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The Psychological Significance Of The Biblical Stories: Genesis
The Bible is a series of books written, edited and assembled over thousands of years. It contains the most influential stories of mankind. Knowledge of those stories is essential to a deep understanding of Western culture, which is in turn vital to proper psychological health (as human beings are cultural animals) and societal stability. These stories are neither history, as we commonly conceive it, nor empirical science. Instead, they are investigations into the structure of Being itself and calls to action within that Being. They have deep psychological significance. This lecture series, starting with the very first book, will constitute an analysis of that significance.
15-Part Lecture series by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
1. Introduction to the Idea of God
2. Genesis: Chaos and Order
3. God and the Hierarchy of Authority
4. Adam and Eve – Self-Consciousness, Evil and Death
5. Cain and Abel – The Hostile Brothers
6. The Psychology of the Flood
7. Walking with God: Noah and the Flood
8. The Phenomenology of the Divine
9. The Call to Abraham
10. Abraham: Father of Nations
11. Sodom and Gomorrah
12. The Great Sacrifice
13. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 1
14. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 2
15. Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors
15-Part Lecture series by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
1. Introduction to the Idea of God
2. Genesis: Chaos and Order
3. God and the Hierarchy of Authority
4. Adam and Eve – Self-Consciousness, Evil and Death
5. Cain and Abel – The Hostile Brothers
6. The Psychology of the Flood
7. Walking with God: Noah and the Flood
8. The Phenomenology of the Divine
9. The Call to Abraham
10. Abraham: Father of Nations
11. Sodom and Gomorrah
12. The Great Sacrifice
13. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 1
14. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 2
15. Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors
654 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 2017
22 people are currently reading
2493 people want to read
About the author
Jordan B. Peterson
51 books16.5k followersJordan B. Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, self-help writer, cultural critic and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. His main areas of study are in abnormal, social, and personality psychology, with a particular interest in the psychology of religious and ideological belief, and the assessment and improvement of personality and performance.
Peterson grew up in Fairview, Alberta. He earned a B.A. degree in political science in 1982 and a degree in psychology in 1984, both from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from McGill University in 1991. He remained at McGill as a post-doctoral fellow for two years before moving to Massachusetts, where he worked as an assistant and an associate professor in the psychology department at Harvard University. In 1998, he moved to the University of Toronto as a full professor. He authored Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief in 1999, a work in which examined several academic fields to describe the structure of systems of beliefs and myths, their role in the regulation of emotion, creation of meaning, and motivation for genocide.
In 2016, Peterson released a series of videos on his YouTube channel in which he criticized the Canadian government's Bill C-16. He subsequently became involved in several public debates about the bill that received significant media coverage.
Peterson grew up in Fairview, Alberta. He earned a B.A. degree in political science in 1982 and a degree in psychology in 1984, both from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from McGill University in 1991. He remained at McGill as a post-doctoral fellow for two years before moving to Massachusetts, where he worked as an assistant and an associate professor in the psychology department at Harvard University. In 1998, he moved to the University of Toronto as a full professor. He authored Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief in 1999, a work in which examined several academic fields to describe the structure of systems of beliefs and myths, their role in the regulation of emotion, creation of meaning, and motivation for genocide.
In 2016, Peterson released a series of videos on his YouTube channel in which he criticized the Canadian government's Bill C-16. He subsequently became involved in several public debates about the bill that received significant media coverage.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 29, 2019
I never imagined that I’d be sat for hours listening so keenly to biblical sermons, bearing in mind how woefully I’ve failed to drag myself to 50 minute mass on Sundays!
What Dr Peterson has done with these stories is phenomenal in my opinion. In a world today where we conveniently disparage our ancient myths and stories, and generally view religion as a useless and a catastrophic plague on human existence, he has turned the tide and stimulated us again intellectually to re-evaluate, and see the intrinsic values in these stories, as well as to appreciate them (and religion generally even though flawed in many ways), as genuine human conscious, spiritual and intellectual achievement over thousands of years, laying the foundations for the much better society we have today.
Though deep within us, we know the ideas and values put forward by these stories, but Dr Peterson - with his unparalleled gift of eloquence, retells them in a much more compelling, engaging, and intellectually-stimulating way, to a modern audience which has long forgotten its roots for the most part.
