.png){kind=small}
Since ultimately people heal themselves with or without the tool of psychotherapy,
0:16
why is it that so few do and so many do not? Since the path of spiritual growth,
0:22
albeit difficult, is open to all, why do so few choose to travel it? It was to this question that
0:29
Christ was addressing himself when he said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.””
0:36
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled No matter the current state of our life
0:38
or the problems we face, we all have the capacity for self-transformation,
0:43
the ability to overcome our problems, and to move towards the ideal of peak psychological health.
0:49
Yet most of us do not exercise this capacity; rather, we leave our personal problems unsolved
0:55
and stay stuck in a mediocrity that situates us far below our potential and places us at risk of
1:01
mental illness. Why is this limiting life-path the norm? In this video, drawing from the insights of
1:09
the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, we examine this question and explore how we can be one of the few
1:16
who proceeds upon the path of personal growth - which Peck called “the road less traveled”.
1:23
“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths....Most do not fully see
1:32
this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly,
1:39
about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life
1:44
were generally easy, as if life should be easy…Life is a series of problems. Do we
1:51
want to moan about them or solve them?” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
1:55
One of the primary marks of wisdom is the capacity to accept that life is difficult,
2:00
problems inevitable, and suffering inescapable. A second mark of wisdom is the understanding that
2:07
if we confront our problems and work to solve them, we will suffer, but it will be the type
2:12
of suffering that is meaningful and promotive of personal growth. Many of us do not possess these
2:19
marks of wisdom. Rather, we cling to the illusory hope that if only we can make enough money,
2:24
meet the right person, or get the right job, then life will be easy. Many of us also try to
2:31
evade our problems via a variety of avoidance tactics. We blame our problems on other people
2:37
or social circumstances. We procrastinate, hoping our problems will disappear. We engage
2:43
in self-deception and deny that we have problems, or we turn to alcohol, drugs,
2:49
or compulsive technology use to escape awareness of our problems and to numb the suffering that
2:54
accompanies them. And as Peck observed: “Some of us will go to quite extraordinary
3:00
lengths to avoid our problems and the suffering they cause, proceeding far afield from all that
3:06
is clearly good and sensible in order to try to find an easy way out, building the most
3:12
elaborate fantasies in which to live, sometimes to the total exclusion of reality...We attempt
3:19
to skirt around problems rather than meet them head on. We attempt to get out of
3:24
them rather than suffer through them.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
3:28
This attempt to avoid our problems and find an easy way out of suffering is doomed to fail.
3:34
Not only does it lead us into fantasies and delusions, but it exacerbates our problems and
3:40
makes us susceptible to a meaningless and neurotic type of suffering that is central to many forms of
3:45
mental illness. Or as M. Scott Peck explained: “This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional
3:53
suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness…In the succinctly
4:00
elegant words of Carl Jung, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” But the
4:07
substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it
4:12
was designed to avoid. The neurosis itself becomes the biggest problem. True to form,
4:19
many will then attempt to avoid this pain and this problem in turn, building layer upon
4:25
layer of neurosis…when we avoid the legitimate suffering that results from dealing with problems,
4:32
we also avoid the growth that problems demand from us. It is for this reason that in chronic mental
4:39
illness we stop growing, we become stuck.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
4:43
There is only one way out of the neurotic suffering of mental illness, and this is to
4:48
endure the legitimate suffering that is part and parcel of accepting our problems and then actively
4:54
working to solve them. To heighten our capacity to endure suffering, it is beneficial to remember
5:00
that suffering is not our enemy, but the greatest of teachers. “Those things that hurt, instruct.”,
5:08
as Benjamin Franklin put it. Or as the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus observed 2500 years ago:
5:15
The gods have ordained a solemn decree that from suffering alone comes wisdom.” When we
5:22
stop fleeing from and numbing ourselves to our suffering, then suffering shows us where we are
5:27
going wrong in life and opens our eyes to the full extent of our problems and the necessity
5:32
of change. This is why M. Scott Peck labeled depression as a healthy symptom which only
5:39
becomes pathological when we try to suppress it and evade the life changes that its presence
5:44
is calling for. Or as Peck explained: “...depressive symptoms are a sign to the
5:50
suffering individual that all is not right with him or her and major adjustments need
5:55
to be made...depression is a normal and basically healthy phenomenon.”
5:59
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled A further benefit of enduring suffering,
6:03
instead of avoiding or masking it, is that eventually there comes a time when we grow sick of
6:09
suffering and are struck by an intense motivation to resolve, once and for all, the problems
6:15
underlying it. Once we cross this “threshold of suffering”, it typically becomes easy to leave
6:22
behind bad habits and self-sabotaging behaviors, and to cultivate the discipline needed to move in
6:27
a life-promoting direction. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used this threshold of
6:33
suffering as a catalyst to eradicate some of his most harmful habits, and as he wrote:
6:39
“Indeed, from the bottom of my soul I am gratefully disposed to all my misery
6:44
and sickness…because such things leave me a hundred back-doors through which I can escape
6:50
from permanent [bad] habits.” Nietzsche, The Gay Science
6:53
If suffering motivates us to confront our bad habits and problems, we will then have
6:58
to struggle and suffer in order to overcome them. But in contrast to neurotic suffering
7:04
which breeds stagnation and a wasted life, this type of suffering is constructive as it leads
7:10
to personal growth. Or as Peck observed: “It is through the pain of confronting and
7:16
resolving problems that we learn...it is in this whole process of meeting and solving
7:21
problems that life has its meaning....Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed,
7:28
they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of the pain of problems
7:34
that we grow mentally and spiritually.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
7:37
It is because legitimate suffering is a great teacher and a spur to personal growth that M.
7:42
Scott Peck observed that: “…wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems and
7:49
actually to welcome the pain of problems.” Two of the wisest figures in history, Buddha and Jesus,
7:56
harnessed the pain inherent in their problems to ascend to an elevated level of consciousness that
8:02
was marked not only by a profound capacity to endure suffering, but also to experience
8:08
overflowing joy. Or as Peck explained: “One measure—and perhaps the best measure—of
8:15
a person’s greatness is the capacity for suffering. Yet the great are also joyful. This,
8:22
then, is the paradox. Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha’s suffering and
8:27
Christians forget Christ’s joy. Buddha and Christ were not different men. The suffering
8:33
of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one.”
8:40
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled But it is not just the tendency to avoid
8:43
the pain of our problems that locks us in a mediocre and mentally ill life. It is also our
8:49
laziness - for as the psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz wrote:
8:54
“When people try to evade problems you first have to ask if it is not just laziness. Jung once said,
9:01
"Laziness is the greatest passion of mankind, even greater than power or sex or anything."”
9:07
Marie Louise von Franz, The Way of the Dream M. Scott Peck defined laziness as “the force of
9:11
entropy as it manifests in the lives of us all.” In the external world entropy is the tendency of
9:18
systems to degenerate into a disordered and stagnant state; while in the inner world of
9:23
the psyche it is the force of laziness that breeds disorder and stagnation. Laziness is
9:29
so common and pervasive that Peck called it the one and only original sin, or as he wrote:
9:36
“For many years I found the notion of original sin meaningless, even objectionable…Gradually,
9:42
however, I became increasingly aware of the ubiquitous nature of laziness…original
9:47
sin does exist; it is our laziness. It is very real...Some of us may be less lazy than others,
9:55
but we are all lazy to some extent. No matter how energetic, ambitious or even wise we may be,
10:01
if we truly look into ourselves we will find laziness lurking at some level. It is the force
10:07
of entropy within us, pushing us down and holding us all back from our spiritual evolution.”
10:14
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled Many will protest that they are not lazy as
10:17
they work long hours and devote their limited free time to doing chores, spending time with friends
10:23
and family, and resting. But as Peck notes, “laziness takes forms other than that related
10:29
to the bare number of hours spent on the job or devoted to one’s responsibilities to ‘others.’…A
10:35
major form that laziness takes is fear.” (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled) Although
10:40
many of us give lip service to wanting to change, grow, succeed, and perhaps even attain greatness,
10:47
we often fear personal development more than we desire it, simply because of the immense amount
10:52
of work and effort that is required. This intimate connection between fear
10:57
and laziness is why the mind unconsciously devises ingenious ways to justify laziness;
11:04
as but one example, we tell ourselves that our laziness is not really laziness,
11:09
but merely the drive to relax and enjoy life - a type of refined hedonism. Or as Peck writes:
11:17
“In the earlier stages of spiritual growth, individuals are mostly unaware of their own
11:22
laziness...This is because the lazy part of the self, like the devil that it may actually be,
11:29
is unscrupulous and specializes in treacherous disguise. It cloaks its own laziness in all
11:35
manner of rationalizations, which the more growing part of the self is still too weak
11:40
to see through easily or to combat.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
11:43
Friedrich Nietzsche also identified laziness as an entropic psychological force which exhibits
11:49
devil-like qualities, and he recommended a joyful approach to overcoming it. When we see
11:56
through our rationalizations and become aware of our laziness, instead of feeling guilty,
12:01
we should laugh at it in the recognition that it is an innate part of human nature. And then
12:07
we should remind ourselves that true happiness is not found in maximizing time spent in passive
12:12
leisure activities, rather, it is a byproduct of voluntary effort in the service of personal growth
12:19
and meaningful goals. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche called the entropic force of laziness
12:26
“the spirit of gravity”, and as he wrote: “And when I saw my devil, I found him serious,
12:33
thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity - through him all things are ruined. Not
12:41
by wrath, but by laughter do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity! I learned to walk;
12:49
since then I have run. I have learned to fly: since then I do not have to be pushed in order to
12:55
move. Now I am nimble, now I fly, now I see myself under myself, now a god dances within me.”
13:06
Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Enduring the legitimate suffering that
13:09
accompanies confronting and solving personal problems and exerting a joyful self-willed
13:14
effort in the quest to override the original sin of laziness, is the road less traveled and the
13:21
way to escape the mediocrity and mental illness that is so rampant in our age. Some may find
13:27
this advice to be too general and desire a more specific and personalized plan for overcoming
13:33
their problems, but as Peck cautions: “There are many who, by virtue of their passivity,
13:40
dependency, fear and laziness, seek to be shown every inch of the way and have it demonstrated to
13:47
them that each step will be safe and worth their while. This cannot be done. For the journey of
13:53
spiritual growth requires courage and initiative and independence of thought and action. While the
14:00
words of the prophets…are available, the journey must still be traveled alone. No teacher can carry
14:06
you there. There are no preset formulas.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
English
AllFrom Academy of IdeasArtWatched
0:11
“Since ultimately people heal themselves with or without the tool of psychotherapy,
0:16
why is it that so few do and so many do not? Since the path of spiritual growth,
0:22
albeit difficult, is open to all, why do so few choose to travel it? It was to this question that
0:29
Christ was addressing himself when he said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.””
0:36
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled No matter the current state of our life
0:38
or the problems we face, we all have the capacity for self-transformation,
0:43
the ability to overcome our problems, and to move towards the ideal of peak psychological health.
0:49
Yet most of us do not exercise this capacity; rather, we leave our personal problems unsolved
0:55
and stay stuck in a mediocrity that situates us far below our potential and places us at risk of
1:01
mental illness. Why is this limiting life-path the norm? In this video, drawing from the insights of
1:09
the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, we examine this question and explore how we can be one of the few
1:16
who proceeds upon the path of personal growth - which Peck called “the road less traveled”.
1:23
“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths....Most do not fully see
1:32
this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly,
1:39
about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life
1:44
were generally easy, as if life should be easy…Life is a series of problems. Do we
1:51
want to moan about them or solve them?” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
1:55
One of the primary marks of wisdom is the capacity to accept that life is difficult,
2:00
problems inevitable, and suffering inescapable. A second mark of wisdom is the understanding that
2:07
if we confront our problems and work to solve them, we will suffer, but it will be the type
2:12
of suffering that is meaningful and promotive of personal growth. Many of us do not possess these
2:19
marks of wisdom. Rather, we cling to the illusory hope that if only we can make enough money,
2:24
meet the right person, or get the right job, then life will be easy. Many of us also try to
2:31
evade our problems via a variety of avoidance tactics. We blame our problems on other people
2:37
or social circumstances. We procrastinate, hoping our problems will disappear. We engage
2:43
in self-deception and deny that we have problems, or we turn to alcohol, drugs,
2:49
or compulsive technology use to escape awareness of our problems and to numb the suffering that
2:54
accompanies them. And as Peck observed: “Some of us will go to quite extraordinary
3:00
lengths to avoid our problems and the suffering they cause, proceeding far afield from all that
3:06
is clearly good and sensible in order to try to find an easy way out, building the most
3:12
elaborate fantasies in which to live, sometimes to the total exclusion of reality...We attempt
3:19
to skirt around problems rather than meet them head on. We attempt to get out of
3:24
them rather than suffer through them.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
3:28
This attempt to avoid our problems and find an easy way out of suffering is doomed to fail.
3:34
Not only does it lead us into fantasies and delusions, but it exacerbates our problems and
3:40
makes us susceptible to a meaningless and neurotic type of suffering that is central to many forms of
3:45
mental illness. Or as M. Scott Peck explained: “This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional
3:53
suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness…In the succinctly
4:00
elegant words of Carl Jung, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” But the
4:07
substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it
4:12
was designed to avoid. The neurosis itself becomes the biggest problem. True to form,
4:19
many will then attempt to avoid this pain and this problem in turn, building layer upon
4:25
layer of neurosis…when we avoid the legitimate suffering that results from dealing with problems,
4:32
we also avoid the growth that problems demand from us. It is for this reason that in chronic mental
4:39
illness we stop growing, we become stuck.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
4:43
There is only one way out of the neurotic suffering of mental illness, and this is to
4:48
endure the legitimate suffering that is part and parcel of accepting our problems and then actively
4:54
working to solve them. To heighten our capacity to endure suffering, it is beneficial to remember
5:00
that suffering is not our enemy, but the greatest of teachers. “Those things that hurt, instruct.”,
5:08
as Benjamin Franklin put it. Or as the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus observed 2500 years ago:
5:15
The gods have ordained a solemn decree that from suffering alone comes wisdom.” When we
5:22
stop fleeing from and numbing ourselves to our suffering, then suffering shows us where we are
5:27
going wrong in life and opens our eyes to the full extent of our problems and the necessity
5:32
of change. This is why M. Scott Peck labeled depression as a healthy symptom which only
5:39
becomes pathological when we try to suppress it and evade the life changes that its presence
5:44
is calling for. Or as Peck explained: “...depressive symptoms are a sign to the
5:50
suffering individual that all is not right with him or her and major adjustments need
5:55
to be made...depression is a normal and basically healthy phenomenon.”
