The Spontaneous Healing of Belief

Gregg Braden’s résumé includes being a Phillips Petroleum computer geologist and a senior computer systems designer for Martin Marietta. Braden is also a New York Times best-selling author of books delving into the area where science and spirituality meet and overlap. His 2009 paperback, The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits, explores the idea, based on studies in quantum physics, spiritual writings and his own experience, that reality can be—in fact, is—altered by our thoughts, driven by emotions. The “field of intelligent energy” in which we live, writes Braden, “responds to us—it rearranges itself—in the presence of our heart-based feelings.” While this information is well-known in some circles, Braden takes it a step further by offering that “the universe itself may be the output of a huge and ancient simulation—a computer program—that began long ago.” Braden’s lineup of experts helping to make his case include Albert Einstein, William Blake, 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi, the Buddha and German artificial-intelligence pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber. It’s an inspiring, at-times challenging, read that calls for an open mind, but the rewards make it well worth it.