Raising children and feeling valued
Jordan, thank you for the many hours of lectures and conversations that are available online. My Dad (and hero) suggested your lectures to me in late 2018, and as a stay at home mother of 5, listening to you speak has been an immeasurable source of learning, growth and reassurance for me. For someone to highlight the importance of rules, values and hierarchy in a society that seems to have lost its way with respect to these, your work is so necessary and I thank God you are able to continue this, I hope and pray for many many years. What advice can you give to a conscientious mother of 5, who studied law at University then chose to stay in the home to raise 5 children and who now struggles with feeling undervalued by society, as it seems to place a higher value on women in the workforce than those working in the home raising children? For many years now I have struggled with a sense of being under valued for the decision to raise my children at home and postpone "career" opportunities (just a job really). Especially since the pandemic, the term "essential worker" meant many could continue to work under the guise of being more "essential" than others (I do not mean those front line health carers in hospitals etc but simply those who didn't want the hassle of juggling zoom meetings and their children under the same roof), while those parents who schooled their children at home during lockdowns went through a period of extreme difficulty, some juggling both their small children and those needing support to get through their school work. I can't figure out if my resentment stems from the need for me to just grow up (and only compare myself to who I was yesterday, rather than to others) or to try and transform my agreeable personality, instead of wanting to feel valued by society/others. While I value my choice to stay at home and believe it to be a worthwhile one, I feel at odds with society and it's difficult to just say, I don't care what others think. I have one son with a developmental delay, diagnosed with autism and who struggles socially, and the extra challenges we face as a family with his needs, has increased my resentment towards those who appear to handball their duty as a parent under the guise of pursuing a career. I personally feel that it is a challenging task to stay in the home with your children mentally and physically (having been in the workforce before raising children, the latter has been far more challenging) and while I believe it's a wonderful thing for women to work and feel valued in that, even necessary for some to make ends meet, the social norm seems to have shifted so that a stay at home mother of preschool age children is the exception to the rule and as a result not considered as valuable as a working mother. I cannot understand why society does not seem to hold it as a higher value, than it currently seems to, the decision for a woman to adopt the responsibility of her role as wife and mother to bring her meaning and purpose. I have spent many years on volunteer committee roles (and stretched myself and given too much time to these) to some degree, to justify my existence in society and make up for my decision to be in the home and not to work. After listening to you speak about resentment, I scaled back on too many volunteer roles, as I could see myself growing resentful and being taken for granted. In essence, can you shed any light on how to stop feeling at odds with what society seems to value in this context and feel at peace with sticking to my value structure, or am I just perceiving things incorrectly?
Can my obsession with ideas make me money?
I'm obsessed with ideas, have been for 15 years (I'm 27). I'm earning a humanities degree so far 4 classes in I have a 4.0 GPA, finally proud of myself. But I really don't know where it will take me. I'm hoping I can make money with this degree. My goal is to buy a house in a market that induces prolonged debt/slavery(? For lack of a better phrase). I'm curious what you would have to say about a humanities degree at the current state of things. I would love to be a creative, but my poetry is dark, sad and probably not a money maker.
Have you considered looking at Maps of Meaning/Biblical Interpretation through the lens of Game Theory?
Hi Dr Peterson, you talk a lot about Morality emerging through evolution. Have you ever tried to look at this from a different perspective? e.g. Game Theory - where Survival of the fittest is the game, and Morality is the archetypal most ideal strategy. This lines up well with Bret Weinstein's theory of Lineage selection which is a bioevolutionary perspective of the same thing. And you can even look at the bible through this lens, where the bible explains the same concept through a psychological/mythical perspective.
Career Advice for Theoretical Mathematician
I am a theoretical mathematician in the last year of my PhD. I enjoy the research that I am doing and have some level of competence in my area of study. I do not want to stop doing mathematics research after I graduate. While I am competent and connected enough to pursue a postdoc position after graduating, I have decided not to for two reasons. First, academic environments are highly political and toxic. I am sure that you have experienced this yourself. I don't want to spend my entire life working in a den of snakes. Second, the financial situation of the US is rapidly deteriorating and the salary offered by a postdoc is not appropriate for the stage of life I am entering. I have decided to go to industry and have made steps towards that goal, like pursuing internships, etc. During these internships, I have realized that its difficult to sustain meaningful creative mathematical work while working a demanding industry research position. I am afraid that I will die a mathematical death after graduating, that my skills will began to erode and I won't have the time or energy to put in the work needed to continue down this path. Do you have advice for someone who wants to pursue creative work in a demanding and competitive field, but is constrained by the economic realities of life?
Can I be who god told me I am
I recently had a strange experience in which I met God and the Devil. I was always a believer in God but not religiously. They answered a lot of questions. It was weird. They let me trust my instincts. I have very good instincts (always have but know I trust them 100%) They told me to value my time (even more than I already have. And now I live with the anguish that I am not doing the right thing with my time. My question is ¿How can I trust what is in me when no one else understands but myself? And how can you Jordan, understand my story? (You must know who I am to truly understand the question)