There is out there, and there is out there, and Gregg Braden is definitely as far out there as you get. Braden is an author and speaker promoted Hay House and endorsed by Deepak Chopra, Braden promotes himself as “a pioneer in bridging science and spirituality”, which predictably means that doesn’t have the faintest grasp of science. He claims to be able to heal cancer in three minutes through “the language of emotion”. His “discoveries [read imagination] have led to such paradigm-shattering books” as The Isaiah Effect, The God Code, The Divine Matrix, Fractal Time: The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age, and Deep Truth– and they do seem to enjoy some popularity. An clue to what he is all about can be grasped from the fact that “[f]or more than 25 years Gregg has searched high mountain villages, remote monasteries, and forgotten texts to uncover their timeless secrets.” That’s how science is done, baby. And Braden really did promote the 2012 “end of the world since that’s when the Mayan Calendar stops” bullshit, though believed that it would usher in a New Age. Though I haven’t seen any official response I think it is probably safe to assume that met the failure of his prophecies with the same humble attitude with which Pat Robertson met the failure of his.
Braden is a ”sacred activist” (which seems to mean that he combines quantum woo, New Age bullshit and fundamentalist religion), and “Evolutionary Leader”, a title which reveals preciously patchy understanding of evolution, and he was involved in a concerted effort among prominent crackpots to pray away the BP oil spill in 2010.
Here’s Braden (with Bruce Lipton) on Quantum Holograms (for more on quantum holograms, see here), claiming that “[s]tatistics have shown that a specific number of people, joined in a focused, unified consciousness of non-denominational mass prayer, produce effects that extend well beyond the room or building where the prayer has occurred,” which is not even wrong (Braden doesn’t specify which “statistics” he is thinking about, but one suspects the Maharishi effect) According to the advertisment he “also sheds new light on ancient textual references to this field, and how our emotions and state of mind influence our DNA.” I am not sure “light” is the correct choice of words. Tom here seems to be a fan.
But this is just a sample. If there is a crazy belief to be had you can be sure Gregg Braden has it. His imagination is rich, his grasp on reality absent, and he has found ways to make money off of most elements of this combo.
Diagnosis: Demented fuckwit.