Book Report - The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled
- A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
BY M. Scott Peck, M.D.
- Author of The Different Drum

... I make no distinction between the mind and the spirit, and therefore no distinction between the process of achieving spiritual growth and achieving mental growth. They are one and the same."

... this process is a complex, arduous and lifelong task. Psychotherapy, if it is to provide substantial assistance to the process of mental and spiritual growth, is not a quick or simple procedure."

I: DISCIPLINE

Problems and Pain
Delaying Gratification
The Sings of the Father
Problem-Solving and Time
Responsibility
Neuroses and Character Disorders
Escape from Freedom
Dedication to Reality
Transference: The outdated Map
Openness to Challenge
Withholding Truth
Balancing
The Healthiness of Depression
Renunciation and Rebirth

II: LOVE

Love Defined
Falling in "Love"
The Myth of Romantic Love
More About Ego Boundaries
Dependency
Cathexis Without Love
"Self-Sacrifice"
Love Is Not a Feeling
The Work of Attention
The Risk of Loss
The Risk of Independence
The Risk of Commitment
The Risk of Confrontation
Love Is Disciplined
Love Is Separateness
Love and Psychotherapy
The Mystery of Love

III: GROWTH AND RELIGION

World Views and Religion
The Religion of Science
The Case of Kathy
The Case of Marcia
The Case of Theodore
The Baby and the Bath Water
Scientific Tunnel Vision

IV: GRACE

The Miracle of Health
The Miracle of the Unconscious
The Miracle of Serendipity
The Definition of Grace
The Miracle of Evolution
The Alpha and the Omega
Entropy and Original Sin
The Problem of Evil
The Evolution of Consciousness
The Nature of Power
Grace and Mental Illness: The Myth of Orestes
Resistance to Grace
The Welcoming of Grace
Afterword

"there can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; and there can be no peace (and ultimately life) without community."