8/18/2019 Book Review - The Road Less Travelled

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Name : Abhinandan Sahoo , Roll No. H14065, HRM Section B 2014-16

Book Review The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck

 The book ‘The road less travelled” has been written by psychiatrist Scott Peck.

 Though the book is not directly about Psychotherapy but it does talks about a

good deal on what psychotherapy is all about. t also talks about the li!e in

general and about the pains and su"erings that individuals !ace in their li!e. t

gives a perspective o! li!e and its proble# !ro# an uni$ue angle. The book also

gives an account o! parenting and i#pact o! upbringing on our personality and

values. The book talks about how parenting can have an i#pact on way we

behave% the way we think and the way we look at the world. have divided the

book into various sections depending on #y understanding o! the book. Let us

have a look at the various sections that !elt were the #ost insight!ul in the

!ollowing te&t.

Dici!line

 This part starts with e&plaining the perspective o! li!e. n this part% the author

disregards the co##on #isconception that Li!e is easy and #anageable. The

author urges us to accept that li!e is di'cult and pain is the ulti#ate truth o! li!e

which we all need to accept. By accepting pain as a part o! li!e only we can (nd

ways to deal with it. Scott Peck believes that running away !ro# pain and

di'culties will never give us peace. Standing up to challenges and !acing the

pain leads to a #eaning!ul li!e. )ccording to the author% a #eaning!ul li!e isaccepting the pain and (nding ways to avert the pain in disciplined and

#eaning!ul ways.

*ere the author also talks about parenting in this section. *ere #y best section

was % +The sins o! the !ather”. The author very beauti!ul e&plains how parenting

#ould the behaviours and the !uture actions o! children. The section e&plains

how shouting at children does not solve the issue. Shouting at the children !or

their wrongdoing #ight solve the issues in short ter# but it de(nitely it is a

#atter o! concern in the long ter#. The section e&plains how a disciplined parent

hi#sel! can create a disciplined child. t is i#portant !or parents to !ollow a

disciplined li!e to inculcate those values in children.

)nother section that liked in this book was o! truth. The book talks about white

lies and black lies. have heard #any ti#es that +Telling a lie !or so#e good

cause isn,t a lie”. Though used to agree with the state#ent at !ace value but

never !elt totally right about it. -uestions like aren,t we deliberately withholding

in!or#ation which #ay be o! lot o! value in those situations !or so#eone. )lso

how can we di"erentiate which lie is !or good or what is !or bad ) lie is a lie. The

book answers these $uestions o! #ine. The author e&plains the conse$uences o!

hiding the truth and how withholding the in!or#ation #ay be !or any cause does

not serve any value to anyone.

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Name : Abhinandan Sahoo , Roll No. H14065, HRM Section B 2014-16

"o#e

 This section is one o! the eye openers !or #e in #any ways. *owever% there are

so#e concepts in this section which #ay not agree to co#pletely. Lets see

so#e i#portant principles o! this book.

/irstly% this section talks about love and its various #isconceptions. 0e have

o!ten heard love in #any instances. 1very relationship is bounded by threads o!

love. But does the love that e&ists between siblings or between parent and child

is sa#e as that between spouses and boy!riend and girl!riend always had this

doubt and this book see#s to very articulately e&plain the #eaning o! love. This

book e&plains that loving so#eone and !alling in love is totally di"erent. /alling in

love is #ore o! a se&ual erotic love whereas the love in every relation is di"erent.

 The book e&plains this concept !ro# the concept o! boundaries o! ego and the

boundaries de(ne the love between the relationship. The book e&plains in great

detail how love and its #eaning !or a child changes throughout his2her li!e. Theevolution o! love and its #eaning in a person,s li!e is interesting to note in this

book. This book also talks about how #echanis# o! attention seeking works in

individuals.

 The book also talks about how love is an action and not a !eeling. The book says

that love is #ore o! the action which co#es at an e&pense o! energy and

sacri(ce and not a #ere !eeling. The book talks about the concept o! cathecting%

)uthor e&plains the concept o! cathecting and decathecting. Though the author

e&plains the concept beauti!ully% a# not in total agree#ent with the concept o!

this section. The notions that love is not a !eeling and an action only is

unacceptable to #e. )ccording to #e love is !eeling and action both. t is not

necessary we e&pense our energy !or everyone that we !all in love with.

$%o&th ' Reli(ion

n this section% the author says that the proble#s that we !ace related to religion

are not proble#s o! religion. But the proble# is the way we de(ne the religion.

 The author believes that the world view o! Religion is very narrow and that is the

root to all proble#s. The author then brings the religion o! science which is a

#etaphor o! religion o! truth. The author says it is not necessary the a person

who goes to church% !ollows a religion% etc is the only being who can be calledspiritual. The author contests this thought by saying that the people who !ollow

the religion o! science !ollow the religion o! truth.

 Then in the conse$uent part% the author e&plains the i#pact the un$uestioning

belie! in gods or religious dog#as on lives o! people through case o! 3athy%

Marcia% Theodore% etc. The cases are interesting and provide a real li!e insight

into the religious belie!s that we #ay carry and how it stops us !ro# having a

wider% !ul(lling and productive li!e.

$%ace

8/18/2019 Book Review - The Road Less Travelled

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Name : Abhinandan Sahoo , Roll No. H14065, HRM Section B 2014-16

n this section% the author starts by speaking o! the unconscious #ind. The

author says the unconscious #ind is al#ost 456 o! our entire #ental abilities.

 The power o! the unconscious #ind i! unlocked can be beyond i#agination. Then

the author o! the book goes on to e&plain the #iracle o! evolution which is the

#ost interesting !or #e. The author uses scienti(c ter#s like second laws o!

 Ther#odyna#ics to de(ne the evolution principle. The author says that the

theory o! our physical evolution is nothing less than a #iracle. Because

according to the law o! entropy and second law o! Ther#odyna#ics% the universe

is continuously 7owing to a lower level o! energy. *owever% theory o! physical

evolution de(es this logic and thus our physical evolution is a #iracle.

 Then the book talks about the hindrances to Spirituality. The author believes that

the sins that the world has !ound out are not sins at all. The author does not

consider se& or any other appetite as a sin. *e believes there is only one

hindrance to Spirituality and that is la8iness. The author then e&plains the nature

o! power. )ccording to the book% there are two types o! Power 9 Political andSpiritual. Political power helps in coercing people and spiritual power helps in

#aking decisions with !ull awareness.

 The author then ends the book by two parado&es. :ne is the resistance to grace

and the other is welco#ing o! ;race. The author believes that 0e do not go to

;race but ;race co#es to us.

 The book is an eye opener and one o! the best books read so !ar towards sel!

actuali8ation and presenting a logical and unbiased view o! li!e. The author has

#ade the book interesting by including real li!e e&a#ples which take us closer to

reality and help us understanding the principles o! Scott Peck through our ownlives.

* Thank You *