Post: #14

(10-03-2017 02:37 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  Did he explain another viewpoint on dragons, such as very wise and intelligent beings, not necessary wanting to kill you? In far east we encounter those type of myths, but in west they are almost always the enemy.

Not so far, but I will provide a possible explanation. Peterson's point is that each time you confront something dangerous or troubling about yourself or the world, providing you emerge victoriously, you will learn something very valuable. Thus, each time a mythological hero defeats a dragon, he wins something of great power or value. Now, and admitting that my knowledge of eastern myths is close to none, I could make some assumptions about why dragons there are perceived as wise teachers.

The western attitude towards spiritual problems is combative, you have to either win salvation through sacrifices or to conquer the olympus through sheer force (a luciferian attitude). Meanwhile, in the East, both taoism and buddhism, but specially taoism, remain in contemplative silence before the problems at hand, listening, waiting. The attitudes are indeed very different between the intellectual struggles of saint Thomas and the simple and somewhat nihilistic stories of taoist books.

Extrapolating this to dragons, the western man will fight them (the problems) to death, both through big personal sacrifices and thanks to his power; the eastern man will, in contrast, will contemplate them as a pacient student, listening to and then using, the valuable lessons that the dragon could share.