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The Road Less Traveled & Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety
The culmination of a lifetime of Dr. M. Scott Peck’s counseling, lecturing, and writing, and the conclusion of the classic bestselling Road trilogy, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond leads us to a deeper awareness of how to live rich, fulfilling lives in a world fraught with stress and anxiety.
With the rare combination of profound psychological insight and deep spirituality that has already spoken to millions of readers, Dr. Peck talks about decision making and the choices we make every day in business and at home, and the ethical choices that may affect the very survival of humankind. We learn the difference between good and evil, to overcome narcissism, to love and be loved, to live with paradox, to accept the consequences of our actions all through life, and to come to terms with dying and death.
Dr. Peck is a guide on the adventure that is life, learning, and spiritual growth—life’s greatest adventure. Building in depth from the very first chapter to its lyrical and poetic conclusion, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond is an adventure in itself.
With the rare combination of profound psychological insight and deep spirituality that has already spoken to millions of readers, Dr. Peck talks about decision making and the choices we make every day in business and at home, and the ethical choices that may affect the very survival of humankind. We learn the difference between good and evil, to overcome narcissism, to love and be loved, to live with paradox, to accept the consequences of our actions all through life, and to come to terms with dying and death.
Dr. Peck is a guide on the adventure that is life, learning, and spiritual growth—life’s greatest adventure. Building in depth from the very first chapter to its lyrical and poetic conclusion, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond is an adventure in itself.
324 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 1997
244 people are currently reading
4590 people want to read
About the author
M. Scott Peck
120 books1,662 followersMorgan Scott Peck was an American psychiatrist and best-selling author who wrote the book The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
August 22, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I feel like it was one of the best books in terms of usefulness and ability to enlighten. I think the book can be summed up by the idea if we want to be a productive member of society we have to open ourselves to the pain of living, to overcome the pain we must discipline ourselves, we also cannot be loving without this discipline.
Key Quotes:
“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.”
“Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth... Love is as love does. Love is an act of will -- namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.”
“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ”
Key Quotes:
“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.”
“Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth... Love is as love does. Love is an act of will -- namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.”
“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ”
February 8, 2012
I hadn't read any books on spirituality for a while, but I'd heard of Peck and I'd heard of his "Road" books, so I thought I'd give them a go. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment. It started well: his background in psychiatry and mine in psychology gave us a common understanding, and his comments on Western society "dumbing down", the negative effects of lying, the positive effects of feeling grateful, all hit the mark. His own personal anecdotes, illustrating various points, made it more real. So there were many positive aspects to this book.
Despite this, he managed to completely destroy his own credibility. He constantly wavered between Freudian psychology and Christian theology, with blind faith in both, one contradicting the other, and neither showing any basis in scientific enquiry. For a psychiatrist, he showed an amazing lack of understanding of human behaviour, assuming that all evil is inherent rather than learned - and when he started hearing voices, he chose to believe it was the "voice of God" rather than a problem with his own mental health. Yet his most annoying habit was constantly referencing his own books as if he was the font of all knowledge without equal. His arrogance stifled whatever message his text was supposed to impart.
I am open-minded in my views on human spirituality, but this book left me feeling that something very important was missing.
Despite this, he managed to completely destroy his own credibility. He constantly wavered between Freudian psychology and Christian theology, with blind faith in both, one contradicting the other, and neither showing any basis in scientific enquiry. For a psychiatrist, he showed an amazing lack of understanding of human behaviour, assuming that all evil is inherent rather than learned - and when he started hearing voices, he chose to believe it was the "voice of God" rather than a problem with his own mental health. Yet his most annoying habit was constantly referencing his own books as if he was the font of all knowledge without equal. His arrogance stifled whatever message his text was supposed to impart.
I am open-minded in my views on human spirituality, but this book left me feeling that something very important was missing.
January 4, 2012
This book is about spiritual growth, and so said offers a religious (Christian) approach to its message. However Mr. Scott successfully avoids being preachy. He does not present the Christian faith as superior to others, and the subtlety of this approach makes any reader across the board comfortable with his message.
