Redefining reality | Jordan B. Peterson | TEDxToronto

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, delivers a talk at TEDxToronto on the theme of "Redefining reality," where he stats that reality and life are not made of objects but chaos and order, and details on each of them. He urges us all to, "then practice spending more time
in the place you want to be," because a small beginning in this direction can grow into a wonderful result.

Hello.

I didn't hear about this conference
till about two weeks ago,

and then, I think it was Darius,
who was running this whole show,

who contacted me and said
that somebody in the community thought

that I had something to say

that might be worth listening
to for this TEDx thing,

and I thought, "Oh, that's cool!

I know about TED,

I should build a talk about something
I really think is important."

And then Darius said,

"You've got six minutes,"

and I thought,
"Well, I better scale back."

Then I thought,

"No, I'm not going to scale back,

I'm going to try something
I always wanted to do."

And that was, I thought, I'd try
to redefine reality in six minutes.

(Laughter)

So hold on to your hats.

So, the reality I'm going to talk
to you about today,

it's the reality that the people
that you've listened to today,

who were inspired,

it's the reality that they live in,

and what I'm going to talk to you about,

I don't believe is metaphysics,

I truly believe what I'm going
to talk to you about

it's the most real thing I know;

and knowing it is something
that's completely changed my life.

I think the people
that you listen to today,

who've changed
their life in various ways,

and the lives of other people,

know this, too.

I also think that you will see
that what I'm going to tell you,

you already know, too,

but you don't know you know it.

It's so great to be able to learn
something you already know,

so that it can be made
conscious and explicit;

and that's what I'm going to try to do.

So, there's a lot of slides,
and there's lot of words,

and so... away we go.

First, I believe that people
suffer more than they have to

because we profoundly
misunderstand what's real.

We're blinded
to what's truly fundamental,

by the things that present themselves
most easily to our perceptions;

thus, we fail to realize
what is most genuine and important.

We believe that the world
is made out of objects;

I would like to propose instead

that the world is made out
of chaos and order,

and that the quality
of our being is dependent

on how we manage the balance
between the two.

Chaos - that's what manifests itself
when we don't know what we are looking at;

it's chaos that we saw
when the Twin Towers fell,

it's chaos that looms

when the partner you loved for decades
reveals a lengthy affair.

It's chaos that engulfs you
when a loved one dies;

chaos is the unknown, the unexpected,

the anomalous.

It's the "mater," the mother,

the Latin root of the word
matrix and material;

the substance of reality.

Chaos is the fruitfulness of nature
and the terror of time.

It's an ocean of possibilities surrounding
the territory of human culture;

it's the water of life bringing sustenance

to those parched
by their own dry preconceptions,

and it's the flood unleashed
by an angry God,

when the ideas of man warped so badly
that they can no longer be sustained.

It's the Yin of the Daoists,

it's the paralyzing horror
of the darkness,

it's the treachery of our physical forms,

it's the monster under the bed,

and it's the snake
that eternally lurks in the garden.

Chaos is also what you encounter

when you boldly go
where no one's gone before.

Order, by contrast,

Is where you are
when everything is working properly.

When trains run on time, that's order.

When you have a happy and secure home,

that's order,

Order keeps the operating room clean;

order is what God calls out of chaos
at the beginning of time

and offers to men and women
as a dwelling place.

It's an island of stability
in a sea of ignorance,

it's the Yang of the Daoists,

it's the walls of the city,

it's the principles of the constitution,

and the uniform of the police.

Order is the stone that lasts
and keeps the barbarians at bay.

Taken to an extreme however,

order becomes tyranny

and imperils the soul.

When human beings stray,

we become rigid and unbending,

or dissolute and careless;

we can no longer think outside the box,

or we drift without purpose
and then drown in possibility.

We want tyranny because we despise
what we don't know,

or we want anarchy
because we refuse responsibility.

Either way, we risk exposing ourselves
to the opposite principle.

Too much order makes collapse
into chaos evermore likely.

Too much chaos calls
the devils of totalitarianism

out from the crevasses where they hide.

The Buddhists believe
that life is suffering.

Jews and Christians agree.

The former remember
a long history of persecution,

the latter worship a god

who's simultaneously
human, and betrayed, and crucified.

When men and women cry out to heaven,

in the face of their suffering,

what is it that they can call forth?

Meaning.

Meaning is not a rational phenomenon.

We detect it with our being
not with our intellect,

which it should guide rather than follow.

When chaos and order are balanced,
we have one foot in each domain.

That's the meaning that life
more abundantly depends on.

In that place,
we're secured and confident,

but challenged enough
to be alert and developing.

In that place, we play each game;

not just to win

but to become better players
at all games in the future.

Such meaning properly nurtured

can produce love for life
and gratitude so deep

that the terrible limitations
of being are justified.

It's in this manner
that paradise is regained.

The alternative is to live
an unbalanced life;

this is not good

because the terrible forces
of chaos and order

will tear an unbalanced person apart.

He will become overwhelmed, hopeless,

bitter, vengeful, and finally, cruel.

She'll become willingly blind,

narrow, bored, cynical, and vicious.

When life is unbalanced,
people work against it

because they're angry at the dreadful,
limited conditions of existence.

"To hell with it,"

That's the curse of the embittered.

Hell is where they're headed,

where they'd like to drag everyone else.

This is revenge against God,

or the conditions of being,

- whichever you prefer -

is motivated by the desire
that things suffer further inadequacy

and cease to be.

How might a person live in reality?

This is an empirical
not a rational question.

Start by watching yourself

as if you're someone
you know very little about;

see when you are
where you should be psychologically,

and see when you're not.

Don't think about it;

watch,

then practice spending more time
in the place you want to be.

You're closer to paradise there,
and farther from hell.

Do whatever you have to to stay there.

Within a month, given disciplined effort,

you'll be in the proper place more often.

In a year, much more often.

In three years, if you're lucky,
most of the time.

When asked about the kingdom of heaven,

Christ said,

"It's like a mustard seed,
the smallest of all seeds,

but when it falls on prepared ground,
it produces a great plant

and becomes a shelter
for all the birds of the sky,

It's from such small beginnings
that great things grow."

Thank you.

(Applause)