5:59
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled A further benefit of enduring suffering,
6:03
instead of avoiding or masking it, is that eventually there comes a time when we grow sick of
6:09
suffering and are struck by an intense motivation to resolve, once and for all, the problems
6:15
underlying it. Once we cross this “threshold of suffering”, it typically becomes easy to leave
6:22
behind bad habits and self-sabotaging behaviors, and to cultivate the discipline needed to move in
6:27
a life-promoting direction. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used this threshold of
6:33
suffering as a catalyst to eradicate some of his most harmful habits, and as he wrote:
6:39
“Indeed, from the bottom of my soul I am gratefully disposed to all my misery
6:44
and sickness…because such things leave me a hundred back-doors through which I can escape
6:50
from permanent [bad] habits.” Nietzsche, The Gay Science
6:53
If suffering motivates us to confront our bad habits and problems, we will then have
6:58
to struggle and suffer in order to overcome them. But in contrast to neurotic suffering
7:04
which breeds stagnation and a wasted life, this type of suffering is constructive as it leads
7:10
to personal growth. Or as Peck observed: “It is through the pain of confronting and
7:16
resolving problems that we learn...it is in this whole process of meeting and solving
7:21
problems that life has its meaning....Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed,
7:28
they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of the pain of problems
7:34
that we grow mentally and spiritually.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
7:37
It is because legitimate suffering is a great teacher and a spur to personal growth that M.
7:42
Scott Peck observed that: “…wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems and
7:49
actually to welcome the pain of problems.” Two of the wisest figures in history, Buddha and Jesus,
7:56
harnessed the pain inherent in their problems to ascend to an elevated level of consciousness that
8:02
was marked not only by a profound capacity to endure suffering, but also to experience
8:08
overflowing joy. Or as Peck explained: “One measure—and perhaps the best measure—of
8:15
a person’s greatness is the capacity for suffering. Yet the great are also joyful. This,
8:22
then, is the paradox. Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha’s suffering and
8:27
Christians forget Christ’s joy. Buddha and Christ were not different men. The suffering
8:33
of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one.”
8:40
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled But it is not just the tendency to avoid
8:43
the pain of our problems that locks us in a mediocre and mentally ill life. It is also our
8:49
laziness - for as the psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz wrote:
8:54
“When people try to evade problems you first have to ask if it is not just laziness. Jung once said,
9:01
"Laziness is the greatest passion of mankind, even greater than power or sex or anything."”
9:07
Marie Louise von Franz, The Way of the Dream M. Scott Peck defined laziness as “the force of
9:11
entropy as it manifests in the lives of us all.” In the external world entropy is the tendency of
9:18
systems to degenerate into a disordered and stagnant state; while in the inner world of
9:23
the psyche it is the force of laziness that breeds disorder and stagnation. Laziness is
9:29
so common and pervasive that Peck called it the one and only original sin, or as he wrote:
9:36
“For many years I found the notion of original sin meaningless, even objectionable…Gradually,
9:42
however, I became increasingly aware of the ubiquitous nature of laziness…original
9:47
sin does exist; it is our laziness. It is very real...Some of us may be less lazy than others,
9:55
but we are all lazy to some extent. No matter how energetic, ambitious or even wise we may be,
10:01
if we truly look into ourselves we will find laziness lurking at some level. It is the force
10:07
of entropy within us, pushing us down and holding us all back from our spiritual evolution.”
10:14
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled Many will protest that they are not lazy as
10:17
they work long hours and devote their limited free time to doing chores, spending time with friends
10:23
and family, and resting. But as Peck notes, “laziness takes forms other than that related
10:29
to the bare number of hours spent on the job or devoted to one’s responsibilities to ‘others.’…A
10:35
major form that laziness takes is fear.” (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled) Although
10:40
many of us give lip service to wanting to change, grow, succeed, and perhaps even attain greatness,
10:47
we often fear personal development more than we desire it, simply because of the immense amount
10:52
of work and effort that is required. This intimate connection between fear
10:57
and laziness is why the mind unconsciously devises ingenious ways to justify laziness;
11:04
as but one example, we tell ourselves that our laziness is not really laziness,
11:09
but merely the drive to relax and enjoy life - a type of refined hedonism. Or as Peck writes:
11:17
“In the earlier stages of spiritual growth, individuals are mostly unaware of their own
11:22
laziness...This is because the lazy part of the self, like the devil that it may actually be,
11:29
is unscrupulous and specializes in treacherous disguise. It cloaks its own laziness in all
11:35
manner of rationalizations, which the more growing part of the self is still too weak
11:40
to see through easily or to combat.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
11:43
Friedrich Nietzsche also identified laziness as an entropic psychological force which exhibits
11:49
devil-like qualities, and he recommended a joyful approach to overcoming it. When we see
11:56
through our rationalizations and become aware of our laziness, instead of feeling guilty,
12:01
we should laugh at it in the recognition that it is an innate part of human nature. And then
12:07
we should remind ourselves that true happiness is not found in maximizing time spent in passive
12:12
leisure activities, rather, it is a byproduct of voluntary effort in the service of personal growth
12:19
and meaningful goals. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche called the entropic force of laziness
12:26
“the spirit of gravity”, and as he wrote: “And when I saw my devil, I found him serious,
12:33
thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity - through him all things are ruined. Not
12:41
by wrath, but by laughter do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity! I learned to walk;
12:49
since then I have run. I have learned to fly: since then I do not have to be pushed in order to
12:55
move. Now I am nimble, now I fly, now I see myself under myself, now a god dances within me.”