His first emphasis is on thinking. No one need mention what an important component this is, of all human acts of choice. And the author offers a critical study against simple thinking, instead campaigning for depth. He goes on to tackle consciousness and its mystery, showing how a sense of awareness can bring to life harmony and serendipity.
His other main assertion is that in order to grow, we need to learn. And learning is equally a choice, in a sense that we chose to, and or not to learn in our endeavor to come out of our narcissism.
Part two of the book offers insights on the everyday life. It shows the personal life choices such as those of vocation as well as organizational life choices and the choices we make about society. It is in the third part of the book that he talks about God. Here I find a few things that I do not agree with. But generally the writing is honest and heartfelt enough.
Since this is my first book this year, I hope that I will keep up and read more of non-fiction works this year.
His first emphasis is on thinking. No one need mention what an important component this is, of all human acts of choice. And the author offers a critical study against simple thinking, instead campaigning for depth. He goes on to tackle consciousness and its mystery, showing how a sense of awareness can bring to life harmony and serendipity.
His other main assertion is that in order to grow, we need to learn. And learning is equally a choice, in a sense that we chose to, and or not to learn in our endeavor to come out of our narcissism.
Part two of the book offers insights on the everyday life. It shows the personal life choices such as those of vocation as well as organizational life choices and the choices we make about society. It is in the third part of the book that he talks about God. Here I find a few things that I do not agree with. But generally the writing is honest and heartfelt enough.
Since this is my first book this year, I hope that I will keep up and read more of non-fiction works this year.
March 28, 2018
Reading this was challenging - I was worried about the religious content in the beginning when I read about the authour, only to read the first chapter and to relax that it wasn't "contaminated", struggled with the later ones, when terms like good and bad, evil and sin, soul and ego flew in all directions, only to find in the latter chapters quite a unique view of how he thinks God is, even though he consider himself as a christian, and was actually baptized in his forties as a christian, but not belonging to any religion (how is that even possible?), and confessed that he even did not read the whole Bible. So the ideas that did stuck wih me was his opinion on the existence of paradoxes and the need for " wholeness" and "integration/integrity", maybe even the importance of awareness. The poem at the end was an infusion of spirituality, so I'm pretty happy that I stuck with reading it all the way trough.
December 28, 2007
I connected with this book. But, with all spiritual books, I think it all has to do with timing and when a person is ready for what they read.
January 28, 2010
I liked this book, but it was more of a review of his others. Not great unless you've never read his others.
December 17, 2010
I found this book really hard to get into at first. However, after much perseverance I found that Dr Peck is very informative. This book is about thinking and now accepting popular culture. Dr Peck is a psychologist and many of his experiences with patients come through in his work. The thing that came up for me when I was reading this book was a story about a young woman who sounds much like me who suffered alot of frustration at work because most of her colleagues did not meet up to her standards. Many years ago my husband suggested that I 'make allowances' for those people who were not as fortunate to be as smart as me. At the time, I actually thought that he was helpfully reminding me not to be so 'perfect'. Now I see it in this book, that because I continually educate myself and love to learn new things, there is an art to having more compassion for people and getting to understand them better.
July 27, 2015
I loved this book. Still love it, as I discovered when I re-read it. There are so many little gems to be discovered every time you read it... it's the kind of book that reveal itself gradually as you grow older and hopefully wiser.
The first time I read it all I saw was how well other people fit in the various categories described by the author. 'Yes! This is my mom, this is X, this is Y!' True, it made me better understand others but the real value came the second time around when I started to see... well, me. And this is where the work begins.
I highly recommend it to everyone interested in self-discovery and self-development. Not an easy road to take, but the only one that leads to truth and authenticity.
The first time I read it all I saw was how well other people fit in the various categories described by the author. 'Yes! This is my mom, this is X, this is Y!' True, it made me better understand others but the real value came the second time around when I started to see... well, me. And this is where the work begins.
