Growth, Discipline, and Pain | The Road Less Traveled

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. 

This process (achieving mental and spiritual growth) is a complex, arduous, and lifelong one. 

This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness. 

Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." -- Carl Jung

Some possess the courage to face their neuroses and ... to learn how to experience legitimate suffering.

When we avoid the legitimate suffering that results from dealing with problems, we also avoid the growth that problems demand from us. 

Without healing, the human spirit begins to shrivel. 

Let us teach ourselves and our children the need to face problems directly and to experience the pain involved. 

Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. 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. 

Delaying gratification ... is the only decent way to live. 

Dr. M. Scott Peck, "The Road Less Traveled​"

From section I, "Discipline;" sub-sections "Problems and Pain" and "Delaying Gratification"

This post is a migration of quotes originally uploaded to the homepage on March 11, 2019. The homepage has since been revamped.

Comments 2019/03/22:

This is my favorite book of all time.