What happens when one has striven long and hard to develop a working view of the world, a seemingly useful, workable map, and then is confronted with new information suggesting that the view is wrong and the map needs to be largely redrawn? The painful effort required seems frightening, almost overwhelming. What we do more often than not, and usually unconsciously, is to ignore the new information. Often this act of ignoring is much more than passive. We may denounce the new information as false, dangerous, heretical, the work of the devil. We may actually crusade against it, and even attempt to manipulate the world so as to make it conform to our view of reality. Rather than try to change the map, an individual may try to destroy the new reality. M. Scott Peck
About This Quote

William James said that “the major cause of unhappiness is the illusion of separateness.” We now know that the ego defense mechanism is a major cause of this illusion. But, what happens when we finally realize that we are separate from everyone and everything else, and also realize that the world is not as we think it is?

Source: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology Of Love, Traditional Values, And Spiritual Growth

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