M. Scott PeckRessenyes

From the acclaimed author of The Road Less Traveled comes the personal story of his own journey of self-discovery. On a three-week spiritual quest with his wife to see the ancient megalithic stones in the countryside of Wales, England, and Scotland, he gained insight into such issues as parenthood, holiness, romance, art, and his own shortcomings.

An excellent book, in my opinion. The author writes clearly, explaining some of his theories about life, psychotherapy, spirituality and more. He manages to avoid the extremes of either technical jargon or condescension as he writes to educate the general public.

Much of what he wrote made a lot of sense to me, helping me see (among other things) why some people are difficult to understand or communicate with. Written from a broadly Christian perspective but with the emphasis on personal choice, and acknowledgement of many religious paths during the process of growth.

Highly recommended. Not necessary to have read the author's first book.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/10/further-along-road-less-travelled-b...

Good Spiritual advice with an aroma of the '70s

Good fodder for a fire

Scott Peck's call for community in the workplace is powerful, original, inspirational, and timely. Only with this kind of humanistic underpinning can organizations work effectively in the long run.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Peck-Plus-loin-sur-le-chemin-le-moins-frequente/1...

> Coups de chapeau : aux éditions Laffont, qui publie par ailleurs Plus loin sur le chemin la suite de son célèbre best-seller, où il continue à expliquer avec bon sens le cheminement d’une quête spirituelle juste : à noter chez ce converti au christianisme un chapitre pénétrant à propos du New Age dont il voit et les ferments et les errements : “Comme tout mouvement intellectuel d’importance, le New Age est né d’une réaction aux défauts, aux vices institutionnels de la civilisation occidentale”.
—Nouvelles Clés, (10), Été 1996, (p. 72)

Interesting book of how ordinary people develop hidden evil tendencies in their lives.

Fantastic book on facing life and its challenges.

Though this book is dated (1983) and shows it in its lack of the knowledge we have now in 2016, still its advice for understanding"people of the lie" is timeless and invaluable. I started this book looking for hope to stop hating people who have harmed me (a family member) and people who practice cognitive dissonance. I found through reading this book that they are more to be pitied than to be hated.

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "No clear memory of reading. Mixed reviews online, although story still sounds interesting to MGA!"

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The author put a lot of thought into this book. He wrote about the ideal human being, a disciplined man or woman willing to extend oneself for the benefit of others. He went to great lengths to explain what is involved in such discipline, and why love should be defined as extension of oneself for the benefit of others (and not a warm fuzzy feeling, or erotic feelings, or anything else.) Then he wrote about the existence of what he calls "grace" (a.k.a. serendipity), along with many other phenomenon that can't be explained or even properly examined without acknowledging the existence of God. Then he argued human beings can experience God's grace by probing into our unconscious and understanding what our unconscious is trying to tell us, which ultimately helps us get a grip on what's wrong with us and thus develop the discipline and love that is necessary to become the ideal human being. He tried to incorporate Bible verses, Buddhism stories, science essays and psychologist quotes into the support of these arguments. I'm not an expert on the other sources, but when he used the Bible verses, he interpreted them very differently from what I understand the verses to mean.

I agree with him there are many things in our lives that can only be explained by acknowledging the existence of God. I agree with him that humanity is by nature undeserving of God's grace and don't particularly desire it, and why some people received this grace is a mystery. The people who did receive the grace certainly didn't think they deserved it. And I agree with him that this grace is actually available to all. I largely agree with his view on what love is. I disagree with him that God resides in our unconscious. I disagree with him that the love and discipline he talks about is attainable by probing and drawing from the power of one's unconscious.

Peck makes more sense of evil than anybody

Didn't like this as much as People of the Lie. This felt very dated.

I think this man was unwell when he wrote this.

He says the goal of all therapy should be to become God, and that most of his clients leave long before they are ready because they are too lazy to become God. He doesn't think the goal of therapy should be to become more comfortable with one's life, or calmer, or happier, but rather spiritual growth and "godhood". Godhood is a word. Once you become God you can be a therapist, even if you aren't trained. The implication here is that Peck is God.

Nonetheless, as soon as we believe it is possible for man to become God, we can really never
rest for long, never say, “OK, my job is finished, my work is done.” We must constantly push ourselves to greater and greater wisdom, greater and
greater effectiveness. By this belief we will have trapped ourselves, at least until death, on an effortful treadmill of self-improvement and spiritual
growth. God’s responsibility must be our own. It is no wonder that the belief in the possibility of Godhead is repugnant.
The idea that God is actively nurturing us so that we might grow up to be like Him brings us face to face with our own laziness.

