Customer Reviews

Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want

5 star:		(138)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I wanted to like this latest book by James Arthur Ray. The author is a tireless speaker and teacher trying to lift our consciousness and that is a very, very good thing. And his contributing author, Linda Silvertsen, is someone whose writings I have previously enjoyed in Balance Magazine.

Indeed, there was much I liked about the book. Most importantly, it is a very substantive book in a world where so many books of this type are feel good, quick reads (which have their place). And, it is written in the aggressive, challenging style that the author unabashedly proclaims is his intent. As Ray says near the end in talking about reading the book: "Some of it (may have) excited you, some of it may have made you uncomfortable, some of it struck you as full of it, some of it flat out confused you. That is all good." Because of the author's challenging style, I used the book to challenge my thinking on what it takes to take one's performance to an even higher level. I enjoy a book that challenges my thinking, and this one did so.

I also liked the fact that the book is apparently designed to be well integrated into online tools that will help readers extend their insights on a variety of areas. (I say apparently as the site was not operating at the time I write this and was instead harvesting emails, and doing so with a privacy policy with an usual twist that you will want to consider carefully. "Harvesting" because after supplying my email, I did not get access to the info promised in the book, instead I was told I was now "just" on a mailing list. I very much want to believe this is just an early glitch.)

Regretfully, for me, the book had some annoying shortcomings, in addition to the online material seemingly not yet being available as promised. The author seems to pick fights that seem out of keeping with his expressed interest in peace and seemingly do little other than needlessly offend. As just one example from a handful I could give, he devotes a page to seemingly try to support the notion that the real innovators are those that either didn't go to college or did poorly in college. Could it possibly be that the author hasn't really gotten over his own self-consciousness about his education? I, for one, am grateful to the many scientists with PHD's whose research has made, and continues to make, discoveries that save lives and help us lead better lives while we are here on earth. Sure, there are well educated people that have done little with all their formal education. And, there are people who have not been extensively (formally) educated who have made great contributions to society. So why put down either end of the spectrum, especially if ones true intention is to raise the consciousness of all?

Even more troubling was the fact that I found reading the book a bit of a chore. I like to be mentally stretched by a book but I don't like to have to work unduly to be stretched. Not sure I can explain why, but at times I kept thinking the book was needlessly convoluted.

Of the fifty plus reviews I have written on Amazon, this book is -- by far -- the most challenging to rate. If you are in need for an "in your face" style wake-up (along the lines of a Dr Phil style), you will like this book and perhaps a five star rating would be in order. Fans of the author will undoubtedly like a new Ray book, although some fans will likely question how much is really fresh thinking compared to prior books. For fans of Mr. Ray, a four or five star rating is probably in order. For those who like their self-help guidance more compassionately given, I expect that a three star rating would be more the order of the day. I am going to settle on giving it a four star rating and hope the author forgives me as I am very, very grateful for what I learned by thinking through the book. With two graduate degrees, it may just be that I am too much of a lost soul to fully appreciate some of the author's strong biases; hence my four star rating.

One final thought. What I liked most about the book is that for me it read more like a tour of the world of self-help and a self-analysis of one man's search for meaning. As one who believes that all of us are on a journey and can learn from the journeys of others, I came away surmising that the author is - perhaps -- only midway through a journey that will hopefully bring him to a place of deep, personal peace wherein he can be at peace with all of us. I am saving my five star rating, for this author, for the great book I expect is still within him and will be written when he reaches that place of deep peace.

PS Pleased to see that the web site has now been changed to reflect that info is coming later thereby making it less likely someoneone will unknowingly register, as I did, and then not get access to info.

James Arthur Ray knows his stuff. As someone familiar with his other books, I know that James can walk his talk, and is capable of being a compelling and motivating speaker. Just look up some of his videos on YouTube and you'll see that he has amazing recall and mastery of the work.

Having said this, you would expect Harmonic Wealth, his largest and most ambitious work so far, to be a veritable gold mine of information.

And you would be right, but also wrong.

Imagine if I approached you and told you that I had all the knowledge you needed to live an amazing life. It was all written down in detail, and all you had to do was read it, follow the steps and you, too, could change your life.

You'd be excited right?

You'd want that book!

Now next imagine that I take all the pages of the book and put them into a shredder. Each page cut up into thousands of pieces, like confetti after a New Years Eve party.

You'd be sad and disappointed and maybe a bit pissed, right?

That's how I feel after reading Harmonic Wealth.

It's full of great information, but it's so poorly designed, so poorly thought out, so poorly edited, that I came away sad and disheartened.

