“Tell all the truth, but tell it slant”
Why I Made Coloring Books that Teach Psychology
Psychiatrist Milton Erickson, father of modern day hypnosis, cultivated creative approaches to communicating and, thereby, came up with innovative means of being therapeutically effective.
Case in point. A girl becomes fixated by the size of her feet. So consumed by her foot size, she becomes increasingly withdrawn. Her parents are concerned. Her mother consults Erickson, this in a case that goes back decades.
Erickson does not request a meeting with the girl. Instead, he architects a plan. Mother is to feign illness and take to her bed. Her daughter is to be her attendant for the day. The girl will open the door when Erickson visits, having come to examine and treat her mother.
Mother probably wondered how a house call could address her daughter’s preoccupation. Regardless, the plan went off without a hitch. Once Erickson examined the mother, resting in her bed, he took a step back and his foot landed squarely on that of the girl. She screamed! Erickson, shocked and with a now irritated countenance, muttered something like, “If you grew them big enough for a man to see…” Mother did not have signs of serious ailment, he relayed, then left in a huff.
Erickson followed up a couple of weeks later and learned that the girl’s ruminations had dropped off. She was adjusting her focus in a prosocial direction. Case closed.
In her classic poem, (the title of which you find above), Emily Dickinson notes:
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
Sometimes we need to relay truth mindfully, calibrating its expression, finding the right moment, the right way, the right words. After all, if Jordan Peterson had marched into his talks with a battle cry, “Clean your room!” would anyone have responded?
Indeed, Peterson is an exemplar of ‘telling the truth but telling it slant’. In his talks, he segues, here and there, deconstructs movies, tells rambling stories, relays kitchen table wisdom. Two and a half hours later, you wander over to the messy hall cupboard and start sorting the contents. How did that happen?
Erickson would surely approve of Peterson’s ‘here, there and everywhere’ approach, an approach which engages the analytic left brain and the right brain with its foothold on imagination. Peterson’s style has captivated many and there’s been many a life changed, as a result.
On the other hand, many have not accessed Peterson’s nuanced messages, deterred by long lectures and distracted by negative buzz which misrepresents his message. My response: to make a coloring book.
Why a Coloring Book?
Peterson’s materials, decidedly high resolution, are overkill for some pockets of the population. Given the media diet of quick soundbites designed to capture complex world situations in neat, easy encapsulations that require limited thought, good ideas, I will suggest, similarly need to be delivered in a low resolution format, as well.
Can we package some of Peterson’s nuggets, truth bombs that bring aspects of the human landscape into sharp focus, then use pictures to further elucidate ideas? Can we put out a resource that might interest teen girls, some of whom use coloring books to relax, thereby helping an important demographic access ideas that are not part of the school curriculum? Can we create ‘Peterson Light’, offering insights in a format that doesn’t require heavy lifting? A coloring book seemed the right modality, using visual representation of some of Peterson’s lucid insights.
Some might (rightly) fear that bite-size bits could barely do justice to Peterson’s opus of thought. In the coloring book, I include pages for journaling, inviting readers to follow up by watching Peterson’s YouTube channel and jotting down quotes that they would like to remember. In other words, this book is effectively the appetizer, inviting readers who linger to go to his books and videos for the main course.
Of course, the best response to my critics is that penned by Emily Dickinson, herself. I need to give her the last word on this. She writes:
“The Truth must dazzle gradually
or every man be blind.”
Through my Lobster University Press imprint I have been publishing works designed to make the ideas of Jordan Peterson more accessible. Two books have been specifically designed for teenagers: The Jordan Peterson Cheat Sheet: The Coloring Book That Can Change Your Life! and Finding One Self: A Teenager’s Guide to Jordan Peterson’s Worldview.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program wherein associates earn a small fee by linking to Amazon.com.
