M. SCOTT PECK -- R.I.P.
M. Scott Peck (1936-2005), M.D.
'63
M. Scott Peck was a psychiatrist and author of
best-selling books for adults and children, most notably, The Road
Less Traveled, an immensely popular book on personal development and
spirituality. His most recent book, Glimpse of the Devil: A Psychiatrist’s
Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism and Redemption, was published
earlier this year. In 1984, Peck co-founded The Foundation for Community
Encouragement, a Seattle-based nonprofit foundation that promotes
the principles of community through workshops held throughout the
world. His efforts earned him the Kaleidoscope Award for Peacemaking
in 1984, the Temple International Peace Prize in 1994, and the Georgetown
University Learning, Faith and Freedom Medal in 1996.
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Greetings and good wishes.
This week's essay addresses the topic of...well,
let me put it this way: Freud is dead, Frankl and Sagan are dead, Darwin is
dead, M. Scott Peck died recently and I'm slowing down a bit myself. The featured
article is about Dr Peck's work, particularly his remarkably popular book "The
Road Less Traveled."
Enjoy an epic and triumphant weekend.
M. Scott Peck, author of the 1978 best-seller "The Road Less
Traveled" and assorted knock-off updates such as "More Roads Less
Traveled" and "Son of Less Traveled Roads" or something like
that, died a few months ago at age 69. He was quite influential and deserves
acknowledgment from those of us who champion effective, healthful lifestyle
choices. Peck's flagship work, "The Road Less Traveled," perched
profitably on the New York Times best-seller list for over a decade. Peck's
style was thick with religious teachings, a characteristic that made him sound
more like Norman Vincent Peale ("The Power of Positive Thinking"
-- 1952) and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen than other popular self-help gurus like
Dale Carnegie ("How to Win Friends and Influence People" --1936)
and Benjamin Spock ("Baby and Child Care" -- 1946) Peck gave readers
step-by-step advice for taking control of their lives. He artfully mixed secular
wisdom with his spiritual gobbledygook. By doing so, he attracted the gooey,
faithful devotees that have made Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield and Mitch Albom,
among others, quite rich. There is something to be said for feel-good palaverous
pablum, so I'll say it: Peck's books did more good than harm.
While more preacher ("laziness was the original sin, and
God's grace was the cure") than wellness promoter, most of Dr. Peck's
advice was such that wellness promoters would endorse. Among the messages in
"The Road..." were the following:
* Embrace self-responsibility. Be accountable for your problems
and overall life situation. For solutions, look first to steps YOU can take
to make things better. Do not whine, excuse or avoid responsibility.
*
Recognize the demands life makes -- and don't take them personally. Life IS
difficult, a series of problems, one after another. Why make a big deal about
it?
* Choose your attitudes. Many if not most/all psychological disturbances
are simply "disorders of thinking" which require more positive and
constructive perspectives. (Easy to say! When my colleague Bob Ludlow saw this,
he wrote: "Sheesh, let's just have a big pep rally and cure all the mentally
ill people.")
* Delay gratification. Expect sacrifice, pain and suffering. Properly
managed, they can make you stronger. Suffering is (potentially) good for you!
(Sounds like Mother Theresa!)
* Recognize the root of mental illness. The root cause is trying
to avoid difficulties, setbacks, suffering and the like. Expect these things
and deal with what comes. This is the decent way to live.
* Create a supportive environment. Seek involvement with communities
of interest, such as church groups and other such networks (e.g., AA, Weight
Watchers and so on).
Of course, many of the basic concepts Peck addressed were developed
by others without the god-talk. A few of these also proved highly successful,
such as Thomas Harris's 1967 "I'm OK, You're OK," Eric Berne's 1964
"Games People Play," John Bradshaw's 1990 "Homecoming"
(silly inner child babble) and my favorite -- Harry Browne's "How I Found
Freedom In An Unfree World" along with Robert Ringer's 1977 "Looking
Out for #1."
Oddly, the bizarre god-talk in "The Road..." (e.g.,
"the unconscious is God ) was off-putting not only to rational infidels
but also to hard-core religious extremists. Some fundamentalists criticized
Peck for non-literal interpretations of the Bible! Wow - how dare he? Others
of this ilk found him guilty of "New Age spirituality" and heresy.
(Source: Christine B. Whelan, "The Road Is Heavily Traveled Now,"
Wall Street Journal, October 7, 2005.)
Well, anyone who offends the fundamentalists can't be all bad.
M. Scott Peck - RIP.
Be well and always look on the bright side of life.
Donald B. Ardell, Ph.D. is the author of High Level Wellness:
An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs and Disease (Rodale, 1977, Bantam 1979 and
Ten Speed Press 1986). Since 1984, he has produced the quarterly ARDELL WELLNESS
REPORT (68 editions in print), a weekly electronic newsletter (261 in circulation)
and essays at the website SeekWellness.com - http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness.
He also ran for mayor of Tampa as "the oldest, fittest, fastest and prettiest
of all the candidates" on a "well city" platform based on four
themes: functional, free, fit and fun. In 2004, he won his age group in both
the duathlon national championship (8/8, Alphraetta, GA) and the national triathlon
championship (9/18, Shreveport, LA). Don can be reached at (727) 824-5645 or
via e-mail at donardell@knology.net
www.voiceoffreedom.com