Abstract
It is a book that just has to be read to be appreciated fully.
In simple terms, this book presents an autobiographical journey-in-progress about a conventional radiologist who stumbles increasingly into non-rational ways of viewing illness and health. But, being complex and multi-layered, Let Magic Happen is really much more than that. It is, at once, a timely and well-researched invitation to modern medicine to embrace a post-modern integrated perspective; yet, it is also a wide-ranging survey of modern healing techniques grounded in personal experience in a way that brings genuine scientific inquiry to life.
In 2002, I had the pleasure of meeting the author, Dr. Burk, when he visited the Victoria Pain Clinic. Since it was unusual for busy clinicians to take time out of their schedules to visit the clinic at all, the appearance of a highly qualified east-coast university-based radiologist prompted, in me, both curiosity and trepidation. My concerns, however, were completely groundless. Dr. Burk behaved as if I, rather than he, were the professor. He was the consummate student. I recall him being a sponge for absorbing everything I told him about and, while his attentiveness was certainly a fine ego-boost at the time, little did I realize what an extraordinary man he was.
Dr. Burk did his undergraduate studies at Duke University, his medical training and residency at the University of Pittsburgh, and a fellowship in musculoskeletal radiology at The University of Pennsylvania. In his earlier professional years, he was involved in the emerging computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies, publishing numerous articles in major journals. In this book, he describes some of the strange mishaps that occurred with intense magnetic fields in the early days of MRI development, before safety standards were standardized. However, such stories are only a taste of what is to come in later chapters, because unusual experiences are found on every page.
Dr. Burk's transformational journey really began with two key experiences—one personal and one professional. In the first, his father's cancer diagnosis initiates a potent life review, and, in the second, his worldview is shattered when a medical intuitive (with whom he was conversing on the telephone while looking at an unusual MRI) diagnoses a pelvic sarcoma accurately using only the patient's name and birthdate. This second mind-blowing experience, perhaps more than anything else, provides a professional impetus for what subsequently became a life quest.
As the journey progresses, Dr. Burk leaves no stone unturned. He organizes a Duke Mind–Body Medicine Study Group (MBMSG), develops non-drug, anti-anxiety techniques for use in surgery and radiology departments, uses dreams to solve funding difficulties, develops his intuition through specific mind-training, founds the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, trains in acupuncture through the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, explores Five-Element constitutional typology, and opens an acupuncture clinic at Duke.
However, that is not all. Dr. Burk also visits the Rhine Research Center and becomes board President of that Center. He demystifies psi phenomena, while pointing out that the science behind it is often more rigorous than that used in non-fringe studies; explores near-death experiences, brain biofeedback, holotropic breathing, Hemi-Sync, and even broaches the touchy subject of unidentified flying objects phenomena.
Dr. Burk uses insights gleaned from all these explorations to guide his way through the pitfalls of personal and professional renewal. It is a renewal that, amazingly, goes on today. In more recent years Dr. Burk has become interested in the Emotional Freedom Technique, which involves tapping specific acupuncture points to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other deeply rooted anxiety issues. In that regard, a short video of Dr. Burk explaining these techniques can be seen on YouTube. 1
Practitioners of any kind of energy medicine will find this book truly mesmerizing. Packed with information from every field of integrative medicine, yet reading like a detective novel, autobiography, and professional manuscript all rolled into one, Dr. Burk argues passionately for change and expansion in medical thought. Over the years, he has made a point of not only reading widely, but also personally contacting authors, chasing each one down, taking any training that author might offer, and absorbing every piece of information that author possesses and expresses, all the while keeping voluminous and detailed notes. This is one physician who literally knows anyone and everyone in integrative medicine.
The result is a stunning exploration of what has been, on the whole, a disconnected and disparate field. Let Magic Happen is a book that is truly hard to put down. Energy practitioners, whatever their areas of interest, will want to have a copy on their desks.