Dr. Peterson, his video: 2017 Maps of Meaning 10: Genesis and the Buddha asked "if there was a set of ideas that Western Civilization is predicated on other than OPINION?" Presumption is whether civilization, our civilization is based on something other than ideas of the moment, something self made as you go in your life time, or, is it based on a nested past of hundreds of years of experience, some good, some bad, but successful enough to get us to here? That is, is there a passed down knowledge that pained experience has provided as a path for future success, survival? Can we distinguish this, can we realize the importance of the past while moving into the idealized future?
I wonder, is it just some idea of this country we are following, is this idea the "great experiment"? Is the flag just some idea of the moment that can be discarded to please some other idea, or opinion? What is it we really believe?
Belief systems provide your connection to what you value, what you chose to believe, the values and virtues you are willing to exercise; the goal and direction to achieve what you value. You seek others with like views and attitudes, groups, tribes, communities, and achieve a sense of clarity, security, belonging and recognition. You are linked by your ideas, concepts of reality, and security in the actions and responses you and your family take to live, thrive, and grow.
He asked " What if you have two different groups with two different belief systems? What do you do?"
What do we do? Our options are: find common ground, and agree to give and take without loosing the significant tenants of your belief system; capitulate to the other side; dominate the other side; or, go to war. So what are we to do?
The sustaining belief system is the knowledge of who we are, what we sacrificed for, what was good and what was bad, what to repeat and what never to repeat; our culture forged over centuries of experience. And what do we know of this, and what do we owe those who earned this knowledge for us? Are these things just someone's opinion of what we should do, readily changed by the whim of the time, or are they the enduring connection to all of our past; the grit that our consciousness forces upward, the courage that seemingly recognizes the value of ideas like freedom, property, and family, what we would fight for and die for?
Is it the opinion of the day or the burden of the past that we choose to guide us forward?