Book Report: The Human Dynamo by Hans Holzer (c)1975

The Human Dynamo by Hans Holzer (c)1975

Background Information: Hans Holzer, a tireless researcher of the paranormal, is the author of over 100 books on various aspects of the paranormal, and has been the inspiration for a number of TV shows about the paranormal. He often worked with well known spirit mediums, including Sybil Leek, who was quite popular in the 1960s. Most recently, his work with various mediums and haunted houses, has been revisited by the 2019 TV show, The Holzer Files (fittingly, 13 years after his death).
You can read more about Holzer on the web and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer

Another of Holzer's many books on metaphysical subjects. As a professional researcher of the paranormal, Holzer was exposed to all kinds of metaphysical phenomena, including religions, and in this book he synthesizes what he'd learned from various religious practices. 

The title, "Human Dynamo" refers to connecting to a higher power to achieve one's goals. He explains that every religion attempts to put it's followers in touch with Higher Power, either directly or thought the intermediary of a priest of some sort. He compares different perspectives, how some religions embody that Higher Power in some kind of anthropomorphized deity, how some pursue a direct connection and others not, etc. For people interested in comparative religions, this alone will make the book an interesting discussion. He analyses both religion and prayer separately, and feels that prayer can be effective if it follows certain guidelines, and even that there are certain natural laws governing the effectiveness of it.

This book was written in the 1970s, before Law Of Attraction was a big thing, but there was a great deal of interest in both old religion and New Age spirituality, and this book attempts to satisfy those interests. So he deconstructs prayer into a basic system he feels will be effective based on the "natural laws of prayer." He ferrets out the ten elements for a successful ritual, and finally, posits a modern religion for the new age, including practical prayers, designed to connect with a kind of universal power, although he feels it's perfectly fine to imagine that power as a god or looking like anything that appeals to you, if it helps you to connect. 

I found it interesting to not that while he discusses prayer in depth, so far as Asking for assistance, he doesn't really cover the idea of connecting with the Universal Power for it's own sake, as in meditation. 

It's an interesting read. Coming from the 21 century, where my email inbox is continually bombarded with people preaching various spins on Law Of Attraction and Various New Age practices, it's interesting to go back to a time where very few people claimed to know anything, and it was an open and uncluttered field.