In modern society, more and more people try in vain to find meaning in their lives through the acquisition of money, material goods and popularity. While these secular pleasures may bring us financial security, comfort, or short-term happiness, the true purpose of life is to mature physically, mentally, and spiritually. As M. Scott Peck postulates in his series of philosophical novels, if you want to be happy and live life to the fullest, you simply have to force yourself to learn and develop. Therefore, human development is the highest aspiration one can possess. Peck hypothesizes in The Road Less Traveled and The Different Drum that to grow individually we must first be willing to grow with others as a community. Over the course of the semester, I began to see the validity of his statements as I saw myself, my freshmen, and others evolve according to the step-by-step process Peck lays out in his books. Additionally, I have noticed a perceptible change in my relationship with God as a result of my absorption of Peck's theories. In The Different Drum, Peck equates maturation with individualization, stating, “This process of human development is to become fully individual” (Drum 54). He encourages us to hear “the beat of a different drum” and march to the beat; however, Peck carefully establishes an essential and fundamental difference between what he calls “rugged” and “soft” individualism. The first is a modern philosophy influenced by popular media. According to rugged individualism, a person should not show signs of weakness, should become totally independent and should never ask for help from others, as he should be completely competent in all aspects of character. In Peck's words: Why can't we even... middle of paper......statements, "The essential dynamic of the pseudo-community is a lack of discipline." I can vouch for the validity of this statement, as both my C and D groups wished to remain in the comfort offered to them by the pseudo-community. However, they subconsciously realized that to develop as a community they would have to leave the pseudo-community phase behind. As they progressed through the chaos, they had to delay their gratification: I'm sure they would much rather be in the pseudo-community than in the chaos, but they saw that the former, however easy or comfortable to be in, was a dead end. Furthermore, they had to give up the spoils of the pseudo-community. As Peck writes, “The essence of this discipline of balance is 'surrender'” (Road 66). As is evident, the freshmen unconsciously confirmed all of Peck's hypotheses about community development and discipline.