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Victims or Creators?
The Answer is Yes!
An Interview with Gregg Braden

By Rev. Conny Collier, with Mary Grace McCord

Gregg Braden is a New York Times best-selling author who is recognized internationally for his work to bridge science and spirituality. In conjunction with intentional “truth-trusts” such as The Science of Peace, events such as The Great American Think Out, and this year’s Spiritual Cinema release of The Moses Code, Braden investigates the beliefs and wisdom of ancient cultures from Tibet to Eygpt and Peru—empowering audiences to co-create a rising shift in planetary consciousness.

During his scientific careers as a geologist, senior aerospace systems designer and technology operations manager, Braden led the development of a global support team whose groundbreaking Internet workings are still used today. In 1991 he traded the brainy facts of science for the heart and soul of spirituality. Since then he has written five best-selling books, which have been published in 16 languages and taught in 26 countries. Braden’s The Isaiah Effect is used within the AIHT masters curriculum.

	Come see Gregg Braden and AIHT during Celebrate Your Life—Phoenix Nov. 7-9. Its 20-plus speakers include curriculum authors Joan Borysenko, Braden, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, Brian Weiss, and Marianne Williamson. To register: www.mishkaproductions.com

Vibrations is pleased to showcase the creative collaborations of three AIHT alumna and their work with Braden. The following interview, by Rev. Conny Collier, B.S. in Holistic Ministries, was excerpted from a multi-media project that also involved interviews with AIHT curriculum author James Redfield and adjunct faculty member Sonia Choquette. Stay tuned, readers. Conny’s first book is forthcoming.

In a related sidebar, Katherine Franta Ries, Ph.D. in Holistic Ministries, tells of exploring Tibet on assignment as Braden’s intern. Thirdly, Choquette, who holds a Ph.D. in Metaphysics, collaborated with Braden in film interviews for The Moses Code—as did AIHT curriculum authors Debbie Ford and Iyanla Vanzant.

Collier: Your teachings are intended to shatter the paradigm of false limits that have led to war and disease, and to transform the low-energy relationships we’ve all felt—at work, at home, and in society. The Divine Matrix shows that the universe is made of a shared matrix of energy that underlies our physical experience of the world. Let’s talk about how a change in our perceptions holds the timeless secret to healing, peace, and even a clarification of reality itself.

Braden: First, Conny, thank you for revisiting our earlier chat on quantum physics. It’s intriguing, the ways we may integrate the infinite “views” of mirror reflections as glimpsed in flashes of every day life.

Such as: it’s through speaking with live audiences over the years that I catch nuances of how people perceive quantum mysteries; of how, indeed, all events and all people are truly connected; how to bridge imagination and reality through a grid of knowingness that the ancients have called the divine matrix; and how to translate its wisdom into a heightened quantum awareness, here and now.

Collier: Your research speaks of five ancient mirrors of relationship—and how our true beliefs are mirrored in our most intimate relationships. But what about the disappointments that we feel the need to turn away from, or even run away from? How does one grow from the finality of saying “never again” to the belief that we, ourselves, can be the change we’ve been wishing for?

“In a malleable world where everything from atoms to cells is changing to match our beliefs, we’re limited only by the way we think of ourselves in that world. We are never more than a belief away from our greatest love, deepest healing, and most profound miracles.”—Gregg Braden

Braden: I’ll answer that with a story of three unrelated and yet parallel relationships in my own life. There was a time when it seemed everything had come together for me, pretty much all at once. There was a wonderful woman—an exciting romance. There was a very smart fellow who envisioned taking my seminars to another level, and then along came another nice guy who seemed like the perfect house manager/groundskeeper. It was intriguing to find myself surrounded with these diverse energies and yet something also felt unsettling. Unfortunately, for months I managed to avoid various clues, rationalizing that I was road-weary and we all needed time to develop rapport.

Things rocked on for awhile, until… returning home from a long speaking tour, I realized that all three people, in different ways, had misrepresented themselves. The common point was that they each did me harm.