What Dr Peterson has done with these stories is phenomenal in my opinion. In a world today where we conveniently disparage our ancient myths and stories, and generally view religion as a useless and a catastrophic plague on human existence, he has turned the tide and stimulated us again intellectually to re-evaluate, and see the intrinsic values in these stories, as well as to appreciate them (and religion generally even though flawed in many ways), as genuine human conscious, spiritual and intellectual achievement over thousands of years, laying the foundations for the much better society we have today.
Though deep within us, we know the ideas and values put forward by these stories, but Dr Peterson - with his unparalleled gift of eloquence, retells them in a much more compelling, engaging, and intellectually-stimulating way, to a modern audience which has long forgotten its roots for the most part.
July 8, 2019
watched twice - some three times.
that is my review.
they are packed - you can FEEL them packing onto your brain stem and up around to the top, front.
it all makes sense - literally, as in: makes. sense.
that is my review.
they are packed - you can FEEL them packing onto your brain stem and up around to the top, front.
it all makes sense - literally, as in: makes. sense.
July 8, 2019
Unprecedented.
January 10, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyable. It's a transcribed series of lectures, and I'm surprised at its length, which is like 500 pages. First few are Peterson at his commonsensical and mindblowing best. But the rest are basically a lot of repeat of his main themes. Learned heaps and never ceased to be replenished and surprised at Peterson's verbal ability, to put into words things that's so complicated it's only manifested through dreams.
March 7, 2025
For the most part, these are great lectures. If church reviewed the bible more like this, it would've been useful for anybody to get some life lessons out of it. But it's an interpretation of the first chapters of the bible and it's a really insightful one!
This is not a let's read the bible together kind of lecture series. It's a deep dive into whats really being said and what can we learn from it. No life lectures, no "you shoulds", just what is this book written and collected over many centuries and what could it all possibly mean.
I understand Jordan Peterson is not for everybody, and reading the bible isn't for everybody. But he does a magnificent job of interpreting "the Word" and given real life examples excluding, for the most, the religion part.
This is not a let's read the bible together kind of lecture series. It's a deep dive into whats really being said and what can we learn from it. No life lectures, no "you shoulds", just what is this book written and collected over many centuries and what could it all possibly mean.
I understand Jordan Peterson is not for everybody, and reading the bible isn't for everybody. But he does a magnificent job of interpreting "the Word" and given real life examples excluding, for the most, the religion part.
March 9, 2021
The time I spent listning to Petersons biblical series, is probably some of the best spent hours of my life. The series took turns and detours that was just mind blowing. I wish this was around when I was 18. No matter what you think about JBP, he is truly one of the greatest intellects of our time..
June 16, 2025
Jordan Peterson is quite verbose, and his thoughts wander all over the place. This may be a turn off for many, and it certainly bothered me as well. But Peterson, more than anyone before, made extracting good lessons from the Bible more interesting for me, so for that reason this lecture series still deserves a high rating.
Although Peterson doesn't use these words, the way I can make some sense out of these stories is if I think of God as the primitive person's approximate and personified understanding of the Law of Causality as applied to the long-term consequences of your actions.
Book of Genesis
1. Adam and Eve Story
Eve faces the temptation of the snake. Adam fails to protect Eve, and instead simply gives into her demands. Then instead of taking responsibility for their act, Adam throws Eve under the bus when God asks them why they fell into the snake's temptation. This is why both Adam and Eve were responsible for the fall. Don't enable sabotaging behavior of people you care for in order to avoid short-term conflict, this will be the downfall of both of you.
2. Paradise as a Walled Garden with Snakes
Adam and Eve are in Paradise, which is the Garden of Eden. Paradise means a walled garden, and Eden means a well watered place. This means that humans don't optimally live in nature devoid of society, or in society devoid of nature, but rather in an amalgamation of the two.
Even within paradise itself, there is a snake. This means no matter how safely you protect yourself against the calamities of life (or against the potential of evil within yourself), there's always a possibility of some threat creeping through the cracks.
God asks Adam and Eve not to interact with the snake - which is to say not to give in to the temptation of straying from the proper path.
The snake here is a primitive conceptualization of a predator. This conceptualization then gets increasingly sophisticated: The threat of a snake, a whole lair of snakes, the human enemy outside the walls of the city, the enemies within the walls of the city, and then the ultimate snake that lives within your heart - which is each person's capacity for evil.
