Exploring Normativity and the Nature of Insight | 2min snip from The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

Speaker 2
really. That's why you're here, bro. By the way, I would love to talk to you on a spiritual and holistic level only any time you want, but that's probably not on the mic. Right.
Speaker 1
Well, it's funny because the songs really are my thoughts on the level that I can go. It's, you know, I'm trying to share the ones I've had. So there's a song called Turn Your Love I have. And it's, um, it was time to turn your love, give it back. It was when my dad was passing, you know, and I was like watching him and as I was right towards the end, and it was just like, for some reason, the metaphor of like turning a garden over came in my mind. So like the idea of you're putting it in, you're giving the energy back to this new thing that's going to grow. It's like compost. It's like soil compost. You know, it's like the energy doesn't, well, who knows what happens, but it's like, if it, if it isn't reincarnation, there's not a whole thing because to stay together, it's like the soul might just dissolve into this like energy that now I was able to feed the next thing. And it's, um, that's something that guy Zach and my band, we talk a lot about the mystical stuff. And so anyways, like soil compost is one theory we have might be the deal. And so yeah, turn in the garden, like turn it over, turn your love.
Speaker 2
How do you remember your dad? What is that? What is the strength you remember?
Speaker 1
He was very eccentric. Like he was just a sweetheart of a human, but he like, like the way he would father is like a lot of times he would say, the day I had all my bags packed, he'd be like, you sure he want to go over to California? I guess where he grew up, you know, and then he moved to Hawaii when he was 20. He sailed there and raised us in Hawaii. And then he was like, there's a lot of people over there, you know, and he started like, you know, he's doubts in my mind to like kind of make sure that I really want to do it. And then he was like, what are you going to study? And I was like, I don't know yet. And he's like, do you think about being an actuary? And I was like, I didn't even know what it is. I look it up, you know, and then it's basically it's like somebody who sets insurance rates. And so like, but he's like the most, he's like somebody who built boats and like sailed and did all this like just outer stuff. And then, but he's telling me I should be coming actuary. And then it's like, so then not even kidding. I started studying like statistics at college because I was like, I guess like I had no direction. I was like, maybe I'll be an actuary. And my wife, luckily, we had a math class together. And she was like tutoring me. We were boyfriend girlfriend at the time. We didn't get married that young, but we met at 18. And she was like, you got to find a different major. Like this isn't for you. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2
But anyways, it was just funny because he was like, I think he was. Yeah, did you ever get to the bottom where he was going? I mean, most parents will have a pretty surface idea about what that was. Yeah. You know, which is a sort of, it's kind of a lesson and it's a, and it's a, it's a sort of dare at the same
Speaker 1
time. I think it was what it is is he realized, and it's something I'm not that good at doing is like, you almost want to go exact opposite of what your father tells you sometimes.
Speaker 2
So exactly. That's the dare. That's the dare part. And the lesson is, the, the lesson
Speaker 1
is. And he knew that he was like, he didn't want me to be an actuary. No.
Speaker 2
But he would be like, maybe you should go for that. But what he's saying is like, what's your, what's your plan B? Mm. Yeah. And if you don't like that question, you better seriously commit to a brand A.
Speaker 1
He was always there for us, but he would also like take off. He was somebody who knew how to sail really well. And so he would, people would hire him to like, sometimes people will sail one direction, cause it's the easy route to say, go from California to Hawaii is a downwind. Yeah. But like people would hire him to bring their boats back sometimes, you know, like the ways that he just loved being out in the ocean by himself. So he would go with a few friends. So sometimes he would just disappear for like a month when we were little kids, you know, and my mom would just be around and we'd be like, where'd that go again? She's like, oh, he's, and she shows like a map. He's like down here in Tahiti and he'll be back. I want a free life. But it's before phones and stuff. So we just wouldn't talk to him for a month or two. You know what I mean? But it wasn't all the time, but I was like, sometimes in the summer, he would get hired to go like sail somebody's boat. And so that was like always like a trippy deal. It was like a little bit of an odyssey kind of thing. Like where's the, where's that again? Like, should we go find them? Gee, I wonder if that, I wonder if that influence to even just in your subconscious somewhat and with your desire to, you know, you're a traveler. Yeah. I mean, it's different. Yeah. You're not on a sailboat in the elements, but you're definitely out there. You know, I'm going to go ahead and say this right now, but it's funny because I could be ruining myself. I never seen the movie. And I don't know why. I can't believe I'm going to go watch it tonight. But my dad used to always, when the music got real popular, in the very beginning, he would be like, you sure you want that? That seems like kind of strange, you know, like, did you sure you want all that? And I would have to kind of be like, I don't know, you know, whatever. And it kept growing and it was a lot of my control, but obviously you have control. You have to make a decision. Yeah. And then he was like, what's everybody's like, what do you think everybody's seeing in your music? What is it? There's a try. And then he would be like, I think you're a little bit like Chance the Gardener. He in a, like a being there, I guess. And it's like, I can't, every single go watch it now and be like, Oh my God, it's like, his dad thought of, but it's like this character, I guess that was just saying things he was actually seeing. Oh, I got
Speaker 2
your head as a
Speaker 1
thing. And everybody would think it was a metaphor and every sort of, I guess, thinking that this gardener was like poetic, but the gardener wasn't even in on it. He just was saying things you see. And my dad kind of, he would always think of me like that. He's like, I think people might be reading into your songs more than you are intending to even be writing, you know, can I drop one for whatever he is? And I have to do that because that is like, love your dad. That's such a beautiful moment, man.

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