RIP: M. Scott Peck

M. Scott Peck died yesterday at the age of 69, from complications due to pancreatic cancer. He is best known for the self-help book The Road Less Traveled. This book spoke to a certain generation at a certain time — the tail-end of the "Me Generation" and the beginning of "Greed is Good."

A number of things are unique about this book. Most self-help books are written in the second person; the tone is kind but imperious: you must change. This book is written primarily in the first person plural. The opening paragraph is a good example:

Life is difficult.

This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths [nb: One of Buddha's Four Noble Truths is "Life is Suffering"]. 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.
[© 1978, Simon & Schuster, New York]

This is no imperious author telling you what you must do. This is a fellow human being, also in the trenches, working with you and me.

"Road" is also unique because it is a synthesis of a number of psychological theories, and intergrates spirituality. The etymological root of the word "psychology", after all, is "psyche" – which may be translated as "soul."

I believe the reason the book was so popular in its time was because people hungered for a spiritual dimension in their lives, as opposed to the narcissism of the "Me Generation" or the self-serving opportunism of the "Greed Era".

I read the book twice. The second time was as part of a book study led by Fr. Spaine at St. James' church; I think that was the early to mid '80s. Many passages in my copy of the book are underlined; a few notes are written in the margins as well. Exactly when I made these "annotations" isn't important; the fact that I did reflects the impact the book made on me.

I read only one other book by Scott Peck, which I believe was his second book: People of the Lie. I was so disappointed with this book, that I was not motivated to read his later books.

The thesis of the book was that some people lie to themselves to the point that they become pure evil. On the face of it, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this thesis. The risk comes in the temptation to label any number of one's adversaries or enemies as "people of the lie". It can be a way to dismiss and dehumanize another person.

I was aware of this temptation within myself as I read the book. My immediate impulse was to study the text for "proof" that my mother was a "person of the lie". Scott Peck makes clear that there are some people are so evil that we should avoid them for our own mental health. Therefore, this "proof" would have been the justification for avoiding my mother.

I was sufficiently self-aware to recognize that this conclusion was awfully self-serving. However, I don't recall a consistent caution within the text that warned the reader against such temptations.

Full disclosure: I did eventually distance myself from my mother, for reasons similar to the ones I detail above. Basically, her memory of her mothering skills was different from my brother's and mine. There is some written and photographic evidence that our memories were more accurate than hers. I have come to believe that mother needed her "lie" as a survival tool. Even with this charitable view, I could no longer tolerate the dissonance between our different narratives. As I have noted before, it's awfully hard to forgive someone when they deny the action ever took place.

Back to Peck's book: he acknowledges that he was motivated to write this book due to an interaction with a female patient. The patient was being very flirtatious, and would not cease. As a layperson, it seems to me the appropriate way to deal with this is to end the therapeutic relationship and send the woman to another (preferably female) therapist.

I don't remember the details of the transaction, and Peck may have in fact done this after a time. Yet, the fact that he maintained the relationship even after he asked the woman to cease being flirtatious is suggestive. It suggests that he was at least subconsciously involved in the flirtation. My memory is that Peck did not confront this possibilty in the book.

Since the theme of the book was being honest with oneself, this oversight called the whole book into question.

The last chapter dealt with demonic possession and exorcism, and drew heavily on the work of Malachi Martin. I skimmed one of Martin's titles listed in the references, and came to the conclusion that Martin had a considerable ultra-fundamental ax to grind.

Peck maintained an interest in exorcism til the end of his life, and actually performed at least two, as related in this Beliefnet interview.

People who have read his subsequent books (e.g., Different Drum and In Search of Stones) assure me they are worth the time. My disappointment with his second book, and my skepticism about exorcism and demonic possesion, do not lessen the value of The Road Less Traveled. I would still recommend it to anyone seeking a path to holistic maturity.