Maps of Meaning, Lesson 2: Confront Life’s Challenges

Lesson #2 – Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson: Emergence of “Revolutionary Novelty” in the Course of Goal-Directed Behavior

Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning, I believe, is one of the most worthwhile and necessary books ever written. Though it is not the book’s explicit aim, Maps of Meaning is the best description of the behavioral process of the archetypal hero which has ever been written.

The book begins:

“The world can be validly construed as a forum for action, or as place of things.”

In the practicalities of living, we are only genuinely concerned with the world as “forum for action.” We are most concerned with how to best act in the world with the time we are given. Therefore, a study of the hero’s journey (as it relates to our daily experience) is most profitable.

Consider the following image, presented last week, which is the singular unit of story (and the narrative we constantly live in):

We are always living within this model, but life is not so clear cut. On the way to our Ideal Future, we encounter novelty, which is to say, on the way to our goal we experience something unexpected which makes us re-assess ourselves, our goal, and the pathway to its attainment.

That novelty can be either a tool which aids our journey toward our goal or an obstacle which impedes such movement. This ambivalence is portrayed with the following image:

I am most concerned with how we respond to threat, as that is the essence of the hero’s journey. It is what we do when we encounter what we did not expect – when we encounter RESISTANCE – which determines who we become and the life we create.

It is the experience of an obstacle to the desired future which forces us to re-evaluate the path, and if the goal remains worth pursing, to double down on the goal, finding alternative means of getting there.

Through the lens of the world as a forum for action, the world is broken down into 3 parts: the known (explored territory), the unknown (unexplored territory), and the divine individual (you, the process which mediates the two).

When we encounter threat along our path, we are thrust back into the unknown, and must engage in creative exploratory behavior to make that unknown known, to integrate the information from this novel experience, and continue on our trajectory better equipped from our confrontation with novelty.

This is portrayed (albeit, most likely confusingly) here:

Summary:

We are goal-directed creatures, always aiming up toward a better life, and in that pursuit, we will encounter obstacles which impede that goal. It is in this moment when we must embody the behavioral process of the hero – voluntarily engaging in creative exploratory behavior with the unknown to become more informed and more capable of achieving our goal.

The hero is the one who seeks the benevolent aspect of this unknown encounter.

This unknown is an inevitable aspect of the human experience, as certain as death and taxes. We must become someone capable of repeatedly confronting that unknown in the most productive way. When we do, our lives and the lives of those around us improve.

Next week, we shall discuss how this is done consistently and effectively!

For a lengthy-discussion on this process of pursuing goals, check out this episode of my new podcast, ALL GOOD THINGS.

For more accessible reading on how this process relates to your life and Jiu Jitsu, check out my book “Hero”.