I told this problem to a friend, and he countered my story with a betrayal of his own. “What did you do?” (to retaliate), I wanted to know. His answer was, “I did nothing. They’re the ones who have to live with what they did.”

Ultimately I found peace by following this wisdom of deciding to just release an offense. But looking deeper into the mirror, I could also see my own role in the problem. I had trusted in a way that the facts didn’t warrant. So it’s not to say that I’ll never trust again, just that I’ve learned to trust more sensibly and listen to the nagging questions that arise.

Collier: The five mirrors of relationship come from your studies of the Essene texts in ancient Egypt. The divine matrix shows us a holographic rather than a linear view of life, and the mirrors progress in intensity: from what’s clear, obvious, and simple, to longer views of shadows and light that are more subtle but also more significant. The mirrors of this matrix apply to everything: interacting with people we know and people we don’t know; and they unfold in a sequence that addresses our growing level of understanding. What’s the good news that’s reflected more and more clearly, from levels one through five?

Braden: (Laughs) Oh Conny, this is a “light beam” of very good news. The Essenes’ mirrors of relationship progress through these reflections: 1. what we envision now, in this moment; 2. how we judge its appearance; 3. addressing the deficits of what we’ve “lost” as a result, in terms of confidence, trust, etc.; 4. facing what we’ve come to fear as a result of past losses; and 5. what we nonetheless have chosen to hold with compassion.

The five-level mirroring is proof positive that we can always trust our ability to cope! Things are revealed to us only at the time that we can fully handle the entire situation, come what may. Nothing is dumped on us that we can’t manage. It’s a crystal-clear promise that we can count on.

So if we view our circumstances as those of a victim, we are correct—and if we view our circumstances as those of a creator, we are also correct!

Conny Collier, B.S.H.M., is a minister and personal coach whose practices are rooted in cutting-edge science, philosophy, psychology, and natural law. As a personal coach, Conny integrates the latest scientific findings with the most current advances and modalities for accessing the incredible power of the unconscious mind. Through her work in radio, Conny has been fortunate enough to interview and study with some of the greatest teachers on the planet today: www.connycollier.com

Interning “On Top of the World”

During her doctoral studies in Holistic Ministries, Katherine Franta Ries contacted Gregg Braden to investigate the possibility of serving as his educational apprentice during a 2005 tour of Peru. Here she learned a new application of Braden’s teachings of non-attachment to outcomes and deepening one’s willingness to observe life’s mysteries without judgment.

“Yes, I was accepted for an international collaboration,” she recalls, “but our destination would be Tibet, not Peru.”

One translation of ‘Tibet’ is “the heights,” and Kate says traveling at extremely high altitudes was one of innumerable ways that Braden modeled patience, flexibility and good-humored appreciation. “I can’t tell you how many times our plans and logistics had to turn on a dime,” she adds, “but nothing flustered him. He helped us all observe the ‘rightness’ of every situation and even be thankful in the midst of an amazing amount of change.”

Kate adds that her own life has also presented ample opportunity to see things differently. Trained as a physical therapist who spent her early adulthood in suburbia, it was while studying massage therapy that she “heard the call” to change professions and change her life.

“I moved into a more eco-friendly living situation and began a shamanic soul journey that involved changing churches to seek a more open spiritual path. This led me to study world religions and spirituality training with AIHT. Each course spoke to me in a different way, helping me to find my
own place in the world and my own true path.”

Kate also found her way to Peru in 2008, where she received the gift of meeting her “second family.” Later this year she plans to host their first visit to the U.S. Next spring she will lead her family of origin on their first tour of Peru.

“The question, for those who wish to be light workers, is always ‘How may I be of service and how may I raise the collective vibration above daily irritation and misunderstandings’,” she concludes. “It’s something for us all to aspire to.”

To learn more about Katherine Franta Ries, Ph.D.: www.healingworksinc.com