M. Scott Peck - Psychology and Spiritual Growth
M. Scott Peck (1936-2005)
American psychiatrist (pictured right).
Famous for his best-seller,The Road Less Travelled (see below).
His most famous book
is…
The Road Less Travelled (1978)
This refers to how few people take the long and painful path to spiritual growth and fulfilment.
What did he say about psychology and spiritual growth?
1. Life is difficult
You should solve (not moan about or avoid) life’s problems, because this will help you mentally and
spiritually.
To do this you will need total self-discipline (see point 2) that comes from
self-respect.
2. Solving your problems through self-discipline
Self-discipline can be applied in four ways to solve your problems:
a) delaying gratification
Immediately dealing with your problems.
b) acceptance of responsibility
Accepting responsibility for (and the pain of) solving your problems.
c) dedication to truth
Knowing yourself and the world better through:
- continual self-examination.
- facing up to reality (losing your childhood misconceptions).
- putting new challenging ideas into action.
d) balancing
- protecting your own rights and interests.
- sometimes giving them up to love and learn about yourself and the world.
3. Love is hard work
Love is the will to help others including respect for their right to:
So the opposite of love is laziness.
Love also needs
- courage to overcome fear of change, rejection and confrontation with others.
- changing ourselves appropriately (as parents must do with their children).
4. What love isn’t
There are three things wrongly associated with love:
a) falling in love
(because true love is about giving, not feeling – see point 3).
b) self-sacrifice
(because love’s purpose is to help your own spiritual growth as well as other people’s).
c) dependency on someone else
Love respects people’s right to live their own lives (see point 3).
5. Philosophy is important
You need a philosophy based upon:
- openness to new knowledge.
Religion is invaluable so long as it isn’t dogmatic.
6. Leadership with love
The best leaders are sensitive (painfully scrutinizing their decisions) but still decisive.
Great people combine a “capacity for suffering” with a joy for life.
Key quotes on love
Love is as love does.
Laziness is love's opposite.
Ultimately love is everything.
Key quote on
change
The essence of life is change.
Key quote on
leadership
The best decision makers are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain the ability to be
decisive.
Key quote on stress and
pain
Life is a series of problems.
Key quote on time
management
Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with
it.
Key quote on wisdom
The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation, combined with action.
Key quote on
empowerment
The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our behaviour lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the
consequences of that behaviour.
Key quote on
family
To the child, abandonment by its parents is the equivalent of death.
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