People experience positive emotion in relationship to the pursuit of a valuable goal.

Imagine you have a goal. You aim at something. You develop a strategy in relationship to that aim, and then you implement it. And then, as you implement the strategy, you observe that it is working.

That is what produces the most reliable positive emotion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COyDy4GK03c/?igshid=97rxspz8i839

https://youtu.be/0Zld-MX11lA
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“I don’t think we live in an enlightened era, I think we live in an endangered era where what we think is enlightening us is in fact inducing misery.”

Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, author, thinker, and lecturer. He is maybe best known for his book "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World."

Dr Iain McGilchrist and I discussed a variety of topics relating to the bifurcated brain, how we process reality as human beings, and the downfalls of the views that have shaped western culture according to McGilchrist.

Here is a thought, a terrifying and dispiriting thought, to motivate improvement in your marriage— to scare you into the appalling difficulties of true negotiation. Every little problem you have every morning, afternoon, or evening with your spouse will be repeated for each of the fifteen thousand days that will make up a forty-year marriage. Every trivial but chronic disagreement about cooking, dishes, housecleaning, responsibility for finances, or frequency of intimate contact will be duplicated, over and over, unless you successfully address it. Perhaps you think (moment to moment, at least) that it is best to avoid confrontation and drift along in apparent but false peace. Make no mistake about it, however: you age as you drift, just as rapidly as you age as you strive. But you have no direction when you drift, and the probability that you will obtain what you need and want by drifting aimlessly is very low. Things fall apart of their own accord, but the sins of men speed their deterioration.

On one of my recent podcasts, I was asked, “How can people cope with the pain of Unreached potential?”.

Rewarding yourself for improving over who you were yesterday is a profound change because it means you get your reward structure transformed. And that’s a big deal because that’s your source of positive emotion, enthusiasm, and encouragement.

Instead of punishing yourself as a consequence of perceived distance from your goal, you reward yourself for incremental movement towards it.

It’s also, pragmatically, extremely intelligent because Incremental improvement repeated is virtually unstoppable.

People are often loath to figure out precisely where they are. They don’t want to know because they’d rather be spread out, in a half-blind manner - in the fog - hoping that the place that they’re at is better than it is, and deluding themselves by remaining vague; Rather than trying to figure out, “I’m right here, right now, with these specific problems”.

But it’s better to do that because If you have a set of specific problems and you narrow them down and specify them, then you can start fixing them, and you can start fixing them incrementally.

Slay the dragon in his lair before he comes to your village.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFFSKedy9f4
https://direct.me/jordanpeterson

“One of the key things I love about humanity is not just that we are dissatisfied with things that are wrong and can be improved but also with ourselves we are dissatisfied. Most of us want to be better.”

Cambridge graduate Stephen Fry is a highly educated polymath in combination with a truly charming personality. He is a noted TV, film, stage and voice-over actor, radio broadcaster, author (four novels and three volumes of autobiography), comedian (Fry and Laurie), quiz show host and guest, documentarist, political figure, journalist, poet, public intellectual, and Twitter phenomenon -- one of Great Britain's true national treasures, successful at everything he touches.

Mr Fry and I discuss, among other topics, atheism, religion, rationalism, empiricism, greek and Egyptian mythology,  resentment, cruelty, the necessity of bartering with reality and the psychological advantages of constitutional monarchy.

https://www.thinkspot.com/discourse/pzuXqr/post/jordan-peterson/beyond-order-bonus-essays-evidence-from-our-actions-for-the-existence-of-free-will/b6mtwx

"Evidence from our Actions for the Existence of Free Will?".

Another excerpt that did not make the final edit of "Beyond Order" is now available to read on Thinkspot. Click the link to read it.

Aim at something. Pick the best target you can currently conceptualize. Stumble towards it. Notice your errors and misconceptions along the way, face them, and correct them.

https://thinkspot.com/products/kbuA6w...

I recently answered questions that were submitted on the social media platform - https://www.thinkspot.com. We restarted the Q&A initiative in 2021, and this is my second Q&A of the year.

Thinkspot is still in beta, and would greatly appreciate your participation. These answers were also released early on Thinkspot, so if you want an earlier view of these Q&A's you can see them on Thinkspot a few days early. To view the Q&A's, you must register to Thinkspot.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ET7banSeN0

Audio: https://direct.me/jordanpeterson

“One of the things that is clear about the intellectual classes is that one of their greatest fears is the fear of being considered censorious, and the easiest way to avoid this is to avoid making judgements.”