Snakes in the Garden
3. Cain and Abel Story: Delayed Gratification and Personal Responsibility vs Victim Mentality and Envy
Cain and Abel are sons of Adam and Eve. Abel, the younger brother, is a shepherd. A shepherd is a symbol for the leader of a flock, who protects the flock of sheep against the wolves.
Cain, the elder brother, has the privilege that comes with it. Cain is a farmer, which in the context of this story is a less heroic role (farming back then wasn't as effective as farming today in terms of the farmer's yield.) Despite Cain's privilege, Abel is favored by the God.
Cain and Abel both offer their sacrifices to God (perform some work and wait for the long term consequences). By "sacrifice", Peterson means investment and delayed gratification: giving up something of value today for something of a greater value tomorrow. Abel is rewarded, but Cain isn't. The story only slightly hints that Abel's sacrifice (work) is of higher quality. It leaves open the possibility of misfortune being a contributing factor.
There are two ways Cain could respond to God being unhappy (i.e. not achieving the desired success):
i. Victim mentality: My failures aren't my fault, it's because God (i.e. all of society and existence itself) is against me.
ii. Take responsibility: If I performed better, my situation would improve - which is what God tells him (i.e. all the evidence points towards it.) And God says he knows he's doing something wrong (i.e. there's some deliberate evasion at play.)
Instead of adopting personal responsibility, Cain adopts the victim mentality. This leaves Cain with a feeling of resentment and envy towards Abel: "Why does he get to succeed, and I don't." So Cain goes and kills his brother Abel - the very person he most wants to be like. In his envy, he demolishes his own ideal.
In response to this, God curses him to a life of misery. This is a preliminary understanding of the idea that when you commit an act of evil (violence or fraud) against an innocent person, you can't run away from the consequences forever. You will face the existential and/or psychological consequences of this action. This may, in cases, be so painful that someone may prefer death instead.
Cain and Abel
4. Noah's Ark and The Flood Story: Warning Against Complacency
The Flood refers to the threat of things falling apart. The threat of the flood always looms around the corner because things fall apart of their own accord (entropy). But things fall apart sooner (and cause more damage) if you're negligent in maintaining them in a timely manner (i.e. if you sin, which means to "miss the mark.")
The city of New Orleans in America has a major trade port, but the city is prone to the risk of floods due to hurricanes. In order to maintain New Orleans, the city officials had to build dikes/levees to protect the city against the floods. The officials built the dikes to withstand the worst storm in a 100 years, which they knew to be insufficient. The Dutch, by contrast, built dikes to withstand the worst storm in 10,000 years. Now there's a hurricane and it leads to a terrible flood. But was it because of the hurricane or because the dikes weren't high enough?
The lesson here echoes back to the lesson of Cain and Abel. Are you going to blame the circumstances life throws at you, or your complacency and willful blindness in preparing for and addressing those circumstances?
If you're underprepared to deal with life's storms, God (entropy, natural disasters, etc.) wipes you out with a flood. Noah finds grace in the eyes of God because he builds the ark in preparation for the inevitable flood.
In this way, Abel and Noah are both glimpses into what it means to be a virtuous hero. And if you act virtuously, you'll simultaneously do what's best for you, for your family, for humanity, and largely also for everything in the broader ecology that can exist in harmony with humans.
The lesson, "a stitch in time, saves nine."
Noah and the Flood
5. Noah and his Sons: Appreciation and Constructive Criticism vs Ruthless/Destructive Criticism
After the Flood, Noah and his sons repopulated the Earth. One day, Noah got drunk and passed out naked in his tent.
Ham saw him in this state and mocked him. Shem and Japheth saw him in this state and covered him back again. Ham and his son Canaan were cursed because of this, while Shem and Japheth were blessed to be fruitful and multiply.
Noah, the Father, is symbolic of both one's actual guardians and the culture that protects you from the flood. The fact that Noah carried his family, humanity, and broader ecology safely out of the flood shows that he's a largely good father, symbolic of a largely good culture. But even good cultures will have times when they're not good. These shortcomings of your culture should neither be ignored, nor criticized destructively with the intent of burning everything down. Instead, it should be criticized constructively.
If you ruthlessly and destructively criticize the very culture that, despite its flaws, protects you from the flood, then you and your progeny will suffer the consequences. But if you appreciated the good parts of your culture and helped fix its shortcomings, you and your progeny will reap the rewards.
