Dr. Wayne Dyer--A Charlatan for Our Time
Wayne Dyer, venerable self-help guru who gets major airtime on PBS during fund drives, should be avoided at all costs. If you really want to get to the bottom of his weltanshauung, or world view (isn't German the best?) take a look at his website.
Did you notice it? That's right, his website is a clearinghouse for the Wayne Dyer Product Line. He sells 20 different books on how to make yourself happy. Just look at the Power of Intention product line: there's the flip calendar, the cards, the hardcover, and lastly, the 4 cd set--all right there on the main page, just begging to be bought.
Head over to this religious organization, or maybe this one, or even here, and look at their front pages. See any difference? Yes, you got it: none of these organizations are hitting you up for cash from the get-go. Now I know Dr. Wayne doesn't claim to be a religious organization, but what he teaches, er, I mean sells, is religious (though he might object to the pedestrian term "religious", which he's grown beyond--he's spiritual). A good test for the authenticity of religious or spiritual teachings or organizations is at what point they ask you, the seeker, for money. All religious organizations need money to operate, but if they ask for cash during your first meeting at their church/synagogue/mosque/temple/website, you should turn and leave. And that's exactly what you should do with Dr. Wayne.
Look out for Dr. Wayne's next astounding book: How I Made Millions Spouting Quasi-Religious Drivel to a Depressed and Maleable Public, and How You Can Too!
13 comments:
I don't know much about him. Why does your link to one of his religious websites go to a Zen link?
Please explain his spirituality. My 83 year old mother called me today to listen to him on PBS. I think he is a charlatan, too, but she said she agreed with everything he said and she is a professing Christian.
I need to convince her otherwise. Thank you.
Hey hey hey! This punk's racket is just less established than that of the old Nazi Rat in the Vatican and other such worthies. The old humbugs have billion dollar brandnames to back them up and bankrolls to match- this fellow is just starting out.
I'm not making any excuses for him, but don't be giving the big boys a free pass!
He draws from Ram Dass, and plays off being the gentle, sensitive male, which women love. And the way he fawns on his daughter, parading her out to sing the prayer of St. Francis. Shameful.
Well he should be avoided because he lies about the translation of the title of the Tao Te Ching (道德) which he says serves as the foundation of his crap.
It just means "morality book" in Chinese, but he explains it in a very vague way as meaning the way to something or another. He never mentions the word morality. This is why some Chinese people think Americans are so foolish.
Why does PBS have such a charlatan on their fund drives? Is their demographic managers who have no morals? The self-directed jerk who needs to be fooled into buying some books on morality and how not to be a jerk?
The irony of blogger.com: look at all of the ads google has created to shill his crap, based on spidering the content matter of your post.
Google sucks.
Dr. Wayne Dyer is definitely a nice positive guy with a likable personality and captivating voice. But some of what he teaches is technically false. For example, his mantra that "thoughts create reality" and that "expectations manifest" and that "your fears manifest" are all easily proven false by the most common examples. I wrote an essay about this, which you should check out, here:
http://www.happierabroad.com/Debunking_New_Age.htm
Thanks,
WuMaster
I also have a list of 15 hard questions that Dr Dyer and those in his camp refuse to answer or address. You gotta wonder why. Here they are. I will be posting them on Dyer's forums if I can.
http://www.happierabroad.com/Debunking_New_Age.htm#Appendix
By the way, there's nothing wrong with Dyer selling things or making money. No one is forcing people to buy his things. I think the more important question is: Does his teachings work and do they help people?
How is Wayne Dyer a charlatan? How does he deceive? At worst he is a bit deluded and misinterprets ancient teachings. He does not ask you for money. He asks you to buy his books. There's nothing wrong with that. Books cost money. And all good writers deserve to be paid for their work. What is wrong with that?
He's a charlatan because he uses scientific double-talk to deliberately sound as if he has a background and grasp in such complex matters as quantum physics not to mention to imply his ideas are backed by sound science. He knows better. It cannot be beyond him that his logic is heads-I-win-tails-you-lose. For example, he claims that if you don't manifest what you want it is because the universe either doesn't think you need it or it's not time yet. How can he not see the silliness in this logic? That you get what you ask for, and if you don't it's because you didn't need it. I believe he knows better. That makes him deceptive.
I took a Psychology class at night school in Detroit in the late Sixties & Dyer was very flirtatious (he was on his first wife). Weirdly, about 15 years later his brother(from whom he was estranged) was my regional AAA claims manager & he also thought he was quite the Casanova. It is quite depressing that Americans are so easily persuaded by the pablum hucksters like Dyer & Marianne Williamson sell. A very smart & educated friend of mine joined a communal cult & to this day he will not admit it was a cult. People want to be part of something & they are easily duped.
He is a neverending fountain of nonsense, just like every other religious leader.
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The convergence of self-help pop psychology and new age philosophy peppered with the uptick of conspiracy theory rhetoric packaged as fully vetted content that's then disseminated to millions of people of every demographic has consequences. The most sophisticated and well educated are often seduced by a social media echo chamber that filters out opposing views which may have offered arguments worthy of contemplation or debate. Those with the least resilience to this deceptive less inclusive worldview are easy prey who unwittingly 'recruit' others to join them.
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