.webp){kind=small}
‘The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. Thus we demand that the world grant us recognition for qualities which we regard as personal possessions: our talent or our beauty. The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying is his life. He feels limited because he has limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change. In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.
In our relationships to other men, too, the crucial question is whether an element of boundlessness is expressed in the relationship. The feeling for the infinite, however, can be attained only if we are bounded to the utmost. The greatest limitation for man is the "self"; it is manifested in the experience: “I am only that!” Only consciousness of our narrow confinement in the self forms the link to the limitlessness of the unconscious. In such awareness we experience ourselves concurrently as limited and eternal, as both the one and the other. In knowing ourselves to be unique in our personal combination – that is, ultimately limited – we possess also the capacity for becoming conscious of the infinite. But only then!’
We are not at the mercy of our genetics. Our thoughts and beliefs have the power to rewire our biology and change our destiny.
Survival of the fiercest, fastest, fittest: that is the Darwinian way. While the feeble and impotent are left to extinction, they who live the longest inevitably reproduce the most, bequeathing the future to their offspring. Yet what exactly is bequeathed? What is it that is passed on from parent to progeny, which slowly but surely evolves over the generations, populating the planet with its various kinds? The answer came in 1953, when Watson and Crick unveiled the double helix model of DNA, declaring that they had ‘discovered the secret of life’. DNA is passed on through the surviving (and therefore ‘fittest’) generations, its structure and mutations dictating who we are and what we become.
Dr Bruce Lipton had spent years teaching this dual narrative of Darwin and DNA to his students. Yet with his home life in shambles, he decided to quit his tenured position at the University of Wisconsin and head for the Caribbean. Away from the ‘academic mainstream’, Lipton began to question the dominant narrative of contemporary biology, wondering if the symbiotic relationship between cells, minds and the environment might play as important a role in life as the Darwinian competition between warring genes. Ceasing to believe that he was the inevitable product of heredity (‘genetic determinism’), he apparently took back control of his life and escaped the ‘depressed, fatalistic attitude’ that had formerly dominated him. The Biology of Belief (2005) is the first publication about his journey.
Lipton does not argue that evolution and genetics are totally wrong, just incomplete. He claims to have anticipated recent studies in epigenetics, a growing field that suggests our environment can impact how our genes express themselves. For example, external factors – such as ‘nutrition, stress and emotions’ – can cause the same gene to manifest in 2000 different possible protein variations. Some studies have allegedly shown that epigenetic factors are the primary source of disease, for ‘only 5 per cent of cancer and cardiovascular patients can attribute their disease to heredity.’ Furthermore, upon removing the nucleus, many ‘cells can survive for up to two or more months without genes’, suggesting DNA is not as fundamental as formerly thought. Thus, while genes are the ‘blueprints’, the environment is the ‘contractor’ who makes key decisions about how to actualise those plans, leading to radically different outcomes. Far from competing genetics determining everything, they are merely one factor in the complex web of life.
Lipton thus argues that ‘Beliefs control biology!’, and that this has been proven through such things as the placebo effect. For example, a recent study showed that arthritis patients report equally positive results when they have knee surgery as when the doctor only makes a surface incision but tells them they had knee surgery. Another study suggested that as much as 80 per cent of the effect of anti-depressants was attributable to the placebo effect. The same process apparently works in reverse (‘nocebos’), for if others tell us we are worthless then we will intuit and actualise this reality as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The energy of mind can impact the energy of matter; we are what we believe.
Yet Lipton does not think we can alter our biology overnight through ‘positive thinking’. For what matters is not only our conscious beliefs but also our subconscious ones, which were usually ingrained during childhood or even in the womb. As such, Lipton dedicates an entire chapter to childrearing, suggesting that parents do not merely pass on but actively rewire our genetics. We must work through the youthful baggage of our subconscious beliefs in order to reshape our biology on a more fundamental level.
If Lipton’s analysis is correct, then contemporary biology has simply missed half of the story and needs to course-correct in order to maximise its potential for technology, medicine and personal growth. While epigenetics has been gradually accepted by mainstream biologists, Lipton’s account goes even further, attempting to integrate biology with quantum mechanics and consciousness. Fans of quantum consciousness and holistic theories of everything will likely consider Lipton a readable ally.
More personally, Lipton is claiming to offer freedom from biological determinism. We do not dangle from the double helix like dancing puppets but are free to find unique expressions of our genetics, actively reshaping our biology through the power of mind. Those who find this account persuasive must face the double-edge of this reality, for with freedom comes responsibility. We are not merely victims of the genetic lottery but are actively accountable for who we are and what we become.
Additionally, since we are not simply the pawns of Darwinian competition, Lipton implores us to work together with the other members of our species and with the planet. We are not an island of genes; rather, our nature and fate are bound up with the environment, which should awaken us to the need for cooperation in these trying times.
Copyright © 2005 by Bruce Lipton.