I see this as having the same lesson as the parable of Chesterton's Fence.
6. Tower of Babel Story: Warning Against Totalitarianism
The Tower of Babel story starts abruptly after the end of the flood story. Humans all start to speak the same language and decide to build a mighty tower to reach the heavens, which is symbolic of a centrally planned utopian society. God destroys this tower and replaces it with different groups of people speaking different languages and building their own towers, symbolic of a decentralized system with competing ideologies. The story is a caution against the inevitable failure of centrally planned totalitarian systems where everyone speaks the same language, meaning do not challenge each other and blindly comply with the utopian vision.
Jordan Peterson Analyzes the Flood and Tower of Babel
7. The Abraham Story: Answer the Call to Noble Adventure
Abraham is 80 years old at the start of this story. He has a comfortable life provided to him by his rich father, but he hasn't earned any of it.
Imagine you have a comfortable life as a young person. Sooner or later, if you don't suppress the thoughts that arise from your subconscious, you'll hear a calling that you're meant for more than unearned comfort. This is characterized as the Spirit of God - that which calls you out of your comfort to pursue the adventure of your lifetime.
As soon as Abraham leaves his father's care, he encounters several difficult challenges: starvation, tyranny, conspiracy by powerful people to steal his wife, the necessity of sacrificing his son, etc. It's brutal, but it's an adventure. Humans aren't built to just receive the unearned. That's not how they derive their sense of purpose and self-esteem. They derive it as a result of their self-confidence in their ability to deal with the uncertainties and challenges of life.
As the saying goes, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." Except there isn't even real safety in complacency - only the illusion of it until the flood strikes, so you're taking a risk either way. As another saying goes, you have to choose between the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The pain of discipline, if you aim up and continue to error-correct, leads to your flourishing. The pain of regret leads to you shrinking psychologically and suffering existentially.
There is real risk in confronting dragons, and there is real risk in avoiding dragons. But if you confront the dragon, you grow and the dragon shrinks. If you avoid the dragon, you shrink and the dragon grows.
Confront the Catastrophes of Life
8. Sodom and Gomorrah Story: Courageous honesty as the antidote to tyranny and catastrophe.
God tells Abraham that he's going to destroy the city of Sodom because the whole city is corrupt and evil. Abraham bargains with God in what I found to be a fascinating conversation (Genesis 18:20-18:33).
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
The lesson of the story is that if even a handful of people have the courage to act righteously and speak the truth, there's still hope for the state to not crumble under the weight of its tyranny. They may be able to inspire others by their example to follow suit. Conversely, when a state falls into totalitarian tyranny, it's not because a handful of tyrants enslaved an overwhelming majority of righteous people. It's because lies, deception, and cowardice were rampant at all levels of the state. Almost everyone in a failed, totalitarian state is simultaneously both a victim and a victimizer.
As Peterson puts it, "systems go terribly out of control when people don't stop them when they go mildly out of control." Tyranny tolerated is tyranny multipled.
This has been observed by many people who lived under tyranny.
How a Totalitarian State is Actually Formed | Jocko Podcast & Jordan B Peterson
Why are People so Obedient? - Compliance and Tyranny
Narrated: "Live Not By Lies" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1974
Ayn Rand's Final Public Lecture: "The Sanction of The Victims"
9. Abraham and Isaac: Those most willing to pay any cost in order to stand up for their principles, are also least likely to actually have to pay it.
10. Jacob's Ladder Story: By and large, the people in the community must all aim up, in order for the community to remain stable and flourish over time.
11. Joseph's Story: Warning Against Forgetting Your History
Jacob loves his second youngest son Joseph more than others. He gives him the "coat of many colors", which represents a "man of many talents." Peterson's description of this reminded me of the following lines from the poem If, by Rudyard Kipling: "If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch."
Jacob's older brothers (echoing the spirit of Cain), hate him for this. At first they plan to kill him, but instead they sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he ends up imprisoned. Here too, Joseph works his way up to impressing the Pharaoh, and becomes the second-in-command. Through his productive and innovative work, he brings Egypt out of a famine, and later also ends up saving his own family from starving. Joseph leads to improved relations between the people of Israel and Egypt, and transforms Egypt into a "land flowing with milk and honey."
This is where this story ends, but it's at the beginning of the book of Exodus that an important lesson is highlighted.
Exodus 1:6-8: "Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt."
When descendants of a prosperous society forget the principles established by their ancestors that promote prosperity, they risk losing everything and reverting back to primitive poverty and slavery.
Although Peterson doesn't use these words, the way I can make some sense out of these stories is if I think of God as the primitive person's approximate and personified understanding of the Law of Causality as applied to the long-term consequences of your actions.
Book of Genesis
1. Adam and Eve Story
Eve faces the temptation of the snake. Adam fails to protect Eve, and instead simply gives into her demands. Then instead of taking responsibility for their act, Adam throws Eve under the bus when God asks them why they fell into the snake's temptation. This is why both Adam and Eve were responsible for the fall. Don't enable sabotaging behavior of people you care for in order to avoid short-term conflict, this will be the downfall of both of you.
2. Paradise as a Walled Garden with Snakes
Adam and Eve are in Paradise, which is the Garden of Eden. Paradise means a walled garden, and Eden means a well watered place. This means that humans don't optimally live in nature devoid of society, or in society devoid of nature, but rather in an amalgamation of the two.
Even within paradise itself, there is a snake. This means no matter how safely you protect yourself against the calamities of life (or against the potential of evil within yourself), there's always a possibility of some threat creeping through the cracks.
God asks Adam and Eve not to interact with the snake - which is to say not to give in to the temptation of straying from the proper path.
The snake here is a primitive conceptualization of a predator. This conceptualization then gets increasingly sophisticated: The threat of a snake, a whole lair of snakes, the human enemy outside the walls of the city, the enemies within the walls of the city, and then the ultimate snake that lives within your heart - which is each person's capacity for evil.
Snakes in the Garden
3. Cain and Abel Story: Delayed Gratification and Personal Responsibility vs Victim Mentality and Envy
Cain and Abel are sons of Adam and Eve. Abel, the younger brother, is a shepherd. A shepherd is a symbol for the leader of a flock, who protects the flock of sheep against the wolves.
Cain, the elder brother, has the privilege that comes with it. Cain is a farmer, which in the context of this story is a less heroic role (farming back then wasn't as effective as farming today in terms of the farmer's yield.) Despite Cain's privilege, Abel is favored by the God.
Cain and Abel both offer their sacrifices to God (perform some work and wait for the long term consequences). By "sacrifice", Peterson means investment and delayed gratification: giving up something of value today for something of a greater value tomorrow. Abel is rewarded, but Cain isn't. The story only slightly hints that Abel's sacrifice (work) is of higher quality. It leaves open the possibility of misfortune being a contributing factor.
There are two ways Cain could respond to God being unhappy (i.e. not achieving the desired success):
i. Victim mentality: My failures aren't my fault, it's because God (i.e. all of society and existence itself) is against me.
ii. Take responsibility: If I performed better, my situation would improve - which is what God tells him (i.e. all the evidence points towards it.) And God says he knows he's doing something wrong (i.e. there's some deliberate evasion at play.)
Instead of adopting personal responsibility, Cain adopts the victim mentality. This leaves Cain with a feeling of resentment and envy towards Abel: "Why does he get to succeed, and I don't." So Cain goes and kills his brother Abel - the very person he most wants to be like. In his envy, he demolishes his own ideal.
In response to this, God curses him to a life of misery. This is a preliminary understanding of the idea that when you commit an act of evil (violence or fraud) against an innocent person, you can't run away from the consequences forever. You will face the existential and/or psychological consequences of this action. This may, in cases, be so painful that someone may prefer death instead.
Cain and Abel
4. Noah's Ark and The Flood Story: Warning Against Complacency
The Flood refers to the threat of things falling apart. The threat of the flood always looms around the corner because things fall apart of their own accord (entropy). But things fall apart sooner (and cause more damage) if you're negligent in maintaining them in a timely manner (i.e. if you sin, which means to "miss the mark.")
The city of New Orleans in America has a major trade port, but the city is prone to the risk of floods due to hurricanes. In order to maintain New Orleans, the city officials had to build dikes/levees to protect the city against the floods. The officials built the dikes to withstand the worst storm in a 100 years, which they knew to be insufficient. The Dutch, by contrast, built dikes to withstand the worst storm in 10,000 years. Now there's a hurricane and it leads to a terrible flood. But was it because of the hurricane or because the dikes weren't high enough?
The lesson here echoes back to the lesson of Cain and Abel. Are you going to blame the circumstances life throws at you, or your complacency and willful blindness in preparing for and addressing those circumstances?
If you're underprepared to deal with life's storms, God (entropy, natural disasters, etc.) wipes you out with a flood. Noah finds grace in the eyes of God because he builds the ark in preparation for the inevitable flood.
In this way, Abel and Noah are both glimpses into what it means to be a virtuous hero. And if you act virtuously, you'll simultaneously do what's best for you, for your family, for humanity, and largely also for everything in the broader ecology that can exist in harmony with humans.
The lesson, "a stitch in time, saves nine."
Noah and the Flood
5. Noah and his Sons: Appreciation and Constructive Criticism vs Ruthless/Destructive Criticism
After the Flood, Noah and his sons repopulated the Earth. One day, Noah got drunk and passed out naked in his tent.
Ham saw him in this state and mocked him. Shem and Japheth saw him in this state and covered him back again. Ham and his son Canaan were cursed because of this, while Shem and Japheth were blessed to be fruitful and multiply.
Noah, the Father, is symbolic of both one's actual guardians and the culture that protects you from the flood. The fact that Noah carried his family, humanity, and broader ecology safely out of the flood shows that he's a largely good father, symbolic of a largely good culture. But even good cultures will have times when they're not good. These shortcomings of your culture should neither be ignored, nor criticized destructively with the intent of burning everything down. Instead, it should be criticized constructively.
If you ruthlessly and destructively criticize the very culture that, despite its flaws, protects you from the flood, then you and your progeny will suffer the consequences. But if you appreciated the good parts of your culture and helped fix its shortcomings, you and your progeny will reap the rewards.
I see this as having the same lesson as the parable of Chesterton's Fence.
6. Tower of Babel Story: Warning Against Totalitarianism
The Tower of Babel story starts abruptly after the end of the flood story. Humans all start to speak the same language and decide to build a mighty tower to reach the heavens, which is symbolic of a centrally planned utopian society. God destroys this tower and replaces it with different groups of people speaking different languages and building their own towers, symbolic of a decentralized system with competing ideologies. The story is a caution against the inevitable failure of centrally planned totalitarian systems where everyone speaks the same language, meaning do not challenge each other and blindly comply with the utopian vision.
Jordan Peterson Analyzes the Flood and Tower of Babel
7. The Abraham Story: Answer the Call to Noble Adventure
Abraham is 80 years old at the start of this story. He has a comfortable life provided to him by his rich father, but he hasn't earned any of it.
Imagine you have a comfortable life as a young person. Sooner or later, if you don't suppress the thoughts that arise from your subconscious, you'll hear a calling that you're meant for more than unearned comfort. This is characterized as the Spirit of God - that which calls you out of your comfort to pursue the adventure of your lifetime.
As soon as Abraham leaves his father's care, he encounters several difficult challenges: starvation, tyranny, conspiracy by powerful people to steal his wife, the necessity of sacrificing his son, etc. It's brutal, but it's an adventure. Humans aren't built to just receive the unearned. That's not how they derive their sense of purpose and self-esteem. They derive it as a result of their self-confidence in their ability to deal with the uncertainties and challenges of life.
As the saying goes, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." Except there isn't even real safety in complacency - only the illusion of it until the flood strikes, so you're taking a risk either way. As another saying goes, you have to choose between the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The pain of discipline, if you aim up and continue to error-correct, leads to your flourishing. The pain of regret leads to you shrinking psychologically and suffering existentially.
There is real risk in confronting dragons, and there is real risk in avoiding dragons. But if you confront the dragon, you grow and the dragon shrinks. If you avoid the dragon, you shrink and the dragon grows.
Confront the Catastrophes of Life
8. Sodom and Gomorrah Story: Courageous honesty as the antidote to tyranny and catastrophe.
God tells Abraham that he's going to destroy the city of Sodom because the whole city is corrupt and evil. Abraham bargains with God in what I found to be a fascinating conversation (Genesis 18:20-18:33).
