Summary: Section 4 is named "Grace", and these 24 pages concern mainly this topic. Starting with the song "Amazing Graze", the author tries to prove the existence of grace. His main argument is that most humans in an awkward way almost seem to be protected, this because we in so many cases of danger are unexplainably saved. Even though we as humans may get close to death numerous times, most of us seem to survive and live on. Dr. Peck claims it very often can be easy to locate the cause of pain, but that it can be much harder to locate the cause of us being saved and protected on a daily basis. It could either be our survival instinct, that we are all blessed, or just simply the result of something else we don't understand.
Dr. Peck also brings up the miracle of the unconscious, which he believes can help us solve problems on a daily basis. This is especially relevant when studying messages brought through dreams, but may also be presented when we are awake through "idle thoughts". Slips of the tongue and other "mistakes" in behaviour can also be our unconscious talking to us, our inner voice may very often tell the truth which is suppressed by our consciousness. Dr. Peck then continues to philosophy on why our unconsciousness has the ability, and he points to newer studies which have suggested that intelligence might be genetically inherited.
At last the psychiatrist brings up the phenomenon of serendipity, which Webster's dictionary defines as "the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for". He presents evidence which suggests that it for example is possible for an awake individual to transmit images to another individual sleeping many rooms away. In similar ways he mentions other paranormal and similar occurrences, and brings up as many questions as answers to these problems.
Reading note:
Imagine someone who's never seen a car before, and imagine having to explain to this person the concept of driving. How would one explain that we ride in these small boxes, knowing that only a short second's lack of concentration could make us crash into either another car, a tree, or to follow Princess Diana's example, a pillar marking the entrance to a tunnel. After having done so, you might not only have convinced him to continue on foot, you probably have convinced yourself as well. Yet we keep on driving, and it doesn't stop us that people around us are dying. In some ways we know we are taking a calculated risk, but on the other hand we decide it is too small for us to settle for a horse and carriage. This might argue for the presence of grace, but at the same time I think the many thousands who die each year in traffic related accidents will disagree. If God has chosen to help humans by protecting them, wouldn't he let his grace surround and help us all the time? And if grace is just an expression for our instinct of survival, why do we all seem to possess so very different amounts of it? Some people can experience to be struck by lightning both two and three times, and sometimes they survive each time. Still, if grace existed, why would they ever get struck in the first place?
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Summary:
Dr. Peck has reached four conclusions concerning the nature of evil:
Spiritual growth is the growth or evolution of consciousness. The development of consciousness is the development of awareness in our conscious mind of knowledge along with our unconscious mind, which already possesses the knowledge. Our unconscious is God, and mental illness occurs when the conscious will of the individual deviates substantially from the will of God, which is the individual's own unconscious will. Further defined, the goal of spiritual growth is the attainment of godhood by consciousness itself.
There are two kinds of power, spiritual and political. Spiritual power does not, in contrast to political power, reside entirely within the individual and has nothing to do with the capacity to coerce others. The experience of spiritual power is a joyful one, nothing brings higher satisfaction than being an expert on it. Symptoms are the beginning of the cure for the sickness, this because the illness exists long before the symptoms. It is extremely important to accept responsibility for one's own mental disease.
Reading note:
The division of the consciousness and unconsciousness is not new to me, but Dr. Peck's statement that God is unconsciousness is. Rather I think humans make a conscious decision as to whom shall be allowed to control their life. If we are all born with a good unconsciousness, that should imply that we are all born good. I think the roots of evil stick deeper than this, it might even be genetics. Some scientists assert that aggression and similar behaviour connected to evil can be traced genetically. Perhaps we need more than psychologists to explain the phenomenon of evil.
In addition to this I have to repeat that Dr. Peck's book more and more reveals itself as a very toothless elucidation. A more aggressive and confronting book would probably have been more intellectually stimulating. Discussing a work which only goal was commercialistic and public success is not very rewarding.
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