Personal Systems Development

In The Road Less Traveled (Peck, 1978), the author presents a psychiatrist's perspective on the relationships among (self-) discipline, love, growth, and spirituality. He speaks of a human evolutionary process in which the process of confronting and solving problems is the foundation for learning and personal development. 

One's capacity to absorb the pain associated with difficult problems and decision making, and to work through these situations successfully is seen as "learning and growing in the process" (p.18). The individual acquires self-discipline through experiencing pain constructively and learning to use the techniques of delayed gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to reality and truth, and focusing on achieving balance. 

The willingness to confront one's "reality maps" or fixed frames of reference through open communication and self-examination is a critical skill in becoming more knowledgeable, responsible, and psychologically balanced. Peck uses the term "bracketing" in reference to one's becoming balanced: "Bracketing is essentially the act of balancing the need for stability and assertion of the self with the need for new knowledge and greater understanding by temporarily giving up one's self …so as to make room for the incorporation of new material into the self" (p.73). An observation here is that individual learning occurs as a result of distinct tension between stability and change. To learn, the individual must reconsider what it is that they already believe in the light of any new, and potentially more influential, viewpoints and concepts.

Peck explains that it takes the force of love to make becoming disciplined desirable. Love is defined as: "The will to extend one's life for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth." He continues with the notion that love requires work and that: "The principle form that the work of love takes is attention," and "When we love another we give them our attention; we attend to that person's growth" (p.81).

[Author’s Note: Peck's writing suggests a continuous learning and evolutionary aspect of personal growth and development which focuses on the attainment of "spiritual competence" which may be interpreted as achieving great understanding of our purpose within a larger universal context. In the context of this study, spiritual competence equates to the self-fulfillment anchor in personal system development.]

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein