The Road Less Travelled "What is love? The will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing ones own or another’s spiritual growth. "

The Road Less Travelled is written by Dr M. Scott Peck who is a well respected psychiatrist, who aims to suggest ways in which facing our difficulties - and suffering through changes - can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding. 

Here are a few highlights of the book: 

Section 1: Discipline - 

What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Yet it is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. The minority of people who welcome and embrace the pain of problems are the ones who go on to achieve self-fulfilment and inner peace

. Here are the tools of discipline to help your grow. They are explained in great depth in the book: - Delayed gratification - Acceptance of Responsibility

- Dedication to the truth - Balancing 

Section 2: Love - 

Love provides the motive and the energy for discipline. What is love? The will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing ones own or another’s spiritual growth. Love yourself example could be you’re disciplined to study an extra 2 hours a day or hit the gym whether you feel like it or not because you know that’s how you will grow as a person and reach self-fulfilment. Loving someone else is when you truly listen and pay attention to that person (which takes a great deal of effort) allowing them to express feelings for them to spiritually grow, when you have engage on a spiritual level with someone else you can them suggest meaningful ideas or do something for them to help their development as a person.   

Section 3: Growth and Religion - 

Religion is just a way of viewing the world and we all have one. He says we need to expand our definition of religion and uses it synonymously with ‘worldview.’ Our perspective of life is mostly shaped by our education in school and at home, as well as the family environment we grow up in. 

Section 4: Grace - 

When something delightful goes your way without expecting it. This is when something amazes us when it’s not in the ordinary course of things, when it is not predictable by what we know of natural law. An example is being a major big accident and leaving the scene without a scratch on you or opportunities you never expected quickly arise. All we know is that it’s related to the unconscious mind, which is always working way beyond the conscious. Dr Peck believes that our unconscious mind is god within us, a higher power guiding us.