The Road Less Traveled: Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars.
About the author
People of the Lie: Want to Read saving… Error rating book. Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety by M. Community Making and Peace by M. Glimpses of the Devil: In Search Of Stones by M. A Bed by the Window: A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered by M.
- Frequently bought together.
- Gods Healing Medicine, Healing Scriptures For Everyday Use.
- Walker Books Australia and New Zealand.
- Peck Peck Peck - Books - Welcome to Walker Books Australia;
- Palms Inn.
In Heaven as on Earth: A Vision of the Afterlife by M. Denial of the Soul: Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey by M. Scott Peck Editor 3.
Navigation menu
The Friendly Snowflake by M. Meditations from the Road by M. A Memoir by M. The Love You Deserve: For example, a bitter childhood can leave a person with the false idea that the world is a hostile and inhuman place. However, with continued exposure to more positive aspects of the world, this existing worldview is challenged and needs to be modified to integrate the new experiences. Peck also argues that dedication to truth implies a life of genuine self-examination, a willingness to be personally challenged by others, and honesty to oneself and others.
Peck considers the use of these interrelated techniques of discipline as paramount, if the difficulties and conflicting requirements of life are to be dealt with and balanced successfully. Peck believes that it is only through suffering and agonizing using the four aspects of discipline delaying gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth, and balancing that we can resolve the many puzzles and conflicts that we face.
Peck argues that by trying to avoid legitimate suffering, people actually ultimately end up suffering more. This extra unnecessary suffering is what Scott Peck terms neurotic suffering. He references Carl Jung 'Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering'. First published in , People of the Lie: Peck describes the stories of several people who came to him whom he found particularly resistant to any form of help.
He came to think of them as evil and goes on to describe the characteristics of evil in psychological terms, proposing that it could become a psychiatric diagnosis.
- Books by Richard Peck and Complete Book Reviews.
- Internal Combustion.
- Mountain Dragon: Fulfillment: A New Myth of the Enlightened Feminine.
- Peck Peck Peck: Lucy Cousins: theranchhands.com: Books.
- Books by M. Scott Peck (Author of The Road Less Traveled)!
- The Serrano Connection: Omnibus Two (The Serrano Legacy Omnibus Book 2).
- Books by Richard Peck and Complete Book Reviews.
- Customers who viewed this item also viewed.
- To Love Again!
- Madison (Postcard History).
- La farfalla blu: 9 (Storie di donne) (Italian Edition).
- .
- ?
Peck discusses evil in his book People of the Lie: In one case which Peck considers as the most typical because of its subtlety, he describes Roger, a depressed teenage son of respected, well off parents. With false rationality and normality, they aggressively refuse to consider that they are in any way responsible for his resultant depression, eventually suggesting his condition must be incurable and genetic. Some of his conclusions about the psychiatric condition that he designates as "evil" are derived from his close study of one patient he names Charlene.
According to Peck, people like her see others as play things or tools to be manipulated for their own uses or entertainment. Peck states that these people are rarely seen by psychiatrists, and have never been treated successfully. Evil is described by Peck as "militant ignorance". The original Judeo-Christian concept of " sin " is as a process that leads us to "miss the mark" and fall short of perfection. Peck considers those he calls evil to be attempting to escape and hide from their own conscience through self-deception , and views this as being quite distinct from the apparent absence of conscience evident in sociopathy.
According to Peck an evil person: Most evil people realize the evil deep within themselves but are unable to tolerate the pain of introspection , or admit to themselves that they are evil. Thus, they constantly run away from their evil by putting themselves in a position of moral superiority and putting the focus of evil on others.
Using the My Lai Massacre as a case study Peck also examines group evil, discussing how human group morality is strikingly less than individual morality. Though the topic of evil has historically been the domain of religion, [10] Peck makes great efforts to keep much of his discussion on a scientific basis, explaining the specific psychological mechanisms by which evil operates. He was also particularly conscious of the danger of a psychology of evil being misused for personal or political ends.
He argued that a diagnosis of evil should come from the standpoint of healing and safety for its victims, but also with the possibility even if remote, that the evil themselves may be cured. Ultimately Peck says that evil arises out of free choice.
Follow the Author
He describes it thus: Every person stands at a crossroads, with one path leading to God, and the other path leading to the devil. The path of God is the right path, and accepting this path is akin to submission to a higher power. However, if a person wants to convince himself and others that he has free choice, he would rather take a path which cannot be attributed to its being the right path. Thus, he chooses the path of evil.
Peck also discussed the question of the devil. Eventually, after having been referred several possible cases of possession and being involved in two exorcisms, he was converted to a belief in the existence of Satan. Peck considered people who are possessed as being victims of evil, but of not being evil themselves. Peck however considered possession to be rare, and human evil common.
He did believe there was some relationship between Satan and human evil, but was unsure of its exact nature.
M. Scott Peck - Wikipedia
Peck's writings and views on possession and exorcism are to some extent influenced and based on specific accounts by Malachi Martin , however the veracity of these accounts and Peck's own diagnostic approach to possession have both since been questioned by a Catholic priest who is a professor of theology. His perspective on love in The Road Less Traveled is that love is not a feeling , it is an activity and an investment.
Love is primarily actions towards nurturing the spiritual growth of another. Peck seeks to differentiate between love and cathexis. Cathexis is what explains sexual attraction , the instinct for cuddling pets and pinching babies cheeks. However, cathexis is not love. All the same, true love cannot begin in isolation, a certain amount of cathexis is necessary to get sufficiently close to be able to truly love.
Once through the cathexis stage, the work of love begins. It is not a feeling. It consists of what you do for another person. It is about truly knowing and understanding them. Peck postulates that there are four stages of human spiritual development: Nonetheless, these changes are very noticeable and mark a significant difference in the personality of the individual. In his book The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace [15] , Peck says that community has three essential ingredients:.
Based on his experience with community building workshops, Peck says that community building typically goes through four stages:.
M. Scott Peck
The four stages of community formation are somewhat related to a model in organization theory for the five stages that a team goes through during development. These five stages are:. It is in this third stage that Peck's community-building methods differ in principle from team development. While teams in business organizations need to develop explicit rules, guidelines and protocols during the norming stage, the emptiness stage of community building is characterized, not by laying down the rules explicitly, but by shedding the resistance within the minds of the individuals.
Peck started the Foundation for Community Encouragement FCE to promote the formation of communities, which, he argues, are a first step towards uniting humanity and saving us from self-destruction. The Blue Heron Farm is an intentional community in central North Carolina , whose founders stated that they were inspired by Peck's writings on community.
Peck himself had no involvement with this project. Peck describes what he considers to be the most salient characteristics of a true community: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The New York Times. Scott Peck's journey with Parkinson's disease".