Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief

I just finished reading Maps of Meaning for the 4th time, and only now do I feel comfortable posting a review for this remarkable and staggering book. Maps of Meaning is the most meaningful and interesting book that I have ever read. It's a very hard book to read in many ways, intellectually and emotionally, but it is absolutely worth it. MoM is also the most practically useful "self-help" book I have ever come across, and I have found it deeply transformative in my personal life in many ways. I can't recommend it enough, and I think this book should be taught in every school.I have spent much of the last decade trying to answer a question: "What are stories/narratives made out of?". This question has driven much of my private reading, and I have read a lot of books about the structure of narratives, from Aristotle to Joseph Campbell to Robert McKee and many others. But Jordan Peterson is on another level when it comes to answering this question. MoM is the most high-fidelity articulation of the structure and architecture of narratives that I have ever come across. Peterson lays out an extremely detailed framework for understanding narrative structure, and grounds this framework in the latest psychology and neuroscience research. MoM was enormously helpful for me to understand the structure of narratives and stories. So if you are interested at all in storytelling/narratives/marketing, you will truly love this book and find it practically very useful.Deeper than answering my questions about stories though, Peterson articulates a rational framework for understanding our relationship with the transcendant/divine. I have read the complete works of Carl Jung and have found his rational framework for understanding the transcendant (The "Collective Unconscious", Shadow, Anima, Animus, Self etc) very interesting and helpful. But Peterson's framework for rationally understanding the transcendant/divine (Unknown, Known, Knower, Precosmogonic Chaos) seems to go deeper than Jung, and is grounded more in the latest neuroscientific research. Our modern scientific minds are in desperate need of a rational framework for understanding our relationship with the irrational transcendant, and Peterson has done an extremely admirable job of solving this problem. So if you are interested in the works of Jung, or are trying to find a rational way to understand your relationship with the transcendant, this is the book for you.One area of MoM that I found very helpful in the context of Jung's work is the final chapters of MoM about Alchemy. I have read Jung's work on alchemy, and although I found it deeply interesting and engaging, it was very hard for me to get at what he was talking about. Peterson's chapter on Alchemy is a fantastic introduction to Jung's alchemy work, and goes deeper than Jung in some key ways. Peterson does an incredible job mapping the heroic pattern of action to the process the alchemist's projected into their attempts to transform base metals into gold. I have always been stunned by Jung's work in alchemy, but it wasn't until I read Maps of Meaning that I really started to understand it. So if you are interested in Jung and Alchemy, I'm sure you will find this book deeply interesting and helpful.Peterson's conclusion in MoM is a fascinating and deep idea that I am still trying to wrap my head around: "the divinity of interest". Peterson lays out an argument that our sense of meaning/interest is guided by the transcendant divine, and that the proper path to heroic action is to follow your sense of meaning/interest to its end. He also lays out the adversarial patterns of action, how they reject meaning/interest, and how this shirking of responsibility and rejection of meaning (through the lie) is the core act of evil. Peterson showed me that my sense of meaning/interest is divine, and that following my sense of meaning to its end is how I can interface with the divine in my own personal life. Since reading MoM my life has certainly become more meaningful, and following my sense of meaning has quite radically transformed my life direction. Finding this deeper sense of meaning has come through accepting deeper responsibility though, so I have also had an increase in conscious suffering during this time. But as Peterson lays out in MoM, if you accept the burden of responsibility and accept your deepest suffering, you will find the meaning within that will allow you to transcend that suffering. Peterson's conclusion to Maps of Meaning, the "divinity of interest", is a staggering idea that I am barely able to wrap my head around, but after acting this idea out in my life, I can see that it is deeply important. So if you are looking for meaning in your life, and trying to understand the relationship between meaning and your own Good/Evil actions, this book should be a great guide for you.It's difficult to write a comprehensive review for such a foundational and groundbreaking book. I personally think that Maps of Meaning is one the most important scientific/philosophical/religious works of the 20th/21st centuries, and perhaps human history. Peterson has provided us with a high-fidelity framework for understanding how we humans behave, and more importantly, how we can behave heroically in the face of the ever-present Unknown. It's going to take another 30-50 years before people truly start to truly understand the value of Peterson's great work, and I daresay that this book will have a huge impact on the future of humanity.Bravo, Jordan Peterson. God bless you for creating such a useful masterpiece. I will continue to read Maps of Meaning every year, and I'm looking forward to reading it a 5th time and a 6th time and many more times to come. Like I said above, Maps of Meaning is the most meaningful and important book that I have ever read. I don't think I have ever read a book 4 times before. It's a very tough read to get through, but it's worth it. If you are curious about stories/narratives, or if you are a fan of Jung and psychology, or if you are simply trying to figure out how to live your life meaningfully, I highly recommend Maps of Meaning, and I hope it is as meaningful for you as it is for me.

Sent it to my brother in Prison. He and the other inmates are spellbound by the contents of the book. Two other inmates have ordered it while my brother finishes it.Update December 2018:My brother recently finished this book for the second time. He told me that it changed how he sees the world overall. That it helped him understand why he did what he did. And how he could change for the better. That he is capable of the evilest of evils. But also that he is capable of the best of the good...My brother and I lost our father suddenly in 2016. He had a terrible time with it as he could not attend my Father's funeral service as he was sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence. I had a hard time myself. But I made it a point to be the strongest and most reliable person at my fathers funeral. I felt like I had no other choice, I was the oldest and legally had to take care of a lot. Then Jordan Peterson came on the scene. You know, that famous JRE episode in 2016. It validated so much for me. Why I was having a hard time at university (SJWs). And how I conducted myself with my father's death. Then I looked up this book and immediately sent it to my brother. To my surprise, he read it within a few months. When he called to tell me about it, I was not only impressed with how much he grasped, but also how he saw himself in everyone; how he saw everyone in himself; it surprised me how much of an intellectual education he gained as well as a spiritual one.I am proud to say that he has been on an upward spiral. My brother's positive changes can't all be blamed on Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning, but it certainly is high up on the hierarchy of things that motivated him to change. Now he is the chaplain's assistant, he mentors and leads groups for men in prison, he has lost a significant amount of weight through his cross-fit regimen, and he finds meaning in some of the most mundane tasks. In fact, yesterday he called and said he had to clean toilets. The worse job in prison. But he decided to be the best toilet cleaner he could possibly be. Interestingly, he felt peace. He found meaning doing that.So what's the conclusion? Well, time will tell. But I will say this, I just paid to higher him a parole attorney. It is possible after serving 4 years in prison that he might get out in 2019. If he can find peace, meaning, and perspective in prison then I believe he will do great things out in the real world.If you read this Dr. Jordan Peterson I want to thank you for the influence you have had on life of my brother and myself. I finally have my brother back.April 2020 Update:Y'all, my brother Dane got parole! The Texas Parole Division granted him parole and now he is coming to live with me. Thank you, Jordan Peterson for teaching me how to have a more meaningful life. Not only do I have an apartment for my cat, fish, and various plants; but also for my brother who is coming home.