Pet A Cat - Final Review of 12 Rules for Life

12 Rules for Life: an antidote for chaos

This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking time each day to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord as well. I encourage the use of a devotional, a scripture reading and prayer, then finally some form of artistic mark or photo to tie it all together. 

Today's devotional is taken from: Peterson, Jordan B. 12 Rules for Life: an antidote to chaos. Great Britain: Penguin Random House, 2018. Rule 12: Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street, pp. 335-345

Opening Thought:  I’m going to attempt to cover all of the final rule for life in this one post. I have two reasons for this. First, this last rule is succinct – although it covers one of the most significant topics in human history, the problem of evil. Second, this is my last week of work before vacation, so it would be pleasing to my spirit to have this book review completed. Though I must say, I have thoroughly enjoyed reviewing Peterson’s work.

So here goes my attempt to reflect on the whole of rule 12.

This chapter was returning to the traditional problem of evil. This philosophical contention which struggles with evil being present if God exists drives many people to assume God does not exist at all. This is unfortunate, to say the least, because it means we assume that the “easiest” answer is the correct one. But that “easy” answer is riddled with flaws and contradictions. One being you cannot claim something is evil or immoral without an eternal standard to hold it accountable to (i.e., God). Atheism is not so much an easy answer, as an easy way out of thinking. To be a theist, in the Christian sense at least, you must wrestle with what seems to be contradictory statements of both evil and God existing in one reality. But the question remains, how can a good and all-powerful God allow bad things to happen, and evil to persist?

Peterson tackles this issue by taking a very common and over-used approach, (I said this not to diminish his remarks, but to note that they can be found in a variety of outlets in society), where he finds appreciation for the limitation of humanity, which ultimately enables evil and suffering to affect us. Peterson illustrates this point by remembering his son when he was a toddler, and how vulnerable toddlers (or any child really) can be. Toddlers can easily hurt themselves in their exploration, they can be hurt by outside forces as they have little to no defensive abilities, and they can get sick and often do regularly. Peterson as a parent wishfully thought that it would be nice to remove all his sons’ vulnerabilities, make his son, bigger, stronger, impervious to pain, etc. At the end of Peterson’s train of thought, his son was no longer his son, he had transformed him into something robotic, void of the human experience, and no longer a cute and adorable toddler.

There is something to the vulnerable nature we must endure that makes the human experience. It doesn’t mean we do not endeavor to protect ourselves both now and in the future from incidence that may take advantage of our vulnerable natures, but at the same time if we were impervious, if there was no struggle, no growth, no heartache, there would also be no reward, no joy, no hope, no contentment. We might as well not exist at all.

I remember as a child I would love to find ways to “cheat” in video games. Not against any other people, but I like to find glitches in the coding of the game I could take advantage of. I remember one game; I was told a way you could make yourself invincible by making potions in a game in a particular sequence. The game designers never intended for this to happen in the game, it was an unforeseen bug. Regardless, I took advantage of this little glitch, and soon I was a walking god in the game. Nothing could strike me down, and I could tear through my digital enemies like a hot knife through butter. It was fun for about 10 minutes. Then I missed the challenge of being vulnerable. There was no victory in the cheat, there was no accomplishment in overcoming struggle. It was just me wasting time.

This reality of vulnerability is the “human” experience. It is an experience that is unique to creation. Peterson takes this idea of human limitation to the level of philosophical theology when he references an unnamed commentary on the Torah, saying, “Imagine a Being who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. What does such a Being lack? The answer? Limitation.”

Opening Prayer: Lord, we give you thanks for people like Jordan Peterson, people who have looked at the complexity of life and dedicated themselves to unraveling the mystery which is its foundation. You, LORD, are the foundation of all that is and will ever be, so we too adopt this endeavor to know and understand, giving us the strength to dive ever further into our faith. Amen.

Scripture: Jeremiah 23:24 “Can a man hid himself in hiding places, so I do not see him? declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

Reflection: So, life is hard, difficult, painful, and it ends. These are truths we cannot escape, but what we can do is decide not to let them win over us. We can decide that in spite of all these difficulties we will endure, thrive, accomplish, and hope.

One of the natures of evil is that evil serves "nothingness". The reason for this, all things come from God, even the things we often perceive as evil. Evil is good things perverted from their natural order. Love perverts into obsession, justice perverts to rage and anger, and caution perverts to irrational prejudice. The wines of celebration can be a drunkard’s vice. The spirit which becomes evil knows that all that corrupts once sprang forth from the creator of all that is good, thus “nothingness” becomes the idea' of the corrupt spirit, nihilism. Peterson shares the Devil’s credo from Faust Part II.

Gone, to sheer Nothing, past with null made one?
What matters our creative endless toil,
When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?
“it is by-gone” – How shall this riddle run?
As good as if things never had begun,
Yet circle back, existence to possess:
I’d rather have Eternal Emptiness.

If those words seem enticing to you, beware the darkness that may lie in your heart. In Rule 6 Peterson spoke about the nature of mass shooters, how a twisted sense of Justice causes the shooters to convict people/ society as so irredeemable the only solution is to eradicate the populous, including themselves. This idea of nihilistic worship is the backdrop of anxiety and depression, it is the stuff of nightmares and the escape of opioids. It lingers like a predator waiting to strike your vulnerable nature; thus, we must take upon the human conquest to push back against this void and serve something more. Live for something more, and be something more!

The title of this chapter encourages the reader to pet the stray cat. This is a metaphor for the choices we make. If we see a stray cat, we can do one of three things, we can chase it off, we can ignore it, or we can welcome it. Only the latter offer any life to the world. This does not only apply to cats, but it can be the young children you pass by who is selling lemonade, it can be the old lady in the grocery store who cannot reach the cereal box on the top shelf, it could be your local church which suddenly needs a new roof and can afford to repair it. There are always going to be moments in your life when you can live for Christ, live for the sake of the transcendent gifts of life rather than for nothingness. Needlessly scaring away a cat or ignoring a kitten's plea for love and friendship can take many forms, but in the end, what they are is a nihilistic “meh” to the world and God’s creation. Petting the cat is Peterson’s kind way of saying, get over yourself and do something good in the world, even if it is something simple like sharing a little love and affection with a stray.

Challenge for the Week: Do some good and meaningful. Serve God’s creation as God has served you through His Son Jesus Christ. Follow the ways of Jesus, and if you need some help with figuring out what that would look like, try getting a copy of Peterson’s book, it seems to hold well with the Christian faith in general.

Prayer for your week:  Bless us all! Amen!

Final Thought and Picture:  GOOD BOOK, on to the next! What will it be, check back in the fall for more details!