In the middle of May, I went to a lecture by Jordan Peterson. [Some readers won’t know who that is. Some will immediately exclaim in disgust and horror. That latter aren’t my readers. Bye now.] [Really, I have lots of other snarky comments but I’ll refrain for the sake of those who stay.] Some quick background on Dr Peterson. He’s a Canadian who emerged as a phenomenon around 2020 with his book 12 Rules for Life. Around the same time, he started getting canceled for his opinions and appearing on various network shows where he often calmly argued with hosts. He’s a self-proclaimed conservative who understands the value of progressivism.
He has a massive following despite having had videos thrown off YouTube, [or because of it,] being fired from his job as a professor at the University of Toronto, and now, Ontario has forbidden him from practicing psychology. What is clear is that the man had something to lose by speaking his mind and he still did so. His words resonate. Recently, he’s come to the conclusion that Christianity is the best story for the people of the Western World to follow and this is the subject of his current work in progress.
As Pagans, we ignore this at our peril. There is a Christian revival in the works. But it’s not my intention to raise fear. That’s a bad story with no satisfactory conclusion. [I am seriously all about happy endings.] Within Dr Peterson’s lecture, I found something better for Pagans to reach for.
Like most Christians, Peterson has no idea that Paganism exists as a religion or that it’s practiced by good people who have lives and values not so different from their own. Nor did his business partner, who introduced him to the audience. [Not going into their errors and they were mercifully brief.] Nonetheless, this is a popular and influential person who’s spreading inaccurate ideas. [The gods just kicked me as I wrote this and told me to write the man a letter. I’ll do it, while rolling my eyes. They don’t care as long as I do what they tell me.]
Aside from that, the lecture was about how we use story to direct our attention to things that matter. He used the Biblical tales of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel as illustrations. However, he’s also talked about the Enuma Elish and the story of Osiris. Peterson’s methods have been good tools me. He’s not by nature a creative. However, he’s a conservative who loves art, literature, and comedy, and grasps the primal importance of those endeavors. He reaches into those areas in the spirit of play, as a charismatic and severe man who’s willing to doodle a logo for himself, try writing a story, and risk telling a joke to his buttoned-up audience. [Seriously, everyone there was dressed like they were going to church and had the best damn posture I’ve ever seen.] [Being a massage therapist, I notice posture.]
At the end of the lecture, he answered a couple of pre-prepared audience questions. One was about how you could know your kids were doing well. He responded that if your children played, things were good. He also applied that to relationships of all kinds. Play is critical to human development throughout life.
Pagans are very good at play.
How many of us are artists, for whom creating is the best play there is? How many of us love going to Ren Faire, SCA, Comic cons, festivals, and even historical re-enactments so we can dress up, and guise? Even Dr Peterson would agree this is a very sophisticated level of adult play. [If it was on his radar, which I don’t think it is.] Ritual is also a form of play if done well. Ritual is performance. Ritual is magic. Good ritual creates a safe container for spontaneous change.
We are also great at creating those containers. At Rites of Spring, I watched a men’s ritual that involved grappling. This was a new thing at the event, and there was some controversy about it. The concern was that someone might get hurt. A fair argument, in that the exploration of masculine energy involves risk. But the man who’d proposed the idea made a good argument and the ritual went forward. Someone did get hurt. Physically. But emotionally, he was different, both stronger and more kind. There is power in understanding the limits of one’s strength. Among men in particular, it is a necessity if they are to be whole. Without the container, the agreement that everyone is there in good faith and with only the intention to have fun and grow, it’s war and potentially trauma. [I could go on here, but I’ll save it for another post.]
If my Protestant upbringing had had more of the spirit of play, maybe, I would have stayed in the Christian community. But then again, maybe not. My idea of play didn’t include team sports and sack races. [Not kidding about the sack races.] Play is the ability to agree with another person that we will explore a territory. My Christian communities had no interest in exploring the territory that pulled at me. Play must have rules, but not so many that it keeps change from erupting like a fountain; order and chaos flowing into each other and in balance. The edges change, but too much order or too much chaos becomes destructive. Life [not just human life but all life] needs both.
I know [from hours of audio] that Dr. Peterson respects this. Honors it. I don’t know about his listeners. My goal is to gather and share as many tools as I can that will allow me to talk with Christians in a framework that makes sense and feels safe to them. I want to find a way to include them in play. That’s the ideal.
It will require a great deal of communication and voluntary cooperation. In order to do that, I have to be a better person, and I have to trust that my gods and ancestors will guide me in the right action. Then I have to accept the call and move.
I guess I better go write that letter.
Selina Rifkin, M.S. [Nutrition], LMT, has been to Hades in a handbasket. More than once. This has given her some opinions. She has direct communication with her gods and they’ve always given her answers when she asks. Like most of her generation [X] she’s okay with snark. Most days she tries for good writing. But the snark, and side comments creep in. Be warned.