Today, we look at the road less traveled by M. Scott Peck
this book takes a different approach to most other spiritual books
as the author is a psychiatrist and therefore uses a psychological approach
As always we will be splitting this book into the summary section and the review section
Please check the timestamps below to get to the section of the video you would like to watch
Ok, so let's start by reviewing this book
the aspects of this book that I liked were firstly the different perspective
as I mentioned above this author of this book is a psychiatrist and therefore he brings in a
Psychological perspective and he combines this with his experience from years of treating patients
Secondly, he is honest about the path being difficult
throughout the book the author makes a point to emphasize that the work
needs to be done by the individual and cannot be done by anybody else
and this is very important as people put too much emphasis on the outside factors
and not enough emphasis on the internal factors
Thirdly, this book is quite practical
When the author gives concepts he often gives tools, tips
and things to watch out for when trying to implement the concepts he has mentioned
and finally the author has an interesting and different view on the role of discipline and love in spiritual growth
He also then defines religion and grace in a very different way to the norm
Now, let's look at the aspects of this book that I didn't like
so my copy of this book is a audiobook
and this audiobook is presented by the author
and this can often be a good thing as author can better explain his concepts,
but unfortunately, I found the author to be quite dry and difficult to follow and found myself drifting off many times
Secondly, irrelevant examples
normally authors use examples to help us better understand and implement the concepts they talk about
But I found in this book that the author sometimes used examples that held little to no benefit to the reader
Thirdly, the fourth section of this book is quite controversial
in this section of the book the author talks about some of his own theories on subjects such as
miracles and original sin and this is not ideal if you're looking for a purely psychological perspective
and even for people who are religious the views can be quite out there and put you off of the whole book
and this is a shame as the first two sections of the book have a lot of wisdom
Finally, I found that the last two sections had a lot less useful information compared to the first two sections due
and this is partly to the author talking about his theories and religion
and these theories can be quite out there and were only reigns true for a select few individuals
Whereas his first two sections are a lot more practical and simple
and can be applied by anyone no matter their views
So... would I recommend that you read this book?
This was a difficult decision
but I do believe there was enough content in the first two sections for this book to be worth the read
and if you do decide to read this book, I would recommend going for either the physical copy or the e-book
Okay, let's move on to the summary.
This book is split into four distinct sections.
These are
discipline
love
growth and religion
and grace
Okay, so let's start with discipline. So why would you need discipline in your life?
let's first take the fact that life is difficult
and problems will sometimes arise in your life and dealing with them may be painful?
This is similar to the Buddhist concept of suffering in the Four Noble Truths
our options are then either to avoid problems
which can lead to mental disorders or other problems
or we deal with our problems, which may lead to pain in the moments, but will lead to future growth
For example if you had a problem with speaking to new people
this would be difficult as many daily activities require us to speak to new people
and you'd also struggle to make new friends
and you can see others would lead to more problems
The second option would be to deal with the problem right now
This would create immediate suffering but lead to growth in that there is so
many more activities you could now do without having to suffer
So yeah some tools that will help you deal with the problems that arise in life
firstly, delayed gratification
this involves suffering now to have a more pleasurable future
and this is important skill for the individual to master as it can be applied to so many aspects of your life
such as health fitness, finance and spiritual growth
a good example from the spiritual growth category would be dealing with problems as they arise
This might lead to suffering in the present moment
But once the problem is solved this leads to growth as you can now deal with more situations
So the second tool is accepting responsibility for problems
This involves a delicate balancing act between taking too much responsibility
and not taking enough responsibility
and the third tool
is dedication to the truth. Here, we have to choose truth over comfort
this involves constantly examining and contemplating what you believe to be true
and not telling lies to yourself to make things easier
an example of this would be in saying to yourself that you don't have time to do spiritual growth
or meditation everyday as your schedule is too busy.
