"The Road Less Traveled" Excerpt

I just finished reading a book that has become one of my all time faves (Blue Like Jazz and The Power of Now quickly come to mind). The book, The Road Less Traveled, was written M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist specializing in psychotherapy. The book is a lovely combination of spirituality and psychology where Peck carefully highlights the complex topics of Discipline, Love, Growth & Religion, and Grace. His title refers to the spiritual journey in one's life that can often feel daunting. After finishing the book this morning, it's no surprise to me that it is a New York Times Best Seller. This is one of those books that I'll be urging people to read!

Here's one of my favorite excerpts from the chapter on love:

It is true that love involves a change in the self, but this is an extension of the self rather than a sacrifice of the self. As will be discussed again later, genuine love is  a self-replenishing activity. Indeed, it is even more; it enlarges rather than diminishes the self; it fills the self rather than depleting it. In a real sense love is as selfish as nonlove. Here again there is a paradox in that love is both selfish and unselfish at the same time. It is not selfishness or unselfishness that distinguishes love from nonlove; it is the aim of the action. In the case of genuine love the aim is always spiritual growth. In the case of nonlove the aim is always something else.  (page 116)

Need I say more?! Go get the book. It will surely change the way you live and give you greater understanding for why people do what they do.