Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life

by Wayne W. Dyer

Release Date: 19 June, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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I'm so glad I found this book!

A little overrated

I'm a Brit' and I think we tend to find an overinflated ego like Dr. Dyer's a little more grating than our American cousins ( it's our character flaw but it is there ). For me, this tendency of Dr. Dyer's detracted from the message in the book. Others of my ilk might be similarly distracted.

There is good stuff in this book but I think Dyer would reach his audience more effectively if he drew his examples from other people's lives rather than almost exclusively from his own. For example, it's very nice to know that Dr. Dyer has overcome fears about public speaking and has actually won a prestigious award in the field. However, I would rather hear him tell me that Mr. X, after applying Dr Dyer's pointers was able to effect a similar transformation. I think the idea is that Dr Dyer has not only been able to effect such transformations in his own life but that he has been able to articulate how he achieved this to others in a way that has enabled them to make similar progress.

I also find it hard to believe that a person with such a conspicuous ego can make a claim to be enlightened which I understood implied the disappearance of the ego illusion. Again this detracts from the message because it raises the suspicion that Dr Dyer is to some degree a fraud. In the end it doesn't matter whether he has an ego or not, but it would be better to give the impression that it was under better control since he is presenting himself as the model of perfection which can be achieved by following the advice given in the book.

I find that Dr Dyer attempts to be a polished stylish writer yet somehow falls irritatingly short. I think he needs to work a little harder on his style. I think this may be a UK-US thing. There seems to be a lot more leeway over the pond as to what constitutes a grammatically correct or aesthetically acceptable sentence.

I would have liked to have seen a little more discussion of meditation. While he constantly returns to meditation as the cornerstone of his strategy to getting to purpose, he leaves it to other authors to provide exact guidance, and alas does not make any specific recommendations ( there's no bibliography ). I also find that he freely mixes up what I might call meditation ( emptying the mind - seems like a misnomer really ) and contemplation / visualization. These are very different activities. I might very well contemplate or visualize after meditation, having used the meditation to cleanse or energize the mind, but I think there's a muddle here.

I also think his attempts at metaphysical philosophizing needed a little more editing before getting to print. I am sure he knows what he means, but if he wants to broach such subjects he needs to be very careful to communicate his ideas in a clear and methodical manner.

Finally, I think there's a better 120 page book just bursting to get out of this 320 page one. I really think that it would be a better book if Mr Dyer distilled it down to the pure essence which is basically repeated over and over in various contexts.

In summary, I would give five stars for the intentions of the book but don't feel it deserves such high praise once those intentions are put to one side.