I picked up M. Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled this morning. Its forty years since he penned it now and it has done what all great authors hope their work will do: stood the test of time. The challenge to write in a way that is timely and timeless in no small feat, but Peck seems to meet the challenge effortlessly.
Here are just a few lines to whet you appetite:
“Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing.”
“When we avoid legitimate suffering that results from dealing with problems, we also avoid the growth that problems demand from us.”
“Discipline is a basic set of tools we need to solve life’s problems… When we teach ourselves and our children discipline, we are teaching them and ourselves how to suffer and also how to grow.”
“What are these tools, these techniques of suffering, these means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively that I call discipline? There are four: delaying gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth, and balancing.”
What struck me as I reread this timeless classic was that we live in a troubled time filled it seems with problems. And yet, it seems we lack the tools en masse to solve these problems. We lack the strength of character to delay gratification. We lack the inner fortitude to accept responsibility. We seem more interested in our opinions and agendas than we are dedicated to truth. And our lives and our world lack the foundational balance necessary to thrive in a way that is sustainable.
Where do we go from here? Dr. Scott M. Peck has many of the answers. Whether you have read it before or not, now is a great time to read The Road Less Traveled.
Click here to order a copy today from Amazon.