There is an also an awful lot of pseudoscience. He says that evolution is a miracle because it goes against entropy *headdesk* and often mentions scientific concepts he obviously doesn't understand to support his ideas. He holds the false belief that evolution has an endpoint / destination, and, guess what, the end point is our evolution is our evolution into God.

Telling your clients they aren't ready to leave therapy until they are God seems like a cunning marketing ploy to me. If this appeals to you you will like the book. It's well written and there are some great nuggets in it.

I have a colleague who often tells people, ‘“Look, allowing yourself to be dependent on another person is the worst possible thing you can do
to yourself. You would be better off being dependent on heroin. As long as you have a supply of it, heroin will never let you down; if it’s there, it will
always make you happy. But if you expect another person to make you happy, you’ll be endlessly disappointed.”

This isn't to say that you can't trust other people, just that others are not responsible for your happiness.

And I was introduced to the concept of cathexis, which is very interesting. Sublimation without the underlying sexual motive. Devoting yourself to something or someone and growing through acts of love. Like a gardener and her garden. What a great word.

Still though, I think he projects a lot on to his patients.. a lot a lot a lot. I read a study that showed that all therapy, even "sham" therapy helps at least 70% of people, but I do wonder if he never caused anyone any harm. He has this very specific world view and way of doing things and actively resents people that don't fit into it:

“What is it about living in Okinawa that’s so painful for you?” I asked. She began to cry in a whining sort of way. “I don’t have any friends here, and I’m alone all the time.”
He reads the audiobook himself, and there's a lot of disdain in how he pronounces the word "whining". I felt he showed disdain for any of the patients that chose not to work with him after an initial meeting, or anyone he wasn't able to help for one reason or another.



I think this is exactly the sort of book that gives the entire genre of self-help a bad name. I listened to the abridged version and I don't think I'll be going back to read it in full, yet maybe in the future being divine will appeal to me - god only knows.

Poor George, what bad luck he had to find this therapist. George was clever. He played his OCD off itself, he played his core delusion that his thoughts had an effect on the world off itself so that the compulsions would self-destruct..

He said, ok, if I don't do my compulsion, I will die, but I am going to make myself believe that if I do my compulsion my SON will die, and he is so much more important, so I won't do the compulsion. And POOF the OCD tendencies self-destructed. I doubt it would work for everyone, but it seemed to work for him, and it worked precisely because he was a good person and loved his son.

It was very clever and then this EVIL GOOSE tells George he has an evil character because he made a deal with the devil to hurt his son...!? Makes him believe he is a bad person who wants harm to come to his son (Again, something people with OCD are vulnerable to believing, as Peck well knew)! And then, having made him feel terrible about himself and completely undoing his self-healing attempt, he charged him for 2 years of therapy and then took the credit for curing him, when more than anything what he'd done was to hurt him.

He also suggests that if someone is "evil" it's morally advisable to force treatment on them, regardless of whether they recognize they are sick or whether they have ever commit ed a crime. And, as you might expect in view of what I've written already, he believes in demonic possession and promotes exorcism, a type of torture for the mentally ill or non-conforming that kills hundreds of people per year.

Good business man, bad person. This guy is lecturing us on evil when he cheated on his wives?

I read this book slowly and enjoyed immensely, as it contained so many nuggets of wisdom and food for thought.

Dr. Peck was not stingy with references and further reading tips. There is a lot to think about if you read the material with an open mind.

I like his interpretation of the original sin in the chapter on faith. But I also like his section on love, and how he defines it as the will to extend one's self for the spiritual evolution of oneself or another person. The ideas of this book will remain with me for a long time and guide me further in my reading on spiritual evolution.

[Review written by my younger self]
Peck’s A World Waiting to Be is an important book. No doubt about that. As always, this man makes a great contribution in speaking his mind and dissecting and explaining the woes of the world. Still, there is some contradictions and confusions in this book that lessen its value. The book is still important, but there are some things to know from the start before you open that first page. It is with this that I warn potential readers….

The Author’s Purpose in Question
“An illness is abroad in the land.” The world is at the apex of a crisis, where incivility reigns. Peck makes this broad statement known from the very beginning of the book, thus influencing the tone the rest of the book takes. Altogether more aggressive than his well-known and acclaimed Road Less Traveled, Peck’s A World Waiting to Be Born is almost a survival guide and a tactical plan for living and combating a world wrought with incivility.

Throughout the book, Peck emphasizes that his purpose in writing his book was to get readers to surmise their own definition of civility. It is possible that, in doing so, Peck made one of the biggest contractions of all in his book. Of course, no one is required to follow anything they read in books, yet Peck constructs the novel in such a way that it becomes more of a tool to follow his own version of civility rather than to guide readers in developing their own definition.

If Peck had hoped for individualized definitions of civility to flourish among his readers, why did he devote most of his pages to exposition on how to advance in his definition of civility? Why did he use such words as “impertinent” and “necessary” towards his own definition, if he were not trying to push it forward? No doubt, Peck’s grand call to civility is admirable, regardless of his intentions.

Still, more clarity and balance needs to be given to this issue, and readers should be forewarned of even the own unintentional and unwitting machinations of the author himself. As Peck himself points out, civility in some cases should not give way to a compromise of one’s convictions. Here, then, is the import of devising your own definition of civility, independent of Peck’s provisions. Every situation is unique, and it is with this in mind that readers should apply the tools Peck so graciously offers us.

God and Her Purposes
While Peck’s book is replete with academic citations and statistics, his religious beliefs certainly shine through, and he brings out various disclaimers for them throughout the book (like the fact that he refers to God as a “she” at various points). Unusual, indeed, especially since I cannot for once in my various readings of this book figure out exactly what religious derivations he may be writing from.

The various convictions and contradictions that follow his religious disclaimers can be smoothed over in readers’ minds to some extent, though sometimes his claims are held up solely by this mysterious religious foundation of Holy Spirit and other convictions. These latter claims are the hardest to swallow, and have caused me to (unfairly) question the worth of a book as a whole.

Still, despite this, I have learned a valuable lesson from my reading that was never so obviously noticeable before: Just because it’s published, that doesn’t mean it is always accurate, understandable, or superior. Indeed, when Peck isn’t confusing readers with his religious convictions and the reasoning that they support, Peck pushes readers to their own empowerment.

The Power is Yours!
Captain Planet? Hardly. Peck isn’t one to fly around with his environmentally sound cohorts ridding the world of incivility. However, even when he’s pushing his version of civility on us, or telling us what is true and good, he empowers his readers. Indeed, he states that we are, to some extent, slaves of our unconscious mind (he also calls this the “Holy Spirit”), which is “always one step ahead of the conscious mind in the right or the wrong direction”.

Still, this does not mean that civility is failing because only the unconscious mind is in control, or always going in the wrong direction. Peck believes that the cure for this civility comes from developing personal definitions of civility (ahem), and making sure that all people have a “conscious intention [or] awareness” towards civility. He does not doubt the existence of people capable of controlling their lives and bringing positive influence to themselves and others, and this is where the power of the book, and its readership, lies.


By the way, for a less confusing, more basic look at the world through Peck's eyes, try his tried and true Road Less Traveled. It is sure to change anyone who reads it.

Starts off well, has some really interesting/useful stuff to say but wanders off into nonsense in the second half. Five stars for the first half and no stars for the second half. I was quite disappointed with it given how interestingly it began. Read the first two sections then ignore the rest I think.

"M. Scott Peck, whose book The Road Less Traveled has become both a part of popular culture and a spiritual and inspirational guidebook for a generation, now gives us his most personal book; one that tells more about himself than he ever has before, while at the same time helps readers see truths about themselves, their own lives, and the greater community around them.

"On the surface, this book is the story of a three-week journey that Dr. Peck took with his wife, Lily, looking for the ancient megalithic stones that became an obsession for them. But the search for stones is a search for meaning and mystery, and ultimately an unveiling of the pilgrimage of life itself.

"Each day of the journey Dr. Peck discusses a related realm of human experience -- parenthood, holiness, romance, art, to name a few -- and we travel with him on an adventure of the spirit, striving to understand the journey of life in all of its complexities and secrets.

"Illustrated with exquisite drawings by Dr. Peck's son, Christopher. In Search of Stones is a beautiful book of spirituality and quest, faith and mystery, and the most intimate book to come from one of our most distinguished thinkers."
~~back cover

This is a stunning book: it delves into subjects that most of us don't talk about, or even think about: addiction, changing, aging, parenthood, death, gratitude, despair. Perhaps it's me that needed to hear about these subjects, and the other in the book, but it felt compelling, spiritual. I read one chapter a day -- I could have sat down and devoured the whole book at on go but I wanted to savor each one, to think about what was said, to hold that template up against my own life. This is a book to be cherished, to be kept, to be taken out and a chapter reread here and there, a book to contemplate in order to facilitate your life.

