"Whenever we seek to avoid the responsibility for our own behavior, we do so by attempting to give that responsibility to some other individual or organization or entity. But this means we then give away our power to that entity"
About this Quote
Peck is diagnosing a stealth transaction we make when we want the comfort of innocence without paying the price of agency. The line isn’t primarily moralistic; it’s strategic. He frames responsibility as a kind of psychological property you can sign over. The bait is relief: if my behavior is “because my parents,” “because my boss,” “because the system,” then I get to feel acted upon rather than acting. The trap is that the same move that reduces guilt also reduces leverage. If someone else owns the cause, they also own the cure.
The quote works because it targets a habit that can masquerade as sophistication. Blaming “an entity” sounds modern, even politically literate. Peck doesn’t deny that institutions shape choices; he’s warning about the internal consequence of outsourcing your authorship. The subtext is blunt: narratives of victimhood can be accurate and still become addictive, because they anesthetize the anxiety of choosing differently. Agency is scary; dependency is soothing.
Context matters: Peck’s work (especially in The Road Less Traveled) sits at the intersection of pop spirituality and clinical pragmatism, aimed at readers who want growth without euphemism. He’s pushing against mid-century therapeutic culture’s tendency to explain away behavior as mere symptom. His underlying intent is to reframe power as an inside job. You don’t reclaim control by winning an argument about who’s to blame; you reclaim it by refusing to hand your steering wheel to whatever story makes you feel least responsible.
The quote works because it targets a habit that can masquerade as sophistication. Blaming “an entity” sounds modern, even politically literate. Peck doesn’t deny that institutions shape choices; he’s warning about the internal consequence of outsourcing your authorship. The subtext is blunt: narratives of victimhood can be accurate and still become addictive, because they anesthetize the anxiety of choosing differently. Agency is scary; dependency is soothing.
Context matters: Peck’s work (especially in The Road Less Traveled) sits at the intersection of pop spirituality and clinical pragmatism, aimed at readers who want growth without euphemism. He’s pushing against mid-century therapeutic culture’s tendency to explain away behavior as mere symptom. His underlying intent is to reframe power as an inside job. You don’t reclaim control by winning an argument about who’s to blame; you reclaim it by refusing to hand your steering wheel to whatever story makes you feel least responsible.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Improvement |
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