Brian Edwards

Annotated Bibliography

Can Changing Yourself Change the World?

Brian Edwards
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1104
October 11, 2018
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Howes, Lewis, Responsibility and Meaning, School of Greatness Podcast, Jordan Peterson 8

Jul 2018, jordanbpeterson.com/transcripts/lewis-howes/, Accessed 18 Oct 2018

This is a transcript of Lewis Howes’ School of Greatness Podcast in which he talks with

Clinical psychologist and Professor at The University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson, about

the importance of responsibility and how that impacts your perception and feeling of

purpose in the world. Lewis Howes mentions Jordan Peterson’s new book, “12 Rules for

Life: An Antidote to Chaos” that suggests ways that a person can find direction and

mitigate the amount of problems in a life that is predicated on problems. Peterson

expounds on the idea of taking responsibility and that feeling in control allows for a

clearer mental state, “when you think about the times when you’re at peace with yourself,

with regards to how you’re conducting yourself in the world, it’s almost always

conditions under which you’ve adopted a responsibility. At least, the most guilt, I think,

that you can experience, perhaps, is the sure knowledge that you’re not even taking care

of yourself, so that you’re leaving that responsibility to other people; because that’s pretty

pathetic, unless you’re psychopathic, and you’re living a parasitical life…” Peterson also

uses sports as an analogy to depict an essential aspect of life which is purpose and aim.

He states that sports are a “dramatization of aim” and those that participate pursue a

greater version of themselves to realize said aim. This source gives me insight to what it

means to live a life that is meaningful and how to emancipate oneself from the problems

that arise when life feels meaningless.

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Kennedy, Pagan, The Great God of Depression, 3 Aug 2018. New York Times,

www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/opinion/sunday/depression-william-styron.html,

Accessed 18 Oct 2018.

The writer of this New York Times article looks back on the story of a man named

William Styron and his battle with depression, more specifically suicidal depression,

during a time in which there was a harsh stigma around such a mental illness. The article

explains how William’s books illustrating his mental conflicts also inspired others to

write about similar problems that they have experienced as well as encourage a new way

of thinking about mental illness and the brain in general. William says that depression is

just as much a physical condition as it is a mental one. The article also talks about the

deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain by stating, “Millions of people reacted to

these two deaths with shock and sorrow…Clearly, fame offers no protection from

suicidal urges. And in many ways, it makes things worse. If you kill yourself, everyone

will want to know why. Fans who love you will feel betrayed. Your suicide could

traumatize them, in all kinds of ways.” showing that fame does not necessarily equate to

success as there can be a burden that comes along with a thing such as notoriety. The

author details other methods that were used in the past to try and solve the problem such

as medication in the 1990s, however that was only met with a higher suicide rate than

before. My hypothesis is that the medication ultimately does not help the person liberate

their mind from the plague that haunts them and merely further distances them from the

truth. This article will help me better discern the obstacles that people face on their

journey to living a life that is fulfilling and ultimately meaningful. Mental illnesses like

depression severely impact one’s perception and ability to take advantage of

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opportunities in their life. Therefore, I believe that finding the inner peace that comes

with being able to reason with the thoughts in one’s own head is the first step to finding

meaning in one’s life.

Shostrom, L., Everett, An Inventory for the Measurement of Self-Actualization, Education and

Psychological Measurement, Vol.24, No.2, Institute of Therapeutic Psychology 1 Jul

1964, Institute of Therapeutic Psychology,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001316446402400203, Accessed 18 Oct 2018.

This academic journal from the Institute of Therapeutic Psychology documents the

difference in lifestyle and quality of living between people that are self-actualized and

those who are not. The article defines the self-actualizing person as, “a person who is

more fully functioning and lives a more enriched life than does the average person”. It

also defines specific characteristics that make up the self-actualized person. One of those

characteristics is time competence. They state that a self-actualized person “…is able to

tie the past and the future to the present in meaningful continuity.” This understanding

allows for a person to not be controlled by recollections of the past and instead make

corrections and adapt accordingly to the aims that they have at present which is why their

“aspirations are tied meaningfully to present working goals.” The main attribute that

makes a self-actualized person appears to be the unity that those people can demonstrate.

Moreover, their ability to transcend the societal perceptions that often limit the average

person, or in this case, the non-self-actualized person. This article gives more definable
 Brian Edwards

traits for a person that lives a successful and fulfilling life, allowing me to better

differentiate between the mentality between someone that is oriented towards creation

and enlightenment and someone that is oriented towards disintegration and ignorance.