“Happiness is a boat that’s easily capsized, and the waves are always there,” said Peterson.
“If your philosophy is one of, say, impulsive happiness…then you’re not prepared when all hell breaks loose, and all hell…will absolutely 100% break through at some point in your life. And you’re lucky if it won’t be decades,” he observed.
“If what floats your boat is happiness, you’re going to be capsized by the first decent wave. And so then you might ask yourself, what do you have instead that might be even more reliable?” Peterson asked. “And I do think that adventure is more reliable than happiness.”
“The implication is that if you have sufficient adventure, then that cannot so much help you from suffering, because perhaps that is impossible, but to justify it,” said Peterson. He went on to speculate about how much suffering and risk is most beneficial to people for their growth.
John Piper: Happiness ‘Should Be Redeemed’
“Ask Pastor John” podcast host Tony Reinke observed that Piper’s podcast does not make a habit of courting controversy but said “from time to time a new controversy wakes up and decides to chase after us.” A number of Piper’s listeners saw Peterson’s November post on X and wanted to know the pastor’s thoughts.
Piper said that insofar as Peterson defined happiness “as fleeting, unpredictable, impulsive, and superficial rather than as deep, lasting, soul-satisfying, rooted in God, and expanding in love,” Piper tended to agree with the commentator.
“He’s probably right that for most people, happiness is experienced as fleeting, superficial, unpredictable, and impulsive,” Piper said, adding, “You can’t find deep satisfaction in seeking what he calls happiness. It’s so superficial.”
Instead of encouraging people to pursue happiness, Peterson encourages people to pursue “meaningfulness,” said Piper. The pastor said he generally agreed with this perspective, although he pointed out that even though “meaningful” has a positive connotation, Peterson did not define what that meaning is. The different types of “meaning” that people might choose to pursue, therefore, have the potential to be evil.
“I think the word and the concept of meaningfulness is just as empty as the word happiness because it’s undefined,” Piper explained. “It can be filled up with the worst possible horrors in which wicked people find meaning. And it can be filled up with beautiful things in which good people find meaning. But the concept of meaningfulness by itself provides no clear guidance for life.”
