Jordan Peterson (JBP) is a polarizing figure. When I reference or recommend him, there’s are people I know that refuse to even explore his work. “He’s dangerous,” they say. I’ve been following him through his rise, fall, and rebirth. His new book, Beyond Order, is coming out, and some people are pissed. Dr. Peterson’s story has been… intense. I have thoughts on that, but that’s not the point of this post.

During my months studying shamanism in Peru with Don Howard, he often repeated,

“We are all students. We are all teachers.”

He is one of the greatest teachers I’ve had in this lifetime.

What do Jordan Peterson, Don Howard, Philosopher Kings, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Elon Musk, Kayne West, Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Karl Marx, you, and I have in common?

All students. All teachers.

You don’t need to agree with someone to learn from them. You don’t even need to like them. But, you can learn. You don’t have to study JBP, but you probably shouldn’t give your opinion about his teachings without doing so. You don’t have to assume that someone who is a supporter or student of a teacher blindly agrees with that teacher.

You can study. Deep devoted study on how to become the best version of yourself.

You can explore other perspectives, with a focus on what you want to learn. You can learn from other people’s experiences. You can find different modalities for expanding consciousness. I’ve been personally exploring the problem space around what a good plan for Humanity is to create a science-fiction World of Abundance that is actually feasible. But first, I need to clean my room.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"

The famous quote from Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural address on March 4, 1933 was originally inspired from the writings of Henry David Thoreau.

"Nothing is so much to be feared as fear."

It’s an ancient idea.

People are so afraid to explore ideas, as though some mind virus will infect their brain or someone else’s brain. However, the first step, I believe, is to have faith. Have faith in people. Have faith in Humanity. The youth these days are way more advanced than people give them credit for.

G Herbo is a 25 year old rapper from the streets of Chicago.

“You gotta, look, hold yourself accountable sometimes in these situations. What the fuck did I do wrong? When nobody’s there to be beneficial to you while you goin’ through your darkest times, nobody’s supposed to… That’s why they’re your darkest times.

It’s you that’s going through the situation. It’s you that’s in the streets. It’s you. It’s you. It’s your life. You’re gonna have to do all the uncomfortable shit to change your situation.”

G Herbo is sharing the same fundamental wisdom as Dr. Jordan Peterson. A Teacher. To his 5.9 million Instagram followers. To me. To all of us. Take personal responsibility for your life. Start there. I think we’re going to be okay.