I was hoping that James would, after going into detail about each pillar, lay out some easy to find, easy to collect, concrete steps that I could take toward improving that pillar.

It just frustrates me that while I read, I keep wondering "What are you recommending?" "What worked for you?" "How can I duplicate your experience in my world?"

Like I said, a recap at the end of each chapter, and then again, at the end of each pillar of the main points to remember and concrete actions to take would make this book even more amazing.

I recommend that you do buy the book, but read it with a notepad or a stack of index cards handy to write out the action steps that James recommends for a better life.

Follow those cards, follow those notes, integrate them as habits into your life and you will change it for the better.

This is a C book from an A+ teacher.

William Mize

PWA Shamus Award Nominee

Creator of the Denton Ward and Monty Crocetti mystery series

I enjoyed James Ray in The Secret so I was excited when I received the audiobook for Harmonic Wealth as a gift. My excitement quickly turned to utter annoyance. Ray tries to make his reading sound causal, but it really sounds like forced bad acting. He talks down to the listener and judges those who are not as "enlightened" as he is. He does a lot of name dropping and at one point compares himself to Bill Gates and Richard Branson! He calls himself a spiritual leader, but he behaves like a smarmy used car salesman, peddling spiritual wisdom instead of automobiles.

James Ray's "five pillars of harmonic wealth" sounds like an interesting concept, but he does a very poor job of outlining it, and is all over the place in his explanation of each pillar. There were many times when I didn't know which pillar he was actually talking about because he had been boasting about himself for so long. This book is really just an advertisement for his harmonic wealth idea, and apparently you have to give him more money to find out what it really is, as he doesn't actually tell you what to do to become as "enlightened" as he is. At one point he even tells the listener to go to his website and order his expensive mediation cds.

This book is also a vehicle for Ray to gloat about himself. He spends quite a lot of time praising himself and bragging about his own achievements. He probably should have just written an autobiography and called it "I'm Better Than You." The book would have been about half the size if he hadn't included so much useless information about himself. I'm wondering if he had to pad the book with his own gloating because he hadn't fully developed his five pillar idea or if he wasn't able to fully develop the idea because he was so wrapped up his is own narcissism.

That said, there are a few good pearls of wisdom here, but you have to wade through a lot of muck to get to them. I'm sure there are other books out there on the law of attraction that are much better and much more worthy of your money.

Mr. Ray is undoubtedly charming, utterly charismatic ... but conscious and spiritual? Don't think so. This man is driven by that most basic of human and certainly American motivators...e.g. money. I have no objection to money, per se, but the presence of greed takes it to an entirely different level. Mr. Ray is primarily a shameless self promoter and saw an opportunity to make big money in the "field" of spirituality. All of the content is simple repackaging of the work of other far wiser and truer individuals who preceded him. Don't drink the kool aid!!!

Well I see James Ray was involved in the death of two people in a sweat lodge in Sedona, AZ. This is his knowledge of

native healing. 64 people in a 54 inch high building with plastic over the top. This after fasting for 36 hours. The only wealth involved is the $6900 paid for the healing seminar.

This book explains universal laws and combines it with quantum physics and world religions. As an excellent motivational speaker, Mr. Ray has not only motivated me, he has sparked an interest in reading more about quantum physics.

I actually listened to this book on audio read by the author. His 5 pillars of wealth make sense. Also he doesn't claim you can become majically welathy, he shows how you can achieve your desires with hard work. He also encourages us to "do the work that brings us passion."

This book is certainly worth your time.

James Ray is a fraud. Sure, buy his book as long as you don't think he practices what he preaches. James Ray claims to be a spiritual teacher, but I sat through one of seminars in order to buy this book and have in autographed. The result? During one of his "teaching tools" - he stood on the stage with a CD from one of his packages and whoever walked up to the stage and took it could have it. I stood up to get it. Hand my hands ON THE CD and was then knocked to the ground by someone from behind me. I hit the stage and fell. Instead of asking me if I was alright or cautioning people to be careful, James Ray CONGRATULATED this guy for wanting that CD badly enough to take what he wanted. I was injured and James Rau didn't care. I was knocked down and James Ray didn't even stop his giveaways. He didn't even pause. Someone just just knocked down, two feet from where he stood on stage, and he did not care.

I waited in line after the event to get my book autographed and told him that I was injured by the man who knocked me down to get the CD. His response? "It sure got crazy didn't it" while smiling. He didn't apologize.

I then wrote a letter to his office explaining what happened, and I never heard a response. It's been five months.

After the workshop, we tried to take a picture of him autographing my book and one of "his people" actually jumped in front of my friend who was taking the picture and said we could have either 1. an autograph or 2. a picture. But there was no way we were having both. We didn't ask him to look up or smile. We just wanted a picture of him while he signed the book.

In all, we spent several hundred dollars buying this guys' CDs and books. The book was a total hypocrisy. James Ray is a con artist. He cares nothing for the people who attend his workshops or buy his materials. He uses the title of spiritual teacher in order to gain people's trusts, and then he tricks them into spending hundreds and thousand of dollars on his products. He uses high pressure sales tactics (such as having everyone in the audice complete and sign a blank order form, with completed credit card information) and then fear based tactics (there are only 32 spots available. RACE to the back of the room to make sure you're one of the 32 people. There's not enough to go around. If you don't knock others out of your way, you won't have any.)

True spiritual teachers do not do this. They do not use high pressure sales tactics or fear based tactics.

James Ray is a fraud.

I do not recommend him, this book, or his seminars.

Tonight, on Primetime, The details of James Ray's lectures and the account of the 3 people who died in his sweat lodge ( and 20 people who were hospitalized ) was revealed.What is striking is how he left the state immediately after the incident which left to a warrant of his arrest, and later refusal to talk to authorities. Also, he was caught with sizable amount of drugs. His obvious indifference is proof that this mans so-called "knowledge" is a sham. His only motivation was greed and money. Please don't support this sham artist by purchasing this book.Given his criminal status, I would encourage people to write amazon.com to have them remove all his materials off this website.

There is a science of attractors in neuroscience, but it has nothing to do with these pop-psychology books. Attractors are based on non-linear science methods which are mathematically mapped in the brain and dynamic systems.Attractors in neural networks occur in very subtle and unconscious ways - despite what some pop psychologist may theorize, there is no supporting evidence that one can manipulate these dynamics consciously , as purported in the so-called "laws of attraction".

Good book, includes a lot of material and concepts in one place. The biggest impact I got from the material was the concept of bridging the spiritual and physical worlds - ascenders and descenders. Also he stresses action and sacrifice in the "Law of Attraction" equation of which is a different twist.

Despite the overall impressive material - you must keep in mind that this is no quick ticket to enlightenment. The author himself has had extreme ups and downs - crashing/hitting bottom in 2000 and most recently 2005. If you were to ask me on the street to take life advice from someone who has crashed twice in the last 8 yrs, I would think twice. Plus, according to the author, money can seen as a measure of success - you have to ask yourself how long his measurements would be without "The Secret's" huge impact.

I also disagree with several of his assumptions, such as high performance = high maintenance, and how you have to pay for a rich lifestyle with even bigger issues and problems. Kind of defeats the purpose one might say.

The author also states "sleep as overrated". Stating you can draw on the cosmic energy when you are doing what you love. This seems to contradict with the physical pillar where he mentions taking supplements, meditation, massages, eating organic, monitoring Ph levels, etc, etc - and oh yeah - you don't need sleep! He knows a person who does real well on 2 hrs a night. Well I know a couple who were killed in a head-on collision due to sleep deprivation. Get real..

Also, early in the book the author continually stresses he's about harmony, not balance. He stresses the difference is; at various times of your life a certain "pillar" will need more emphasis than the other ones. This is a very tenuous difference in my opinion, as it boils down to time frame. Even the most balanced persons I know emphasize various areas of their lives to more or less a degree at any time or place - however they maintain an overall balance on a wider scale. To me, this is what balance is - if you want to call it harmony so be it, but I don't agree with painting them to be such differing terms.

Despite what I see as the book's shortcomings, I feel the depth of subject matter the book introduces make up for it's shortfalls. It's a plethora of spiritual concepts and principles in one place.

But keep it real.....

Having listened to the book on CD in the author's own voice, I agree with virtually everything written in the 1-star reviews section. It was all the confirmation I needed that my own intuition was correct.

One thing I would like to add to those comments is the fact that James Arthur Ray sets himself up as so much of an authority that he sees little or no need to explain controversial statements or prove his points, including the major principles that he expects us to organize our life and beliefs around. I guess we are just supposed to believe because he is such a wonderful guy. No wonder he spends so much time promoting himself.

He seems to assume the worst about his audience, as if we all spend four or more hours a day watching TV or we are always sleeping in. In fact, the average American is sleep-deprived.

He may be a rich guy, but it's because he's dependent on the latest business strategies, not "the Universe."