M. Scott Peck - The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled published in 1978, is Peck's best-known work, and the one that made his reputation. It is, in short, a description of the attributes that make for a fulfilled human being, based largely on his experiences as a psychiatrist and a person.

In the first section of the work Peck talks about discipline, which he considers essential for emotional, spiritual and psychological health, and which he describes as "the means of spiritual evolution". The elements of discipline that make for such health include the ability to delay gratification, accepting responsibility for oneself and one's actions, a dedication to truth and balancing.

In the second section, Peck considers the nature of love, which he considers the driving force behind spiritual growth. The section mainly attacks a number of misconceptions about love: that romantic love exists (he considers it a very destructive myth), that it is about dependency, that true love is the feeling of "falling in love". Instead, Peck argues that "true" love is about the extending of one's ego boundaries to include another, and about the spiritual nurturing of another.

The final section describes Grace, the powerful force originating outside human consciousness that nurtures spiritual growth in human beings. To do so he describes the miracles of health, the unconscious, and serendipity—phenomena which Peck says:

• nurture human life and spiritual growth
• are incompletely understood by scientific thinking
• are commonplace among humanity
• originate outside conscious human will

He concludes that "the miracles described indicate that our growth as human beings is being assisted by a force other than our conscious will" (Peck, 1978/1992, p281).

Random House, where the little-known psychiatrist first tried to publish his original manuscript, turned him down, saying the final section was "too Christ-y." Simon & Schuster published the work for $7,500 and printed a modest hardback run of 5,000 copies. The book took off only after Peck hit the lecture circuit and personally sought reviews in key publications. Reprinted in paperback in 1980, The Road first made best-seller lists in 1984 — six years after its initial publication.