I highly recommend it to everyone interested in self-discovery and self-development. Not an easy road to take, but the only one that leads to truth and authenticity.
September 19, 2021
Few of the concepts touched upon are interesting but they were never full explored. It doesn’t delve deeper either on anxiety or spiritualIty, it feels more like an abstract instead of a full novel. Also, reference to previous novels, written by author, after every few pages is too much of self advertising and its not really relevant to the reading, so you do skip over it (like all the other ads).
March 28, 2011
Loved this book. Scott Peck didn't hold back and says it like it is. Delving into the human mind he makes a lot of sense of people and their behaviour. Although some readers might disgree with certain aspects I found The Road Less Travelled and Beyond a perfect read for those living in the mad world around us. Once again Scott Peck, thank you for a thoroughly good read.
May 30, 2024
Quite hilariously, I read this book for book club, got 80 pages from the end and realised this is the sequel, not the book I was meant to be reading... However, I assume the books are fairly similar so I'm sure my thoughts will be the same!
I didn't enjoy this book at all. I almost gave up on it but felt bad as I had given up on the last book club book, so I ending up skimming the rest to at least finish it!
I didn't vote for this book for book club and went into it fairly blind, so I didn't realise it was a psychospiritual book. As an atheist, it therefore made for a jarring read when the author was talking about religion or God as this is incongruous to my own beliefs, and meant I often found myself disengaging from some of the sections.
I also found it difficult to understand the point of this book and who it is aimed at - it felt like a self-help book but it didn't really present any tangible actions to take forward into your own life, and instead felt like a bunch of learnings and ramblings from the author's own life which only really felt relevant and applicable to him. I found myself disagreeing a lot with what he was saying, but the way the book was written meant he was describing his opinions like they were a universal fact, which made me frustrated and annoyed. For example, he says 'if we are not here necessarily to be happy, fulfilled, or comfortable all the time, then what are we here for? What is the meaning of life?'. Personally, being happy and comfortable is the meaning of life for me, and so it was weird to read this person contradicting my own world view and presenting it as fact. There was similar emphasis throughout the book on the importance of learning and progressing, which is a very capitalist viewpoint and I really hate the idea that everything you do must be to better or develop yourself, like what if I am comfortable where I am right now and just want to standstill for a minute?! And then later he says the experience of suffering when dying is an opportunity to learn and grow - absolutely not, I want my death to be as painless as possible thank you!!
There were also a couple of sections where the author would present a learning from his life as revolutionary when I felt it was quite the opposite. However, I appreciate that this book was written almost 30 years ago and attitudes to things such as counselling and marriage were different, and being able to have access to an abundance of information nowadays means a lot of these topics are widely discussed in today's society when they might have been a bit more eye-opening for people back then.
To counter with some positives, there were some insightful and interesting quotes/titbits throughout this book, and I was surprised at how relevant some of the sections were for a book that's almost 30 years old. The start of the book talks about how a lot of people don't critically think and blindly go along with what they're told to believe or think, which is extremely pertinent to today's society (see: Trump supporters). There was also some interesting discussions about human behaviour and different types of thinking which I had never really thought before (e.g., neurotic/character disorders, stupid/smart selfishness etc.). And whilst I do not share the same religious beliefs as the author, I did find it interesting to hear about some of his beliefs and how it links to psychology. For example, the way he interprets the story of Adam and Eve as the evolution of human consciousness. I also liked (and partly disliked) the structure of the book - the sections were short which made them easy to digest, but I felt like the chapters could have benefited from a summary of key learnings and insights at the end of each chapter to encapsulate what the author wanted to convey to the reader. Without this, it made the book feel like one long rambling of consciousness from the author.
In conclusion, this book just wasn't written for me and so I really struggled to get through it!
I didn't enjoy this book at all. I almost gave up on it but felt bad as I had given up on the last book club book, so I ending up skimming the rest to at least finish it!
I didn't vote for this book for book club and went into it fairly blind, so I didn't realise it was a psychospiritual book. As an atheist, it therefore made for a jarring read when the author was talking about religion or God as this is incongruous to my own beliefs, and meant I often found myself disengaging from some of the sections.
I also found it difficult to understand the point of this book and who it is aimed at - it felt like a self-help book but it didn't really present any tangible actions to take forward into your own life, and instead felt like a bunch of learnings and ramblings from the author's own life which only really felt relevant and applicable to him. I found myself disagreeing a lot with what he was saying, but the way the book was written meant he was describing his opinions like they were a universal fact, which made me frustrated and annoyed. For example, he says 'if we are not here necessarily to be happy, fulfilled, or comfortable all the time, then what are we here for? What is the meaning of life?'. Personally, being happy and comfortable is the meaning of life for me, and so it was weird to read this person contradicting my own world view and presenting it as fact. There was similar emphasis throughout the book on the importance of learning and progressing, which is a very capitalist viewpoint and I really hate the idea that everything you do must be to better or develop yourself, like what if I am comfortable where I am right now and just want to standstill for a minute?! And then later he says the experience of suffering when dying is an opportunity to learn and grow - absolutely not, I want my death to be as painless as possible thank you!!
There were also a couple of sections where the author would present a learning from his life as revolutionary when I felt it was quite the opposite. However, I appreciate that this book was written almost 30 years ago and attitudes to things such as counselling and marriage were different, and being able to have access to an abundance of information nowadays means a lot of these topics are widely discussed in today's society when they might have been a bit more eye-opening for people back then.
To counter with some positives, there were some insightful and interesting quotes/titbits throughout this book, and I was surprised at how relevant some of the sections were for a book that's almost 30 years old. The start of the book talks about how a lot of people don't critically think and blindly go along with what they're told to believe or think, which is extremely pertinent to today's society (see: Trump supporters). There was also some interesting discussions about human behaviour and different types of thinking which I had never really thought before (e.g., neurotic/character disorders, stupid/smart selfishness etc.). And whilst I do not share the same religious beliefs as the author, I did find it interesting to hear about some of his beliefs and how it links to psychology. For example, the way he interprets the story of Adam and Eve as the evolution of human consciousness. I also liked (and partly disliked) the structure of the book - the sections were short which made them easy to digest, but I felt like the chapters could have benefited from a summary of key learnings and insights at the end of each chapter to encapsulate what the author wanted to convey to the reader. Without this, it made the book feel like one long rambling of consciousness from the author.
In conclusion, this book just wasn't written for me and so I really struggled to get through it!
August 17, 2019
As usual, M.Scott Peck leaves nothing but stunned and deeply influenced. This book has deep discussion about faith and grace attached to it. Perspectives are so ordinary yet overlooked by us that they appear unique and moving. Growth remains central theme of his writing which makes the reader critically analyze their motivations, goal and progress towards it. A very different aspect which has been highlighted in this book is 'community building'. Aspects related to community building helps in professional as well as personal life to be a better version of self such that others, connected to us remain central to our 'growth'. All in all, a beautiful read.
January 30, 2013
Hard to get into it at the beginning, but once you are at the core of it you wrap yourself deep inside as you cannot leave the book for a minute! the author is a very priest in the background disguised with modern psychology and theology. if you are not that much of a spiritual person you might get annoyed at some parts, but even the greatest unbelievers would find big life lessons, helpful tips to life and a lot of modern psychology revealed.
August 24, 2014
This book changed my life. I read it 24 years ago and it has become a parental inner voice of navigating and copping with life. It has been a great source of, comfort, strength and perspective. Today I am considered very emotionally grounded and sound and the foundation for this is from The Road Less Traveled.
December 9, 2014
This is one of my favorite books. If there was a course for life, this would be the book to bring.
December 16, 2016
What a gem of a book. It closely looks at discipline and how from a young age its developed through our parents influence, transference and environment. It also looks at the characteristics and reasons for not being discplined. Its simply states that people without discipline are not able to delay gratification, don't take responsibility, having an unrealistic view of the world and cannot balance their lives.
Psychoanalysis is a process that an individual has to take I believe to better understand his own reality or the map that they have in their head while trying to make it a better one through a therapist.
In the second part the author explains or tries to define love or what is not love. Some surprising definitions and myths about love squashed so hard you will re think the word love all over again. Listening was also discussed and advice is given how to listen to your spouse and children, very useful I thought. The correlation between love and listening as the author would put it " Love in action "
This book is about growth and self examination through the mind of a psychoanlisis, you will understand how they work what they do for you and how they help people. It is truly an ART fixing people's realities only is accomplished by LOVE. The author wrote this book for other psychotherapist that are studying psychoanalysis. He is indirectly helping them to grow spiritually. In addition this book looks at how to deal with religion when using psychoanalysis with patients. In some way its enlightening to read other people's stories with religion and how it helped them and dramatically also destroyed their lives. You will also find a good analysis about religion and science and how each team perceives one another.
I really think this book should be taught in schools. Should be part of schools curriculum. It will allow future generations to discuss their realities and question religion for their own benefit and will most definitely make them know how to love.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review.
Dr Peck, Rest in peace, you have gifted the world a great gift. Your Love is evident in every page of this book. Thanking you is not enough rather spreading your book and explaining it to other is the least one can do.
Psychoanalysis is a process that an individual has to take I believe to better understand his own reality or the map that they have in their head while trying to make it a better one through a therapist.
In the second part the author explains or tries to define love or what is not love. Some surprising definitions and myths about love squashed so hard you will re think the word love all over again. Listening was also discussed and advice is given how to listen to your spouse and children, very useful I thought. The correlation between love and listening as the author would put it " Love in action "
This book is about growth and self examination through the mind of a psychoanlisis, you will understand how they work what they do for you and how they help people. It is truly an ART fixing people's realities only is accomplished by LOVE. The author wrote this book for other psychotherapist that are studying psychoanalysis. He is indirectly helping them to grow spiritually. In addition this book looks at how to deal with religion when using psychoanalysis with patients. In some way its enlightening to read other people's stories with religion and how it helped them and dramatically also destroyed their lives. You will also find a good analysis about religion and science and how each team perceives one another.
I really think this book should be taught in schools. Should be part of schools curriculum. It will allow future generations to discuss their realities and question religion for their own benefit and will most definitely make them know how to love.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review.
Dr Peck, Rest in peace, you have gifted the world a great gift. Your Love is evident in every page of this book. Thanking you is not enough rather spreading your book and explaining it to other is the least one can do.
March 21, 2022
THY WILL NOT MINE BE DONE
May 2, 2022
A great book about spirituality, change, and god.
It's an interesting book as it is written by a psychotherapist and deeply spiritual writer. The book is mostly about change. Personal change, organizational change, and change/transformation of communities.
It may sound like a promotion of religious beliefs but the book is actually a good advocate for the process behind the change and what to be aware of.
One point I like to point out because of my personal experience with hard transformation (due to alcohol abuse) is that it is impossible to see the change yourself. It feels like walking into the valley of death. But you need to go through it. No matter what kind of change/transformation you want in life. You need to let go of something, to get something new. Change requires you to trust the process sometimes religion of some sort helps you with that. Sometimes knowledge is everything.
Learning is the key to change. So keep an eye out for possibilities of learning and grab them.
It's an interesting book as it is written by a psychotherapist and deeply spiritual writer. The book is mostly about change. Personal change, organizational change, and change/transformation of communities.
It may sound like a promotion of religious beliefs but the book is actually a good advocate for the process behind the change and what to be aware of.
One point I like to point out because of my personal experience with hard transformation (due to alcohol abuse) is that it is impossible to see the change yourself. It feels like walking into the valley of death. But you need to go through it. No matter what kind of change/transformation you want in life. You need to let go of something, to get something new. Change requires you to trust the process sometimes religion of some sort helps you with that. Sometimes knowledge is everything.
Learning is the key to change. So keep an eye out for possibilities of learning and grab them.
