My interpretation of this text is actually a bit different. I look at it as a doorway to introspection, as intended, but can see that it's sloppily worded. The use of "perfect" should be carefully considered. After all, nothing is perfect.
How is that possible given that it's a thought
"terminating" statement? You're either lying now, or incorrect in your assertions before.
What would you even call something that is both thought terminating and thought provoking at the same time? Makes you think a little? No. A maxim like this is explicitly binary in nature. It either is applicable, or is not applicable. It's wording prohibits partial applicability.
Well, you'd have to define what you meant by
"thought terminating." As far as I understand it, you're meaning to say that the sentence actually diminishes consciousness. Which is, of course, technically incorrect as a consequence of the fact that in order to read the sentence you must in some way be interacting with material reality through conscious thought itself. So, the assertion that qualia can be thought terminating is nonsensical.
No "house" can be in perfect order. That is the nature of life, that perfection is an impossible goal. Any person criticizing the political ecology of the world around them will be fundamentally flawed, as all people are. A maxim that tells people not to criticize the world until their personal ecosystem is in perfect order will fundamentally stifle criticism.
No mathematical theory can perfectly describe the relationship between a particles position and its velocity but we do pretty well with the concepts we have. The precept is describing an ideal state as a form of metaphor. You should google what both an ideal and a metaphor are, it will help you better understand what a precept is.
Do you think the people that correctly criticized the robber barons for exploiting the workers had their houses in perfect order? What about abolitionists?
And here we arrive at your declaration of personal metaphysics.
Robber barons criticizing other robber barons for being robber barons, and drunk bums who can't keep themselves from the drink criticizing legal restrictions on alcohol, are not precisely in positions of authority respecting either issue. The polite word we use to describe such people is
hypocrite.
A wise translation of "
put your house in perfect order before you criticize the world" might be,
"make sure you're capable of living up to the standards that your criticisms of the world would entail, if they applied to you, which they most certainly do, otherwise you'll be criticized just as harshly and with good reason."
It's just another way of saying that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Telling people who have valid criticism that they shouldn't give it until their life is in perfect order is a waste of time and energy. I spent years homeless and I have criticisms of the shelter network in my state. Does my lack of a perfect home make that criticism any less valid? Of course not.
Your argument, so far, goes something like this, as far as I can tell ...
P1. Setting your house in perfect order, before you criticize the world, is technically impossible by my definitions
p2. If setting your house in perfect order is impossible, then validly/cogently criticizing the world is impossible
p3. If I adhere to p1, I am put in a disadvantageous social position as a consequence of my self imposed inability to criticize the world
p4. Some of my criticisms of the world are valid
p5. My house is not in perfect order
p6. Anyone who ignores the precept of setting your house in perfect order before criticizing the world would have a material rhetorical advantage over anyone who attempted to adhere to it
Therefore ... My criticisms of the world are not less cogent or valid directly as a consequence of my imperfect house, and even if they were less valid/cogent, I'd be put in a socially disadvantaged position by adhering to an impossible standard.
This about right?
Let me give you a piece of friendly advice: don't talk down to people that engage you honestly. You'll get farther in life by being collaborative than being combative.
Uh uhh uhh! Make sure to put your house in perfect order before you criticize me!
Peterson stated that you needed a mystical experiencr as a necessary component to getting rid of smoking addiction. In hindsight, I think he was trying to be contrarian and say something that would be thought provoking considering the audience for that topic.
Actually, my ostensibly well read Jungian friend, he was referencing something that Jung himself believed. Namely, that mystical or religious experiences are necessary to re-wire the brain in such a way as to radically alter the constituent elements of the personality of a person. This has been well explored by William James, someone who's work he was intimately familiar with.