The Road Less Traveled

Ok so this is my first set of notes, perspectives, and points of interest/quotes from the book, The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck. Overall a solid read for psych therapy and really helpful if you are wondering if you could use a bit of work. The last third of the book kinda went off a dock with a bit of floating around in the world of religiosity and god of the gaps, but even then it does have it's points. My thoughts are delineated by **.


-Discipline comes from training and the comfortable place to train.

Delayed gratification requires knowledge that the future is secure.

take the time to solve problems, but first you have to confront the problem

Neurotic- you think you are at fault
Character disorder- you think that others are at fault
character neurotics- combo of finding what you are responsible for

pg 23- No problem can be solved until the individual assumes the responsibility for solving it

26- whenever we seek to avoid the responsibility for our own behavior, we do so by attempting to give that responsibility to some other individual or organization or entity

felt impotent because we have given our power away

Tools for change
1st tool- Recognize
2nd- responsibility
3rd- Dedication to the Truth

Weltanschauung- world view- a comprehensive conception of the world

Continuously update and revise your worldview even if painful

Transference- set of way of perceiving and responding to the world which is developed in childhood and which is usually entirely appropriate to the childhood* environment but which is inappropriately transferred into the adult world.

* or any much earlier time

**Goddamn it, Am I the computer tech? No, because I am willing to change.

A life of total dedication to the truth is a life of willingness to be personally challenged.

2 biggest lies we tell-
we really love our children
Our parents really loved us

white, gray, and black lies

Pg 41 Rules to stay dedicated to the truth

Balancing - disciplining discipline

Erik Erikson- 8 Stages of Development

Bracketing- putting aside present needs, past experience, and future expectations to experience current data/situation. i.e. not doing what I did when visiting New Zealand.

You must have something before you can give it up- develop who you are.

Discipline is a system of techniques.

Love- The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.

Ego boundaries

Falling in love is not real love

Lie of True Love

Misconception of dependency as love

passive dependent personality disorder

loving "pets"- only having affection for those totally dependent and stopping when they assert their own will, i.e. infants

social masochism- to feel love they allow pain and the self-righteousness of moral superiority: **Hi, mom!

Love is not a feeling it is an action

cathexis- relationship between us and object
decathecting- losing that emotional bond

love is one of work or courage, an extension of ourselves to strive for spiritual growth

work of attention

Listening to great lecturer vs 6 year old

true listening (love in action) vs less than total

game playing

Loss: cathexis requires pain

Carlos Casteneda "The Teachings of Don Juan"

risk=reward

commitment constancy necessary to battle fear of abandonment

confrontation
-great potential for arrogance (a risk)
- self scrutiny is needed to correcting others
2 types -instinctive ->arrogant
            -self doubting ->humility

discipline how much love is limited, don't waste nor overextend

separateness - emotionally understanding the idea of me and you
Kahlil Gibran "the prophet"

pg 127- Strive to be God?

The delineation of knowable and unknowable
is a poor bet for the future

**he has an interesting definition of religion- anything you do or believe on a regular basis

Section 4 Grace

**I think one of his problems is that he loses the sense of wonder and enchantment when things are explained scientifically. He enjoys the "God of the Gaps" to account for what doesn't fit, even though he supports the scientific study of miracles.

Dreams and idle thoughts

**collective unconscious? Give me a break. People don't "possess" the knowledge before being taught.

Look up this study on Psychic Phenomenon: Montague Ullman, MD and Stanley Krippner, PhD
"An experimental approach to dreams and telepathy" 1970

**ESP?! seriously? What a 70's book

Grace as an outside force connecting and encouraging human spiritual growth.  (**outside force?)

entropy and evolution- **easily shows that he doesn't understand the science behind evolution

pg 192- "God is the goal of evolution" OMG

failure to debate is the Original Sin

Fear can create laziness and vice versa

Problem of Evil:
evil is real
is laziness carried to extreme
inevitable
ineffective as social force

evil is exercise of political power to avoid extending oneself for the purpose of spiritual growth

laziness is nonlove, evil is antilove

spiritual growth is the growth or evolution of consciousness.

nature of power- political or spiritual

Spiritual Power is the capacity to maintain awareness and one's ability to make decisions with greater awareness

assuming total responsibility

**grasping at meaning is evident in this author**
"The reality of grace indicates humanity to be at the center of the universe"
**merely medieval thoughts rewritten for the modern age

**He makes lots of good points with solid directions for practical change, but then he gets carried away with the metaphysical that is mostly unproven.