June 1, 2015
The first half of the book was ok, not so much new, but ok. Mostly talking about how "discipline" helps solving problems in life and examples of the cases that its lack is disastrous.
The second half is terrible though. This is when he goes to spirituality and the motivation behind discipline which is "love". To see how meaningless it was, the author says because of second law of thermodynamics, evolution shouldn't have happened. It's because of "love" that it has happened! He not only has no understanding of second law of thermodynamics, but doesn't understand evolution either.
I hope I hadn't wasted my time reading it at all!
The second half is terrible though. This is when he goes to spirituality and the motivation behind discipline which is "love". To see how meaningless it was, the author says because of second law of thermodynamics, evolution shouldn't have happened. It's because of "love" that it has happened! He not only has no understanding of second law of thermodynamics, but doesn't understand evolution either.
I hope I hadn't wasted my time reading it at all!
October 9, 2016
This rings a 3.5 stars for me. A major part of it could be attributed to the fact that when Peck wrote this, he was already in his sixties, having been through and seen more in life. Perhaps I may give this book an alternate rating when I re-read again at a later phase in life.
Unlike its predecessor 'The Road Less Travelled', this book offers a much closer insight towards Peck's relationship with God and the intimacy he had with God which has manifested since his first book. It illustrates aptly his growth in his walk with God.
Unlike its predecessor 'The Road Less Travelled', this book offers a much closer insight towards Peck's relationship with God and the intimacy he had with God which has manifested since his first book. It illustrates aptly his growth in his walk with God.
October 14, 2011
It is about spiritual growth in an age of anxiety. This man puts it all together nicely in this book. He establishes the need for thinking again. In a society that has given over their decisions to everyone else by following established roads Dr. Peck re-ignites the need for genius and thinking about life daily. How the lack of thought causes the inequity and injustice's and prejudices in life.
August 29, 2015
Ο πρώτος "δρόμος" με ταξίδεψε αρκετά, ο δεύτερος λιγο λιγότερο και ο τρίτος αρκετές φορές γίνεται κουραστικός επαναλαμβάνοντας το πρώτο βιβλίο και με αρκετές αναφορές στα αλλα βιβλία του συγγραφέα. Αναμφισβήτητα "οι δρόμοι" εχουν σκοπό απόκτησης επίγνωσης και κατανόησης πολύπλοκων θεμάτων για την ανάπτυξη και την εξέλιξη του ανθρώπου.
September 8, 2017
This book is absolutely a must read. This is for anyone wanting to further their spiritual growth in an educational and deep manner. Dr. Peck uses his life examples in an open and honest way that is easy to read. He speaks of paradoxes and puts into words so many experiences of God that are so hard to put into words. This book is timeless in the ever increasing world of anxiety.
January 2, 2021
What shines though most in this book is the non-biased, humble, and practical approach of the author. Overall, this book was a refreshing take on how to approach life. It seeks to merge secular and spiritual wisdom. In my opinion, I think it leans too far into the spiritual at times, but not enough to make me dislike the book.
March 12, 2022
It is easily one of the best books I have read for spiritual development. I really love how Scotty is able to use narratives that reflect personal experience both also show the science behind it. This book is a very nice read. It changes my mind about a lot of things. As someone who struggles with personality disorders, this book just really hits home on some things and it just helps a lot.
November 1, 2020
Absolutely fabulous. Couldn't stop reading the whole series after the first book. Dr. Peck transfers lots of experience and knowledge about human nature, and most importantly, he sees the good and the love behind it.
April 24, 2021
I always love to hear from psychologists. Peck does well to describe his thoughts on key life issues, and discusses the way forward for individual progression. However, he seems to draw largely from person experience, perhaps not making full use of his ethos as a psychologist and theologian.
February 17, 2009
I reread this book about once a year and it always has a calming effect
May 6, 2009
see my other comments on this author. he's one of my favorites. he really makes you think about whether humans are innately good or evil and how narcissistic behavior can destroy.
September 30, 2011
The title led me to expect more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews