Jordan B. Peterson - Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief

MAPS OF MEANING

MAPS OF MEANING

The Architecture of Belief

JORDAN B. PETERSON

ROUTLEDGE
New York and London

Published in 1999 by
Routledge
29 West 35th St.
New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE

Copyright 1999 by Routledge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.

Peterson, Jordan B.

Maps of meaning: the architecture of belief/Jordan B.Peterson.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-92221-6 (hardcover).ISBN 0-415-92222-4 (pbk.)
1. Archetype (Psychology) 2. Meaning (Psychology) I. Title.
BF175.5.A72P48 1999
150.1-dc21 98-37486
CIP

ISBN 0-203-90285-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-90286-6 (OEB Format)
ISBN 0-415-92221-6 (Print Edition)

CONTENTS

FIGURES

The Domain and Constituent Elements of the Known

The Metamythological Cycle of the Way

Normal Life

Revolutionary Adaptation

The Ambivalent Nature of Novelty

Emergence of Normal Novelty in the Course of Goal-Directed Behavior

Emergence of Revolutionary Novelty in the Course of Goal-Directed Behavior

The Motor and Sensory Units of the Brain

The Regeneration of Stability from the Domain of Chaos

The Motor Homunculus

The Twin Cerebral Hemispheres and Their Functions

The Multiple Structure of Memory

Abstraction of Wisdom, and the Relationship of Such Abstraction to Memory

Conceptual Transformation of the Means/Ends Relationship from Static to Dynamic

Bounded Revolution

Nested Stories, Processes of Generation, and Multiple Memory Systems

The Constituent Elements of Experience

The Positive Constituent Elements of Experience, Personified

The Birth of the World of Gods

The Death of Apsu, and the (Re)Emergence of Tiamat as Threat

World of Gods: Hierarchical Organization

The Enuma elish in Schematic Representation

The Battle Between Osiris and Seth in the Domain of Order

The Involuntary Descent and Disintegration of Osiris

The Birth and Return of Horus, Divine Son of Order and Chaos

Voluntary Encounter with the Underworld

Ascent, and Reintegration of the Father

The Constituent Elements of Experience as Personality, Territory and Process

The UroborosPrecosmogonic Dragon of Chaos

The Birth of the World Parents

The Constituent Elements of the World, in Dynamic Relationship

Novelty, the Great Mother, as Daughter of the Uroboros

The Spontaneous Personification of Unexplored Territory

Unexplored Territory as Destructive Mother

Unexplored Territory as Creative Mother

The Heavenly Genealogy of the Destructive and Creative Mothers

The Exploratory Hero as Son of the Heavenly Mother

The Metamythology of the Way, Revisited

Castle, Hero, Serpent and Virgin: St. George and the Dragon

The Process of Exploration and Update, as the Meta-Goal of Existence

Order, the Great Father, as Son of the Uroboros

Explored Territory as Orderly, Protective Father

Explored Territory as Tyrannical Father

The Heavenly Genealogy of the Tyrannical and Protective Fathers

The Exploratory Hero as Son of the Great Father

The Death and Rebirth of the Adolescent Initiate

The Paradigmatic Structure of the Known

The Known: Nested Groups and Individuals

The Fragmentary Representation of Procedure and Custom in Image and Word

The Dual Death of the Revolutionary Hero

The Crucified Redeemer as Dragon of Chaos and Transformation

The Socially Destructive and Redemptive Journey of the Revolutionary Hero

The (Voluntary) Descent of the Buddha

The World-Tree as Bridge Between Heaven and Hell

The World-Tree and the Constituent Elements of Experience

Genesis and Descent

The Devil as Aerial Spirit and Ungodly Intellect

The Vicious Circle of the Adversary

The Constituent Elements of Existence, Reprise

The Emergence of Christ from Group Identity and Chaos

World-Tree of Death and Redemption

The Alchemical Opus as Normal Story

The Alchemical Opus as Revolutionary Story

The Wolf as Prima Materia, Devouring the Dead King

Dragon of Chaos as Birthplace of Christ and the Lapis

The Alchemical Opus as Myth of Redemption

The Restitution of [Christ] the Mystic Apple to the Tree of Knowledge

The Eternal Return of the Boddhisatva

I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

(Matthew 13:35)

Preface
DESCENSUS AD INFEROS

Something we cannot see protects us from something we do not understand. The thing we cannot see is culture, in its intrapsychic or internal manifestation. The thing we do not understand is the chaos that gave rise to culture. If the structure of culture is disrupted, unwittingly, chaos returns. We will do anything-anything-to defend ourselves against that return.

The very fact that a general problem has gripped and assimilated the whole of a person is a guarantee that the speaker has really experienced it, and perhaps gained something from his sufferings. He will then reflect the problem for us in his personal life and thereby show us a truth.

I was raised under the protective auspices, so to speak, of the Christian church. This does not mean that my family was explicitly religious. I attended conservative Protestant services during childhood with my mother, but she was not a dogmatic or authoritarian believer, and we never discussed religious issues at home. My father appeared essentially agnostic, at least in the traditional sense. He refused to even set foot in a church, except during weddings and funerals. Nonetheless, the historical remnants of Christian morality permeated our household, conditioning our expectations and interpersonal responses, in the most intimate of manners. When I grew up, after all, most people still attended church; furthermore, all the rules and expectations that made up middle-class society were Judeo-Christian in nature. Even the increasing number of those who could not tolerate formal ritual and belief still implicitly acceptedstill acted outthe rules that made up the Christian game.

When I was twelve or so my mother enrolled me in confirmation classes, which served as introduction to adult membership in the church. I did not like attending. I did not like the attitude of my overtly religious classmates (who were few in number) and did not desire their lack of social standing. I did not like the school-like atmosphere of the confirmation classes. More importantly, however, I could not swallow what I was being taught. I asked the minister, at one point, how he reconciled the story of Genesis with the creation theories of modern science. He had not undertaken such a reconciliation; furthermore, he seemed more convinced, in his heart, of the evolutionary viewpoint. I was looking for an excuse to leave, anyway, and that was the last straw. Religion was for the ignorant, weak and superstitious. I stopped attending church and joined the modern world.

Although I had grown up in a Christian environmentand had a successful and happy childhood, in at least partial consequenceI was more than willing to throw aside the structure that had fostered me. No one really opposed my rebellious efforts, either, in church or at homein part because those who were deeply religious (or who might have wanted to be) had no intellectually acceptable counter-arguments at their disposal. After all, many of the basic tenets of Christian belief were incomprehensible, if not clearly absurd. The virgin birth was an impossibility; likewise, the notion that someone could rise from the dead.