Dr. Anthony Daniels and I discuss a variety of topics relating to distinct differences in culture and mindset in the poor “Underclass” in Britain. We examine many stories from Dr. Daniel's time as a consulting physician in a prison and hospital in one of the poorest areas of London and draw conclusions on similarities in violence, domestic abuse, learned helplessness, education, monogamy, the disintegration of the family, and more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPJRYIWhkY2/

What is it that you should value?

People say, "Well, being Happy". They don't mean that. If you decompose what people mean when they say they want to be happy, what it turns out people mean is they don't want to be miserable. They're way more concerned with avoiding suffering than they are with pursuing enthusiastic, positive emotion.

The statement, "I want to be Happy", is not an accurate reflection of what it is that you want.

People wonder why I engage in conflict. I hate conflict. I find it very stressful. But conflict delayed is conflict multiplied.

As the conflict is delayed the reasons multiply. And the persons who are involved demean themselves, get weaker, and less confident. There's a line in the New Testament where Christ talks about prayer:

"If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Resentment is horrible, toxic, and destructive but, it's useful. Resentment can be a gateway to improvement. Or, you can foster it, let it devour you and take you places that no one with a clear mind would want to go.

Resentment is the pathway to Hell, if not managed carefully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqIPO_1wXa4&t=2836s

I appeared as a guest on Lauren Chen's podcast that released on YouTube as of yesterday. In this interview we discuss religion, belief, God, intelligence, society's flaws, and how individuals can make a genuine change.

Watch it by clicking the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiLvPjeK1M&t=437s

My latest Q&A is now live. It was released early on ThinkSpot but is now available on YouTube. This is the second Q&A of 2021. Watch it via the link provided.

Why Comedians Can Insult Every Ethnic Group.

“When I talk about a certain group of people, I’m talking about it from their perspective, not my perspective. The way they read it as, “This guy actually understands us. We can’t be offended because he said something only we should know about ourselves, which means, he’s either an insider, or he’s really paid a lot of attention to us. One way or the other, they know it’s done as a tribute, as opposed to making fun of."

My daughter Mikhaila and I co-hosted a podcast that was recorded earlier in 2021. In this episode, we speak with Russell Peters, a Canadian comedian, actor, and producer. We explore many topics such as politically incorrect humour, stand up, acting, travel, working during the pandemic, universally funny truths, spontaneous action, the personality of a comedian, and more.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/xRGkr0LGZDA

Beyond Order - Bonus Essays: On Power—and Other Sources of Human Motivation.

Another book excerpt that was not published is now available to read on ThinkSpot. You can view it here:

https://thinkspot.com/discourse/32uMp2/post/jordan-peterson/beyond-order-bonus-essays-on-power-and-other-sources-of-human-motivation/b6mtwx?fbclid=IwAR2ueEKTRD68eissWFmfwM4xKqatiTzQhsifw3UoJY7Y4Je1wLVNREoDXdE

Why I Love Comedians.

Everyone knows you can fail in front of people, but when you don’t, everyone is happy. That makes live shows so dramatically exciting.

This clip is from a co-hosted podcast earlier in the year with Mikhaila and Russell Peters.

If you're interested in watching the full YouTube video, click the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRGkr0LGZDA&t=537s

I am taking questions on Thinkspot for my next Q&A to be released on June 2nd 2021. Compact questions are appreciated. I look forward to answering what I can. Please submit questions by the end of today.

https://thinkspot.com/online_content/jordan-peterson/recorded-q-a-submit-questions-by-may-25th/2ruW16/Event?live=yes&t=watch&re=y

My Relationship with the Media

"They want you to say, “I’m left,” or, “I’m right.” You’re like, “Listen, I’m neither. I’m watching both sides and making my own decisions.” That’s how I see you."

Another clip from my co-hosted podcast earlier in the year with Mikhaila.

Watch it in full here, if you haven't already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRGkr0LGZDA&t=537s

Audio: https://bit.ly/34oGUeE
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3bUlGcE

“If we want to help children in terms of their development and high-risk children; the best strategy is to give support to girls early on who have adjustment problems in the school system because they are the best predictors of boys who will have problems that we are talking about.”

I sat down with Richard Tremblay and we discussed his research in physical aggression and juvenile delinquency, what surprised him of his finding, risk factors that lead to aggressive behavior in adults, experimental interventions with mothers to decrease aggression in children, the biology of aggression, and more.

Another short clip from my talk with Richard Tremblay.

"We haven't measured everything, but most of the emotional behavioural problems that individuals have are likely to affect the next generation."

The full conversation can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vXVn8bK2wA&t=2187s