The Road Less Traveled
“The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our behavior lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the consequences of that behavior.” – M. Scott Peck
I have already confessed to being a hopeless book-nerd and also to being completely fascinated by human psychology. I’ve also discussed a few of the many psychology related books that I have read.
I’m currently reading The Road Less Traveled
I have had this misconception about other books before so I figured I’d start reading it anyway. He had me at hello. Well, actually I was intrigued immediately and he had me at page 17….
Some of us will go to quite extraordinary lengths to avoid our problems and the suffering they cause, proceeding far afield from all that is clearly good and sensible in order to try to find an easy way out, building the most elaborate fantasies in which to live, sometimes to the total exclusion of reality. In the succinctly elegant words of Carl Jung, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” But the substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it was designed to avoid. The neurosis itself becomes the biggest problem.
How true is that? He goes on to talk about how dealing with problems head-on is, of course, healthy, and the first of four basic tools necessary to deal with problems head-on that many of us do not possess is the ability to delay gratification. I am the queen of procrastination and instant gratification. This guy is in my head and he wrote the book when I was only eight years old! This indicates to me that these are universal problems, not just mine. He acknowledges this as well and even explains why perfectly normal, intelligent, successful people cannot deal with problems or pain.
It’s not a self-help book, it’s a psychology book. There are no daily affirmations. While it is somewhat technical, it is written in such a way that anyone can understand it. A background in psychology is not necessary.
I felt compelled to start writing about this book now because I have a feeling that I will be writing much more about it as I read and didn’t want to forget the main concepts that strike a chord with me as I progress. If you’ve read it, please comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for stopping by!
I read the Keith Ablow book, that seems to be along the same lines as the one you’re reading now. It was very inciteful and I found it helpful to keep a journal nearby as I read – so I could write down the things that resonated with me and elaborate WHY.
I got Eat, Pray, Love for my mom for Christmas, after hearing good things. I hope she ended up liking it, too!
OMG. Eat, Pray, Love is one of my faves of all time. Absolutely spectacular. In fact, I am between books at the moment, and think I may reread that one:)
Great post, Cyndi. I always love to hear what others are reading!
i adored Eat, Pray, Love — it completely gave me the courage to start fighting for my life.
i think that i may have to read “The Road Less Traveled” — the excerpt you mention sounds like it is meant for me…
Love that book. I forget the first line, but it’s huge. Kind of feel like reading it again now that you brought it up, it’s been since 1991 … it was on the New York Times Bestseller list for ten year in a row. Here’s an excerpt I have kept from the book, there are so many.
“It is no wonder, then, that the world of humanity is so full of conflict. We have a situation in which human beings, who must deal with each other, have vastly different views as to the nature of reality, yet each one believes his or her own view to be the correct one since it is based on the microcosm of personal experience.”
— M. Scott Peck
No, I haven’t. Just got it for my mom b/c my cousin recommended it and the Amazon reviews looked positive. I’ll have to check it out from the library if it’s THIS good!
Eat, Pray, Love beckoned me to want to take off to Indonesia. Of course, I didn’t. I did take a look at home rentals though
I did love that in Italy, she became aware of a cultural taboo … telling your husband his sperm wasn’t up to snuff was not good. Instead, find a guy and keep the secret.
How well would that work with your integrity … ?
First line in The Road Less Traveled. Just hit me like that!
Life is difficult.
LOVE THE BABY PICS. GREAT WORK I’LL BE FOLLOWING YOU.
Eat, Pray, Love was SO good! Did you read it?
It’s amazing to me that it’s still totally relevant 30 years later.
Yep, that’s it!
Good question!