The Fog🌫️

There is a rule in dr. Jordan B. Peterson's latest book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life whose meaning I would like to share on this issue, as a way of expanding on it, as well as analyze what seems to be a truth in life that can be noticed widely among individuals, if one observes carefully. It's rule 3: Do not hide unwanted things in the fog.

The seemingly simple yet world-encompassing tagline needs a deep explanation (as clinical psychologist Jordan B. Peterson does in the book) in order to be grasped properly. It's a concept that embraces a quite common pattern in human beings. A pattern that is, however, rarely addressed because of its potentially big repercussions and fear-struck nature. It is *hiding things in the fog. *A pattern that makes our present selves abdicate from facing *the fog *to not get hurt in the short term. But the long-term effects of not facing the fog can compound over time, and potentially be catastrophic (for whatever this can mean for alive people). Dr. Jordan Peterson describes the fog in this way:

"The fog that hides is the refusal to notice—to attend to—emotions and motivational states as they arise, and the refusal to communicate them both to yourself and to the people who are close to you."

There is often at least one "unresolved" endeavor occurring in our lives at any given time. Sometimes, what bothers us is something we are faced with every day. Not addressing that problem ("having the damn fight") can result in unexpected "Volcano-like explosions" at some point in the future. No matter how agreeable we are. Willful blindness (as Jordan Peterson underlines) occurs when we know there is something uncomfortable worth exploring to better our existence, but we cease to explore (or don't start at all) so that we avoid the potential pain arising from the exploration.

"Failing to look under the bed when you strongly suspect a monster is lurking there is not an advisable strategy."

— Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order

Corruption, as Jordan Peterson points out, does not only happen through *commission *(purposeful acts) but also *omission *(failing to "look under the bed when you suspect a monster is lurking there"). Ultimately, our lives are made of habits, and it is well worth, according to the school of thought presented here, "getting what repeats right" (Jordan B. Peterson, 2021). The alternative is willful blindness. It is potential overwhelming regret and a constant state of lingering anxiety. It is potentially having to face much larger repercussions in the future, "when we are least prepared" and the door of our piled-up closet will open, suddenly and unstoppably, burying us in the darkest tier of existence.

"If you truly wanted, perhaps you would receive, if you asked. If you truly sought, perhaps you would find what you seek. If you knocked, truly wanting to enter, perhaps the door would open. But there will be times in your life when it will take everything you have to face what is in front of you, instead of hiding away from a truth so terrible that the only thing worse is the falsehood you long to replace it with."

— Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order