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
The lesson of the story is that if even a handful of people have the courage to act righteously and speak the truth, there's still hope for the state to not crumble under the weight of its tyranny. They may be able to inspire others by their example to follow suit. Conversely, when a state falls into totalitarian tyranny, it's not because a handful of tyrants enslaved an overwhelming majority of righteous people. It's because lies, deception, and cowardice were rampant at all levels of the state. Almost everyone in a failed, totalitarian state is simultaneously both a victim and a victimizer.
As Peterson puts it, "systems go terribly out of control when people don't stop them when they go mildly out of control." Tyranny tolerated is tyranny multipled.
This has been observed by many people who lived under tyranny.
How a Totalitarian State is Actually Formed | Jocko Podcast & Jordan B Peterson
Why are People so Obedient? - Compliance and Tyranny
Narrated: "Live Not By Lies" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1974
Ayn Rand's Final Public Lecture: "The Sanction of The Victims"
9. Abraham and Isaac: Those most willing to pay any cost in order to stand up for their principles, are also least likely to actually have to pay it.
10. Jacob's Ladder Story: By and large, the people in the community must all aim up, in order for the community to remain stable and flourish over time.
11. Joseph's Story: Warning Against Forgetting Your History
Jacob loves his second youngest son Joseph more than others. He gives him the "coat of many colors", which represents a "man of many talents." Peterson's description of this reminded me of the following lines from the poem If, by Rudyard Kipling: "If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch."
Jacob's older brothers (echoing the spirit of Cain), hate him for this. At first they plan to kill him, but instead they sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he ends up imprisoned. Here too, Joseph works his way up to impressing the Pharaoh, and becomes the second-in-command. Through his productive and innovative work, he brings Egypt out of a famine, and later also ends up saving his own family from starving. Joseph leads to improved relations between the people of Israel and Egypt, and transforms Egypt into a "land flowing with milk and honey."
This is where this story ends, but it's at the beginning of the book of Exodus that an important lesson is highlighted.
Exodus 1:6-8: "Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt."
When descendants of a prosperous society forget the principles established by their ancestors that promote prosperity, they risk losing everything and reverting back to primitive poverty and slavery.
May 25, 2022
5+++ ABSOLUTELY RIVETING STARS!!
This lecture series, now available as a podcast series, with links to transcripts, is an extraordinary insight into evolutionary psychology, human behaviour, biblical symbolism and Tradition, power, sacrifice, and love.
Amazing. Just... incredible!
This lecture series, now available as a podcast series, with links to transcripts, is an extraordinary insight into evolutionary psychology, human behaviour, biblical symbolism and Tradition, power, sacrifice, and love.
Amazing. Just... incredible!
June 1, 2022
This series of lectures is great. Even though I am an atheist, if you take these as stories and not gospel (pun intended) you will see the values, morals and life lessons that have guided Christians for thousands of years
November 4, 2023
Everyone needs to read Jordan Peterson's books. Mr Peterson has such a deep understanding of humanity and is a great asset to this generation. I buy his books as a present to my family, friends and anyone that I wish them best.
If you read one of his books you'll want more, believe me.
November 10, 2021
"Te guste o no, tu existencia está basada en la fe".
January 1, 2023
At times overly verbose, but thats just the chronic condition of academia.
This will change how you view everything. Suddenly you start seeing Bible stories everywhere and in everything.
I would love for everyone to listen to these lectures as they're far more accessible than the book - but that's not too likely. Peterson has an awful habit of being so damn verbose he's incomprehensible.
Regardless, this was an amazing experience.
4.5/5
This will change how you view everything. Suddenly you start seeing Bible stories everywhere and in everything.
I would love for everyone to listen to these lectures as they're far more accessible than the book - but that's not too likely. Peterson has an awful habit of being so damn verbose he's incomprehensible.
Regardless, this was an amazing experience.
4.5/5
March 14, 2022
I'm pretty sure I'm still an atheist, but this was an excellent series of lectures.
November 27, 2022
In this lecture series Dr Jordan Peterson breaks down the psychological significance of the first book of the Christian cannon: Genesis.
This lecture series has knowledge to fill at least 3 books, but everything is kept so interesting and concise all throughout. The lectures are not portrayed in a way as to glorify the Christian God, nor is it a reductionistic view of religious texts as the popular “an opioid for the masses” sentiment would have you believe.
