Thereafter, we shall examine in detail, the will(the driving force) to use them, which is L ove, i.e. This Article is the First of a Four-Part series analyzing each of these Tools/Techniques. For they are tools with which pain is confronted rather than avoided, and if you seek to avoid legitimate suffering, then you will avoid using these tools. The problem lies not in the complexity of these tools, but in the will to use them. Yet, presidents and kings will often forget to use them, to their own downfall. They are simple tools and almost all children are adept in their use by the age of ten. Delaying Gratification (dealt with in this Article).What are these Tools/Techniques to deal with suffering, these means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively that Peck calls Discipline? There are four: When we teach ourselves and our children discipline, we are teaching them and ourselves how to suffer and how to grow. These tools are techniques of suffering, means by which we experience the pain of problems in such a way as to work them through and solve them successfully, learning and growing in the process. Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Therefore, let us inculcate in ourselves and our children the necessity for suffering and the value thereof, the need to face problems directly and to experience the pain involved. But the substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it was designed to avoid.” This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them, is the primary basis of all mental illness.Ĭarl Jung states that “Neorosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering. We attempt to get out of them rather than suffer through them. We attempt to skirt around problems rather than meet them head on. We even take drugs to assist us in ignoring them, so that by deadening ourselves to the pain, we can forget the problems that cause the pain. We ignore them, forget them, pretend they do not exist. We procrastinate, hoping that they will go away. Fearing the pain involved, almost all of us tend to avoid problems. Wise people learn not to dread, but to welcome problems and to welcome the pain of problems. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom indeed, they create our courage and wisdom. They are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. What makes life difficult, is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one.Yet, it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do you want to teach your children to solve them?ĭiscipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Instead, they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life “should” be easy. He also states that most people don’t fully see this truth that life is difficult. Peck says that once we truly know and understand that life is difficult and accept it, then life is no longer difficult, because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. Please note that almost all of the content of this Article has been transcribed verbatim from Peck’s Book.ĭuring the next few weeks, several of the new Articles to be posted on the Website will cover invaluable gems that are contained in Peck’s Book. He states “I make no distinction between the mind and the spirit, and therefore no distinction between the process of achieving spiritual growth and achieving mental growth.”For the avoidance of confusion, my simplified interpretation of Peck’s reference to “spiritual growth” is that he means growth of the “inner being”. To the dose of self-discipline, Peck added an inseparable spiritual element. Humans, however, tend to try to avoid problems, a habit that only creates more difficulties, Peck says. The book focuses on Peck’s core belief that, as stated in its opening sentence, “Life is difficult,” and that life’s problems can be addressed only through self-discipline. Scott Peck, an American Psychiatrist and Author, wrote the Book entitled “The Road Less Travelled” which contains essential principles about life that I have found extremely useful.
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