Themes in "The Road Less Traveled"

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Recommended: Romantic love as a concept

The Road Less Traveled

M. Scott Peek starts off with "life is difficult." Peck speaks of discipline and how it is the basic tool required to solve our problems. Life is a series of problems and what makes life difficult is the process of confronting and solving problems. These problems "evoke in us frustration or grief or sadness, anguish or despair." yet it is in facing these problems that we gain wisdom, strength and courage. Any problem brings out a certain emotion; feelings and these feelings can be at times very painful. But it is this that helps us grow. A good example he mentions is school, we purposely give our students a set of problems based on their grade level and ask them to solve it and through them learning different methods of accomplishing the problems they learn, they grow. But this is not everyone; he mentions that most of us are not so easily developable. We postpone what we are supposed to do and we hope that our obligations or problems will go away. But by avoiding the problems in life we also avoid growth. Peck recalls four ways of dealing with problems constructively, delaying gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to the truth, and balancing a revolutionist, changed how I now live my life, and for that I am forever thankful.

Peck also talks about love. On the topic of love the discusses the difference between being "in love" and love. He notes that love is not a feeling, but an activity, and defines it as "the willingness to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one's own and another's spiritual growth." He complains about the uncontrolled notion of romantic love that spreads through society today that one is not truly in love unless one feels those incredible "I'...

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...king glass self, and the self fulfilling prophecy, and society. This book is an excellent read and comes highly recommended from my self to any student who wishes to read a book concerning life. Just like the cover points out, this book discusses a new psychology of love, traditional values, and spiritual growth. I do realize that this book is a sociological book and I recognize some of the terms and concepts from sociology 1301. I would also recommend this book to a student of psychology and sociology.

"So if your goal is to avoid pain and escape suffering, I would not advise you to seek higher levels of consciousness or spiritual evolution. First, you cannot achieve them without suffering, and second, insofar as you do achieve them, you are likely to be called on to serve in ways more painful to you, or at least demanding of you, than you can now imagine." (Peck)

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