The author who is most famous for "The Road Less Traveled", writes about two exorcisms he conducted. He did not go into this lightly. He details his process as he tries to get help from the Catholic church and a famous author of a book on exorcism, but in the end, he puts together a team and conducts the procedure himself. He describes how he went from 95% skeptic to 100% believer in the reality of demonic possession. Fascinating read. In spite of the subject, not overly religious.

The author is most known for "The Road Less Traveled". In this book, he explores what he defines as "ordinary evil" as opposed to demonic possession which he covers in a different book. He gives several case histories of people he encountered in his psychotherapy practice which he labeled as evil. He discusses his desire to study evil scientifically and the problems that could arise if this were done. He caps off the book with a discussion of group dynamics and how group dynamics can lead to evil and discusses the famous Mylai massacre during the Vietnam War.

"The single greatest cause of inappropriate blaming is the combination of a strong will with the lack of submission to a higher power. A strong will is I believe the best asset that a human being can possess. Not because it guarantees success or goodness, but because a weak will pretty much guarantees failure. It is strong willed people who do well in psychotherapy...."

This book is specific to a debate of some decades ago. Still it brings an important perspectives that are not just relevant to euthanasia. Most of the book covers the process of dying and the complexity of it. Death is something that we typically start by denying.

The book [b:On Death and Dying|781844|On Death and Dying|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349013156s/781844.jpg|6253] defines five emotional stages that patients tend to go through. (Page 161 - the start of chapter 7)
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Dr. Peck finds a beauty in those who make it to stage 4 before passing away. (Page 163) That is the main thing that I got out of the book, and it is related to his definition of spiritual and secular levels which I also found quite interesting.

The Stages of Religious or Spiritual Development (Page 124)
As described more fully in: [b:The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace|4443|The Different Drum Community Making and Peace|M. Scott Peck|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388377977s/4443.jpg|8094] and somewhat in: [b:Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth|7371|Further Along the Road Less Traveled The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth|M. Scott Peck|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437877099s/7371.jpg|10494] and [b:The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety|4442|The Road Less Traveled and Beyond Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety|M. Scott Peck|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398393380s/4442.jpg|6157144]
1. Chaotic or antisocial: people may appear either religious or secular , but their belief system is profoundly superficial.
2. Formal, Institutional: the letter of the law - religious fundamentalists - where most religious people are found.
3. Skeptic, Individual: Where most secularists are situated. Typically scientific-minded, rational, moral, humane, mostly materialistic, not interested in things that can’t be proved.
4. Mystical, Communal: Rational, but do not make a fetish of rationalism. They have begun to doubt their own doubts. They feel deeply connected to an unseen order of things, although they cannot fully define it. They are comfortable with the mystery of the sacred.

Chapter 6: defines the soul and factors that influence the quality of the person; that we are not accidents; we have a purpose;

“But no one, in my opinion — not Dickens, not Shakespeare, not Dostoyevsky — has ever succeeded in capturing a soul. Great caricatures, yes … so great they don't even seem like caricatures. But scratch the pages and don still don’t come up with a real soul.” (Page 147)

But for the purpose of this book I will focus on the choice to learn. Specifically to learn wisdom.” (Page 151)

And here is an interesting sentence after a paragraph about our changing knowledge about the interior of the atom: “Atoms have begun to look very much like spirits.” (Page 156)

There is a reason to not hasten through death: ”Repeatedly I have used a phrase that is not in general parlance: ‘the work of depression.’” (Page 172)

“I believe that most successful long-term marriages go through these stages of death and dying in the same order that Kübler-Ross outlined. (Page 177)

And the rest of the book gets more into the Euthanasia debate.

Contents
Part 1: From Confusion to Definition
1. Pulling the Plug
2. Physical Pain
3. Emotional Pain
4. Murder, Suicide, and Natural Death
Part 2: An Underlying Simplicity: Spiritual Perspectives
5. Secularism
6. The Creatureliness of Humans
7. The Learning of Dying
8. Euthanasia: A Typical Case
Part 3: Into the Future: Societal Considerations
9. Assisted Suicide
10. The Hope of the Euthanasia Debate

The closing paragraph of the book includes these words:
"The truly big question is ... whether we want a society that encourages the soul and its development."

The setting is a nursing home. There is a murder, and the investigator settles on the best nurse there as the likley suspect. Through the aftereffects of the murder, many lives are touched to become better people.
Since it is a novel, there is a lot of philosophy that the members of the community have that doesn't come across too heavy. I feel like Dr. Peck was able to say more through them than he could directly, and get us, the readers, to think more about whether they are true or not than he could in a non-fiction book.