It is almost Christmas and everyone is getting prepared as much as they can. Why not clean up not only your house but also your heart, especially that one of the most influential youtubers of this year recommends it?
Jordan Peterson, a psychologist, philosopher, academic, YouTube phenomenon, and a major proponent of individual responsibility for one’s life and the world around, admitted on The Rubin Report that sometimes the load people take on themselves is just too much to bear and they need to come clean of their mistakes and faults. ‘You don’t have to be crushed into absolute dust by the fact that you’re not everything you should be’ he said to Ben Shapiro around 1:40:00 in. He noticed that it is easy to be cynical about and mock the Catholic sacrament of penance but then one might miss its real value of letting one live with the burden of being imperfect.
A few days later, Dr Peterson expanded on that thought on Jocko Willink’s podcast (around 1:08:00), where he praises the Church for getting the balance between the blame and mercy right by giving a chance to start anew without lifting the responsibilty for one’s wrongdoing off their shoulders. This responsibiity has to stay because, according to Peterson, ‘it’s either your fault or it’s someone else’s, and as soon as it’s someone else’s, then you’d better be careful because that idea (…) is definitely going to appeal to the worst in you.’
There is still a couple of days before Christ is born again. We all groan under the burden of the passing year. If you are Catholic, why not straighten your paths and give yourself a chance to start with a clean slate?