How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr Jordan B Peterson. He's a clinical psychologist, podcaster, speaker and an author. Finding meaning in the modern world can be a difficult task. When life is convenient and comfortable, discovering our purpose and facing hard things can be increasingly tough, but there are some reliable routes toward the greatest adventure of your life. Expect to learn why you are morally obligated to do remarkable things, where the most important adventure is to be found in life. My war on cynicism, the delusions that destroy your happiness, Jordan's opinion on Douglas Murray, why you don't want to be Elon Musk, why the world has abandoned a belief in God, what it's like to work with Ben Shapiro, whether universities are salvageable and much more. So so much to take away from today. I really enjoyed these conversations with Jordan. It's been 18 months since he was on the show, and it feels like the world has changed an awful lot in the interim, so very good to sit down and catch up about what he's been working on. Also, don't forget that you might be listening but not subscribed, and that means you will miss episodes when they go up. So navigate to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and press the subscribe button. I thank you. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr Jordan B Peterson. You say you are morally obligated to do remarkable things. Why?

**Jordan Peterson** (1:45)
Well, I think partly because life is so difficult and challenging that unless you give it everything you have, the chances are very high that it will embitter you, and then you'll be a force for darkness and not good. And so, you know, the fact that life is short and can be brutal can terrify you into hiding and avoiding, but it can also, you can flip that on its head and understand that since you're all in anyways, you might as well take the risks that are adventurous. And that's a very good thing to understand.
And what is also useful to understand in that manner is that there isn't anything more adventurous than the truth. This is something that took me a long time to figure out. Well, you can craft your words to get what you want. You know, when people do that all the time, they craft their words so they can avoid taking responsibility for things they should take responsibility for, or they can craft the words to gain an advantage that they really don't deserve. That's what you do when you manipulate. And the problem with that, you might say, well, why not do that if I can get what I want? And the answer to that is, you aren't necessarily the best judge of what you need, and it's easy to be deluded in what you want. And that's the sort of delusions that people chase if they chase power. If you decide instead that you're going to just say what you believe to be true, you have to let go of the consequences. And you might think, well, I don't want to let go of the consequences because I want to control what's going on. But what you miss then is adventure. Because if you don't control what's going on, you don't know what the hell is going to happen. And maybe that's exciting. And actually, there's no doubt about it. And then you have the additional advantage if you're attempting to say what you believe to be true and attempting to act in the manner that you think is most appropriate. That's genuinely you. And you have the force of reality behind you. Obviously, that's what you have if you're trying to, say, live in the truth as you have the force of reality behind you. That seems like a good deal. Then you have the reality and the adventure. So why is that a moral obligation? Well, if you hide and you don't let what's inside of you out and you don't bring into the world what you could bring and you become cynical and bitter, you will start doing very dark things. So you'll start, not only will you not add to the world what you could add, but you'll start being jealous of people who are competent and doing well and work to destroy them. So that's the pathway to hell, really.

**Chris Williamson** (4:39)
One of the trends that I've been railing against most recently has been cynicism. There's this pervasive belief that everything is terrible and it can't get better. And the people who believe that it can improve are dumb and delusional and the problem.
And I don't know where it comes from. I don't like it.