The Evolution Gap and Rule Six
Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World
Rule Six from Jordan Peterson’s book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” states: “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world”.
Interpreting this rule through the lens of the Evolution Gap — the discrepancy between our slow genetic evolution and our rapidly changing societal and technological environment — provides valuable insights into how we can adapt to the complexity of modern life.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in relatively small, tightly-knit communities where responsibilities and roles were well-defined.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in relatively small, tightly-knit communities where responsibilities and roles were well-defined. The sphere of individual influence was mostly limited to their immediate surroundings — their “house”. In this context, maintaining order was a direct, tangible task.
However, with the exponential growth of technology and societal structures, our “house” has expanded beyond physical boundaries to include virtual spaces and social networks. This change has outpaced our evolutionary wiring for simplicity and close-knit communities, creating a chasm that we refer to as the Evolution Gap.
As our world has become increasingly complex, this rule becomes even more relevant.
Setting our “house” in order in the modern context often means more than just taking care of physical spaces. It includes our mental and emotional states, relationships, and digital spaces. As our world has become increasingly complex, this rule becomes even more relevant. It implies that before attempting to fix broader societal issues, we need to ensure that our personal world — our habits, routines, relationships, and responsibilities — is in a state of order.
Viewed through the lens of the Evolution Gap, this rule encourages us to acknowledge and manage the complexities that come with modern living. Our evolutionary past did not equip us with the tools to handle the numerous responsibilities and challenges that come with an interconnected, digital world. By setting our “house” in order, we are essentially attempting to bridge the Evolution Gap, creating a structured and manageable personal environment that echoes the simplicity of our evolutionary past.
In this light, Peterson’s rule serves as a reminder to tend to our immediate environment and personal well-being before seeking to tackle larger societal issues. It prompts us to recognize and address the Evolution Gap in our lives, fostering adaptability and resilience in the face of the rapid changes characteristic of our era.
In conclusion, Rule Six, when examined in the context of the Evolution Gap, encourages us to balance our evolutionary instincts with the demands of our modern environment. It underscores the importance of personal responsibility and the need to create order in our personal world as a prerequisite to effectively engage with and contribute to the wider world.
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If you would like a better understanding of how the Evolution Gap might be holding you back or diminishing your quality of life, please try our Gap Finder test and/or pre-order the book, The Evolution Gap: A survival guide for modern civilization.
