In accordance with the central tenet of Buddhism, "life is suffering," the first section of The Road Less Traveled encourages all persons to accept pain as a part of life. Through the discomfort and pain associated with delayed gratification, individuals can life the main "barrier to the growth and development of the spirit," (p. 30).

             The Road Less Traveled is not only new age fluff, though. The author discusses neuroses and character disorders, albeit in the absence of DSM jargon. Character disorders and neuroses are, according to Peck, the consequence of avoiding personal responsibility, of avoiding pain, and avoiding problems through meaningless instant gratification. "To the extent that they do not accept" these fundamental features of life, people diagnosed with character disorders "will forever feel themselves victims," (p. 44). Peck's analysis might seem puerile to the psychological orthodoxy but in fact, his analysis of the root causes of mental illness offers clients an ideal way to participate in their own healing process without an over-reliance on psychiatric medications. Moreover, The Road Less Traveled makes for a worthwhile adjunct to traditional psychotherapy, a way to integrate psychological theory with real-world sensibility.

             One of the reasons why discipline is fundamental to psychological healing and spiritual growth, according to Peck, is that discipline enables the individual to see life as it is, to acknowledge the truth. In the same way that addictions specialists refer to denial, Peck discusses the disavowal of the truth as an absolute denial of reality. "Clinging to an outmoded view of reality is the basis for much mental illness," according to Peck (p. 46). Clients resort to the many modes of transference to avoid confronting the painful or ugly truths in their lives. When clients seek psychotherapy they have usually by then built up a substantial wall of defenses and transference mechanisms that reinforce their mental illness.