Religions of the Hindukush The Religion of the Kafirs The Pre-Islamic Heritage of Afghan Nu... Book

I hadn't read any books on spirituality for a while, but I'd heard of Peck and I'd heard of his "Road" books, so I thought I'd give them a go. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment. It started well: his background in psychiatry and mine in psychology gave us a common understanding, and his comments on Western society "dumbing down", the negative effects of lying, the positive effects of feeling grateful, all hit the mark. His own personal anecdotes, illustrating various points, made it more real. So there were many positive aspects to this book.

Despite this, he managed to completely destroy his own credibility. He constantly wavered between Freudian psychology and Christian theology, with blind faith in both, one contradicting the other, and neither showing any basis in scientific enquiry. For a psychiatrist, he showed an amazing lack of understanding of human behaviour, assuming that all evil is inherent rather than learned - and when he started hearing voices, he chose to believe it was the "voice of God" rather than a problem with his own mental health. Yet his most annoying habit was constantly referencing his own books as if he was the font of all knowledge without equal. His arrogance stifled whatever message his text was supposed to impart.

I am open-minded in my views on human spirituality, but this book left me feeling that something very important was missing.