Jordan Peterson: Return of the The Age of Endarkenment

When religion was under siege in the enlightenment Kant saved it from extinction with his anfractious philosophical circumlocutions setting in train the hideoous ratiocinations of lesser Kantians from Schopenhaur Kierkergard Nietzche and the fruitcake company of Post Modernists to the present day no platforming anti free speech multiculturalist quasi fascist political correctness crowd.

Now they have a new champion in Jordan Peterson the youtube poster boy of alienated males  who ostensibly opposed to them is reintroducing a whole new dark age revival under the guise of a psychological analysis of mythical archetypes with a plethora of Jungisms and sociological tropes thrown in for good measure.

A full-on defense and promotion of religion faith and mysticism would not get too far in an age where only 5% of British people even go to church so a novel approach was required. How to present religion faith and mysticism in an interesting unthreatening non-doctrinal non preachifying way without attracting the ire of the new atheists -how effectively to spread the word by flying under false colours of neutral investigation, in the guise of an objective psychological enquiry into the religious mythos.

Thus it was that Jordan Peterson has achieved the seemingly impossible of almost single handedly bringing religion back from the dead and presenting it as a perfect template for understanding modern times,a valid guide and and aid to navigating the perils of the human existential plight.

Herein lies the rub for the very notion that Peterson propounds -that man is born into an existential dilemna and haunted by malevolence at every turn is nothing but an asertion built on sand, on the shaky shot to pieces and discredited and exploded biblical theory of original sin,the Fall, man as a cursed being wandering around beyond the firmly closed gates of Eden,buffeted by the cold winds of circumstance and biologically conditioned moreover to falter and fail through the matrix of his wretched life unless armed with the super consciousness of self awareness that will set him free which itself is a thinly veiled modernised version of religious redemption and salvation through good works.

Not since Kant himself has someone attempted to revive religious faith through such devious underhanded means and one can only marvel at the genius of the execution,the flair and aplomb involved in the operation - the sheer bare faced audacity of such chicanery.

It is hardly surprising that Jordon Peterson has become the champion of the religious right and the right in general with his anti feminist anti political correctness left positioning but those who believe in the smaller limited state should be extremely wary indeed of his solution to our present day ills if it leads straight back into the dark age mysticism from which the human race has only in such recent history so triumphantly and comprehensively extricated itself.