Outer Hebrides

[Alex]

M. Scott Peck, M.D., psychiatrist and the author of The Road Less Traveled, and The People of the Lie are brilliant books, as he has been able to combine the Christian principles of grace, faith and love with the hard work of psychoanalysis, so those who are brave enough to submit to psychoanalysis can be become whole authentic loving and forgiving human beings, even in the face of human evil. On that basis my wife and I read Peck’s 1995 In Search of Stones. It too was brilliant for its many insights about life in general and hid in particular. He admitted to having adulterous affairs, smoking too much and having a bad back, which he tried to correct with, in my opinion, overly violent stretching exercises. He would have been better off if had walked or jogged, then, with his body properly warmed up, he could have done slow rhythmic Tai Chi and Yoga exercises. This account of his personal life and his mostly negative feelings about the Outer Hebrides Scotland left me feeling somewhat sad. Lily Ho, Scott’s wife, found the Isles of Lewis and Harris of the Outer Hebrides Scotland to have been the high point of their trip to England and Scotland. On the other hand, Scott found the isles to be dreary places, and on a dreary day (Sunday) in the isle of Lewis, he felt depressed. Dr. Peck went on to say:

“She can offer nothing to substantiate this subjective assessment. . .”

However, I believe, I can substantiate Lily’s assessment. Weston A. Price, D.D.S., a medical anthropologist, became concerned about the poor dental health of his patients in the early 20th century, so he asked two fundamental questions: “Are there any people who have good dental health? “ And, if there are, “What are they eating?” The answer to the first question isolated hunter-gather-fisher-pastoral-horticultural peoples. One of the very healthy were the Gaelic peoples the residents of the Outer Hebrides. They thrived on oak cakes and porridge, and all kinds of fish and their organs. The brown houses that Peck referred to were actually the black-houses that became that way because the inhabitants of these houses had peat fires inside them. The smoke impregnated the thatch roofing. Every October, the thatch would be removed and used for fertilizer of their sandy soil, which otherwise was so barren trees would not grow on it, yet was satisfactory for the growing oats and the razing of a hardy breed of black-faced sheep whose wool was woven in these black-houses from which the famous Harris Tweed came.

Dr. Price had this to say about the Gaelic people he visited sometime in 1931-32,

“It was a great surprise and a happy one, to find such high types of manhood and womanhood as exist among the occupants of these rustic thatched roofed homes, usually located in an expanse of heather-covered treeless plains. It would be hard to visualize a more complete isolation for child life than many of these homes provide, and one marvels at the refinement, intelligence, and strength of character of these rugged people. . .

One would expect in their one seaport town of Stornoway things would be gay over the weekend, if not boisterous, with between four and five thousand fishermen and seamen on shore leave from Saturday until midnight Sunday. On Saturday evenings the sidewalks were crowded with happy carefree people, but no boisterousness and no drinking were to be seen. Sunday the people went in throngs to their various churches. Before the sailors went aboard their crafts on Sunday evening, they met in bands on the streets and on the piers for religious singing and prayers for safety on their next fishing expedition... Everyone has reverence for the Sabbath. . .”

These people had no need for a Foundation for Community Encouragement (FCE); they were already a community in the best sense of the word! For all Dr Peck’s brilliance, he completely missed what I believe Lily sensed. . . a community of Christian people who lived the talk, something Dr Peck failed to do, but what Lily longed for. The tragedy in both their lives was that they divorced in 2003, and in 2005 Dr Peck died of pancreatic cancer and Parkinson’s disease. For both their sakes, I can not help feeling a profound sense of sadness

Alex Brown, Jr.
July 9, 2014

[Alex]

I should like to add to my review above. First of all the infromation on the Outer Hebrides comes from Weston A Price's 1939 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Secondly, Scott Peck's In Search of Stones are confessions of of his numerous adulterous relationships. However, the sad thing is his lack of repentance. Having divorced Lily Ho, he died in the company of another woman!