But then in the evenings you spending an hour watching TV or on social media
This is then choosing comfort over truth and it should be the other way around
the second type of lie is the lie you tell to another person
and this is a bit more difficult
as telling the truth is not always beneficial to another person spiritual growth
So here are some tools to use when deciding whether or not to tell the truth to another
Firstly, remember that withholding the truth is the same as lying
secondly, make sure you aren't lying for personal gain
this involves saying negative things about another person that you know are not true
or saying something that is untrue, whether it be blaming someone else for something you did
or just denying the fact that you did it
and then thirdly
you have to think will telling the truth help this person grow
and this can sometimes be difficult to discern and will take practice
and sometimes you may just not know
The fourth and final tool is balancing and this involves finding the middle way in all the above tools
and is very similar to the concept of the middle way in Buddhism
and it will be challenging to find this middle way
and sometimes you may find yourself on either end of the spectrum
and this is ok as long as you are trying to improve
and return back to the middle and balanced way,
so you will have to decide when to delay gratification
and when to enjoy the present moments
you'll also have to decide when to take responsibility for a problem
and when to realize that the problem is not your fault
and finally, you'll have to decide when it is right to tell the truth
and when it is right to tell a lie
and the middle way in each of these tools is a fluid thing and will change with time and as your goals change
Section 2: Love
What is love?
Love is the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one's own
or another's spiritual growth
This is known as true love
and must not be confused with falling in love and the passion that results when you first fall in love
and therefore true love can only occur when passion is lacking
and true love is the part to joy as it allows for your own spiritual growth
and the spiritual growth of the other
here are some tips the author gives to nurture true love
Tip 1: true love is not dependency
as dependency is more like the relationship of a parasite
where it requires everything from the host but gives nothing in return
So one must be aware that love relationships can easily turn
into dependent relationships when you require too much from the other and do not give anything in return
Tip two: Commitments
You will need commitment because as the passion begins to fade
You will start to notice Aspects of the other person that bother you that never used to
you also won't be as motivated
To go out of your way for the other person
You and your partner therefore have to be committed to the growth of each other
as well as the growth of the relationship
Tip 3 is Attention
Attention is the act of listening to another for no other reason than to help the other person
There are different types of listening and in different situations different types of listening are needed
for instance sometimes people just need to blow off some steam
and they need the other person there just to listen to the problem
Without trying to find any solutions to it
And at other times they'll need you to listen and help them find a solution to the problem
It is therefore your job to decide when to help and offer assistance and when just to listen
Tip 4: Courage
You need courage because the act of loving someone put you at risk of losing them and the associated suffering
but the act of loving someone else is a important factor to spiritual growth
Step 5: Balance
Here, you've got to balance between helping the one you love and letting them walk their own path
and make their own mistakes
Section three Growth and Religion
Currently religion has two narrower definition
and the author believes that it needs to be a much more encompassing term
Including all the views and ideas that makes up one's worldview and thus everyone would then have a religion
Secondly, he points out that religion can also hinder or promote the spiritual growth of a individual
and this is dependent on the interpretation of the religion and its principles
the final point he makes in this section, is that science and religion seem like opposites
as those who are very scientific cannot be very religious and those who are very religious cannot be very scientific
He says they should be used together
because then the strength of the one could counter the weakness of the other
and thus lead to better spiritual and scientific growth
and the final section is Grace
the author's definition of grace is a universal force
that assists spiritual growth and includes what one would describe as miracles
The author then gives examples as proof that this force exists.
His first example is disease
Here, he talks about how there are many bacteria that are all around us
And we are perfectly healthy, but in some individuals these same bacteria can cause disease and even death
So he says that this force is the difference between being healthy and sick
His second example is severe accidents in this example
He talks about how people can come out of these severe accidents completely unharmed
and no one knows how that was possible
He says that this is grace that has protected him
His third point is evolution. Here, he goes into the second law of thermodynamics
a basic explanation of the second law of thermodynamics
is that the universe moves from an ordered state to a disordered state
and thus evolution is the opposite of this it takes things from a disordered state to a more ordered state
and thus this is a miracle and it must be guided by some force, which he calls grace
and then finally at the end of the book he starts to talk about some more abstract concepts
these concepts can be controversial as he goes into the purpose of spiritual growth
and his view is that the ultimate purpose of spiritual growth is to become God
and this is an interesting concept as some people will be completely against this
but others who are more in line with the New Age movement might agree with this concept.
Let me know in the comments below. What's your view on this concept is?
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