13:06
Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Enduring the legitimate suffering that
13:09
accompanies confronting and solving personal problems and exerting a joyful self-willed
13:14
effort in the quest to override the original sin of laziness, is the road less traveled and the
13:21
way to escape the mediocrity and mental illness that is so rampant in our age. Some may find
13:27
this advice to be too general and desire a more specific and personalized plan for overcoming
13:33
their problems, but as Peck cautions: “There are many who, by virtue of their passivity,
13:40
dependency, fear and laziness, seek to be shown every inch of the way and have it demonstrated to
13:47
them that each step will be safe and worth their while. This cannot be done. For the journey of
13:53
spiritual growth requires courage and initiative and independence of thought and action. While the
14:00
words of the prophets…are available, the journey must still be traveled alone. No teacher can carry
14:06
you there. There are no preset formulas.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
English
AllFrom Academy of IdeasArtWatche“Since ultimately people heal themselves with or without the tool of psychotherapy,
0:16
why is it that so few do and so many do not? Since the path of spiritual growth,
0:22
albeit difficult, is open to all, why do so few choose to travel it? It was to this question that
0:29
Christ was addressing himself when he said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.””
0:36
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled No matter the current state of our life
0:38
or the problems we face, we all have the capacity for self-transformation,
0:43
the ability to overcome our problems, and to move towards the ideal of peak psychological health.
0:49
Yet most of us do not exercise this capacity; rather, we leave our personal problems unsolved
0:55
and stay stuck in a mediocrity that situates us far below our potential and places us at risk of
1:01
mental illness. Why is this limiting life-path the norm? In this video, drawing from the insights of
1:09
the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, we examine this question and explore how we can be one of the few
1:16
who proceeds upon the path of personal growth - which Peck called “the road less traveled”.
1:23
“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths....Most do not fully see
1:32
this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly,
1:39
about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life
1:44
were generally easy, as if life should be easy…Life is a series of problems. Do we
1:51
want to moan about them or solve them?” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
1:55
One of the primary marks of wisdom is the capacity to accept that life is difficult,
2:00
problems inevitable, and suffering inescapable. A second mark of wisdom is the understanding that
2:07
if we confront our problems and work to solve them, we will suffer, but it will be the type
2:12
of suffering that is meaningful and promotive of personal growth. Many of us do not possess these
2:19
marks of wisdom. Rather, we cling to the illusory hope that if only we can make enough money,
2:24
meet the right person, or get the right job, then life will be easy. Many of us also try to
2:31
evade our problems via a variety of avoidance tactics. We blame our problems on other people
2:37
or social circumstances. We procrastinate, hoping our problems will disappear. We engage
2:43
in self-deception and deny that we have problems, or we turn to alcohol, drugs,
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or compulsive technology use to escape awareness of our problems and to numb the suffering that
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accompanies them. And as Peck observed: “Some of us will go to quite extraordinary
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lengths to avoid our problems and the suffering they cause, proceeding far afield from all that
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is clearly good and sensible in order to try to find an easy way out, building the most
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elaborate fantasies in which to live, sometimes to the total exclusion of reality...We attempt
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to skirt around problems rather than meet them head on. We attempt to get out of
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them rather than suffer through them.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
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This attempt to avoid our problems and find an easy way out of suffering is doomed to fail.
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Not only does it lead us into fantasies and delusions, but it exacerbates our problems and
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makes us susceptible to a meaningless and neurotic type of suffering that is central to many forms of
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mental illness. Or as M. Scott Peck explained: “This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional
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suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness…In the succinctly
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elegant words of Carl Jung, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” But the
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substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it
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was designed to avoid. The neurosis itself becomes the biggest problem. True to form,
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many will then attempt to avoid this pain and this problem in turn, building layer upon
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layer of neurosis…when we avoid the legitimate suffering that results from dealing with problems,
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we also avoid the growth that problems demand from us. It is for this reason that in chronic mental
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illness we stop growing, we become stuck.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
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There is only one way out of the neurotic suffering of mental illness, and this is to
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endure the legitimate suffering that is part and parcel of accepting our problems and then actively
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working to solve them. To heighten our capacity to endure suffering, it is beneficial to remember
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that suffering is not our enemy, but the greatest of teachers. “Those things that hurt, instruct.”,
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as Benjamin Franklin put it. Or as the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus observed 2500 years ago:
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The gods have ordained a solemn decree that from suffering alone comes wisdom.” When we
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stop fleeing from and numbing ourselves to our suffering, then suffering shows us where we are
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going wrong in life and opens our eyes to the full extent of our problems and the necessity
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of change. This is why M. Scott Peck labeled depression as a healthy symptom which only
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becomes pathological when we try to suppress it and evade the life changes that its presence
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is calling for. Or as Peck explained: “...depressive symptoms are a sign to the
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suffering individual that all is not right with him or her and major adjustments need
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to be made...depression is a normal and basically healthy phenomenon.”
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M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled A further benefit of enduring suffering,
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instead of avoiding or masking it, is that eventually there comes a time when we grow sick of
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suffering and are struck by an intense motivation to resolve, once and for all, the problems
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underlying it. Once we cross this “threshold of suffering”, it typically becomes easy to leave
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behind bad habits and self-sabotaging behaviors, and to cultivate the discipline needed to move in
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a life-promoting direction. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used this threshold of
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suffering as a catalyst to eradicate some of his most harmful habits, and as he wrote:
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“Indeed, from the bottom of my soul I am gratefully disposed to all my misery
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and sickness…because such things leave me a hundred back-doors through which I can escape
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from permanent [bad] habits.” Nietzsche, The Gay Science
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If suffering motivates us to confront our bad habits and problems, we will then have
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to struggle and suffer in order to overcome them. But in contrast to neurotic suffering
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which breeds stagnation and a wasted life, this type of suffering is constructive as it leads
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to personal growth. Or as Peck observed: “It is through the pain of confronting and
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resolving problems that we learn...it is in this whole process of meeting and solving
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problems that life has its meaning....Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed,
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they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of the pain of problems
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that we grow mentally and spiritually.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
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It is because legitimate suffering is a great teacher and a spur to personal growth that M.
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Scott Peck observed that: “…wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems and
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actually to welcome the pain of problems.” Two of the wisest figures in history, Buddha and Jesus,
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harnessed the pain inherent in their problems to ascend to an elevated level of consciousness that
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was marked not only by a profound capacity to endure suffering, but also to experience
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overflowing joy. Or as Peck explained: “One measure—and perhaps the best measure—of
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a person’s greatness is the capacity for suffering. Yet the great are also joyful. This,
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then, is the paradox. Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha’s suffering and
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Christians forget Christ’s joy. Buddha and Christ were not different men. The suffering
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of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one.”
