A Quick Review of The Road Less Travelled by Scott Peck
The thing I like about the book was how the author depicted the tools to improve life.Â
There are four sections of the book – Discipline, Love, Religion, and Grace.
Discipline: The writer opines and asserts that living under false assumptions leads to disappointment. Thus he further says that tools need to be developed to progress. They do not deny the factual truth that problems have a place and role in human life. Hence one need not run from problems. Therefore, issues need to be addressed and solved rather than ignoring them.
What are tools to improve discipline: –
- Delay gratification: Controlling impulsive behaviour and avoiding short-term goals. Thus delaying gratification means suffering now for a better tomorrow. This way, accepting the pain in the present proves fruitful in later life.
- Accept Responsibility: One must learn to accept responsibility to improve one’s life just to put a check on dire long-term consequences. A psychiatric prescription needs to be maintained between taking too much responsibility and too little to avoid psychological issues.
- Dedication towards Truth: Lies should be avoided because they prevent one from understanding the reality of life. A short-term gain may be found, but this gain can burn into great pain later on. Hence self-discipline being practised would help in an honest self-reflection.
- Achieving Balance: Extreme behaviour needs to be avoided; hence a process of the middle path should be adopted. The writer suggests questioning oneself, and this is the best way to find solutions to the problems. So a dynamic state is advised and not a static one.
- Love: It is indeed tough to define love. According to the writer, true love is the will to extend oneself for his own or another’s growth. To the writer, the feeling of love is called cathecting. The best example is a gardener cathects a garden.
- Commitment is a very vital factor in human life. The passion needs to be controlled to avoid arguments.
- Attention: The writer opines seriously to give a patient hearing to the other person. The writer categorizes listening habits into two parts, (i) for empathy, (ii) for solutions. Hence, various hearings are needed for different situations.
- Courage: Loving another person puts one to suffering. The more a person loves there is more significant the chance of risking oneself.
- Balance: Love can strengthen the discipline in one’s life and vice versa.
Religion: The writer opines to broaden the definition of life. Hence the best way to do this is by maintaining a balance between religion and science.
Grace:Â The writer opines that grace is necessary for one’s spiritual growth. It protects the physical and mental health of the person.
