Notes by Doug Muder (1997)

Laziness: "Original sin does exist; it is our laziness. It is very real. It exists in each and every one of us--infants, children, adolescents, mature adults, the elderly; the wise or the stupid; the lame or the whole. … No matter how energetic, ambitious or even wise we may be, if we truly look into ourselves we will find laziness lurking at some level. It is the force of entropy within us, pushing us down and holding us back from our spiritual evolution." [page 273] Lazy infants? I think Peck states his case too strongly here. Sometimes we are lazy because the plan our conscious mind is trying to execute is not a good one. Many of us would wipe out important parts of our character if we only had the discipline to do so. Laziness is sometimes the unconscious mind dragging its feet to avoid this kind of damage. In such cases, the answer is not to overcome the resistance with the power of our will, but to figure out why our unconscious mind lacks faith in our plans.

Evil: Peck has four conclusions about evil:

• "Evil is real." [page 277]
• "Evil is laziness carried to its ultimate, extraordinary extreme. … Ordinary laziness is a passive failure to love. … Truly evil people, on the other hand, actively rather than passively avoid extending themselves. They will take any action in their power to protect their own laziness, to preserve the integrity of their sick self." [page 278]
• "The existence of evil is inevitable, at least at this stage of human evolution." [page 279]
• "Evil backfires in the big picture of human evolution. For every soul it destroys--and there are many--it is instrumental in the salvation of others." [page 279]

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