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M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled But it is not just the tendency to avoid
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the pain of our problems that locks us in a mediocre and mentally ill life. It is also our
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laziness - for as the psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz wrote:
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“When people try to evade problems you first have to ask if it is not just laziness. Jung once said,
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"Laziness is the greatest passion of mankind, even greater than power or sex or anything."”
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Marie Louise von Franz, The Way of the Dream M. Scott Peck defined laziness as “the force of
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entropy as it manifests in the lives of us all.” In the external world entropy is the tendency of
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systems to degenerate into a disordered and stagnant state; while in the inner world of
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the psyche it is the force of laziness that breeds disorder and stagnation. Laziness is
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so common and pervasive that Peck called it the one and only original sin, or as he wrote:
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“For many years I found the notion of original sin meaningless, even objectionable…Gradually,
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however, I became increasingly aware of the ubiquitous nature of laziness…original
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sin does exist; it is our laziness. It is very real...Some of us may be less lazy than others,
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but we are all lazy to some extent. No matter how energetic, ambitious or even wise we may be,
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if we truly look into ourselves we will find laziness lurking at some level. It is the force
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of entropy within us, pushing us down and holding us all back from our spiritual evolution.”
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M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled Many will protest that they are not lazy as
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they work long hours and devote their limited free time to doing chores, spending time with friends
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and family, and resting. But as Peck notes, “laziness takes forms other than that related
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to the bare number of hours spent on the job or devoted to one’s responsibilities to ‘others.’…A
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major form that laziness takes is fear.” (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled) Although
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many of us give lip service to wanting to change, grow, succeed, and perhaps even attain greatness,
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we often fear personal development more than we desire it, simply because of the immense amount
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of work and effort that is required. This intimate connection between fear
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and laziness is why the mind unconsciously devises ingenious ways to justify laziness;
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as but one example, we tell ourselves that our laziness is not really laziness,
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but merely the drive to relax and enjoy life - a type of refined hedonism. Or as Peck writes:
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“In the earlier stages of spiritual growth, individuals are mostly unaware of their own
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laziness...This is because the lazy part of the self, like the devil that it may actually be,
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is unscrupulous and specializes in treacherous disguise. It cloaks its own laziness in all
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manner of rationalizations, which the more growing part of the self is still too weak
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to see through easily or to combat.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
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Friedrich Nietzsche also identified laziness as an entropic psychological force which exhibits
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devil-like qualities, and he recommended a joyful approach to overcoming it. When we see
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through our rationalizations and become aware of our laziness, instead of feeling guilty,
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we should laugh at it in the recognition that it is an innate part of human nature. And then
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we should remind ourselves that true happiness is not found in maximizing time spent in passive
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leisure activities, rather, it is a byproduct of voluntary effort in the service of personal growth
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and meaningful goals. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche called the entropic force of laziness
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“the spirit of gravity”, and as he wrote: “And when I saw my devil, I found him serious,
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thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity - through him all things are ruined. Not
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by wrath, but by laughter do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity! I learned to walk;
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since then I have run. I have learned to fly: since then I do not have to be pushed in order to
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move. Now I am nimble, now I fly, now I see myself under myself, now a god dances within me.”
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Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Enduring the legitimate suffering that
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accompanies confronting and solving personal problems and exerting a joyful self-willed
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effort in the quest to override the original sin of laziness, is the road less traveled and the
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way to escape the mediocrity and mental illness that is so rampant in our age. Some may find
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this advice to be too general and desire a more specific and personalized plan for overcoming
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their problems, but as Peck cautions: “There are many who, by virtue of their passivity,
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dependency, fear and laziness, seek to be shown every inch of the way and have it demonstrated to
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them that each step will be safe and worth their while. This cannot be done. For the journey of
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spiritual growth requires courage and initiative and independence of thought and action. While the
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words of the prophets…are available, the journey must still be traveled alone. No teacher can carry
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you there. There are no preset formulas.” M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled