BLOGSERVATIONS

I switched on the TV last night and tuned into NJN, hoping to see some nature or travel show, maybe something on science, but instead I get Wayne Dyer. Oh, pardon me, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.*

Thanks NJN for scheduling bullshit right alongside some of your decent programming. Please use better judgement before you broadcast bunk like this in the future.

Why is it that people like Dyer are so popular? Many reasons. They are popularized on daytime television shows like Oprah. They tell people what they want to hear, and people accept what they say even if they themselves have no clue what is really being said. They also pretend to have the answer to everything that may be wrong in one’s life. Varying shades of self-delusion shared by members of the audience is also a strong component.

One key word I used above is “pretend.” People like Dyer have no more ultimate knowledge about any supreme being or unifying force in the universe (something he was rambling on about in his NJN lecture) than a fifth grader. They just know how to make it sound like they do. They are well-spoken, motivational, charismatic, and either completely full of it, or completely delusional enough to believe themselves. They want to believe it as much as the audience does, and if they don’t then they’re just liars, thieves, con artists. Sounds like a televangelist.

Dyer, in his many books and lectures, talks about having the “secret” of a happy life, secrets of universal understanding. In the talk he was giving on NJN he even mentioned that, once your connection with the universal force was cleansed you would be able to heal yourself. He even mined for quotes to support his nonsense.

Okay Dyer, lets see you help an amputee get a leg back, or someone with cancer make it go away. Up for the challenge? Help them get their connection to “the force” cleaned up so they can get to work!

One caveat: you won’t be able to truly “connect” unless you lose your ego. That’s what Dyer said! So in other words, if it doesn’t work, and your cancer doesn’t go into remission, it’s YOUR FAULT. Your ego is blocking your clean connection to the force in the universe. That, my friends, is the same cop-out every bullshit artist will use. If it doesn’t work, you must have done something wrong. But it doesn’t matter, they’ve already deposited the check.

Let’s just take a quick look at the obvious. The thing Dyer refers to in his lecture (sometimes in the same breath) as a god or unifying force, is an unknown. Science is working on it, and it’s called the grand unified theory. But science makes no claim that a unified field, if it can be observed, equates to a god or some metaphysical force.

To assume Dyer has some inside track on the information, some intuitive knowledge that is above science, is foolish. To believe that people can make a connection with this unified field, and that this connection can facilitate self-healing, once the ego is out of the way of course, is idiotic. You can’t bank on this kind of stuff if your health is at stake, but that’s just what Dyer and other metaphysical morons tell people to do.

Dyer, and others of his ilk, are spreading nonsense. What’s worse is that NJN is allowing this crap to be aired on their channel! NJN has some great content. As I’ve mentioned, they air great travel shows which introduce us to new cultures right in the comfort of our own homes, feature shows on nature and wildlife, history and wonderful educational programming. Why on earth does NJN stoop so low as to present complete baloney like Dyer?

If we are to succeed as a civilization it requires moving away from magical thinking and toward critical thinking and reason. Too many people seem content to live in a world of fantasy, and they’re the ones filling Dyer’s bank account.

*Isn’t it funny how all these self-help gurus are doctors of some sort? Interestingly, Wayne Dyer earned his doctorate in educational counseling from Wayne State University. Educational counseling, not astronomy or any other form of scientific discipline. So how is he one to trust with regard to understanding the universe?