Jordan Peterson's book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is the number one bestseller all over the world. In it, using the archetypal psychology of Jung, Peterson finds universal human truths elucidated in Scripture.
According to Bishop Robert Barron, despite Peterson's serious engagement with the spiritual life and the history of religion, there is no evidence that the author believes in God in the traditional sense. Barron says, "No Christian should be surprised that the Scriptures can be profitably read through psychological and philosophical lenses, but at the same time, every Christian has to accept the fact that the God of the Bible is not simply a principle or an abstraction, but rather a living God who acts in history." (Foreword to Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity, 2021)
When asked if he were a Christian, Peterson's answer was, "I try to live as if God existed." This is not the flip answer it would appear on the surface. According to Peterson, once the world population reaches the tipping point wherein the majority of people (of whatever belief) do not "live as if God existed," we will have reached the tipping point of existence.
Having experienced two catastrophic hurricanes in the past 16 years, I see before my very eyes exactly what Peterson means. I am not ordinarily given to seeing pictures in cloud formations, but on the Tuesday morning after Hurricane Katrina, having spent the night in a school hallway with no food, no water, no flushing toilets, and very little breatheable air, I was lying on the grass outside of the building looking up at the sky. I had heard from my fellow refugees about the looting and shooting going on in New Orleans, and I was concerned about my husband in the French Quarter. It so happened that the t-shirt I was wearing pictured Michaelangelo's Creation scene, where the Creator is separating light from darkness. I could hardly believe my eyes -- and I will not deny that my imagination was probably overwrought at that point -- but there it was in the clouds above me: all by itself in an otherwise empty sky, there He was, with outstretched hand, commanding Light to overcome the darkness and chaos.
I could not help but reflect on what I was seeing and experiencing at the moment: a time of clear light and clear darkness---there were no grey areas after such a disaster. All around me in the shelter, people were helping one another, cleaning up their common areas, sharing what little food they had brought with them the day before, and hosing one another off in the extreme heat outside the building. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, in the absence of first responders who were busy rescuing people from rooftops and attics, looters were breaking storefront windows and carrying off television sets, electronic equipment, and whatever they could carry. A good many of them were carrying guns in case someone tried to stop them. Even the police were fearful of the utter chaos that ruled in the city.
So here we are again, following Hurricane Ida, sixteen years later. People are reaching out all over the city and the United States to feed, shelter, water, and care for the sick of those who are helpless, going to great lengths and extreme sacrifice to help one another. The city of Ocean Springs and the Gulf Hills subdivision have banded together to feed refugees from neighboring New Orleans and are serving hot meals each evening to those who have found their way to that location. One man from Marrero drove his truck to Mississippi searching for gasoline to run his neighbor's generator because she is on oxygen and needs electricity to generate the oxygen she needs.
Meanwhile, a few looters in New Orleans are finding what they can and loading up their cars with stolen goods, not necessities. One man complained on facebook that his neighbor has a loose shutter that is keeping him awake at night. [Give me a break.....go fix the shutter and shut up!]
In time of disaster, those who live "as if God existed," despite their beliefs, shine as stars in a dark universe, as St. Peter described it. In Genesis, the Word of God reaches beneath the chaos and draws out light and order. That word/Word still speaks in today's chaos, overcoming the darkness and restoring light.
Once we reach the point where those who fail to live as if God existed overcome and outnumber the others, we are doomed.
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