The idea of God, the significance of the stories of Joseph, Cane and Abel, Jacob, Adam and Eve and the flood are all discussed at length through an evolutionary psychology lens. This is not a biblical sermon of any kind, people from any background can learn so much from this lecture series. Imagine a sermon minus the preachiness and a whole lot more discussion of evolution and deep diving into the essence of these stories.
The phenomena of divinity, morality, experiential carryover, bargaining with the world and the ‘upward aiming’ nature of mankind is handled with such profundity I struggle to put it into words.
This is truly the kind of theological discussion I have craved throughout my entire life. I am a deeply rational person, but something has always intrigued me about the relationship between these stories and our modern idea of rationality, morality and meaning. Peterson is a consummate professional throughout these lectures, never wavering in his dissection of where these ideas came from and how we adopted them into our collective psyche. I often compare these lectures to watching a masterful athlete performing with impressive feats of articulation instead of bodily prowess.
I consistently had my thoughts challenged, long-held ideas articulated in a way I could only dream of, and my deepest beliefs brought consciousness through the exploration of these stories. I tried my best to go into this series unbiased, my religiosity and personal influence Peterson has had on me being possible factors, but I truly believe this is one of the best explorations of these fundamental human ideas I have ever heard.
I promised myself 5 years ago that one day I would finish this series of lectures. For reference, there are 15, 2.5-hour lectures. I can confidently say, 37.5 hours (about 1 and a half days) were well spent.
I implore anyone with even the merest interest in theology to watch these lectures (or at least the first one). The entire series is freely available on YouTube and podcast apps as well.
This lecture series has knowledge to fill at least 3 books, but everything is kept so interesting and concise all throughout. The lectures are not portrayed in a way as to glorify the Christian God, nor is it a reductionistic view of religious texts as the popular “an opioid for the masses” sentiment would have you believe.
The idea of God, the significance of the stories of Joseph, Cane and Abel, Jacob, Adam and Eve and the flood are all discussed at length through an evolutionary psychology lens. This is not a biblical sermon of any kind, people from any background can learn so much from this lecture series. Imagine a sermon minus the preachiness and a whole lot more discussion of evolution and deep diving into the essence of these stories.
The phenomena of divinity, morality, experiential carryover, bargaining with the world and the ‘upward aiming’ nature of mankind is handled with such profundity I struggle to put it into words.
This is truly the kind of theological discussion I have craved throughout my entire life. I am a deeply rational person, but something has always intrigued me about the relationship between these stories and our modern idea of rationality, morality and meaning. Peterson is a consummate professional throughout these lectures, never wavering in his dissection of where these ideas came from and how we adopted them into our collective psyche. I often compare these lectures to watching a masterful athlete performing with impressive feats of articulation instead of bodily prowess.
I consistently had my thoughts challenged, long-held ideas articulated in a way I could only dream of, and my deepest beliefs brought consciousness through the exploration of these stories. I tried my best to go into this series unbiased, my religiosity and personal influence Peterson has had on me being possible factors, but I truly believe this is one of the best explorations of these fundamental human ideas I have ever heard.
I promised myself 5 years ago that one day I would finish this series of lectures. For reference, there are 15, 2.5-hour lectures. I can confidently say, 37.5 hours (about 1 and a half days) were well spent.
I implore anyone with even the merest interest in theology to watch these lectures (or at least the first one). The entire series is freely available on YouTube and podcast apps as well.
April 12, 2021
Just now, I completed watching the entire playlist on the Biblical stories. The clarity and the profundity of the message justify the length of the videos. It speaks to Jordan's gift of storytelling and packaging. Even as an advertising creative director, I marvel at how captivating the videos are without any dint of new-agey pretensions on content marketing. Ultimately, the lesson here, at least in a marketing sense, is about speaking to and the ennoblement of the human core where authenticity is the main currency. I've gleaned so much from the lectures. They're - in no small measure - going to serve as guideposts in navigating through the world. I'm currently reading Beyond Order and I can see how it's an essential companion to 12 Rules. Above all, I'm grateful to have discovered Jordan and the message he carries. A big respect on how he connects different domains of knowledge and more importantly how he synthesises the sacred with the secular. It reminds of Einstein's quote on the symbiotic relevance of Science and Religion. What a great and erudite human. What an incredibly mysterious and beautiful world too.
April 30, 2021
Incredibly insightful and eye-opening analysis. Seriously profound work based on Maps of Meaning.
February 19, 2024
Incredible
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