Jordan Peterson vs. Your Appetite for ‘Instant Comprehension’:
How to Bridge the Gap?
In her book, Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher quips, “the problem with instant gratification is that it takes too long!” The cerebral equivalent of instant gratification, says Sarah Schneider, is a desire for instant comprehension. We want to fully comprehend, as long as that can be achieved, say, within the span of a New York minute.
Onto the world stage marches Dr. Jordan Peterson. Peterson’s lectures run 2.5 hours. An army of people have tuned in, bunkered down, joining him on his winding sojourns, deepened, inspired and informed by his content. Many, though, simply won’t wade through Peterson’s rich and complex narrative. Then they hear certain hot button issues and, propelled by cancel culture, shut down. No more discussion.
So, the question is, can short animations help? I’ve taken on the task of parsing out bite-size pieces of Peterson’s work and rendering these in a fun format. After all, window shoppers sometimes become customers, right? Seems worth a shot.
But why bother?
What’s on the line is not what people think, but how they think. Frank Zingrone, in his book The Media Symplex: At the Edge of Meaning in the Age of Chaos, reports that today’s media powerfully impacts contemporary thinking. He says: “as our instruments of communication become more and more complex, the messages they convey become increasingly simple.” The result is less thinking, then, even less doing.
Zingrone nails it: “we watch gourmet cooks prepare complex meals on TV while increasing our consumption of convenience foods. We become increasingly sedentary while accessing escalating amounts of mass sport.” The result, he suggests, is a pervasive paralysis, one that cripples public discourse. Peterson would probably agree.
So I say, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ‘em’. Can we bring the mountain to Mohammed, introducing snippets, one idea at a time. Can we inch people forward? Might they eventually take a step further and so ultimately mull over Peterson’s map in all its complexity? It’s worth a try.
The goal is public discourse, not winning converts.
Let me take that back. The goal: more robust and full-bodied thinking, richer comprehension. Can we rebuild the capacity to concentrate and think deeply? Think of Peterson’s marathon lectures as the latest in Ironman events. Can we get people to sign up?
The Chinese have a saying, roughly like this, “Want to move a mountain? To start, pick up the first pebble.” You’ll find three pebbles, below. More coming.
First video: Peterson’s understanding about the nature of reality:
Second video: Introducing Peterson’s concept of the Map of Meaning
Third video: The Map of Meaning helps us live, but it also potentially harbours corruptions:
Affiliate links provide bibliographic details.
