Book: The Road Less Traveled

Author: M. Scott Peck

Publication: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 320

Price: Click the link

Today I am going to talk about the seminal work of M. Scott Peck: The Road Less Traveled. Before joining the conference table let’s have a look at the carte du jour.

Synopsis of today’s Discussion:

• Author Introduction

• Structure of the book

• The Points to be Noted

• Alvina’s Verdict

Author Introduction

Being a great psychiatrist M.Scott Peck (1936 – 2005) whose original name is Morgan Scott Peck focuses more on the personal growth and disciplined life of people. He emphasizes and explains the different ways how discipline can be imprinted in the human heart.

His most celebrated and bestseller book The Road Less Traveled gained wide acclamation and cheering among his readers. His other book People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil was published in 1983.

Structure of the book:

The book is divided into four parts:

• First Part deals with Discipline and how we can habituate it in our life.

• The second part deals with Love and its variegated aspects… divine and spiritual quality of Love.

• The third Part talks about commonly acknowledged or authorised views regulating religion.

• In the 4th Part, Grace is acknowledged as the most powerful force behind spiritual growth.

The Points to be Noted

This book is vast and each and every word is precious. Today I’m going to grab some important parts here that I have squeezed out of the lengthy details discussion.

• Our inclination to ignore problems is the root cause of our crisis. We set our psychology in a way that doesn’t allow us to confront problems.

• We try to avoid our responsibility…we try to entrust our responsibility to others. But don’t wait for others to solve your problems.

• We are always in hurry. We are not ready to give our problems some time to get solved. Take time if you want to fix something.

• We avoid truth and reality when we feel it will be painful to accept. This tendency to stay away from problems just helps up the problems. And there is no sort of cut to solve your problem.

• Withholding truth is not the way to solve your crisis. White lies are as bad as black lies.

• We need the discipline to solve our problems to face the hardship of our life. Regular exercise of discipline can make us immune to the emergencies of our life.

• Life is not without problems. You can call it synonyms with problems. So getting rid of the problem is not the solution but getting through the problem in life.

• Don’t procrastinate. We have a natural tendency to delay those things we don’t like to do. We should do the ‘I don’t like to do it’ part before we enjoy the ‘I like to do it part.’

• Parents teach their children those things they don’t follow in their life. They punch, kick and scold their children for being indisciplined but they don’t prepare themselves in that way.

• We like to live within our comfort zone. We don’t want to go beyond it. We don’t want to accept any challenge in our life.

• We lie to others and we lie to ourselves. This interlocking process of lying continues leading us nowhere.

• Emotional pain is the root cause of our life’s turmoil. We cannot keep control over our emotions. We remain scared of getting hurt by others’ behaviour…someone who is very special and dear to us. It is possible to go beyond this and attain spiritual prowess

• Acceptance is the secret to attaining spiritual peace.

• The concept of ‘falling in love’ is a game of hormone or mind play or myth.

• “Passive dependent personality” is a type of psychiatric disorder where the person begging for love from everyone lacks her or his own love. They are like empty bottomless pits whining, nagging, begging and scrounging to get filled by others’ love. But it is not possible to get filled by others when you lack it.

• Love yourself. Embrace yourself. Only you can be filled or healed. Nurture yourself. Keep balance in your life.

• Listening to others is the proper way of communication. When you listen to others you pay proper attention to your kids. Give time to your kids, listen to your partners, and hear your dear ones.

• It happens several times that we don’t acknowledge the root of our problem. Even in placid circumstances you can find there remain some lurking challenges.

Alvina’s Verdict:

This book has a tremendous effect on me. As I go through the book I feel I’m walking through a revolutionary thesis on psychotherapy as well as psychological proforma.

The book helps one to grow and guides one to the path of spiritual as well as psychological well-being.