The Road Less Travelled

The first time I picked up this book, a few years ago, I couldn't get past the first few pages. Had found it kind of high handed and preachy. 

Today I devoured it. Guess also a clear indication of how big a part 'readiness' plays in connecting into a book, especially one that talks of inner self. 

Scott Peck is a psychiatrist and writes from his own experiences. The back cover says 'This book is a phenomenon. Continuously on the US bestseller list for five years. It will change your life'.

The book while emphasizing traditional values and discipline, also has some deep insights in terms of relationships, growth and spirituality.

Scott says 'Most large problems we have are the result of not facing up to earlier, smaller problems, of failing to be 'dedicated to the truth'. The great mistake most people make is believing that problems will go away of their own accord.

Confronting and solving problems is a painful process which most of us attempt to avoid. And the very avoidance results in greater pain and an inability to grow both mentally and spiritually.

This lack of responsibility will damage us in other ways. Scott references Eric Fromm's book 'Escape From Freedom', which looked at people's natural willingness to embrace political authoritarianism and how when it comes down to it, we shy from real freedom and responsibility.

He also talks of loving relationships, and delves rather deeply into describing an emotion which most have said cannot be adequately defined. We tend to think of love as effortless, the freefall of 'falling in love'. While it may be mysterious, love is also effortful; 'love is a decision ', the desire to love is not itself love. 'Love is as love does.'

A nice line from the book: “Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth”

Why this cannot be termed as a typical self help book, is because it gives no quick fix solutions to reach bountiful joy. Peck states that psychological change is necessarily slow, and suggests ways in which facing our difficulties, and suffering through the changes is what enables us to reach a higher level of self understanding.

I personally loved his section on spirituality, and how he connects psychological growth into the spiritual realm. He discusses, for instance, an experience that is not referred to in modern psychology at all: 'grace'. A surprise burst of peace, gratitude and freedom, Peck feels it the highest point of human experience. 

And in this context he moves into the Jungian concepts of collective unconscious and synchronicity, which occur in grace.

While I borrowed and read the book, I like it enough to want to make it a part of my personal library, a book I would want to reread at some point.