Gregg Braden is renowned as a pioneer in bridging science, spirituality, and human potential. In the first half, he discussed discoveries in biology and the neurosciences related to language, and how this interrelates with indigenous traditions and ancient forms of words and rituals. Braden also talked about the battle playing out in our everyday lives over humanness, as transhumanism and augmenting the body with technology marches forward. We're conditioned to view the human species as weak and powerless, he remarked, and that we need external technology to survive and thrive in the world. The coronavirus situation, he cited, is an example of this, where people are made to believe they need a vaccine or some sort of external help. Our natural neurons and cells, which can heal and keep us healthy, may begin to atrophy, he warned, as they are supplanted by machines, wires, chips, and chemicals.
The structure of language -the words we think and speak (around 60,000 to 80,000 every day)- can actually change the way the neurons in our brains and hearts connect, Braden revealed. Our ancestors understood this principle, he noted, and "there have always been words and phrases, mantras, prayers, hymns, and chants" that people have used in times of need. He has uncovered some of these ancient codes and correlated their usage around different experiences and feelings such as loss, fear, and the need for protection. He cited a Sanskrit mantra from the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) that is sung when we need strength and self-confidence-- "Om Namah Shivaya." The mantra deals with transformation, and could be employed to combat our fears over COVID-19, he suggested.
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Former police officer, Steve Gonsalves, has been a public speaker and educator about paranormal phenomena for more than 18 years and helped pave the way for a worldwide paranormal explosion as a main cast member of the television series "Ghost Hunters." In the latter half, he talked about his lifelong interest in paranormal studies and his investigations that include over 1,000 reportedly haunted locations. He tries out a lot of different techniques in his investigations, including data collection equipment such as a "trigger object proximity sensor," that measures energy emanating from a specific item.
In one case, the sensor was connected to a Civil War sword at a historic site where an apparition had been witnessed. The site was a home that had been used as a makeshift field hospital. When the sword didn't yield results, the investigators dressed in Civil War garb as a kind of "familiarization" and announced they were Masons (like the original homeowners) in need of help-- this unleashed strange sounds and voices, and the sensors lit up, he recounted. Currently, a cast member on Ghost Nation, Gonsalves recently completed a documentary called The House In Between, about a home in Mississippi, where inexplicable paranormal events occurred over a ten-year period. He speculates that spirits are using the location as a kind of training ground to communicate back and forth with the living.
News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, Steve Kates