A Game On Level Ground is
A Painful Trudge Uphill For Jordan Peterson

"In a crisis, the inevitable suffering that life entails can rapidly make
a mockery of the idea that happiness is the proper pursuit of the individual." 

"Perhaps happiness is always to be found in the journey uphill, and not
in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at the next peak."

Jordan Peterson in 12 Rules For Life.

Happiness Is Not An Uphill Journey

For Jordan Peterson, happiness is not a helpful pursuit for the individual, since it is hard to find  either in life's uphill struggles or in those rare glimpses from the top.  But, this is not true.  Your life need not be an uphill struggle and happiness can be your natural state.  You may experience life to be as stressful and tiring as a climb uphill.  But that weary view is an illusion played by the blob of jelly imprisoned in your skull.  When you are able to break that emotional illusion, happiness can become your natural state.

It is true that life is uncertain and anything can happen; pain, frustration of your cherished goals, competition, loss, or bullying; or a sad loss of any meaning in life. The instant you face any of these issues, nature has coded your blob of jelly to use programmed responses to deal with it. Those emotional responses could be fear, anger, envy, guilt, disappointment, low self esteem, sadness, or a futile search for meaning.

These emotions decide the angle of each slope.  Nature has assembled within the jelly your emotional strategies gleaned from school yard torments and ancient battles.  When these emotions come to life, your road ahead tilts upwards into a climb.  In the midst of the daily grind, a simple put down by a shop assistant is enough to change the slope of your road. The herd logic of public shame set the slope in the jelly years ago after the catcalls of a childhood bully. A twinge in your chest indicates the increase in slope.

But, primeval emotions are preparing your body for non-existent threats. The urge to bolt on hearing the growl of a tiger is an outmoded body strategy for coping with a court summons. The urge to run will be having distinct physical symptoms in your body. That urge is your illusion of a change in slope.  The bells and whistles are indicating to you that the slope is changing.

But, nature did not abandon you.  Common sense is coexisting in the jelly with all the emotions. The weapon of knowledge can be placing it in charge. Know the stresses applied by their primeval herd logic, such as public shame.  Know the physical symptoms set off by an imagined change in slope. Become aware.  Each time you identify the signals of a change in slope, common sense in the blob of jelly will level the slope. It takes time to learn to identify the illusion.

Your awareness stills the emotions.  The slope is only an illusion.  A twinge in your chest reduces to just a twinge.  That discomfort is as easy to watch as a bird in the sky. Imagine the steep mountains ahead crumbling into the bumps and potholes of simple twitches and pinpricks. Accept the bumps. Cherish the joys.

Become self aware.  Your common sense will level the road ahead and happiness will come with simple meaningful work.  Even polishing silver can be meaningful.

Effective Mind Control is about the primitive logic of emotions and the
simple routines for leveling the road to live happily.