9/6/22

The book is a fictious transcript of his group therapy sessions. The patients discover the roots of their problems by looking at their childhood. He had a series of (I think) 21 questions that he ask them on or near the first day of therapy that hit some raw nerves. Each chapter after that examined one of the questions in detail.
Sometimes he would get on his soapbox, such as when he responded to a patient and railed against religion for a page or so. I wasn't impressed. In fact, it made me wonder how accurate or how useful the rest of the book would be. If he is that set against that which is good in our society, perhaps he would lead a person astray in other areas also.
I wondered if it is really necessary to go back and examine the past. The Gospel teaches to stop sinning, and do it no more. The first part of repentance is recognizing that something is wrong. In that sense, perhaps the gospel does also require going back and examining. The gospel only requires going back far enough to discover that it is/was wrong. Fortunately, that also seems to be as far as he takes it too.
I kept feeling like there was more to this book; that it would produce some valuable insights. There were some, but I never felt any big breakthroughs. There was the promise of something profound just around the corner, but I never found it.
I also wondered how valuable his form of therapy would be since he denies God.

And now from a pyschologist whom I trust (M. Scott Peck):
"Is belief in God a form of psychopathology?" ... The answer is sometimes yes."
"There clearly is a lot of dirty water surronding the reality of God. Holy wars. Inquisitions. Animal sacrifice. Human sacrifice. Superstition. Stultification. Dogmatism. Ignorance. Hypocrisy. Self righteousness. Rigidity. Cruelty. Book burning. Witch burning. Inhibition. Fear. Conformity. Morbid guilt. Insanity. The list is almost endless. But is all this what God has done to humans or what humans have done to God?"
'Another reason that scientists are so prone to throw the baby out with the bath water is that science itself is a religion.'
"... I very much would have liked to say to him: "You really ought to tell your therapist about it. It is essential for your therapy that you be open about everything, particularly a serious matter such as this. You should trust your therapist to be objective.' But I did not. For I was not at all sure that his therapist would be objective."
"The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck p 223 224 ( )