Braco the Gazer

I find this fascinating. It is about a Croatian man called "Braco the Gazer." People pay $8.00 to stand in a room with a bunch of other people and have Braco stare at them for 10 minutes. He doesn't speak, he only stares. People claim to have been healed, received peace, been comforted, etc. at these "gazing sessions." Of course, Braco's books, CD's and other merchandise are available for purchase in the lobby. It is easy to ridicule the whole thing and write Braco off as a charlatan or worse, but I'm less interested in him and more interested in the people who come to him. What draws them to want to stand in a room with others to look at him and have him look back at them? As a Quaker, I have experienced the profound power of being in a room full of people who are being silent and reverent. Could it be that, despite the apparent silliness of it all, God touches people at these "gazing sessions"? Maybe it isn't about Braco at all, but about the collective yearning in the hearts of the people who come to be gazed upon.