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Maps of Meaning
Title: Maps of Meaning Author: Jordan B. Peterson Published: New York: Routledge, 1999 This book has deepened my perception of myths, archetypes, dreams, and ultimately how I understand myself and those around me. It presented a new perspective on how I look at fear and the unknown. Peterson presents his book as a process of discovery. Through personal revelations, thoughts, dreams, and even a letter to his Dad, he takes us on a journey of discovery. “Our most fundamental maps of meaning – maps which have a narrative structure – portray the motivational value of our current state, conceived of in contrast to a hypothetical ideal, accompanied by plans of action, which are our pragmatic notions about how to get what we want.”[1] We have where we are, where we want to go, and how we plan to get there. Whether we realize it or not we have maps that we use every day. The comfortable map of what we know versus that which is not on our map, the unknown. This unknown is the chaos that surrounds us. Fear is not conditioned; security is unlearned, in the presence of particular things or contexts, as a consequence of violation of…
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Courage is facing your fears
When most people think of someone who is courageous, they think of firefighters, soldiers, and other people facing extreme danger. But courage also applies to the agoraphobe who manages to go out into public or the person afraid of spiders who must enter a shed “full” of spiders to get the lawnmower out. Fear can be a rational or irrational. Many people think that something that they themselves are not afraid of should not be scary to anyone. Nearly everyone goes out in public almost every day. Whether it’s to get groceries or go to work. They think nothing of it. But what about the woman down the street who was ‘mugged’ while at the city park. Then after recovering from her injuries, was ‘assaulted’ on her way to work. A second stroke of bad luck hits her before she had fully recovered from the first. Admittedly this is an extreme case, not something that commonly occurs, but a true event. Could you blame her for being afraid of people in general, or men who looked like her attackers in specific? And if she’s afraid of people, how could she bring herself to go to a grocery store or work.…
