“It is the things that occur every single day that truly make up our lives, and time spent the same way over and again adds up at an alarming rate.” - Jordan Peterson

That Fluctuating Bandwidth Is Annoying Me

Now, I mean, I’m Australian, so I understand bandwidth and having a cap on your internet but come on! I just wanted to make my daily posts on the same day :(. 

Maybe it’s a bit too much to ask?

But ah, it’s only a short-term problem.

As I grow I will be able to continue posting, even more and more if time allows it.

I’m a university student! Have some sympathy! 

Regardless. 

Today has been a good day! Just a few hours of work, then I went to have Korean barbecue with one of my friends! It was an upscale restaurant that cost a bit, but it was worth every penny and the marinated meat is to die for. 

I accept all future payment in the form of Korean barbecue, thank you.

Stats

Habit: Reading

Date: 13/02/2018

Currently Reading: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Previously Read: N/A

Pages Read Today (Minimum 10): 17

BOTD

Source

I’ll be honest. At face value, this chapter doesn’t seem like anything promising. 

Hell – I’m 19, I’m not going to have a child anytime soon. 

I don’t think I’m interested in children(?). 

I haven’t thought about boys or girls. I have focused on school for most of my life.

Kids cost money and I'm selfish. I don't want to share any of my money as of yet.

Having kids was never a dream of mine anyways.

But I'm not going to skip past this chapter - that's ridiculous!

Chapter 5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything That Makes You Dislike Them

Order and Discipline.

Not only does Peterson bring forth reasonable arguments as to why parents should stand their ground and say 'no' appropriately to their children, but he also relates it back to history and simple metaphors which allows us to understand the point he is trying to prove.

Underneath our complex social and cultural structures, we are simply primitive beings who deal with situations based off of millions of years of development.

“It’s foolish to assume that such behavior must be learned. A snake does not have to be taught to strike. It’s in the nature of the beast.”

Violence in a child is not taught by their parents, it is taught by what has been engraved in us many years ago. We continue to strike out, but it is those responsible for us whohaves to show us where the boundaries are set.

One quote which I found interesting was this -

 “We assume that rules will irremediably inhibit what would otherwise be the boundless and intrinsic creativity of our children, even though the scientific literature clearly indicates, first, that creativity beyond the trivial is shockingly rare and, second, that strict limitations facilitate rather than inhibit creative achievement.”

Not so much related to children on my part, but with graphic design and the arts.

For my first semester of University I had a subject that was a free-for-all. Any person could make anything they wanted. Who cared about what was officially written about the subject? As long as it's vaguely similar.

I was stumped. I just couldn't create ideas on the spot, especially when it's a task. I can make ideas for the most silliest of things, but I was stumped for this subject.

I had to create rules for myself. The more boundaries I had, the more I could flex my creativity and create something good.

Too much freedom gave too many choices, and with too many choices came no decision at all.

On the topic of interesting quotes, there had been a few which piqued my interest, such as -

“And the less said about Unit 731, a covert Japanese biological warfare research unit established at that time, the better. Read about it at your peril. You have been warned.”

"It has been said that every individual is the conscious or unconscious follower of some influential philosopher."

“So, from a deep, biological perspective there are reasons why parents might favor sons sufficiently to eliminate female fetuses, although I am not claiming direct causality, nor suggesting a lack of other, more culturally-dependent reasons.”

The first quote for obvious reasons, being that as an adventurous soul, one just doesn't heed warnings, especially with the way Peterson writes and explains his thoughts. If he didn't want us to go read it, he wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

The second is because it made me think - who would I be following? I'm not that well versed in the realm of famous/influential philosophers, so that would be interesting to figure out.

The third is based on why parents may prefer sons more than daughters. It came down to this - Sons can produce as many children as they can, as long as they have access to many women. Down the line, they can have as many as a million descendants, whereas women can be limited in that aspect.

It's merely quotes that sparked a thought, I don't hold any particular opinion towards it.

All thoughts which I had in my brain have just diminished. I can't get a hold of what I was trying to say in regards to this chapter, especially with children. It'd be hypocritical of me to give advice to parents, especially when I'm not one myself.

So let me pass off this quote which also raised a few questions inside of my head.

 “Violence, after all, is no mystery. It’s peace that’s the mystery. Violence Is the default. It’s easy. It’s peace that is difficult: learned, inculcated, earned. (People often get psychological questions backwards. Why do people take drugs? Not a mystery. It’s why they don’t take them all the time that’s the mystery. Why do people suffer from anxiety? That’s not a mystery. How is that people can ever be calm? There’s the mystery. We’re breakable and mortal. A million things can go wrong, in a million ways. We should be terrified out of our skulls at every second. But we’re not. The same can be said for depression, laziness and criminality.)”

“When someone does something you are trying to get them to do, reward them.”

You know what that's implying, yeah?

I want you to consider the idea of following me. If you've done so, you get a nice enthusiastic high five.

You'll soon come to realize that you need my enthusiastic high fives, as a result of your positive feedback loop associating good behavior with tempting rewards, a.k.a my high five.

Another day is done!

Thanks for joining this ride! I hope you’ve enjoyed it thus far. 

Tell me what you think of the book at its current stage! What are your thoughts on the quotes given and questions raised?

And don’t forget to follow if you’d like to see more updates and thoughts from me,

C8!

Feel free to check out the day before! Click here!