A Jew, a Muslim and Jordan Peterson Walk into a Bar . . .
Interviewing Muslims about their successes using the ideas of Psychologist Jordan Peterson has been an adventure! This ‘daughter of Abraham’ is meeting mishpacha — extended family of sorts — those in Egypt, the Sudan, Bangladesh, Jordan and more. The process continues but one take away emerges.
The stories, of course, vary. Da’ud used Peterson’s ideas to develop his worldview and gain self-insight. Sikander found Peterson helped him to navigate his fundamentalist culture and helped him find a liberal posture regarding faith and . . . everything else. Omar, long concerned about severities in his culture, feels Peterson has given him an understanding of what flaws must be addressed. The people I speak to footnote the importance of Western wisdom, its capacity to modernize the Muslim world.
Asif Niazi reflects,
“We live in the 21st century and we are trying to use practices that date back to the seventh century while losing the principles that guide them.”
He has taken up writing and advocacy, that is, when he’s not working in humanitarian assistance in countries around the world. His book, Islam in the 21st Century: Principles and Practices, argues:
“the essential elements of a Muslim’s faith should include respect for science, equality in gender, and tolerance toward other beliefs.”
For Asif, concerns about his community are not, merely, academic. With passing time, family and friends get galvanized by fundamentalism. He tells me that this is a trend in his community. He is concerned. He believes Muslims need to live and apply their religion without falling into extremism; also, that Jordan Peterson can help promote this outcome. He tracks Peterson’s conversations with Muslim scholars.
What’s my take away as I muddle through my project?
In Jane Wagner’s play, The Search for Intelligent Life in This Universe, Lily Tomlin plays a psychotic bag lady who is taking extraterrestrials on a tour of the universe. At one point, the Martians tell Trudy they want to shop for souvenirs. Trudy tells us,
“. . . we went to some shops around Broadway, and frankly, I was embarrassed for my species. Everything was in such bad taste. But they understand. They said,’ Earth is a planet still in its puberty.’ In fact, from their planet, Earth looks like it has pimples.”
Trudy nailed it. Humanity, as a whole, is negotiating adolescence:
⦁ Either rebelling against traditional religions or falling into extremism, hook, nail and sinker.
⦁ Minting new words, new language, new jargon, like we did in high school.
⦁ Struggling with identities and rejecting classic concepts of . . . everything.
⦁ Electing ‘teenagers’ into government.
⦁ Railing about the need to change the world while having bedrooms that are, indeed, quite messy.
⦁ And more.
And then Jordan Peterson comes along, providing a reasoned framework which some will come to adopt as their own.
A Jew, a Muslim and Jordan Peterson walk into a bar. Not that kind of bar! Jordan Peterson is leading young men to . . . Bar Mitzvah!
A myriad of fellows are coming-of-age, taking responsibility, tooling up, leaving victim mentality behind. On my end, I want to bring forward the voices of young Muslims rooting for change. I will coach them. They will write and publish materials that introduce principles of Western psychology to their compatriots.
We will pray for success. What would that look like? The same thing it looks like whenever Jordan Peterson’s teachings hit home: a resounding chorus of the refrain we most need to hear in this day and age:
“Today I am a man.”
