I am reminded of my tenure living on this planet. I am not old, but I am seasoned. I take a lot for granted. Life in America is supreme. We still value our 1stamendment. I exercise this liberty daily. I was lucky to be born here, and inherit a rich tradition of western thought. It’s almost impossible to trace how I came to this place philosophically. People often overlook the knowledge they’ve gained. I find it interesting to let my mind wander, and see what I can drudge up from the grey wrinkly depths of my not so optimal brain. Did I mention I was a low achiever?
Not all knowledge is common. I know nothing about a lot of things. I know a good amount about certain things. Nobody can know it all. Sometimes there is a time to pause the studies, and put knowledge into practice. I’ve known many folks, especially while living in NYC, who had continued on in academia. I was often unimpressed with them. Many of the folks aforementioned were not impressive, because they barely acted. I realized that being a part of academia was not enough to make somebody smart. It seemed like they had decision paralysis. Most things in the academic world are theoretical, and as a result lead to nowhere substantial. I think a component of intelligence is how we utilize the information we’ve absorbed. We cannot get substance without effort. Simply putting “knowledge” in our skulls is not enough to be considered smart.
I think of Kung Fu. I pull from martial arts as metaphor constantly. If you’ve visited my blog before then you’ll be expecting this. We’ve never seen Kung Fu in the cage. When two fighters meet to battle in a MMA match they use almost everything but Kung Fu. I’ve never seen JKD used either, BTW. I’ve seen solid wrestlers, kick-boxers and Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in the cage. This is where the theoretical meets the actual. We see that in practice the truth emerges. The theoretical need to be implemented, in order to be proven true.
Jordan B. Peterson, author of “12 Rules for Life”, puts these theories to the test. He worked as a clinical psychologist, professor and pundit. He is a father, husband and voracious reader. Peterson is intelligent. He is not only intelligent based on simple acquisition of knowledge. He is intelligent based on how he’s manifested these hard earned teachings. His book is a book about practical steps one can take in order to bring order to life. “The state of being is suffering”, says Peterson. Life is in constant change. This leads to chaos. There is never a point where comfort is eternal. We go through cycles of comfort, suffering, comfort followed by more suffering.
It seems bleak, but we can mitigate the suffering. We have tools at our disposal to make the most out of this tragic circumstance. We have knowledge and tradition. If you’re lucky then you have a good family too. We also have the tools of mindset, and how to put them into action.
That’s the key word here: action. We need to act. We don’t want to be the person who just absorbs without implementing hard earned truths. Action is essential to bring order to chaos. Action without knowledge leads to a phenomenon like the leftist gang called, Antifa.
In closing, do your Jiu-Jitsu. Learn it, practice it and then implement the teachings. Don’t just fart around with the theoretical, and expect it to get you order. We can’t expect to be perfect or perfectly correct. We can take theory out into the world, and see what happens. Do yourself a favor though. Before you go out there into the cruel world ready to battle buy yourself a copy of Jordan Peterson’s book!