Dedication to Truth – Tool/Technique 3 – M. Scott Peck

Menanteau Serfontein – 10 June 2021. Updated 19 December 2021.

M. Scott Peck, an American Psychiatrist and Author, wrote the Book entitled “The Road Less Travelled” which contains important principles about life that I have found extremely useful.

The book focuses on Peck’s core belief that, as stated in its opening sentence, “Life is difficult,” and that its problems can be addressed only through self-discipline. What makes life difficult, is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. 

Peck refers to the following four Tools/Techniques to deal with suffering and the means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively, which he calls “Discipline”:

1. Delaying Gratification (dealt with in the 1st Article of the series) – (Also read article entitled “Sacrifice Today for Something Better Tomorrow – Delayed Gratification”)
2. Acceptance of Responsibility (dealt with in the 2nd Article of the series)
3. Dedication to Truth (dealt with in this, the 3rd Article of the series)
4. Flexibility and Wisdom (Balancing) – (dealt with in the 4^th and Final Article of the series)

They are simple tools and almost all children are adept in their use by the age of ten. Yet, presidents and kings will often forget to use them, to their own downfall. 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 you seek to avoid legitimate suffering, then you will avoid using these tools.

This Article is the Third of a Four-Part series analyzing each of the four Tools/Techniques. Thereafter, we shall examine in detail, the will (the driving force) to use them, which is Love, i.e. What is Love, What it is Not and its Role.

Please note that almost all of the content of this Article has been transcribed verbatim from Peck’s Book.

Tool/Technique 3: Dedication to Truth

The third tool/technique is Dedication to the Truth which must be continually employed if our lives are to be healthy and our spirit is to grow. Truth is reality. The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world. The less clearly we see the reality of the world – the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusions – the less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions. Our view of reality is like a map with which to negotiate the terrain of life. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are and if we have decided where we want to go, we will generally know how to get there. If the map is false and inaccurate, we will generally be lost.

While this is obvious, it is something that most people choose (to a greater or lesser degree) to ignore. They ignore it, because our route to reality is not easy. We have to make maps, and this requires effort. The more effort we make, the larger and more accurate our maps will be. But many do not want to make this effort. If our maps are to remain accurate, we have to revise them continually, because the vantage point from which we view the world, is changing constantly and quite rapidly. When this happens, many don’t revise their map(s), because of the effort involved and they end up defending their map and even try to destroy the new reality.  

This process of clinging to an outmoded view of reality is the basis for much mental illness. Psychiatrists refer to it as transference which means a set of ways of perceiving and responding to the world that was developed during childhood and then inappropriately transferring it into the adult environment.

Peck used the example of someone who justifiably decided that he can’t trust his parents. It helped him to cope better with the severity of his disappointments when he was let down by them. To a child, his parents are everything – they represent the world. He assumes that the way his parents do things is the “way that things are done”. Consequently, the reality that this child came to was not “I can’t trust my parents”, but “I can’t trust people”.

This man should have revised his map (reality) about people by coming to terms with the fact that because his parents could not be trusted, does not mean that he cannot trust anyone. The consequences of him remaining stuck in an erroneous worldview was quite severe, e.g. alienating himself from everyone, making it impossible for himself to enjoy love, warmth, intimacy and affection. He could not allow himself closeness with his wife – she, too, could not be trusted.

Truth or reality is avoided when it is painful. We can revise maps only when we have the discipline and courage to overcome that pain. To have such discipline, we must be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say that we must always hold truth, as best we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to our self-interest and our comfort. Conversely, we must always consider our personal discomfort relatively unimportant and, indeed, even welcome it in the service of the search for truth. Mental health is an ongoing process of dedication to reality at all costs.

What does a life of total dedication to the truth mean? It means, first of all, a life of continuous and never-ending stringent self-examination. The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action.

Examination of the world without, is never as personally painful as examination of the world within, and it is certainly because of the pain involved in a life of genuine self-examination that the majority steer away from it. Yet, when you are dedicated to the truth, this pain seems relatively unimportant – and less and less important (and therefore less and less painful) the further you proceed on the path of self-examination. It also means a life of willingness to be personally challenged.

We need our life to be dedicated to the truth, i.e. a life of total honesty. It means a continuous and never-ending process of self-monitoring to assure that our communications – not only the words that we say, but also the way we say them – invariably reflect as accurately as humanly possible the truth or reality as we know it. We lie of course, not only to others, but also to ourselves. Peck refers to psychotherapy as the “truth game” or the “honesty game”, because its business is, among other things, to help patients confront such lies. One of the roots of mental illness is invariably an interlocking system of lies we have been told and lies we have told ourselves.

Peck goes on to make the following concerning statement: “Of all those who come to a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, very few are initially looking, on a conscious level, for challenge or an education in discipline. Most are simply seeking “relief”. When they realize they are going to be challenged as well as supported, many flee and many others are tempted to flee. Teaching them that the only real relief will come through challenge and discipline is a delicate, often lengthy and frequently unsuccessful task.”

Withholding Truth 

Lying can be divided into two types: white lies and black lies. A black lie is a statement we make that we know is false. A white lie is a statement we make that is not false in itself, but that leaves out a significant part of the truth. The fact that a lie is white does not in itself make it any less of a lie or any more excusable. The withholding of essential information is the most common form of lying.

Peck states that the expression of opinions, feelings, ideas, and even knowledge must be suppressed from time to time, under certain circumstances. Below are some rules to follow if one is dedicated to the truth:

1. Never speak falsehood.
2. Bear in mind that the act of withholding the truth is always potentially a lie, and in each instance in which the truth is withheld, a significant moral decision is required.
3. The decision to withhold the truth should never be based on personal needs, such as a need for power, a need to be liked, or a need to protect your map from challenge.
4. Conversely, the decision to withhold the truth must always be based entirely upon the needs of the person or people from whom the truth is being withheld.
5. The assessment of another’s needs is an act of responsibility which is so complex that it can only be executed wisely when you operate with genuine love for the other.
6. The primary factor in the assessment of another’s needs is the assessment of that person’s capacity to utilize the truth for his or her own spiritual growth.
7. In assessing the capacity of another to utilize the truth for personal spiritual growth, it must be borne in mind that our tendency is generally to underestimate, rather than overestimate this capacity.

By virtue of the fact that their maps are continually being challenged, open people are continually growing people. Through their openness they can establish and maintain intimate relationships far more effectively than closed people. Because they never speak falsely, they can be secure in the knowledge that they have done nothing to contribute to the confusion of the world, but have served as sources of illumination and clarification. Finally, they are totally free to be.

The more honest you are, the easier it is to continue being honest, just as the more lies you have told, the more necessary it is to lie again. By their openness, people dedicated to the truth live in the open, and through the exercise of their courage to live in the open, they become free from fear.

(Also read the article on the Website entitled “Integrity and Honesty”).

Almost all of the content of this Article has been transcribed verbatim from M. Scott Peck’s Book entitled “The Road Less Travelled”.

The Final Article in this 4-Part Series deals with the fourth Tool/Technique of discipline, i.e. “Flexibility and Wisdom (Balancing)”.