what are the four tools of discipline according to m. scott peck,m.d from the Road Less Traveled?

Answer 1

M. Scott Peck, M.D., lists four techniques to solve life's problems:
- Delayed gratification.
- Acceptance of responsibility.
- Dedication to truth.
- Balancing.

Delayed gratification (p.19)
"Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with."

Acceptance of responsibility (p.37)
"…problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for in this life is one of the greatest problems of human existence."

Dedication to truth (p.44)
"The less clearly we see the reality of the world… …the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusions… …less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions."

Balancing
(p.64)
"To be organized and efficient, to live wisely, we must daily delay gratification and keep an eye on the future; yet to live joyously we must also possess the capacity, when it is not destructive, to live in the present and act spontaneously. In other words, discipline itself must be disciplined."

(p.120).
"If an act is not one of work or courage, then it is not an act of love. There are not exceptions. The principal form that the work of love takes is attention. When we love another we give him or her our attention; we attend to that's person's growth. When we love ourselves we attend to our own growth… …the most common and important way in which we can exercise our attention is by listening. We spend an enormous amount of time listening, most of which we waste, because on the whole most of us listen very poorly."

(p.130).
"Since love is work, the essence of non-love is laziness"
(Fear of uncertainty reduces the likelihood of hard work to cause change; some hard working people are apathetic when it comes to changing.)

(p.18)
"The problem lies not in the complexity of these tools but in the will to use them. For they are tools with which pain is confronted rather than avoided, and if one seeks to avoid legitimate suffering, then one will avoid the use of these tools."

Answer 2

Scott Peck Md