Irony of Brexit is how ‘taking back control’ has brought UK such chaos
‘12 RULES for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’, Jordan Peterson’s book published by Penguin Random House, is as relevant to political conflicts like Brexit as it is to the individual to whom it is addressed.
In Rule Seven, “Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)”, Peterson describes his own search for meaning: “I was truly plagued with doubt. I had outgrown the shallow Christianity of my youth… After that I could not distinguish the basic elements of Christian belief from wishful thinking.
“The socialism that soon afterwards became so attractive to me as an alternative proved equally insubstantial; with time I came to understand through the great George Orwell that much of such thinking found its motivation in hatred of the rich and successful, instead of true regard for the poor.
“Besides, the socialists were more intrinsically capitalist than the capitalists. They believed just as strongly in money. They just thought that if different people had the money, the problems plaguing humanity would vanish.”
Equally insightful are the words by Dr Norman Doidge in his foreword: “Ideologies are simple ideas, disguised as science or philosophy, that purport to explain the complexity of the world and offer remedies that will perfect it. Ideologues are people who pretend they know ‘how to make the world a better place’ before they’ve taken care of their own chaos within. (The warrior identity that their ideology gives them covers over that chaos.)”
Other parts of the book discuss how strong our need is for order and principle. How we need rules, standards, values – alone and together; the importance of routine and tradition and walking the fine line between creative chaos and ordered structure so as to live a meaningful life.
Whether in the workplace or in the home it is a feeling of being out of control that is most stressful.
What an irony that the tag line of the Brexiteers was “Take back control” when the truth is that the act of leaving the European Union means Britain losing control and entering the realm of chaos.
I hear their tag line, if there is another referendum, is to be: “Tell them again.”
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, take note. Alison Hackett
Crosthwaite Park East, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin