Customer Reviews

The God Code: The Secret of Our Past, the Promise of Our Future

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

If ever there is a modern day prophet alive today it is Gregg Braden. I can only describe his latest book, The God Code, in one glorious word: "WOW!" I received my copy of the book on Christmas Eve from Amazon.com and what a great holiday gift it is. I've read Gregg's previous books, Awakening to Zero Point, Walking Between the Worlds and The Isaiah Effect, and loved them. But, in my opinion, The God Code is his greatest achievement. Within the pages of the book, Gregg reveals a coded message which has been found within the molecules of life, deep within the DNA in each cell of our bodies. He compares the DNA and chemical elements within our bodies with the ancient Hebrew letters for God and deciphers an equation of life that reveals a hidden code which shows that God exists in our bodies and that God's essence is written within our own DNA molecules. According to Gregg, the code of God that is written in our DNA supports, sustains and brings us hope "when the events of our lives test us beyond reason. The message within our cells stands as a living and immutable symbol, a touchstone reminding us that we are not alone; we are here 'on purpose', as the result of an intentional act of creation; we are inextricably linked to one another and all life; and we share a unique trait - the essence of God - in a way that sets us apart from all other life on Earth." This astounding discovery, if understood and accepted fully, can be a catalyst that can resolve conflicts and wars within families and nations and could possibly usher in a world of peace and unity. The God Code within ourselves is the living miracle which can create a better world for all mankind. The book combines both science and spirituality and is an easy as well as an enjoyable read. I highly recommend it!

I was offered this book by someone who was breathless in her excitement for it. She is also a psychic who claims to "never be wrong" (yet in her psychic physiological assessment of my wellbeing entirely missed my chronic lower-back issues...despite my limping in and out of the session).

I bought it, read the introduction, then read 80 pages of it before placing it carefully in my bedroom garbage can.

In the introduction he put us on notice that, while he certainly WOULD have submitted his work to the established peer-reviewed journals, he felt his work was too important to be slowed down by their sluggish processes. Why, he even knows of someone whose work took eight years to get past peer-review! He derides this issue of "delay" as a critique of the peer-review process, rather than exactly it's added value. Peer-review without "delay" (i.e., sober, thoughtful analysis of claims, evidence, argument and conclusions) is called "rubber stamping." So he says - still in the Introduction - that he's opted here to bypass peer review for this middle-road: that is, his book is a popular version of what surely WOULD have passed muster had it been peer-reviewed. It brings us peer-reviewed quality without the exasperating hassle of being peer-reviewed.

With this assertion, he leaves his scientific credibility wounded, unconscious and face-down in the bathtub. It's not dead yet, but we better see some heroic measures in the next few pages.

I think it was on page 11 that he makes a mathematical so simple, so easily spotted and corrected, that it grinds against my bones. He miscalculates how many miles are in a light year. It's middle-school math. It goes like this. Light travels 186,292 miles per second. So in 60 seconds, it goes (186,292 x 60) miles or 11,177,520 miles. From there, we just keep on multiplying our way up...

186,292 miles per second
x 60 seconds per minute
x 60 minutes per hour
x 24 hours per day
x 365 days per year
--------------------------
5,874,904,512,000 miles in a light year.

But he gets it wrong, by about 20%. I believe this was on the top left side of page 11, but as I threw my copy out I can't promise that. This is a big number, sure, but the math is simple -- surely within the grasp of our author, an accomplished engineer. Given that it appears so early in the book, one could think it would have been corrected after, say, *15 minutes* of peer review -- even if the specter of eight years was too much to bear.

Also within the first 20 pages of the book he asserts that Pluto is "11 light-hours" away -- which is true. No argument from me. But then he explains that a light-hour is the distance light travels in a year. No. A light-YEAR is the distance light travels in year. A light-hour is the distance light travels in an HOUR. The naming system is really quite clear. But our author's error on that simple point has also survived multiple printings as well, unencumbered as it's been throughout it's history by any exasperating peer-review delays.

The heart of his thesis is embarrassing. He leaps from the four amino acids in DNA to the key four chemical elements that make them up (and they are not the ONLY elements, just the most common) to the four "classic elements" of fire, earth, water and air, and from there to the Hebrew letters, and from there to...some astonishing conclusions that must have unfurled without me after page 80 in my garbage can.

Each of these leaps from one domain to the next is entirely intuitive. He connects each to the next in casual concurrences and interesting similarities and whatever else occurs to him. He does not present a series of ways to show their connection (or even why we should presume to undertake the effort), and then argue for the way he's chosen to show why it's the empirical "best fit" -- he just waves his hands and says "Hydrogen = fire!, etc."

Now, his overall thesis is that DNA has baked into it a message from God. It happens to be the Hebrew god, which is of course, unsurprising from an American (presumably Christian?) author. (I admit I enjoy imagining his expression should his careful research have spelled out the word "Mithra" or "Cthulhu" or "No One Here But Us Chickens.") The core concept is that this message was spelled out in a fashion that anyone on earth would have found it. God doesn't play favorites with us; he wanted us ALL to see this message. Kind of like in Sagan's "Contact" where the message is written out in the digits of pi, here it's written out for us in our DNA. *Any culture* would eventually encounter this message when they reached the necessary sophistication to crack the DNA code, as we have done.

Except then...why would God hide this message in such a way that we require both the exacting sophistication of DNA research (e.g., biology, chemistry, x-ray crystallography, molecular structures, etc.)...with the notion of the four classical elements? The whole "earth/water/fire/air" cosmology is defunct. It's antiquated, primitive, little more than quaint. It's like if God hid a message in our DNA that required us to believe in mermaids, or in blood-letting, or a flat earth.

And the whole "four classical elements" concept was NOT universal. It's very European in it's origins - which seems like God was really stacking the deck to have us (or our American author) find the magic message. The Tibetans and Japanese would have garbled that message horribly, trying to map it to their five elements of fire, earth, air, water and space (or void, for the Japanese). The Chinese would have wandered right into the wilderness with their fire, earth, water, metal and wood. Buddhists would have had a tough time with cohesion, solidity or inertia, expansion or vibration, and heat. (Okay, so Wikipedia grants that these map to the four European classical elements...but given all the other intuitive jumps our author makes, would the Buddhists have successfully leaped from these more ethereal concepts to the correct Hebrew letters?)

And why the *Hebrew* alphabet? Hardly universal.


Anyway, then I got to page 80 and got on with my life.

I purchased the God Code after being impressed with Mr Braden's Awakening to Zero Point material. Even though I thoroughly enjoy anything that attempts to combine spiritualism and science, it took me a while to absorb the true messages beneath his words.

Quantum science proves we are energy based beings; our carbon based bodies beyond molecules, are waves of energy that when we "look" form particles. The idea that the vibration of the chemical composition of our cells translates to "God/Eternal Within the Body" in Hebrew, Sanskrit, and its been suggested even Arabic, is truely an amazing feat of genetic engineering so to speak.

The idea that this is an accident - is just fallacy. There is definitely a universal intelligence behind our design, and the way Braden presents this information is admirable, at a time when Unity is a matter of strategic importance. Quantum science shows that unity strengthens the field, disunity weakens it.

The overiding message I get from this book is that all life is precious, because we all have a vibration that comes from the same source. I recommend this book highly, and it makes a useful complement with Dr. Bruce Lipton's Biology of Belief.

If ever there was a justification for treating your neighbour with the same integrity and respect as you would yourself, this certainly adds to it. The only minor qualification I would make is that if you're a non-scientist, it might take a while for the pieces to fit together. I was lucky in that I was able to attend one of Mr Braden's seminars, so I had a head start in terms of understanding the overall gist of the information.

I found it advanced and a great effort considering much of what we believe is true today, is inconsistent with experience, because most of our beliefs or historical 'memes' are based on incomplete information. Great scholars like Mr Braden are courageous for their attempts at filling the gaps, and society will eventually come to realise we owe them a lot.

Daniel John Hancock

WOW! I just finished reading "The God Code", and found it to be one of those books that's just so interesting and absorbing that I didn't want to put it down. It's also one of those books that leads you to ponder, wonder and think about the world as it is, and the world as it could be...

"The God Code" speaks about a code that was discovered in our DNA, and the implications of such a code. While using the science called "gematria" (which involves converting words/letters back to either of 2 of the most ancient languages, and then applying the number values associated with the letters of one or both of these languages to find words that are "related in nature"), the code "God/Eternal within the body" was found.

This means that in every one of our bodies, God's signature, or reminder to us, is shown in each and every one of our cells - how wonderful and incredible is that!!!

This book also discusses the idea that this code could be used as a reminder to us that our sameness is more important than our differences - as we all have the same code within us. In a time where we humans tend to look for the differences between us, and then use these differences to ignite all sorts of negative feelings and reactions (including war), it would serve us well to look for what will unite us - for that which would bring us together as the family we all are.

As the author so poignantly shows, during times of extreme strife (like Sept. 11 and the many major disasters of our time), we tend to forget our differences, and jump into a mode of helping one another without even thinking about it first - it's as if these times are a demonstration of who we "really" are. But, how can we demonstrate this level of caring for our fellow man without there having to be a disaster - what would it take?

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting read. And as such, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the idea of unity vs. separatism, as well as those who are intriqued by the idea that our Creator left us a sign to remind us that we are more than the bodies we are currently in.

Existing reviews of this book seem to polarise to the Christian believers in God and his creation OR the Scientific, non religious debunkers. Surely there is more scope to it than this. The book is not 'pseudo-science'. It has a plausible and testable hypothesis that should cause any of scientific mind to stop criticising and start analysing. Similarly, the book does not necessarily imply that a 'christian type' God created all. I see nothing in this book which demands that the creator be a deity or universal creator. In fact, it leads me to another conclusion that both religious and scientific types should take note of. It is clear (and many other scientists/authors/researchers point to this) that, in our past,humanity was genetically created by some being/person present on Earth at that time. These beings clearly came from off this planet and, in seeding humanity, using a greater understanding of chemistry and DNA than we have today,became the subject of legend and religion, together with their science.
This book insights a new aspect of the alchemy/chemistry, the previous absence of which has caused conclusive proof of the above suggestion to be missed. Maybe this will now change. Read the work of famous chemist Peter Plichta in conjunction with this book and prepare to have your world view changed. There are so many scientist writers out there who have not taken the trouble to educate themselves with the implications of number theory and its apparent/proveable association with ancient alchemical writings (including the Cabbala..subject of this book)that they do themselves and everybody else a great dis-service in condemning such writing as 'pseudo science'when it is clearly they who are the 'pseudo-scientists'. (Search Peter Plichta on this site!)
Gregg Braden has written an interesting book here, but flawed insofar as he has left himself wide open to criticism concerning lack of detail/clarity.(I found two 'typo' errors in tables and descriptions which create incorrect understanding if not spotted..In the Tree of Life Diagram, for example, Keter is detailed twice, altering the entire meaning of the diagram.He also refers to the 'Fourth letter of the alphabet' when he means the 3rd, in one place)Too much time spent on persuading us that the implications are vast and not enough time on putting over the point in a convincing and testable manner, for the layperson. He did point out that he avoided a technical manual and inserted notes in the back, but the lack of these notes, and more, in the text makes for too light a read, on what is, after all, an immense subject.
That said, this is a must! The world is changing as we learn more about our history. If we get caught up in the void between myopic religious believers and the scientific debunkers who have not woken up to the true origins and nature of our science, then such important books as this are doomed to remain crushed in the middle. Buy this book and share it. The world could be a better place. And, if Bradens work passes peer review,it probably will be.

I do not give book reviews, but this book is both extremely disturbing and debateable. The major weakness of the theory, (and I do say theory as there is no supportive evidense anywhere in this entire read,) is the assignment of numbers to DNA nucleotides derived from original Hebrew dialect. The notion is more than wishful thinking, it borders on fanatical insanity. However the striking point is, even if it were true, there is nothing in it that would bring us added awarenenss other than knowing Gods blueprint is in us, but Genesis claimed that property 1000s of years ago with the statement we were made in Gods Image. So what is the purpose of this book? I believe Gregg Braden is attempting to make a valuable contribution to World Peace by using the vehicle of Gods imprint on our DNA proving we are all equal and for that, should accept each other as Gods handywork. The book is a beautiful read with wonderful ideas and is quite fun to delve into. However I am quite disgusted at the random, out of the air or off the wall assumption central theme of correlating DNA to Hebrew tongues as there are invaribly billions of more word combinations in Human DNA than there are words of all the languages on the planet, and every other planet in the universe, not to mention that the correlation itself is so preposteriously ridiculous. That is why everyone of the Earths six billion people look different with the exception of twins, oops, a rewrite! I have a suggestion on the fingerprints of God in us, a very real book titled SB 1 or God by Karl Maddox.

In a time when information is King and everyone with internet access is a part of the royal family, it's no wonder that so many interesting correlations can be specualted on from a diverse range of philosophies and fields of research. This book is a perfect example.
The basis for The God Code's "interoperability," if you will, seems to lie in at least three foundational assumptions:
1. The ancient Hebrew name for God (YHVH) has three distinct letters, each of which can supposedly be ascribed a "hidden" numerical value.
2. Human DNA also has three distinct elements (a fourth is mentioned later); Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen, each of which can be given a numerical value based on it's atomic mass.
3. The atomic mass of the three elements (1, 5, and 6 respectively) corresponds directly to the numeric values of YVH as 1, 5, and 6.
The conclusion is that God's Sacred Name is written into the DNA of every human.
Now, while I have no problem believing Mr. Braden's conclusion theoretically or philosophically (though for different reasons), there is a problem: According to The God Code, the numerical value for Y is 10, not 1. The Hebrew letter "aleph" carries the value of "1" according to Mr Braden (seen both in paragraph and chart form throughout the book). Therefore, two of the three foundational assumptions for the God Code are wrong.
Maybe this is just an editorial error, but either way, it should give pause for thought. The rest of the conclusions and logical leaps in the book are even harder to justify and require some pretty flexible interpretations of divergent data.
One star for creativity, one star for a noble attempt to point us to the Creator.

What would happen if the Earth were to receive a transmission from outer space? What if someone--or something--had a message for humankind? How would it affect humanity to know we are not alone?

What if there was indeed a message being communicated to humanity, but it was imbedded in a form much closer to home? In fact, what if there was a message within the DNA of every man, woman and child on the Earth?

A result of 12 years of research, The God Code is a fascinating new book by Gregg Braden that boldly proclaims that not only is there a message encoded in our DNA, but also that this chemical message is the ancient name of God.

Using a portion of the ancient Kabbalah known as the Sepher Yetzirah, Braden explains that each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a corresponding numerical value. The Sepher Yetzirah is considered a meditative text that contains mysterious alchemical language.

Citing numbers as the universal language that aids in comparing "apples to apples", Braden correlates these numeric values with the ancient name for God, the elements of fire, water, air, and earth, and the atomic mass of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon--the very elements that make up our DNA.

The result?

"The key to translating the code of DNA into meaningful language is to apply the discovery that converts elements to letters. Based upon their matching values, hydrogen becomes the Hebrew letter Yod (Y), nitrogen becomes the letter Hey (H), oxygen becomes the letter Vav (V), and carbon becomes Gimel (G). These substitutions now reveal that the ancient form of God's name, YH, exists as the literal chemistry of our genetic code. Through this bridge between God's name and the elements of modern science, it now becomes possible to reveal the full mystery and find even greater meaning in the ancient code that lives as each cell of our bodies."

Our DNA may then be read literally as a translatable alphabet within each of our cells. What are the odds of these four Hebrew letters randomly creating a meaningful message? Only 1 in 234,256.

Einstein once said: "My comprehension of God comes from the deeply felt conviction of a superior intelligence that reveals itself in the knowable world." Other brilliant minds have also echoed the concept of "intelligent design". With the discovery of the "God code", we now know that God has left a calling card within our very DNA. When decoded, this message reads "God/Eternal, within the body". This certainly introduces a new spin on the ancient spiritual truths of "look within" and "know thyself"!

So what does it all mean? We are here by design-by an intentional act of creation. And, we are all connected by this amazing message shared within our DNA. 95% of the Earth's population believes in God, and the "God code" proves our common ancestry and connection to one another. In fact, the name of God not only correlates numerically in Hebrew, but also in Arabic! Braden says "...the code carries the same message of possibility and hope to the three religions that account for over one-half of the world's population: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity."

This brings me to the entire point of Braden's book: 80 million children, women, and men were lost to violence based in ethnic, religious and philosophical conflicts just in the last century. This is more than the lives lost through natural disasters and AIDS combined during the same time period. We are faced with the mid-century projected collapse of the Earth's ecosystem, the largest build up of weapons and military forces since WWII, and drug resistant diseases. Nearly 1/3 of the world's nations are engaged in armed conflict. Humanity is the greatest threat to our future.

Einstein also said that a problem cannot be solved with the same thinking that created it. Braden hopes that his 12 years of research pays off with mankind realizing that we can transcend the differences that threaten to obliterate us by having a shared vision. Instead of waiting for a unifying disaster like September 11th, the God code could serve as a starting point for unity.

Citing examples of humanity's courage, goodness, and kindness, Braden believes that this is truly our "natural state". He also explains that periods of chaos is what leads to the establishment of new patterns. Change is a form of chaos, and for humanity to heal the beliefs that has led us to think our differences are intolerable, three things must be present: (From the book)

1. We must be willing to change
2. We must believe that the change is worth making.
3. We must believe that change is possible.

Braden is very hopeful, believing that history shows our willingness to change is our basic nature, and the escalating threats to our survival provide a worthwhile reason to change. That leaves the notion of believing that change is possible:

"Although the literal text of the message 'God/Eternal within the body' will undoubtedly be subject to various interpretations, the fact that the message exists at all speaks volumes. Regardless of 'who' or 'what' we believe is the source of our genetic code, the tremendous degree of order implied by the message says that something else is 'out there'. This reminds us that we're part of a bigger picture, and perhaps a bigger plan. For these reasons, the message in our bodies is unprecedented in its role of providing a platform of common ground in the resolution of our differences."

For humanity's sake, I truly hope Braden is right.

I came upon this book by accident and given some of the great reviews and the claim by the author to have worked for many years as an engineer, I expected this would be a logically sound book. I was very disappointed to learn that not only was the book mostly(about 95%) a compilation of works from other authors and just common knowledge, but to make the leap from what the author wants to believe and what he presents to be so undeniable is just absurd. There is no proof, nor did I expect any, but I did expect a logical progression to making logically sound points, which were missing. Assumptions were made left and right to come to a conclusion that the author wanted to believe in more than anything. Very disappointed with this book, would not suggest this book to anyone, and unfortunately I've bought two books by this author before being acquainted with his work, so I'll just have read The Divine Matrix and provide my review independent of The God Code.

I have enjoyed one of Greg Braden's other books, but this one, frankly, disappointed me. I was left with the feeling that he was really reaching for his conclusions. Kind of like 1 + 1 = c. He took a lot of liscense in his reasoning. I was also disappointed for another reason. I feel that he inadvertently put the Hebrew language, and consequently, Judaism in a place of special importance as compared to other religions. In so doing, in my estimation, although his intent was to accentuate commonality between people, the end result was another source of divisiveness between people. It is my humble opinion that nobody has the right to declare their particular faith as more substantive than another's. This book left me feeling as though Braden was putting Judaism above other systems of belief. While I profoundly respect and admire the Jewish faith, the right of every person to practice and believe in things from their perspective is paramount to world peace. We've got to stop putting our self righteousness in the faces of the faithful of other religion. Sorry Greg, I believe your intentions were good, but, for me, you blew it on this one. The God Code was not proven by any means, and in that context, the implication is just an afront to non-Judaic faiths. God is inside everyone. We don't have a special code and we don't need one. DNA is a mystical miracle in and of itself, as well as making empirical sense. When you try to force resolution to some of these larger questions, compromise is inevitable, and credibility is lost. Shalom, Salam, Shantih, Peace and God bless.