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Great book and very insightful information using golf as the vehicle for the explanations.
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Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey
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Golf. It's the ultimate head game. And when nothing but the best advice will do, along comes M. Scott Peck, M.D., the celebrated psychiatrist and author of the best-selling self-help book of all time, The Road Less Traveled .
In Golf and the Spirit , M. Scott Peck writes a book for beginners and masters alike--and even for nongolfers. It goes beyond mechanics to explore the deeper issues, ways of successfully managing the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of this most wonderful, maddening, deflating, and inspiring game.
Playing side by side with M. Scott Peck on an imaginary course of his own design--complete with illustrations of each hole--you will come to see the profound truths in this seemingly simple game. Appreciate that life is not linear. Come to understand your own anger and how to heal that which gets in your way. Accept the gifts of humility. Appreciate kenosis, the process by which the self empties itself of self. Benefit from teachers. Know that in weakness often there is strength. Realize that to experience the blessings of golf and life fully, you must accept the divinity that underlies all things.
Like the best-selling volumes of Harvey Penick and Michael Murphy, Golf and the Spirit makes a unique contribution to the literature of golf and life. It goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, creating a rare opportunity for transformation in the lives of its readers, both on and off the fairway.
It seems to me the human condition is most basically that we are willful creatures living in a world that, much of the time, doesn't behave the way we want it to. We live in the tension between our will and reality. Sometimes with great effort and expertise, we can change reality or bend it to our will. At other times--also with great effort and expertise--it is we who must change by coming to accept the limitations of the world and of ourselves. How we do this--how we deal with the hazards of life--is quite akin to how we deal with the hazards of a golf course.
Sooner or later golfers who stick with the game long enough will almost always come to see it as a metaphor for life. But the word metaphor fails to do justice to all that golf has to teach us. I would go even further and say that, in its own way, golf is life and, not only that, life condensed. If we choose to use it as such, I believe that golf, next to marriage and parenthood, can routinely be the greatest of life's learning opportunities.
In Golf and the Spirit , M. Scott Peck writes a book for beginners and masters alike--and even for nongolfers. It goes beyond mechanics to explore the deeper issues, ways of successfully managing the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of this most wonderful, maddening, deflating, and inspiring game.
Playing side by side with M. Scott Peck on an imaginary course of his own design--complete with illustrations of each hole--you will come to see the profound truths in this seemingly simple game. Appreciate that life is not linear. Come to understand your own anger and how to heal that which gets in your way. Accept the gifts of humility. Appreciate kenosis, the process by which the self empties itself of self. Benefit from teachers. Know that in weakness often there is strength. Realize that to experience the blessings of golf and life fully, you must accept the divinity that underlies all things.
Like the best-selling volumes of Harvey Penick and Michael Murphy, Golf and the Spirit makes a unique contribution to the literature of golf and life. It goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, creating a rare opportunity for transformation in the lives of its readers, both on and off the fairway.
It seems to me the human condition is most basically that we are willful creatures living in a world that, much of the time, doesn't behave the way we want it to. We live in the tension between our will and reality. Sometimes with great effort and expertise, we can change reality or bend it to our will. At other times--also with great effort and expertise--it is we who must change by coming to accept the limitations of the world and of ourselves. How we do this--how we deal with the hazards of life--is quite akin to how we deal with the hazards of a golf course.
Sooner or later golfers who stick with the game long enough will almost always come to see it as a metaphor for life. But the word metaphor fails to do justice to all that golf has to teach us. I would go even further and say that, in its own way, golf is life and, not only that, life condensed. If we choose to use it as such, I believe that golf, next to marriage and parenthood, can routinely be the greatest of life's learning opportunities.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 15,1999
This edition
- Format
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352 pages, Paperback
- Published
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May 16, 2000 by Harmony
- ISBN
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9780609805664
- ASIN
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0609805665
- Language
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English
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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 26 votes)
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26 reviews All reviews
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"You would get to love golf, and your life"
I have never played golf in my life, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. M. Scott Peck uses a full game of golf - to go with you to play the whole course - and shares reflection of how to live our lives. Amazing. Now I have learned so much about life, and for sure, golf.
I have never played golf in my life, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. M. Scott Peck uses a full game of golf - to go with you to play the whole course - and shares reflection of how to live our lives. Amazing. Now I have learned so much about life, and for sure, golf.
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Peck, best know for his book The Road Less Traveled, is a psychiatrist and author of 13 books. He makes it clear up front in this book that this is not a "how to play golf" book, but rather a how "not to play golf" book. He creates an imaginary golf course called Exotica and uses it to explain resemblance of the golf journey and life journey. There are a lot of funny stories, poignant stories, and very good lessons I can recommend this book for everyone - whether you play or not. I can also tell you that as a beginning golfer it's great to know so much of my game is "normal".
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Having only read one other Peck book - The Road Less Traveled (which I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from) - I can't yet call myself a die-hard fan of his work. Still, having enjoyed and appreciated this book just as much - a "how not-to" guide that likens the game of golf (hole by frustrating hole) to the spiritual journey of life - I'm inclined to believe that I might enjoy some - if not all - of his other books as well. Though a beginning golfer and a lifelong agnostic (closer to atheism than not), I still found so much to love and learn from in this book. Highly recommended to open-minded golfers and non-golfers alike!
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The book had good points, but overall was slow and boring.
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An insightful look at spirituality, and how you can find it in golf. A rather humorous look at golf and how spiritualamity can help you with the game. In the end, life us about spiritual growth.
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The first half is really solid. The second half is very religious. At times, Peck tries to avoid preaching about religion, specifically Christianity, and does okay, but for the majority of the second half he focuses on spirituality as a link to God. Read the first half, take it in and put the book down.
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Fabulous book on living a fulfilling life, using golf as a metaphor. Love Scott Peck's ideas and philosophy.
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