Jordan helped me a lot and I will be always grateful to him for that...". What follows next is harsh criticisms of the like that you presented here.
I think being grateful to someone goes contrary to public criticisms.
For me, this is even more contradictory if one views another man as a father figure. "Covering your father's nakedness" from the story of Noah is what comes to mind here, as well as the 5th commandment of "Honor your father and your mother" later on.
Man is not made to live alone, intellectually and physically. Man must submit to a tradition which grounds him in the Truth. Both of which require humility—a total acknowledgement that we cannot be a god.
Balanced read, thank you. His crash was predictable based on "work strain" theory of Karasek and Theorell. He faced a combination of 1. high demands with 2. low social support, the latter exacerbated by his wife's illness and remarkable recovery, the only things that sustained him were his 3. decision latitude and sense of purpose. I would add, that unlike most people who risk burnout from overwork he faced relentless attacks at every level, personal and professional from the left, his professional association, academics, the mainstream media, feminists and they came after his daughter and even claimed his wife's cancer was a hoax, etc etc. If you want to know why he was attacked, look who he was speaking to, men. They hate Peterson, they hate men, masculinity and anything that sustains us or helps us become better men. All of us have chinks in our armour, Peterson's mistake was to trust doctors with his mental health, a staggeringly ignorant fail, don't we all know by now that pill pushers haven't got answers and will take our money whilst poisoning us. The first thing all men have to do to develop themselves is get clean, sober, straight-edge, get rid of weed, booze, pills and the rest of their brain (and dick) shrivelling pharmacopeia.
It happened in one way or another to several counter cultural figures who emerged in that time. Stefan Molyneux lost his YT channel and just gave up. His Wikipedia page remains slanderous.
This is very fair summary of his journey in my opinion. Love him or hate him, he helped a lot of lost souls start to take responsibility for the direction of their lives. At scale. An exceedingly small portion of his critics can say the same thing. And what's wrong with trying to give struggling people some tools anyway?
But as you point out, self knowledge by itself is rarely enough to effect lasting change in the human psyche.
This piece reached me just as the right time - I'm preparing my own piece on Peterson's downfall (working title: A Fallen Angel) and you highlight well why the impact of his past work on lost men makes his health (and otherwise) decline more painful to experience. I'll be sure to point my readers your way - thank you!
Eh... we would tend to expect people be up to the standards they proffess ... seems JP had a dark side with the benzo. I would take the opposite approach - the one showing that he indeed adressed the issue
seems there were "two roads" since we learned about his benzo dependance; "the easy road", demonizing him and pointing the finger at him in a negative way. "Look he fooled me".
The second option would be than to acknowledge that he acknowledge (sorry!) his flaw, and that he adressed it, "like a man"
eh why not? Of course, he has gone to benzo, he told nobody etc some easy road etc etc
but I believe there is a lack of recognition of his efforts. Some baby with the bathwater phenomenon - because if he's a normal person it's only when he will be dead that he will objectively stop representing a potential positive catalyst
of course, some of his statements are not perfect, too, and this tends to aggravate what I believe is an unjust & delusional condemnation
Thank you for your article! It expresses something deep in term of spirituality. I do believe that JP indeed cared for the people and that his teachings were valuable. We may be tempted to discard those because of post-activities but I don't think it invalidates the initial things!
Can’t say I love JP. I read 12 Rules for Life at my brother’s recommendation, but it did not resonate. So much of it seemed like motivated reasoning, tortured scientific interpretations that stretched the truth and so forth. I did in some cases agree with the conclusions and gist, however. And I agree wholeheartedly with the lack of meaning in our modern societies and a need to find it. I agree male roles and expectations have changed dramatically over my lifetime and it is confusing and difficult to navigate.
I guess part of what turns me off on JP is that he is a culture warrior for the right, and I’m on the left and just hate the culture war BS.
I think there’s a healthier figure in a similar space: Joseph Campbell. Campbell pioneered the field of comparative mythology and was active from the 40s thru the 80s, most famous for his work The Hero with 1000 Faces and his concept of the Hero’s Journey.
Campbell lamented the lack of unifying mythology in the modern world and his work inspired the most famous of unifying modern mythologies, Star Wars. He passed years ago, so he can’t comment on every new item today.
Please check out his work on Youtube — there is a PBS special from the 80s with Bill Moyer that is absolutely mind blowing. If as many latch on to Campbell’s ideas as they did JP, we’d get far more spiritual growth and evolution, far less revanchist grumbling imo
He’s not the worst egg.
I have compassion for his sense of cause, but I am nauseated by his sanctimonious performative self-celebrating brand of leadership that isn’t leadership.
Still, I don’t blame him. Like Trump or Musk or Tate, they are symptoms of our state of uninitiated immaturity and delinquence as a society.
The fact of him, not his literal message, is a canary in the coal mine of our existential crisis. That such an effete preening man child should be the leading spokesman and household name associated with masculinity and masculine leadership is more an indictment of our immaturity, not only his.
Friend, be careful of assuming ANYONE throughout the whole history of humanity had stalwart character and “perfectly” chosen actions to match whatever intellectual wisdom their words or deeds may have had. We live “now,” not “then.” It’s a long learning curve for us all. There never was any “golden age” that will fit today with what (we think!) we know. And the physical means to deliver what us going on is as suspect as ever. No negativity reflected to your thoughts. The “emperors” (and empresses to be) have never had any clothes.
Is L. Paul Bremer III related to Tammy Peterson? I was looking at their photos and they look alike.
I’ve followed Peterson starting just after this crisis. Went back and watched old lectures. Read three of his 4 books. I’ve heard him say enough to ascertain where he really is. And your take on it is correct. The question I used to ask was why.
I firmly believe the why is that he genuinely believes he is not worthy of very much. He thinks there is no way an ineffable creator could even know who he is, much less care for him and love him in spite of his failures. I’ve heard him say such. And when the DW mask comes off, he’s so humble he can’t accept any goodness. This stops him in his tracks from “experiencing the profits” of his own words.
I think you’re on to something here. Good take.
Seems like JP stepped up to be a leader, an inspirator. I never heard an entire lecture, never read his books, but I thought him a man of his time, our time. And his collapse does not, in my opinion, negate anything he has said. The truth is the truth. Reading some of the comments on here, I'm disappointed in my fellow men. When the flag bearer gets cut down, we must retrieve the flag and push on. Who among is is not prone to weakness?
I'm 76 and should know by this time what a man is. I think I do, but maybe I don't. I know a man is hot and cold, brave and cowardly (at times), good and bad, right and wrong, weak and strong. A man is just a man. Seems like some men want their leaders to be gods.
There is one God and there are many men.
God bless Jordan Peterson! And may us men continue pushing forward...
Your words hold much truth. Most people want “the abridged version” of enlightenment; less hard work. We (humans) repeat ourselves as ages change: still frail humans.
Well articulated! I've felt close to exactly the same. I hope he takes some rest or changes his scope soon.
Brilliant reflection. If you've watched a brilliant mind like Peterson's buckle under the weight we placed on his shoulders, you've witnessed something Scripture warns us about repeatedly: the danger of making mere mortals our ultimate guides.
Isaiah 2:22 cuts straight to the heart: "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" Not because humans lack value, but because they lack the divine durability we desperately want them to have.
Peterson's story reveals the exact problem Matthew 11:28-30 was designed to solve. Peterson offered brilliant analysis of life's burdens, but Jesus offers something fundamentally different: "Take my yoke upon you... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
The beautiful paradox? Christ's yoke is lighter precisely because it's designed by someone who can actually bear the ultimate weight. Peterson, for all his gifts, was carrying intellectual and emotional loads that were never meant for human shoulders alone.
Your point about moving from analysis to embodied practice resonates deeply. Peterson helped many of us rediscover the questions, but the biblical answer has always been the same: we need a Leader whose strength doesn't depend on perfect sleep schedules, optimal diets, or freedom from family crises.
The communities you're building sound like they understand what Peterson's brilliance couldn't provide: transformation happens in relationship, not just revelation. Thanks for the honest, hopeful reflection.
What a charitable and well thought out piece. You nailed it. So many of the great mystery religions promise salvation through knowledge, but this is the antithesis of the Gospel. We have to be transformed within community under the authority of those who’ve been running the race much longer than us. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I've noticed a trend with people commenting on Jordan recently. They often start with "Jordan helped me a lot and I will be always grateful to him for that...". What follows next is harsh criticisms of the like that you presented here.
I think being grateful to someone goes contrary to public criticisms.
For me, this is even more contradictory if one views another man as a father figure. "Covering your father's nakedness" from the story of Noah is what comes to mind here, as well as the 5th commandment of "Honor your father and your mother" later on.
Good point and thanks for the feedback. I took this up in the chat for my channel - perhaps you are on to something here.
L. Paul Bemer III and Tammy Peterson look awfully alike. Almost like family.
Man is not made to live alone, intellectually and physically. Man must submit to a tradition which grounds him in the Truth. Both of which require humility—a total acknowledgement that we cannot be a god.
Balanced read, thank you. His crash was predictable based on "work strain" theory of Karasek and Theorell. He faced a combination of 1. high demands with 2. low social support, the latter exacerbated by his wife's illness and remarkable recovery, the only things that sustained him were his 3. decision latitude and sense of purpose. I would add, that unlike most people who risk burnout from overwork he faced relentless attacks at every level, personal and professional from the left, his professional association, academics, the mainstream media, feminists and they came after his daughter and even claimed his wife's cancer was a hoax, etc etc. If you want to know why he was attacked, look who he was speaking to, men. They hate Peterson, they hate men, masculinity and anything that sustains us or helps us become better men. All of us have chinks in our armour, Peterson's mistake was to trust doctors with his mental health, a staggeringly ignorant fail, don't we all know by now that pill pushers haven't got answers and will take our money whilst poisoning us. The first thing all men have to do to develop themselves is get clean, sober, straight-edge, get rid of weed, booze, pills and the rest of their brain (and dick) shrivelling pharmacopeia.
It happened in one way or another to several counter cultural figures who emerged in that time. Stefan Molyneux lost his YT channel and just gave up. His Wikipedia page remains slanderous.
This is very fair summary of his journey in my opinion. Love him or hate him, he helped a lot of lost souls start to take responsibility for the direction of their lives. At scale. An exceedingly small portion of his critics can say the same thing. And what's wrong with trying to give struggling people some tools anyway?
But as you point out, self knowledge by itself is rarely enough to effect lasting change in the human psyche.
This piece reached me just as the right time - I'm preparing my own piece on Peterson's downfall (working title: A Fallen Angel) and you highlight well why the impact of his past work on lost men makes his health (and otherwise) decline more painful to experience. I'll be sure to point my readers your way - thank you!
Thanks for a fair and sympathetic overview.
Great choice of topic and extremely well written. Kind and respectful to the subject which this reader really appreciates.
Eh... we would tend to expect people be up to the standards they proffess ... seems JP had a dark side with the benzo. I would take the opposite approach - the one showing that he indeed adressed the issue
seems there were "two roads" since we learned about his benzo dependance; "the easy road", demonizing him and pointing the finger at him in a negative way. "Look he fooled me".
The second option would be than to acknowledge that he acknowledge (sorry!) his flaw, and that he adressed it, "like a man"
eh why not? Of course, he has gone to benzo, he told nobody etc some easy road etc etc
but I believe there is a lack of recognition of his efforts. Some baby with the bathwater phenomenon - because if he's a normal person it's only when he will be dead that he will objectively stop representing a potential positive catalyst
of course, some of his statements are not perfect, too, and this tends to aggravate what I believe is an unjust & delusional condemnation
Thank you for your article! It expresses something deep in term of spirituality. I do believe that JP indeed cared for the people and that his teachings were valuable. We may be tempted to discard those because of post-activities but I don't think it invalidates the initial things!
Nicely put, but why stop at 2020? Surely there's just as much to learn from Peterson's recovery since then?
Good question. This is a passage from a book. So more is coming.
Can’t say I love JP. I read 12 Rules for Life at my brother’s recommendation, but it did not resonate. So much of it seemed like motivated reasoning, tortured scientific interpretations that stretched the truth and so forth. I did in some cases agree with the conclusions and gist, however. And I agree wholeheartedly with the lack of meaning in our modern societies and a need to find it. I agree male roles and expectations have changed dramatically over my lifetime and it is confusing and difficult to navigate.
I guess part of what turns me off on JP is that he is a culture warrior for the right, and I’m on the left and just hate the culture war BS.
I think there’s a healthier figure in a similar space: Joseph Campbell. Campbell pioneered the field of comparative mythology and was active from the 40s thru the 80s, most famous for his work The Hero with 1000 Faces and his concept of the Hero’s Journey.
Campbell lamented the lack of unifying mythology in the modern world and his work inspired the most famous of unifying modern mythologies, Star Wars. He passed years ago, so he can’t comment on every new item today.
Please check out his work on Youtube — there is a PBS special from the 80s with Bill Moyer that is absolutely mind blowing. If as many latch on to Campbell’s ideas as they did JP, we’d get far more spiritual growth and evolution, far less revanchist grumbling imo
Never heard of Joseph Campbell but I for one will be looking him up. Thanks 👍