Phyllis Theroux called this book  “a spontaneous act of generosity” in her review.  Yash Gupta, my dear friend, did another spontaneous act of generosity when he urged me to read it.  The book was first published in 1978 and held a position on NY Times Bestseller list for several years.  So I had heard of the book.  On Yash’s urging, I bought a copy and read it.  And like a good book should, it made me aware of things I already knew.

The book is written by M Scott Peck, a psychiatrist who mixes Christian concepts of Grace with eastern concepts like universal consciousness to mark what might have been the start of new age thinking. The book starts with the Buddhist refrain that there is suffering–or psychological problems–that we all face. We need spiritual growth to address these psychological problems.  This growth comes from four pronged discipline.  

The first part of the discipline is to delay gratification.  One must take the attention, time and effort to deal with the hard things–problems, broken relationships, our own psychological dents and bruises.  Addressing these issues is not pleasant, and there are always more pleasant things one can do.  If we ignore these issues out of laziness then the issues become larger problems.

Second, we start the healing with accepting total responsibility for our own and only our own well being.  Some people take too much responsibility–even for things over which they have no control.  They are neurotic.  Others take too little responsibility–they have character disorder.  The right way is to fix oneself first(like the instructions given in a flight about fixing your own oxygen mask first).

Third, we must dedicate ourselves to truth.  Psychological issues arise when we distort the reality.  It does not mean that we have to always offer truth to everyone. Sometimes withholding truth when the welfare of the person from whom the truth is being withheld is the motivation, can be the spiritual act.  And finally, we must balance this discipline.  He says, “even discipline should be applied with discipline.”

The motivation to follow the discipline for spiritual growth comes from love.  Peck offers a different definition of love–love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.  This love is different than physical or emotional love.  That love is a possessive and controlling kind of love.  There is no will for spiritual growth.  When we love our new sports car or a beautiful scarf, we possess it but are not looking for its growth.  When we “fall in love” we want to “possess” the person, not help them grow.  Peck’s definition of love starts where the common definition of love fades away.  

The source of love is innate in all humans.  Here Peck gets into the zone of eastern thought (especially Hindu and Buddhist) and postulates a universal connected unconsciousness.  Unconsciousness as we are not aware–conscious–of it.  There is conscious mind, which draws inspiration, ideas and knowledge from a larger unconscious mind. This unconscious mind is  larger than just your personal boundary and is connected with a universal mind.  Peck provides many examples from his psychiatrist practice where the conscious mind was helped from within but without any direct awareness of where the knowledge or intuition bubbled up from.  This help from beyond the conscious mind is defined as Grace.  Peck defines our very survival, health and even evolution as evidence of such Grace.
Peck offers Grace as “a prima facie evidence not only of the reality of God but also of the reality that God’s will is devoted to the growth of the individual human spirit.”  There are many instances of serendipity–where we find valuable things or insights without seeking them.  For example, when a friend refers a good book and you find strength and insights from it, that is a gift.