The Books you will Read.

So far in this series of blogs, we have discussed The Bible, Tootle, Shakespeare, Your Erroneous Zones, Bradshaw on The Family and today we come to a real gem. The Road Less Travelled by M Scott Peck, which was first published in 1978 and has sold over 10 million copies.

M Scott Peck, who passed from this life in September 2005, must have been a wonderful man. I remember seeing him interviewed on television and his countenance simply radiated love. Interestingly, at the conclusion of this book he gives his address as Bliss Road, New Preston, Connecticut.

Peck begins The Road Less Travelled with the statement, Life is difficult. Perhaps not the first or most encouraging statement one who is struggling wants to hear but it is a great truth.

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it- then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

Using many examples from his work as a psychotherapist, Peck discusses Discipline, Love, Growth and Religion and Grace. If you Google The Road Less Travelled, you will find many reviews and a selection of quotes. This book is a masterpiece to be read and reread. Below is an overview of its contents.

Confronting and solving problems is a painful process which most of us attempt to avoid. Avoiding resolution results in greater pain and an inability to grow both mentally and spiritually. Drawing heavily on his own professional experience, Dr M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, suggests ways in which facing our difficulties – and suffering through the changes – can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding. He discusses the nature of loving relationships: how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become one’s own person and how to be a more sensitive parent.

This is a book that can show you how to embrace reality and yet achieve serenity and a richer existence. Hugely influential, it has now sold over ten million copies – and has changed many people’s lives round the globe. It may change yours.

Indeed.