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Morgan Scott Peck (22 May 1936 – 25 September 2005) was a US psychiatrist and best-selling author. Events 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A psychiatrist (also archaically called an alienist) is a Physician who specializes in Psychiatry and is certified in treating Mental disorders He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, did premedical studies at Columbia University in New York City, and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A bachelor's degree is usually an Undergraduate Academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three four or in some cases and Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. The City of New York Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland Ohio, United States, with some residence halls on the south end of campus Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state He served in the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Lieutenant Colonel ( Lieutenant-Colonel in English from the French grade 's spelling is a rank of Commissioned officer in the armies His Army assignments included stints as chief of psychology at the Army Medical Center in Okinawa, Japan, and assistant chief of psychiatry and neurology in the office of the surgeon general in Washington. is one of Japan 's southern prefectures, and consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over 1000 km long which extends southwest from Kyūshū For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.

Contents

Biography

Peck was born in New York City. The City of New York His parents sent him to the prestigious boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire when he was around 15 years old, but he did not stay there for long. Phillips Exeter Academy (also called Exeter, Phillips Exeter or PEA) is a Co-educational independent Boarding school for grades 9–12 Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. In his book, The Road Less Traveled, he confides the story of his brief time at Exeter, and admits that it was a most miserable time. Finally, age 15, at the end of a semester he came home and refused to return to the school, whereupon his parents sought psychiatric help from him and he was (much to his amusement in later life) diagnosed with depression and recommended for a month's stay in a psychiatric hospital (unless he chose to return to school). He graduated from Friends Seminary in 1954, after which he received a B.A. from Harvard in 1958 and an M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1963. Friends Seminary is a private Quaker school located in downtown Manhattan. Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Doctor of Medicine ( MD or MD, from the Latin Medicinæ Doctor meaning "Teacher of Medicine" is a doctoral Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland Ohio, United States, with some residence halls on the south end of campus Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He served in administrative posts in the government during his career as a psychiatrist. He was the Medical Director of the New Milford Hospital Mental Health Clinic and a psychiatrist in private practice in New Milford, Connecticut. New Milford (incorporated 1712 is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States north of Danbury, on the Housatonic His first and best-known book, The Road Less Traveled, has sold more than ten million copies.

Peck's works combined his experiences from his private psychiatric practice with a distinctly religious point of view. In one of his books, People of the Lie, he wrote, "After many years of vague identification with Buddhist and Islamic mysticism, I ultimately made a firm Christian commitment — signified by my non-denominational baptism on the ninth of March 1980. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings . . " One of his religious insights was that people who are evil attack others rather than face their own failures. His religious views are criticized by some fundamentalist Christians. [1]

In 1984, Peck co-founded the Foundation for Community Encouragement (FCE), a tax-exempt, nonprofit, public educational foundation, whose stated mission is "to teach the principles of community to individuals and organizations. " FCE ceased operations in 2002.

Peck married Lily Ho in 1959, and they had three children. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In 1994, they jointly received the Community of Christ International Peace Award. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) The Community of Christ International Peace Award was established to honor and bring attention to the work of Peacemaking and peacemakers in the world In 2004, they were separated and later divorced. Peck then married Kathleen Kline Yates.

While Peck's writings emphasized the virtues of a disciplined life and delayed gratification, his personal life was far more turbulent. For example, in the book In Search of Stones, Peck acknowledged having extramarital affairs and being estranged from two of his children.

Peck died at his home in Connecticut on September 25, 2005 after suffering from Parkinson's disease and pancreatic and liver duct cancer. Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Parkinson's disease (also known as Parkinson disease or PD) is a degenerative disorder of the Central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor of the Pancreas. Each year about 37680 individuals in the United States are diagnosed with this condition and 34290 Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Fuller Theological Seminary houses the archives of his publications, awards, and correspondence. Fuller Theological Seminary, located in Pasadena California, is the largest multi-denominational seminary in the world

The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978, is Peck's best-known work, and the one that made his reputation. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) It is, in short, a description of the attributes that make for a fulfilled human being, based largely on his experiences as a psychiatrist and a person. A psychiatrist (also archaically called an alienist) is a Physician who specializes in Psychiatry and is certified in treating Mental disorders

In the first section of the work Peck talks about discipline, which he considers essential for emotional, spiritual and psychological health, and which he describes as "the means of spiritual evolution". In its most general sense discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a Disciple. The elements of discipline that make for such health include the ability to delay gratification, accepting responsibility for oneself and one's actions, a dedication to truth and balancing. Gratification is the positive emotional response ( Happiness) to a fulfillment of desire The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality

In the second section, Peck considers the nature of love, which he considers the driving force behind spiritual growth. The section mainly attacks a number of misconceptions about love: that romantic love exists (he considers it a very destructive myth), that it is about dependency, that true love is not "falling in love". NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** See also Mythology Myth is derived from the Greek word μύθος mythos, which simply means 'story' That type of love is cathexis, it is a feeling. This page describes the general psychological term For the Star Trek Voyager episode of the same name see Cathexis (Voyager episode. Instead "true" love is about the extending of one's ego boundaries to include another, and about the spiritual nurturing of another, in short, love is effort.

The final section describes Grace, the powerful force originating outside human consciousness that nurtures spiritual growth in human beings. To do so he describes the miracles of health, the unconscious, and serendipity—phenomena which Peck says:

He concludes that "the miracles described indicate that our growth as human beings is being assisted by a force other than our conscious will". Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate especially while looking for something else entirely A miracle is an event believed to be caused by interposition of Divine intervention by a Supernatural being in the Universe by which the ordinary operation

Random House, where the little-known psychiatrist first tried to publish his original manuscript, turned him down, saying the final section was "too Christ-y. Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed " " Simon & Schuster published the work for $7,500 and printed a modest hardback run of 5,000 copies. The book took off only after Mr. Peck hit the lecture circuit and personally sought reviews in key publications. Reprinted in paperback in 1980, The Road first made best-seller lists in 1983 — five years after its initial publication.

Theories

Discipline

In The Road Less Traveled, Peck talked of the importance of discipline. He described four aspects of discipline:

Peck’s book begins with the profound truth that "Life is difficult!". We must attest to the fact that life was never meant to be easy, and that it is nothing but a battlefield of problems. We can either moan about them or solve them. It is here that the vital role of discipline assumes significance.

Peck defines discipline as the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. These tools are delaying gratification, assuming responsibility, dedication to the truth, and balancing. These are techniques of suffering, means by which we experience the pain of problems in such a way as to work through them and solve them successfully, learning and growing in the process. Most of us do not want to wrestle with our problems because of the pain involved. Yet, it is only in grappling with our problems that life has its meaning.

Delaying gratification is the process by which we learn to meet and experience pain first, and then enjoy pleasure. By doing so, we enhance the joy of pleasure. Most of us learn this activity by the age of five. For example, a six-year-old child will prefer eating the cake first and the frosting last. Children will rather finish their homework first, so that they can play later on. However, a sizable number of adolescents seem to lack this capacity. These problematic students are totally controlled by their impulses. In Classical mechanics, an impulse is defined as the Integral of a Force with respect to Time: \mathbf{I} = \int \mathbf{F}\ Such youngsters indulge in drugs, get into frequent fights, and often find themselves in confrontation with authority. A drug, broadly speaking is any chemical substance that when absorbed into the body The ComBat was an Aluminium Cricket bat and the subject of an incident that occurred at the WACA cricket ground in Perth in December 1979. In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium

Taking responsibility for our problems is perhaps the most difficult. Only by accepting the fact that we have problems can we solve them. An attitude of ‘It’s not my problem!’ will not take us anywhere. Neurosis and character-disorder are the two disorders of responsibility. This article describes the term in psychology For the experimental metal band see Neurosis (band. Neurotics assume too much responsibility and feel culpable for everything that goes wrong in their life. The latter instead, shirk responsibility, and blame others for their problems. ‘Neurotics make themselves miserable, character-disordered people make everyone else miserable. ’ All of us are neurotics or character-disordered at some time or the other. Neurotics must realize that they need not be excessively guilt-ridden, while character-disordered ones must learn to take things in stride, instead of becoming a yoke to the society. ---- Guilt is the Fact, state or Verdict (by a Court or other Tribunal) of an Offence, Crime, Violation The words of Eldridge Cleaver, “If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem”, hold good for all of us. Eldridge Cleaver ( August 31, 1935 &ndash May 1, 1998) was an Author, a prominent American Civil rights leader

Dedication to the truth comes next. We all have a certain worldview that must be constantly updated and revised as we find ourselves exposed to new data. A comprehensive world view (or worldview) is a term Calqued from the German word Weltanschauung ( Welt is the German If our viewpoint is narrow, misleading and outdated, then we will be lost. The same applies to our life experiences. A bitter childhood can leave a person with the false idea that the world is a hostile and inhuman place. Yet, if the person has to grow, he must set aside this prejudice and revise his worldview. The word prejudice refers to prejudgment making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event Being true also implies a life of genuine self-examination, a willingness to be personally challenged by others, and total honesty to oneself and others.

We finally come to balancing-the technique of flexibility. Many a time we function with rigid, set patterns of behavior. Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Extraordinary flexibility is a must for successful living. Part of this technique is also learning to give up something that is dear and familiar to us. In refusing to suffer the pain of sacrifice, we fail to truly grow. Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning "to make sacred" from Old French, from Latin sacrificium: sacr, "sacred" It is in giving that we gain more.

These interrelated techniques of discipline are paramount if we are to cope with the tribulations of life. A person may employ two, three or even all the strategies at the same time. The strength, willingness, and energy to apply these techniques is provided by love. There are no short cuts to happiness. Only by learning to discipline ourselves can we set foot upon the path to contentment and wholeness.

Neurotic and genuine suffering

Peck believes that it is only through suffering and agonizing that we can resolve the many puzzles and conflicts that we face. Suffering, or pain, is an individual's basic Affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm This is what he calls genuine suffering, in a spiritual way. By trying to avoid genuine suffering, people ultimately end up creating more causes for suffering. Unnecessary suffering is what Scott Peck terms neurotic suffering.

Peck says that our aim must be to eliminate neurotic suffering and work through our genuine suffering, to achieve our individual goals.

Evil

Peck discusses evil in his book People of The Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil. Evil, in many cultures is used to describe acts or thoughts which are contrary to some particular religion He describes in some detail several individual cases involving his patients. In one, a moderately impaired neurotic patient, pseudo-named George, made a "pact with the devil" to alleviate his symptoms. The Devil is the As a psychiatrist, Peck makes an uncharacteristic moral judgement about George's therapeutic pact and was ultimately successful in treating him.

Most of his conclusions about the psychiatric condition he designates "evil" are derived from his close study of one patient he names Charlene. Although Charlene is not dangerous, she is ultimately unable to have empathy for others in any way. Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or Emotion. According to Scott Peck, people like her see others as play things or tools to be manipulated for their uses or entertainment. Scott Peck claims that these people are rarely seen by psychiatrists and have never been treated successfully.

He gives some identifying characteristics for evil persons. Discussed below are Scott Peck's views.

Evil is described by Peck as "militant ignorance". In this it is close to the original Judeo-Christian concept of "sin" as a consistent process that leads to failure to reach one's true goals. Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral Rule, or the state of having committed such a violation

An evil person:

Most evil people realize the evil deep within themselves but are unable to tolerate the pain of introspection or admit to themselves that they are evil. Thus, they constantly run away from their evil by putting themselves in a position of moral superiority and putting the locus of evil on others. Evil is an extreme form of what Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, calls a character disorder.

In a discussion on group evil, Peck talks about the My Lai Massacre tragedy during the Vietnam war:

In the spring of 1972 I was chairman of a committee of three psychiatrists appointed by the Army Surgeon General, at the request of the Chief of Staff of the Army, to make recommendations for research that might shed light on the psychological causes of MyLai, so as to help prevent such atrocities in the future. The My Lai Massacre ( approximately) (thảm sát Mỹ Lai was the Mass murder of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam almost The research we proposed was rejected by the General Staff of the Army, reportedly on the grounds that it could not be kept secret and might prove embarrassing to the administration and that "further embarrassment was not desirable at that time". (Chapter 6, "MyLai: An Examination of Group Evil")

Peck makes great efforts to keep much of his discussion on a scientific basis.

He says that evil arises out of free choice. He describes it thus: Every person stands at a crossroads, with one path leading to God, and the other path leading to the devil. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. The path of God is the right path, and accepting this path is akin to submission to a higher power. However, if a person wants to convince himself and others that he has free choice, he would rather take a path which cannot be attributed to its being the right path. Thus, he chooses the path of evil.

Peck's writings on evil are to some extent based on accounts of apparent demonic possession and exorcism by Malachi Martin. Rev Dr Malachi Brendan Martin PhD ( July 23, 1921 &ndash July 27, 1999) was a Roman Catholic Priest and a former However the veracity of these accounts has been questioned (see Fr. Richard Woods OP, National Catholic Reporter, April 29, 2005 [2]). The National Catholic Reporter (NCR is an independent weekly Newspaper Published since October 1964 by lay and religious of the Roman Catholic Church

Love

His perspective on love (in The Road Less Traveled) is that love is not a feeling, it is an activity and an investment. Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. He defines love as, "The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth. " Love is primarily actions towards nurturing the spiritual growth of another. Love cannot be sustained by mutual dependence; rather, love between two parties is made stronger when they are completely independent of one another. [1]

Peck seeks to differentiate between love and cathexis. This page describes the general psychological term For the Star Trek Voyager episode of the same name see Cathexis (Voyager episode. Cathexis is what explains attractions to the opposite sex, the instinct for cuddling pets and pinching babies' cheeks. However, cathexis is not love. All the same, true love cannot begin in isolation, a certain amount of cathexis is necessary to get sufficiently close to be able to truly love.

Once through the cathexis stage, the work of love begins. It is not a feeling. It consists of what you do for another person. As Peck says in The Road Less Traveled, "Love is as love does. " It is about giving the other person what they need to grow. It is about truly knowing and understanding them.

The four stages

Peck postulates that there are four stages of human spiritual development:

Peck argues that while transitions from Stage I to Stage II are sharp, transitions from Stage III to Stage IV are gradual. Nonetheless, these changes are very noticeable and mark a significant difference in the personality of the individual. An individual's personality is an aggregate conglomeration of decisions one makes throughout life

Community building

In his book The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, Peck says that community has three essential ingredients:

Based on his experience with community building workshops, Peck says that community building typically goes through four stages:

The four stages of community formation are somewhat related to a model in organization theory for the five stages that a team goes through during development. Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, Graphical and or mathematical models. These five stages are:

It is in this third stage that Peck's community-building methods differ in principle from team development. While teams in business organizations need to develop explicit rules, guidelines and protocols during the norming stage, the emptiness' stage of community building is characterized, not by laying down the rules explicitly, but by shedding the resistance within the minds of the individuals.

Peck started the Foundation for Community Encouragement (FCE) to promote the formation of communities, which, he argues, are a first step towards uniting humanity and saving us from self destruction.

The Blue Heron Farm [3] is an intentional community in central North Carolina whose founders stated that they were inspired by Peck's writings on community, although Peck himself had no involvement with this project. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States

The meaning of true community

Peck describes what he considers to be the most salient characteristics of a true community.

Bibliography

Biography

References

  1. ^ Peck, Scott (1978). The Road Less Traveled. Simon & Schuster, 169. ISBN 0-671-25067-1.  

External links

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