The Biology of Belief Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. www. brucelipton. com CONTENTS Acknowledgments...................................9 Prologue..........................................15 Introduction........................................19 Chapter 1 Lessons From The Petri Dish: In Praise Of Smart Cells And Smart Students.........31 Chapter 2 It's The Environment, Stupid.................49 Chapter 3 The Magical Membrane.....................75 Chapter 4 The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly On Thin Air...............95 Chapter 5 Biology Of Belief..........................123 Chapter 6 Growth And Protection....................145 Chapter 7 Conscious Parenting: Parents As Genetic Engineers.....................155 Epilogue Spirit And Science.........................183 Addendum.......................................203 References........................................207 Index............................................212 This book is dedicated to. GAIA The Mother of Us All May She forgive us our trespasses. To my own mother, Gladys who has continuously encouraged and supported me while being patient for the twenty years it took to get this book out. To my daughters, Tanya and Jennifer beautiful women of the world who have always been there for me ...no matter how weird things had become. And especially to my darling, Margaret Horton my best friend, my life partner, my love. May we continue on our joyous quest to live happily ever after! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much has transpired between my scientific inspiration and the creation of this book. During this time of great personal transformation, 1 was blessed and guided by both spiritual and incarnate muses —the inspiring spirits of the arts. I am particularly indebted to the following who have helped make this book a reality. The Muses of Science: I am indebted to the spirits of science, for I am fully aware that forces outside of myself have guided me in bringing this message to the world. Special blessings to my heroes, Jean-Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck and Albert Einstein, for their world-changing spiritual and scientific contributions. The Muses of Literature: The intention to write a book on the new biology was spawned in 1985, though it was not until Patricia A. King came into my life in 2003 that this book could come into reality. Patricia is a Bay Area freelance writer and former Newsweek reporter who worked for a decade as the magazine's San Francisco Bureau Chief. I will never forget our first meeting wherein I overwhelmed her with a lengthy new science tutorial and then burdened her with a truckload of aborted manuscripts, sheaves of innumerable articles I had written, boxes overflowing with video-taped lectures and stacks of scientific reprints. Only as she was driving away, did I realize the monumental nature of the task 1 was asking of her. Without formal training in cell biology and physics, Patricia accomplished miracles in downloading and understanding the new science. In a very short time, she not only learned the new biology, she was even able to expand on its topics. Her amazing skills at integrating, editing and synthesizing information are responsible for the clarity of this book. Patricia works on book projects, newspaper and magazine stories that focus on health issues, especially mind-body medicine and the role stress plays in disease. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Southwest Airline's Spirit magazine and 9 Common Ground magazine. A native of Boston, King lives in Marin with her husband, Harold and their daughter, Anna. I am in deep appreciation and gratitude to Patricia for her efforts and look forward to the opportunity of writing another book with her in the future. T)ie Muses of the Arts: In 1980 I left academia and went "on the road" presenting a touring light show called The Laser Symphony. The heart and brains of our spectacular laser production was Robert Mueller, a visionary artist and computer graphics genius. Wise beyond his teenage years, Bob drank in the new science I was working on, first as a student and later as my "spiritual son." Years ago he offered, and I accepted, his bid to create a cover for the book whenever it would appear. Bob Mueller is cofounder and creative director of LightSpeed Design, Bellevue, Washington. He and his company have produced award winning 3-D light and sound shows for science museums and planetariums around the world. Their edutainment show on the fragile ecology of our oceans was an honored presentation, seen by 16,000 viewers daily at the World's Expo held in Lisbon, Portugal (1998). Bob's creative endeavors can be sampled at www.lightspeeddesign.com. Bob's work, inspired by science and the Light, is beautiful and profound. I am honored to have his contribution as the cover art, the image that will introduce this new awareness to the public. Muses of Music: From the conception of this new science to the submission of the book, I have been continuously encouraged and energized by the music of Yes and especially the lyrics of their vocalist Jon Anderson. Their music and message reveal an inner knowing and understanding of the new science. The music of Yes speaks to the fact that we are all connected to the Light. Their songs emphasize how our experiences, our beliefs and our dreams shape our lives and influence those of our children. What takes me pages of text to explain, Yes can say in a few powerful and poignant lines. You guys are great! Regarding the physical production of this book, I sincerely want to thank the New York publishers who turned down the book proposal. Without you, I was able to create my own book—just like I wanted to 10 do. I am indebted to Mountain of Love Productions, Inc. for investing time and resources into publishing this book. Toward that end, especial appreciation goes out to Dawson Church of Author's Publishing Cooperative. Dawson enabled us to have the best of both worlds, the personal management afforded by self-publishing and the marketing experience of a major publishing house. Thanks to Geralyn Gendreau for her support of this work and bringing it to the attention of Dawson Church. Dear friend and public relations specialist Shelly Keller has given generously of her time in providing professional editing skills. Thanks to all of the students and attendees of my classes, lectures, and seminars who over the years persistently enquired, "Where's the book???" OK, OK, here it is! Your continued encouragement is deeply appreciated. I would like to honor some very important teachers who have provided guidance in my scientific career. First and foremost, my father, Eli, who instilled in me a sense of purpose, and as importantly, encouraged me to "think outside of the box." Thanks, Dad. David Banglesdorf, the elementary school science teacher who introduced me to the world of cells and ignited my passion for science. The brilliant Irwin R. Konigsberg, Ph.D., who took me under his wing and mentored my doctoral education. I shall forever remember our eureka moments and the passion for science we shared. I am indebted to Professor Theodore Hollis, Ph.D. (Perm State University) and Klaus Bensch, M.D., Chairman of Pathology (Stanford University), the first "real" scientists who understood my heretical ideas. Each of these distinguished researchers encouraged and supported my efforts by providing me with space in their laboratories to investigate the ideas presented in this book. In 1995 Gerard Clum, D.C., President, Life College of Chiropractic West, invited me to teach Fractal Biology, my very own course on the new science. I am in gratitude for Gerry's support, for he introduced me to the life-enhancing worlds of chiropractic and complementary medicine. 11 At the first public presentation of this material in 1985 I met Lee Pulos, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Over the years, Lee has been a great supporter of, and contributor to, the new biology presented in this book. My partner and esteemed colleague Rob Williams, M.A., developer of Psych-K, contributed to this project by helping bridge the science of cells with the mechanics of human psychology. Discussions of science and its role in civilization with Curt Rexroth, D.C., a dear friend and wizard of philosophy, have brought great awareness and joy to my life. Collaboration with Theodore Hall, Ph.D. offered wonderful and profound insights correlating the histories of cellular evolution and human civilization. I sincerely want to thank Gregg Braden for his wonderful scientific insights, his suggestions regarding pubhshing, and for providing the intriguing subtitle of this book. Each of the following, dear and trusted friends, read and critiqued this work. Their contributions were vital in bringing this book to you. I personally want to thank each of them: Terry Bugno, M.D., David Chamberlain, Ph.D., Barbara Findeisen, M.F.T., Shelly Keller, Mary Kovacs, Alan Mande, Nancy Marie, Michael Mendizza, Ted Morrison, Robert and Susan Mueller, Lee Pulos, Ph.D., Curt Rexroth, D.C., Christine Rogers, Will Smith, Diana Sutter, Thomas Verney, M.D., Rob and Lanita Williams, and Donna Wonder. I am grateful for the love and support offered by my sister Marsha and brother David. I am particularly proud of David for what he jokingly refers to as "breaking the circle of violence" and becoming a great dad to his son Alex. Much appreciation goes out to Doug Parks of Spirit 2000, Inc. for his outstanding support of this project. Upon hearing the new biology, Doug fully dedicated his efforts to getting this message out to the world. Doug has produced video-lectures and workshops that have broadened public awareness of this material and have opened the doors to many seeking self-empowerment. Thank you, dear brother. 12 These acknowledgments would not be complete without a most special thank you to Margaret Horton. Margaret has been the driving force behind the scenes that has empowered the writing and materialization of this book. What ever I write and say, my darling...it was done in love for you! 13 PROLOGUE "If you could be anybody ...who would you be?" I used to spend an inordinate amount of time pondering that question. I was obsessed with the fantasy that I could change my identity because I wanted to be anybody but me. I had a good career as a cell biologist and medical school professor, but that didn't make up for the fact that my personal life was at best, a shambles. The harder I tried to find happiness and satisfaction in my personal life, the more dissatisfied and unhappy I became. In my more reflective moments, I resolved to surrender to my unhappy life. 1 decided that fate had dealt me a bad hand and I should simply make the best of it. A victim of life. Que sera, sera. My depressed, fatalistic attitude changed in one transformational moment in the fall of 1985.1 had resigned my tenured position at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and was teaching at an offshore medical school in the Caribbean. Because the school was so far out of the academic mainstream, I started thinking outside the rigid parameters of belief that prevail in conventional academia. Far from those ivory towers, isolated on an emerald island in the deep azure Caribbean Sea, I experienced a scientific epiphany that shattered my beliefs about the nature of life. My life-changing moment occurred while I was reviewing research on the mechanisms by which cells control their physiology and behavior. Suddenly I realized that a cell's life is controlled by the physical and energetic environment and not by its genes. Genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues and organs. The environment serves as a "contractor" who reads and engages those genetic blueprints and is ultimately responsible for the character of a cell's life. It is a single cell's "awareness" of the environment, not its genes, that sets into motion the mechanisms of life. As a cell biologist I knew that my insights had powerful ramifications for my life and the lives of all human beings. I was acutely aware that every human being is made up of approximately fifty trillion sin- 15 gle cells. I had devoted my professional life to better understanding single cells because I knew then, and know now, that the better we understand single cells the better we can understand the community of cells that comprise each human body. I knew that if single cells are controlled by their awareness of the environment so too are we trillion-celled human beings. Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life. On the one hand my new understanding of the nature of life was a jolt. For close to two decades I had been programming biology's Central Dogma — the belief that life is controlled by genes — into the minds of medical students. On the other hand, on an intuitive level my new understanding was not a complete surprise. I had always had niggling doubts about genetic determinism. Some of those doubts stemmed from my eighteen years of government-funded research on cloned stem cells. Though it took a sojourn outside of traditional acad-emia for me to fully realize it, my research offers incontrovertible proof that biology's most cherished tenets regarding genetic determinism are fundamentally flawed. My new understanding of the nature of life not only corroborated my research, but also, I realized, contradicted another belief of mainstream science that I had been propounding to my students — the belief that allopathic medicine is the only kind of medicine that merits consideration in medical school. By finally giving the energy-based environment its due, it provided the foundation for the science and philosophy of complementary medicine and the spiritual wisdom of ancient and modern faiths as well as for allopathic medicine. On a personal level, I knew at the moment of insight that I had gotten myself stuck because I falsely believed that I was fated to have a spectacularly unsuccessful personal life. There is no doubt that human beings have a great capacity for sticking to false beliefs with great passion and tenacity and hyper-rational scientists are not immune. Our well-developed nervous systems headed by our big brains means that our awareness is more complicated than single cells. When our 16 uniquely human minds get involved we can choose to perceive the environment in different ways, unlike single cells whose awareness is more reflexive. I was exhilarated by new realization that I could change the character of my life by changing my beliefs. I was instantly energized because I realized that there was a science-based path that would take me from my job as a perennial "victim" to my new job as "co-creator" of my destiny. It has been twenty years since that magical night in the Caribbean when I had my life-changing moment of insight. In those years, biological research has continued to corroborate the knowledge I gained on that early morning in the Caribbean. We are living in exciting times, for science is in the process of shattering old myths and rewriting a fundamental belief oi human civilization. The belief that we are frail biochemical machines controlled by genes is giving way to an understanding that we are powerful creators of our lives and the world in which we live. For two decades I have been passing on this paradigm-busting scientific information to hundreds of audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The response by people who have, like me, made use of this knowledge in rewriting the scripts of their lives has brought great joy and satisfaction into my life. As we all know, knowledge is power and consequently, knowledge of self provides self-empowerment. Now I offer this empowering information to you in The Biology of Belief. It is my sincerest hope that you will recognize that many of the beliefs that propel your life are false and self-limiting and that you will be inspired to change those beliefs. You can take back control of your life and set out on the road to health and happiness. This information is powerful. I know it is. The life I have created using this information is so much richer and satisfying, I no longer ask myself: "If I could be anybody, who would I be?" For now, the answer is a no-brainer. I want to be me! 17 INTRODUCTION The Magic of Cells I was seven years old when I stepped up onto a small box in Mrs. Novak's second grade classroom, high enough to plop my eye right onto the lens and eyepiece of a microscope. Alas, I was too close to see anything but a blob of light. Finally I calmed down enough to listen to instructions to back off from the eyepiece. And then it happened, an event so dramatic that it would set the course for the rest of my life. A Paramecium swam into the field. I was mesmerized. The raucous din of the other kids faded, as did the back-to-school smells of freshly sharpened pencils, new waxy crayons and plastic Roy Rogers pencil cases. My whole being was transfixed by the alien world of this cell that for me was more exciting than today's computer-animated special effects movies. In the innocence of my child mind, I saw this organism not as a cell, but as a microscopic person, a thinking, sentient being. Rather than aimlessly moving around, this microscopic, single-celled organism appeared to me to be on a mission, though what kind of mission I didn't know. I quietly watched over the Paramecium's "shoulder" as it busily comported itself in and around the algal mat. While I was focusing on the Paramecium, a large pseudopod of a gangly amoeba began to ooze into the field. Just then my visit to this Lilliputian world ended abruptly when Glenn, the class bully, yanked me off the step and demanded his turn at the microscope. I tried to get Mrs. Novak's attention, hoping that Glenn's personal foul would get me another minute at the microscope free-throw line. But it was just minutes before lunch time and the other kids in line were clamoring for their turn. Immediately after school, I ran home and excitedly relayed my microscopic adventure to my mother. Using my best second-grade powers of persuasion, I asked, then begged, then cajoled my mother into getting me a microscope, where I would spend hours mesmerized by this alien world that I could access via the miracle of optics. 19 Later, in graduate school, 1 advanced to an electron microscope. The advantage of an electron microscope over a conventional light microscope is that it is a thousand times more powerful. The difference between the two microscopes is analogous to the difference between the 25B>C>D>E) approach could not even come close to giving us an accurate understanding of disease. While quantum physics implied the existence of such interconnected information pathways, recent groundbreaking 103 The Biology of Belief research in mapping protein-protein interactions in the cell now demonstrates the physical presence of these complex holistic pathways. [Li, et al, 2004; Giot, et al, 2003; Jansen, et al, 2003] The illustration on page 105 shows the interactions among a few of the proteins in a fruit fly cell. Connecting lines represents protein-protein interactions. Information Flow A^B^C->D->E Newtonian - Linear Quantum-Holistic Clearly, biological dysfunctions can result from miscommunica-tion anywhere within these complex pathways. When you change the parameters of a protein at one point in such a complex pathway, you inevitably alter the parameters of other proteins at innumerable points within the entangled networks. In addition, take a look at the seven circles in the next illustration that group proteins according to their physiologic functions. Notice that proteins within one functional group, such as those concerned with sex determination (arrow), also influence proteins with a completely different function, like RNA synthesis (i.e., RNA helicase). "Newtonian" research scientists have not 104 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air RNA binding proteins Sex determination G-patch domain Transcription/ translation RNA helicase Map of interactions among a very small set of the cellular proteins (shaded and numbered circles) found in a Drosophila (fruit fly) cell. Most of the proteins are associated with the synthesis and metabolism of RNA molecules. Proteins enclosed within ovals are grouped according to specific pathway functions. Connecting lines indicate protein-protein interactions. Protein interconnections among the different pathways reveal how interfering with one protein may produce profound "side-effects" upon other related pathways. More wide spread "side-effects" may be generated when a common protein is utilized in completely different functions. For example, the same Rbp 1 protein (arrow) is used in RNA metabolism as well as in pathways associated with sex determination. Reprinted with permission from Science 302:1727-1736. Copyright 2003 AAAS. fully appreciated the extensive interconnectivity among the cell's biological information networks. The mapping of these information network pathways underscores the dangers of prescription drugs. We can now see why pharmaceutical drugs come with information sheets listing voluminous side effects that range from irritating to deadly. When a drug is introduced into the body to treat a malfunction in one protein, that drug inevitably interacts with at least one and possibly many other proteins. Complicating the drug side-effect issue is also the fact that biological systems are redundant. The same signals or protein molecules 105 The Biology of Belief may be simultaneously used in different organs and tissues where they provide for completely different behavioral functions. For example, when a drug is prescribed to correct a dysfunction in a signaling pathway of the heart, that drug is delivered by the blood to the entire body. This "cardiac" medicine can unintentionally disturb the function of the nervous system if the brain also uses components of the targeted signaling pathway. While this redundancy complicates the effects of prescription drugs, it is another remarkably efficient result of evolution. Multicellular organisms can survive with far fewer genes than scientists once thought because the same gene products (protein) are used for a variety of functions. This is similar to using the twenty-six letters of the alphabet to construct every word in our language. In my research on human blood vessel cells, I experienced firsthand the limits imposed by redundant signaling pathways. In the body, histamine is an important chemical signal that initiates the cells' stress response. When Wstarnine is present in the blood that nourishes the arms and legs, the stress signal produces large gaping pores in the walls of the blood vessels. The opening of these holes in the blood vessel's wall is the first step in launching a local inflammatory reaction. However, if histarnine is added to blood vessels in the brain, the same histamine signal increases the flow of nutrition to the neurons, enhancing their growth and specialized functions. In times of stress, the increased nutrition signaled by histamine enables the brain to ramp up its activity in order to better deal with the perceived impending emergency. This is an example of how the same histamine signal can create two diametrically opposed effects, depending on the site where the signal is released. [Lipton, et al, 1991] One of the most ingenious characteristics of the body's sophisticated signaling system is its specificity. If you have a poison ivy rash on your arm, the relentless itchiness results from the release of histamine, the signal molecule that activates an inflammatory response to the ivy's allergen. Since there is no need to start itching all over your body, the histarnine is only released at the site of the rash. Similarly, when a person is confronted with a stressful life experience, the release of Wstamine within the brain increases blood flow to the nervous tis- 106 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air sues, enhancing the neurological processing required for survival. The release of histamine in the brain to deal with stress behaviors is restricted and does not lead to the initiation of inflammation responses in other parts of the body. Like the National Guard, histamine is deployed only where it is needed and for as long as it is needed. But most of the medical industry's drugs have no such specificity. When you take an antihistamine to deal with the itchiness of an allergic rash, the ingested drug is distributed systemically. It affects histamine receptors wherever they are located throughout the whole body. Yes, the antihistamine will curb the blood vessels' inflammatory response, dramatically reducing allergic symptoms. However, when the antiWstamine enters the brain, it inadvertently alters neural circulation that then impacts nerve function. That's why people who take over-the-counter antihistamines may experience allergy relief and also the side effect of feeling drowsy. A recent example of tragic adverse reactions to drug therapy is the debilitating and life-threatening side effects associated with synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Estrogen's best-known influence is on the function of the female reproductive system. However, more recent studies on the distribution of estrogen receptors in the body reveal that they, and of course their complementary estrogen signal molecules, play an important role in the normal function of blood vessels, the heart and the brain. Doctors have routinely prescribed synthetic estrogen to alleviate menopausal symptoms associated with the shutting-down of a woman's reproductive system. However, pharmaceutical estrogen therapy does not focus the drug's effects on the intended target tissues. The drug also impacts and disturbs the estrogen receptors of the heart, the blood vessels and the nervous system. Synthetic hormone replacement therapy has been shown to have disturbing side effects that result in cardiovascular disease and neural dysfunctions such as strokes. [Shumaker, et al, 2003; Wassertheil-Smoller, et al, 2003; Anderson, et al, 2003; Cauley, et al, 2003] Adverse drug effects, like those contributing to the HRT controversy, are a primary reason why a leading cause of death is iatrogenic 107 The Biology of Belief illness, i.e. illness resulting from medical treatment. According to conservative estimates published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, iatrogenic illness is the third-leading cause of death in this country. More than 120,000 people die from adverse effects of prescribed medications each year. [Starfield 2000] However, last year a new study, based on the results of a ten-year survey of government statistics, came up with even more dismal figures. [Null, et al, 2003] That study concludes that iatrogenic illness is actually the leading cause of death in the United States and that adverse reactions to prescription drugs are responsible for more than 300,000 deaths a year. These are dismaying statistics, especially for a healing profession that has arrogantly dismissed three thousand years of effective Eastern medicine as unscientific, even though it is based on a deeper understanding of the Universe. For thousands of years, long before Western scientists discovered the laws of quantum physics, Asians have honored energy as the principal factor contributing to health and well-being. In Eastern medicine, the body is defined by an elaborate array of energy pathways called meridians. In Chinese physiologic charts of the human body, these energy networks resemble electronic wiring diagrams. Using aids like acupuncture needles, Chinese physicians test their patient's energy circuits in exactly the same manner that electrical engineers "troubleshoot" a printed-circuit board, searching for electrical "pathologies." Physicians: The Pharmaceutical Patsies But as admiring as I am of the ancient wisdom of Eastern medicine, I do not want to bash Western doctors who prescribe massive quantities of drugs that contribute to the health profession's lethality. Medical doctors are caught between an intellectual rock and a corporate hard place; they are pawns in the huge medical industrial complex. Their healing abilities are hobbled by an archaic medical education founded on a Newtonian, matter-only Universe. Unfortunately, that philosophy went out of vogue seventy-five years ago, when physicists officially adopted quantum mechanics and recognized that the Universe is actually made out of energy. 108 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air In their postgraduate years, those same doctors receive their continuing education about pharmaceutical products from drug reps, the errand boys of the corporate healthcare industry. Essentially, these non-professionals, whose primary goal is to sell product, provide doctors with "information" about the efficacy of new drugs. Drug companies freely offer this "education" so they can persuade doctors to "push" their products. It is evident that the massive quantities of drugs prescribed in this country violate the Hippocratic oath taken by all doctors to "First do no harm." We have been programmed by pharmaceutical corporations to become a nation of prescription drug-popping junkies with tragic results. We need to step back and incorporate the discoveries of quantum physics into biomedicine so that we can create a new, safer system of medicine that is attuned to the laws of Nature. Physics and Medicine: A Day Late and a Dollar Short The physical sciences have already embraced quantum physics with sensational results. Humanity's wake-up call to the reality of a quantum universe occurred on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima that day demonstrated the awesome power of applied quantum theory and dramatically ushered in the Atomic Age. On a more constructive note, quantum physics made possible the electronic miracles that are the foundation of the Information Age. The application of quantum mechanics was directly responsible for the development of TVs, computers, CAT scans, lasers, rocket ships and cell phones. But what great and marvelous advances in biomedical sciences can we attribute to the quantum revolution? Let's list them in order of their importance: It is a very short list —there haven't been any. Though I stress the need to apply the principles of quantum mechanics in bioscience, I'm not advocating that medicine throw out the valuable lessons they have learned using the principles of Isaac 109 The Biology of Belief Newton. The newer laws of quantum mechanics do not negate the results of classical physics. The planets are still moving in paths that were predicted by Newton's mathematics. The difference between the two physics is that quantum mechanics more specifically applies to molecular and atomic realms while Newtonian laws apply to higher levels of organization, such as organ systems, people or populations of people. The manifestation of a disease, such as cancer, may show up at a macro level when you can see and feel a tumor. However, the processes that instigated the cancer were initiated at the molecular level within the affected progenitor cells. In fact, most biological dysfunctions (except injuries due to physical trauma) start at the level of a cell's molecules and ions. Hence the need for a biology that integrates both quantum and Newtonian mechanics. There have, thankfully, been some visionary biologists who have advocated this integration. More than forty years ago the renowned Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi published a book called Introduction to a Submolecular Biology. [Szent-Gyorgyi 1960] His text was a noble effort to educate the community of life scientists about the importance of quantum physics in biological systems. Unfortunately, his traditional peers, who considered the book to be the ravings of a once brilliant but now senile old man, merely lamented the "loss" of their former colleague. Biologists in the main have still not recognized the importance of Szent-Gyorgyi's book, but research suggests that sooner or later they will have to because the weight of scientific evidence is toppling the old materialist paradigm. You recall the movements of protein molecules that are the stuff of life? Scientists have tried to predict those movements using the principles of Newtonian physics, to no avail. By now, I bet you can guess why: in 2000, an article by V. Pophristic and L. Goodman in the journal Nature revealed that the laws of quantum physics, not Newtonian laws, control a molecule's life-generating movements. [Pophristic and Goodman 2001] Reviewing this ground-breaking study for Nature, biophysicist F. Weinhold concluded: "When will chemistry textbooks begin to serve 110 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air as aids, rather than barriers, to this enriched quantum-mechanic perspective on how molecular turnstiles work?" He further emphasized: "What are the forces that control the twisting and folding of molecules into complex shapes? Don't look for the answers in your organic chemistry textbook." [Weinhold 2001] Yet organic chemistry provides the mechanistic foundation for biomedicine; and as Weinhold notes, that branch of science is so far out of date that its textbooks have yet to recognize quantum mechanics. Conventional medical researchers have no understanding of the molecular mechanisms that truly provide for life. Hundreds upon hundreds of other scientific studies over the last fifty years have consistently revealed that "invisible forces" of the electromagnetic spectrum profoundly impact every facet of biological regulation. These energies include microwaves, radio frequencies, the visible light spectrum, extremely low frequencies, acoustic frequencies and even a newly recognized form of force known as scalar energy. Specific frequencies and patterns of electromagnetic radiation regulate DNA, RNA and protein syntheses, alter protein shape and function, and control gene regulation, cell division, cell differentiation, morphogenesis (the process by which cells assemble into organs and tissues), hormone secretion, nerve growth and function. Each one of these cellular activities is a fundamental behavior that contributes to the unfolding of life. Though these research studies have been published in some of the most respected mainstream biomedical journals, their revolutionary findings have not been incorporated into the medical school curriculum. [Liboff 2004; Goodman and Blank 2002; Sivitz 2000; Jin, et al, 2000; Blackman, et al, 1993; Rosen 1992, Blank 1992; Tsong 1989; Yen-Patton, et al, 1988] An important study forty years ago by Oxford University bio-physicist C. W. F. McClare calculated and compared the efficiency of information transfer between energy signals and chemical signals in biological systems. His research, "Resonance in Bioenergetics" published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, revealed that energetic signaling mechanisms such as electromagnetic frequencies are a hundred times more efficient in relaying environmental infor- 111 The Biology of Belief mation than physical signals such as hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, etc. [McClare 1974] It is not surprising that energetic signals are so much more efficient. In physical molecules, the information that can be carried is directly linked to a molecule's available energy. However, the chemical coupling employed to transfer their information is accompanied by a massive loss of energy due to the heat generated in making and breaking chemical bonds. Because thermo-chemical coupling wastes most of the molecule's energy, the small amount of energy that remains limits the amount of information that can be carried as the signal. We know that living organisms must receive and interpret environmental signals in order to stay alive. In fact, survival is directly related to the speed and efficiency of signal transfer. The speed of electromagnetic energy signals is 186,000 miles per second, while the speed of a diffusible chemical is considerably less than 1 centimeter per second. Energy signals are 100 times more efficient and infinitely faster than physical chemical signaling. What kind of signaling would your trillion-celled community prefer? Do the math! Buying the Pharm I believe the major reason why energy research has been all but ignored comes down to dollars and cents. The trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry puts its research money into the search for magic bullets in the form of chemicals because pills mean money. If energy healing could be made into tablet form, drug manufacturers would get interested quickly. Instead, they identify deviations in physiology and behavior that vary from some hypothetical norm as unique disorders or dysfunctions, and then they educate the public about the dangers of these menacing disorders. Of course, the over-simplified symptomology used in defining the dysfunctions prevalent in drug company advertisements has viewers convinced they are afflicted by that particular malady. "Do you worry? Worry is a primary symptom of "medical n: Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air condition" called Anxiety Disorder. Stop your worry. Tell your doctor you want Addictazac, the new passion-pink drug." Meanwhile, the media essentially avoids the issue of deaths by medicine by directing our attention to the dangers of illicit drugs. They admonish us that using drugs to escape life's problems is not the way to resolve one's issue. Funny...I was just going to use that exact sentence to describe my concerns about the overuse of legal drugs. Are they dangerous? Ask the people who died last year. Using prescription drugs to silence a body's symptoms enables us to ignore personal involvement we may have with the onset of those symptoms. The overuse of prescription drugs provides a vacation from personal responsibility. Our drug mania reminds me of a job at an auto dealership I held while in graduate school. At 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, an irate woman came into the shop. Her car's "service engine light" was flashing, even though her car had already been repaired for that same problem several times. At 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, who wants to work on a balky problem and deal with a furious customer? Everyone was quiet, except for one mechanic who said: "Til take care of it." He drove the car back into the bay, got in behind the dashboard, removed the bulb from the signal light and threw it away. Then he opened a can of soda and lit a cigarette. After a suitable time, during which the customer thought he was actually fixing the car, the mechanic returned and told the woman her car was ready. Thrilled to see that the warning light had stopped flashing, she happily drove off into the sunset. Though the cause of the problem was still present, the symptom was gone. Similarly, pharmaceutical drugs suppress the body's symptoms, but, most never address the cause of the problem. Wait, you say, "Times have changed." We are now more educated to the dangers of drugs and more open to alternative therapies. It is true that because half of Americans visit complementary health practitioners, traditional doctors can no longer put their heads in the sand and hope other approaches go away. Insurance companies have even 113 The Biology of Belief Mammogram. Note the above illustration is not a photograph of a breast, it is an electronic image created from scanning the radiant energy characteristics of the organ's cells and tissues. Differentials in the energy spectra enable radiologists to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissues (the black spot in the center). started to pay for services they once deemed quackery, and major teaching hospitals allow a limited number of such practitioners inside. But even today very little scientific rigor has been marshaled to assess the effectiveness of complementary medicine. The National Institutes of Health did create an "alternative medicine" branch, thanks to pressure from the public. But that is only a token gesture to quell activists and consumers who spend lots of money on alternative health care. There are no serious research funds available for studying energy medicine. The rub is that without supportive research, energy-based healing modalities are officially labeled "unscientific." Good Vibes, Bad Vibes and the Language of Energy Though conventional medicine still has not focused on the role energy plays as "information" in biological systems, ironically, it has 114 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air embraced noninvasive scanning technologies, which read such energy fields. Quantum physicists have created energy-scanning devices that can analyze the frequencies emitted by specific chemicals. These scanning systems enable scientists to identify the molecular composition of materials and objects. Physicists have adapted these devices to read the energy spectra emitted by our body's tissues and organs. Because energy fields travel easily through the physical body, these modern devices, such as CAT scans, MPJs and positron emission tomography (PET) scans, can detect disease non-invasively. Physicians are able to diagnose internal problems by differentiating the spectral energy character of healthy and diseased tissue in the scanned images. The energy scan, illustrated on the page to the left reveals the presence of breast cancer. The diseased tissue emits its own unique energy signature, which differs from the energy emitted by surrounding healthy cells. The energy signatures that pass through our bodies travel through space as invisible waves that resemble ripples on a pond. If you drop a pebble into a pond, the "energy" carried in the falling pebble (due to the force of gravity pulling on its mass) is transmitted to the water. The ripples generated by the pebble are actually energy waves passing through the water. If more than one pebble is thrown into the water at the same time, the spreading ripples (energy waves) from each source can interfere with each other, forming composite waves where two or more ripples converge. That interference can be either constructive (energy-amplifying) or destructive (energy-deflating). 115 The Biology of Belief _ Wave A Wave B iA/WW-^MAA 'HI Constructive Interference. In 1 above, two sets of ripples are moving across the surface of water toward each other. As illustrated, both wave A and B are moving toward each other with their ripples in phase, in this case both waves are leading with their negative amplitude. Their cycle patterns are aligned. The waves merge together at the interface where two ripptes meet. To illustrate the consequence of this merger, the waves are drawn with one above the other in figure 2. Where the amplitude of A is +1, the amplitude of B is also +1. Add the two together, and the resulting amplitude of the composite wave at that point is +2. Likewise, where A is -1 so is B, together the total amplitude will be -2. The resulting higher amplitude composite wave is illustrated in 3. Dropping two pebbles of the same size, from the same height, and at exactly the same time, coordinates the wave action of their ripples. The ripples from each pebble converge on each other. Where the ripples overlap, the combined power of the interacting waves is doubled, a phenomenon referred to as constructive interference, or harmonic resonance. When the dropping of the pebbles is not coordinated, their energy waves are out of sync. As one wave is going up, the other is going down. At the point of convergence these out of sync energy waves cancel each other. Instead of a doubling of the energy where the ripples interfere with each other, the water is calm.. .there is no energy wave. This phenomenon of canceling energy waves is called destructive interference. 116 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air Wave A Wave B sl/WV—A/WV Destructive Interference. Infigure I, theripples derived from first pebble, labeled as Wave A, are moving from left to right. Wave B, moving right to left, represents the ripples from a second pebble dropped shortly after the first. Since the pebbles did not hit the water at the same time, the waves will not be aligned when they merge at the interface, they will be "out of phase." In the illustration, Wave A is leading with a negative amplitude and Wave B is leading with a positive amplitude. Where they meet in figure 2, the waves are mirror-images of each other, the high amplitude (+1) of one wave is aligned with the low amplitude (-1) of the other, and vice versa. As shown in 3, the amplitude values of each wave cancel each other out, so that the composite wave having 0 amplitude is no wave at alt...its flat! The behavior of energy waves is important for biomedicine because vibrational frequencies can alter the physical and chemical properties of an atom as surely as physical signals like Wstamine and estrogen. Because atoms are in constant motion, which you can measure by their vibration, they create wave patterns similar to the expanding ripples from the thrown pebbles we talked about above. Each atom is unique because the distribution of its negative and positive charges, coupled with its spin rate, generates a specific vibration or frequency pattern. [Oschman 2000] Scientists have devised a way to stop an atom dead in its tracks by exploiting its energy waves. They first identify the frequency of a spe- 117 The Biology of Belief cific atom and then tune a laser to emit the same frequency. Though the atom and the photoelectric frequency emit the same wave pattern, the laser's waves are designed to be out of sync with those of the atom. When the light wave interacts with the atom's wave, the resulting destructive interference cancels the atom's vibrations and it stops spinning. [Chu 2002; Rumbles 2001] When you want to enhance rather than stop atoms, you find vibrations that create harmonic resonance. Those vibrations can be of electromagnetic or acoustic origin. When, for example, a skilled vocalist like Ella Fitzgerald maintains a note that is harmonically resonant with the atoms of a crystal goblet, the goblet's atoms absorb her sound waves. Through the mechanics of constructive interference, the added energy of resonant sound waves causes the goblet's atoms to vibrate faster. Eventually the atoms absorb so much energy that they vibrate fast enough to break free from the bonds that hold them together. WTien that happens, the goblet actually explodes. Doctors use constructive interference mechanics to treat kidney stones, a rare case where the laws of quantum physics have been harnessed as a therapeutic tool in modern medicine. Kidney stones are crystals whose atoms vibrate at a specific frequency. Doctors non-inva-sively focus a harmonic frequency on the kidney stone. Constructive interference results when the focused energy waves interact with the atoms in the kidney stones. Like the atoms in the crystal goblet example above, the atoms of the kidney stones vibrate so quickly that the stones explode and dissolve. The small, remaining fragments can then be easily passed from the system without the excruciating pain that accompanies large, unexploded stones. The science of physics implies that the same harmonic resonance mechanism, by which sound waves destroy a goblet or a kidney stone, can enable similar energy harmonics to influence the functions of our body's chemistry. But biologists have not explored these mechanisms with the passion with which they pursue new drugs. That is unfortunate, because there is enough scientific evidence to suspect that we can 118 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air tailor a waveform as a therapeutic agent in much the same way as we now modulate chemical structures with drugs. There was a time in medicine when electrotherapy was used extensively. At the end of the nineteenth century, the development of batteries and other devices that produce electromagnetic fields led to hastily constructed machines that were supposed to cure disease. The public sought out practitioners of this new-fangled healing art called radioesthesia. Word spread that these devices were very effective. In fact, they became so popular that magazines were likely to tout ads that read something like, "Be a Radioesthesiast! Only $9.99 —includes instructions!" By 1894, over 10,000 U.S. physicians as well as an untold number of self-trained home consumers were regularly using electrotherapy. In 1895, D.D. Palmer created the science of Chiropractic. Palmer recognized that the flow of energy through the nervous system is critical to health. He focused on the mechanics of the vertebral column, the conduit through which spinal nerves provide information to the body. He developed skills to assess and tune the flow of information by adjusting the backbone's tensions and pressures. The medical profession became threatened by Palmer's chiropractors, as well as homeopathic healers, radioesthesiasts and other drug-less practitioners who were taking away much of their business. The Carnegie Foundation published the Flexner Report in 1910 that called for all medical practices to be based on proven science. Because physicists had not yet discovered the quantum universe, energy medicine was incomprehensible to science. Denounced by the American Medical Association, chiropractic and other energy-based modalities fell into disrepute. Radioesthesiasts disappeared completely. In the last forty years, chiropractic has made great inroads in the healing arts. In 1990, chiropractors won a lengthy court battle against the medical monopoly when the American Medical Association was found guilty of illegal attempts to destroy the profession. Since then, chiropractic has spread its sphere of influence—it is even accepted in some hospitals. And despite electrotherapy's checkered past, neuro- 119 The Biology of Belief scientists are conducting exciting new research in the area of vibrational energy therapies. The brain has long been recognized to be an electrical organ, which is why electroshock therapy has historically been used to treat depression. But scientists are now working on less invasive tools to treat the electric brain. A recent article in Science touted the beneficial effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which stimulates the brain with magnetic fields. [Helmuth 2001; Hallet 2000] TMS is an updated version of the same 19th century radioesthesia healing techniques that were once denounced by conventional medicine. New studies suggest that TMS can be a powerful therapeutic tool. If used properly, it can ease depression and alter cognition. It is clear we need interdisciplinary research in this promising and understudied area, research that encompasses quantum physics, electrical engineering, chemistry, as well as biology. Such research will be particularly welcomed because it is likely to result in therapies with far fewer side effects than drugs. But the research will only confirm what scientists and non-scientists already "know" but may not realize they know: all organisms, including humans, communicate and read their environment by evaluating energy fields. Because humans are so dependent on spoken and written language, we have neglected our energy sensing communication system. As with any biological function, a lack of use leads to atrophy. Interestingly, aborigines still utilize this hyper-sensory capacity in their daily lives. For them there has been no "sensory" atrophy. For example, Australian aborigines can sense water buried deep beneath the sand and Amazonian shamans communicate with the energies of their medicinal plants. You no doubt on occasion get a glimmer of your ancient sensing mechanism. Have you ever walked down a dark street at night and instantly felt drained of energy? What were you experiencing? Destructive interference, just like out-of-sync pebbles thrown into a pond or, in popular jargon, bad vibes! Remember unexpectedly meeting that special someone in your life and becoming so energized 120 Chapter Four The New Physics: Planting Both Feet Firmly on Thin Air you felt "high?" You were experiencing constructive interference or good vibes. When I gave up my view that we are inert matter, I realized not only that the science of my chosen career was out of date, but also that I needed to promote more constructive interference in my own life. I needed a personal quantum physics-inspired tune-up! Rather than focusing on creating harmonic energies in my life, I was going through life willy-nilly, mindlessly expending energy. That is the equivalent of heating a house in the dead of winter while leaving the doors and windows open. I started closing those doors and windows by carefully examining where I was wasting my energy. It was easy for me to close some of them. For example, it was easy to get rid of energy-draining activities like those deadly faculty parties. It was harder to get rid of the energy-draining defeatist thinking in which I habitually engaged. Thoughts consume energy as surely as does marathon running, as we'll see in the next chapter. I needed a quantum tune-up. And so, I've made clear, does bio-medicine. But as I said earlier, we are already in the midst of a very slow shift in medicine, propelled by consumers who are seeking out complementary medicine practitioners in record numbers. It's been a long time coming, but the quantum biological revolution is nigh. The medical establishment will eventually be dragged, half kicking and screaming, full force into the quantum revolution. 121 Chapter 5 BIOLOGY AND BELIEF In 1952 a young British physician made a mistake. It was a mistake that was to bring short-lived scientific glory to Dr. Albert Mason. Mason tried to treat a fifteen-year-old boy's warts using hypnosis. Mason and other doctors had successfully used hypnosis to get rid of warts, but this was an especially tough case. The boy's leathery skin looked more like an elephant's hide than a human's, except for his chest, which had normal skin. Mason's first hypnosis session focused on one arm. When the boy was in a hypnotic trance, Mason told him that the skin on that arm would heal and turn into healthy, pink skin. When the boy came back a week later, Mason was gratified to see that the arm looked healthy. But when Mason brought the boy to the referring surgeon, who had unsuccessfully tried to help the boy with skin grafts, he learned that he had made a medical error. The surgeon's eyes were wide with astonishment when he saw the boy's arm. It was then that he told Mason that the boy was suffering, not from warts, but from a lethal genetic 123 The Biology of Belief disease called congenital ichthyosis. By reversing the symptoms using "only" the power of the mind, Mason and the boy had accomplished what had until that time been considered impossible. Mason continued the hypnosis sessions, with the stunning result that most of the boy's skin came to look like the healthy, pink arm after the first hypnosis session. The boy, who had been mercilessly teased in school because of his grotesque-looking skin, went on to lead a normal life. When Mason wrote about his startling treatment for ichthyosis in the British Medical Journal in 1952, his article created a sensation. [Mason 1952] Mason was touted in the media and became a magnet for patients suffering from the rare, lethal disease that no one before had ever cured. But hypnosis was in the end not a cure-all. Mason tried it on a number of other ichthyosis patients, but he was never able to replicate the results he had had with the young boy. Mason attributes his failure to his own belief about the treatment. When Mason treated the new patients he couldn't replicate his cocky attitude as a young physician thinking he was treating a bad case of warts. After that first patient, Mason was fully aware that he was treating what everyone in the medical establishment knew to be a congenital, "incurable" disease. Mason tried to pretend that he was upbeat about the prognosis, but he told the Discovery Health Channel, "I was acting." [Discovery Health Channel 2003] How is it possible that the mind can override genetic programming, as it did in the case above? And how could Mason's belief about that treatment affect its outcome? The New Biology suggests some answers to those questions. We saw in the last chapter that matter and energy are entangled. The logical corollary is that the mind (energy) and body (matter) are similarly bound, though Western medicine has tried valiantly to separate them for hundreds of years. In the seventeenth century, René Descartes dismissed the idea that the mind influences the physical character of the body. Descartes' notion was that the physical body was made out of matter and the mind was made out of an unidentified, but clearly immaterial substance. Because he couldn't identify the nature of the mind, Descartes 124 Chapter Five Biology and Belief left behind an irresolvable philosophical conundrum: since only matter can affect matter, how can an immaterial mind be "connected" to a material body? The non-physical mind envisioned by Descartes was popularly defined as the "Ghost in the Machine" by Gilbert Ryle fifty years ago in his book The Concept of Mind. [Ryle 1949] Traditional bio-medicine, whose science is based on a Newtonian matter-only universe, embraced Descartes' separation of mind and body. Medically speaking, it would be far easier to fix a mechanical body without having to deal with its meddling "ghost." The reality of a quantum universe reconnects what Descartes took apart. Yes, the mind (energy) arises from the physical body, just as Descartes thought. However, our new understanding of the Universe's mechanics shows us how the physical body can be affected by the immaterial mind. Thoughts, the mind's energy, directly influence how the physical brain controls the body's physiology. Thought "energy" can activate or inhibit the cell's function-producing proteins via the mechanics of constructive and destructive interference, described in the previous chapter. That is why, when I took the first step toward changing my life, I actively monitored where I was expending my brain's energy. I had to examine the consequences of energy I invested in my thoughts as closely as I examined the expenditures of energy I used to power my physical body. Despite the discoveries of quantum physics, the mind-body split in Western medicine still prevails. Scientists have been trained to dismiss cases like the boy above who used his mind to heal a genetically "mandated" disease, as quirky anomalies. I believe, on the contrary, that scientists should embrace the study of these anomalies. Buried in exceptional cases are the roots of a more powerful understanding of the nature of life —"more powerful" because the principles behind these exceptions trump established "truths." The fact is that harnessing the power of your mind can be more effective than the drugs you have been programmed to believe you need. The research I discussed in the last chapter found that energy is a more efficient means of affecting matter than chemicals. 125 The Biology of Belief Unfortunately, scientists most often deny rather than embrace exceptions. My favorite example of scientific denial of the reality of mind-body interactions relates to an article that appeared in Science about nineteenth-century German physician, Robert Koch, who along with Pasteur founded the Germ Theory. The Germ Theory holds that bacteria and viruses are the cause of disease. That theory is widely accepted now, but in Koch's day it was more controversial. One of Koch's critics was so convinced that the Germ Theory was wrong that he brazenly wolfed down a glass of water laced with vibrio cholerae, the bacteria Koch believed caused cholera. To everyone's astonishment, the man was completely unaffected by the virulent pathogen. The Science article published in 2000 describing the incident stated: "For unexplained reasons he remained symptom free, but nevertheless incorrect." [DiRita 2000] The man survived and Science, reflecting the unanimity of opinion on the Germ Theory, had the audacity to say his criticism was incorrect? If it is claimed that this bacterium is the cause of cholera and the man demonstrates that he is unaffected by the germs.. .how can he be "incorrect?" Instead of trying to figure out how the man avoided the dreaded disease, scientists blithely dismiss this and other embarrassing "messy" exceptions that spoil their theories. Remember the "dogma" that genes control biology? Here is another example in which scientists, bent on establishing the validity of their truth, ignore pesky exceptions. The problem is that there cannot be exceptions to a theory; exceptions simply mean that a theory is not fully correct. A current example of a reality that challenges the established beliefs of science concerns the ancient religious practice of fire-walking. Seekers gather together daily to stretch the realms of conventional awareness by walking across beds of hot coals. Measurement of the stone's temperature and duration of exposure are enough to cause medically relevant burns on the feet, yet thousands of participants emerge from the process totally unscathed. Before you jump to the conclusion that the coals were not really not that hot, consider the numbers of participants who waver in their beliefs and get scalded walking across the same bed of coals. 126 Chapter Five Biology and Belief Similarly, science is unambiguous about its claim that the HIV virus causes AIDS. But it has no conception as to why large numbers of individuals that have been infected with the virus for decades do not express the disease? More baffling is the reality of terminal cancer patients who have recovered their lives through spontaneous remissions. Because such remissions are outside the bounds of conventional theory, science completely disregards the fact that they ever happened. Spontaneous remissions are dismissed as unexplainable exceptions to our current truths or simply, misdiagnoses. When Positive Thinking Goes Bad Before I go on to discuss the incredible power of our minds and how my research on cells provided insight into how the body's mind-body pathways work, I need to make it very clear that I do not believe that simply thinking positive thoughts always leads to physical cures. You need more than just "positive thinking" to harness control of your body and your life. It is important for our health and well-being to shift our mind's energy toward positive, life-generating thoughts and eliminate ever-present, energy-draining and debilitating negative thoughts. But, and I mean that in the biggest sense of "BUT," the mere thinking of positive thoughts will not necessarily have any impact on our lives at all! In fact, sometimes people who "flunk" positive thinking become more debilitated because now they think their situation is hopeless — they believe they have exhausted all mind and body remedies. What those positive-thinking dropouts haven't understood is that the seemingly "separate" subdivisions of the mind, the conscious and the subconscious are interdependent. The conscious mind is the creative one, the one that can conjure up "positive thoughts." In contrast, the subconscious mind is a repository of stimulus-response tapes derived from instincts and learned experiences. The subconscious mind is strictly habitual; it will play the same behavioral responses to life's signals over and over again, much to our chagrin. How many times have you found yourself going ballistic over something trivial like an open toothpaste tube? You have been trained since childhood to carefully replace the cap. When you find the tube with its cap left off, your "but- 127 The Biology of Belief 128 tons are pushed" and you automatically fly into a rage. You've just experienced the simple stimulus-response of a behavior program stored in the subconscious mind. When it comes to sheer neurological processing abilities, the subconscious mind is millions of times more powerful than the conscious mind. If the desires of the conscious mind conflict with the programs in the subconscious mind, which "mind" do you think will win out? You can repeat the positive affirmation that you are lovable over and over or that your cancer tumor will shrink. But if, as a child, you heard over and over that you are worthless and sickly, those messages programmed in your subconscious mind will undermine your best conscious efforts to change your life. Remember how quickly your last New Year's resolution to eat less food fell by the wayside as the aroma of the baking turkey dissolved your resolve? We'll learn more about the origins of self-sabotaging subconscious prograrnming in Chapter 7, Conscious Parenting, and how to quickly rewrite them. But for the moment, be aware that there is hope even for those of you who used positive thinking and failed miserably. Mind Over Body Let's review what we know about cells. We learned in earlier chapters that the functions of cells are directly derived from the movements of their protein "gears." The movement generated by assemblies of proteins provides the physiologic functions that enable life. While proteins are the physical building blocks, complementary environmental signals are required to animate their movement. The interface between environmental signals and behavior-producing cytoplasmic proteins is the cell's membrane. The membrane receives stimuli and then engages the appropriate, life-sustaining cellular responses. The cell membrane operates as the cell's "brain." Integral membrane receptor-effector proteins (IMPs) are the fundamental physical subunits of the cellular brain's "intelligence" mechanism. By functional definition, these protein complexes are "perception switches" that link reception of environmental stimuli to response-generating protein pathways. Chapter Five Biology and Belief Cells generally respond to a an assortment of very basic "perceptions" of what's going on in their world. Such perceptions include whether things like potassium, calcium, oxygen, glucose, histamine, estrogen, toxins, light or any number of other stimuli are present in their immediate environment. The simultaneous interactions of tens of thousands of reflexive perception switches in the membrane, each directly reading an individual environmental signal, collectively create the complex behavior of a living cell. For the first three billion years of life on this planet, the biosphere consisted of free-living single cells such as bacteria, algae and protozoans. While we have traditionally considered such life forms as solitary individuals, we are now aware that signal molecules used by individual cells to regulate their own physiologic functions, when released into the environment, also influence the behavior of other organisms. Signals released into the environment allow for a coordination of behavior among a dispersed population of unicellular organisms. Secreting signal molecules into the environment enhanced the survival of single cells by providing them with the opportunity to live as a primitive "community." The single-celled slime mold amoebas provide an example of how signaling molecules lead to community. These amoebas live a solitary existence in the soil foraging for food. When available food in the environment is consumed, the cells synthesize an excess amount of a metabolic byproduct called cyclic-AMP (cAMP), much of which is released into the environment. The concentration of the released cAMP builds in the environment as other amoeba face starvation. When secreted cAMP signal molecules bind to cAMP-receptors on the cell membranes of other slime mold amoeba, it signals them to activate a swarming behavior wherein the amoeba congregate and form a large multicellular "slug." The slug community is the reproductive stage of slime mold. During the "famine" period, the community of aging cells shares their DNA and creates the next generation of offspring. The new amoeba hibernate as inactive spores. When more food is available, the food molecules act as a signal to break the hibernation, releasing a new population of single cells to start the cycle over again. 129 The Biology of Belief The point is that single-celled organisms actually live in community when they share their "awareness" and coordinate their behaviors by releasing "signal" molecules into the environment. Cyclic AMP was one of evolution's earliest forms of secreted regulatory signals that control cell behavior. The fundamental human signal molecules (e.g., hormones, neuropeptides, cytokines, growth factors) that regulate our own cellular communities were once thought to have arisen with the appearance of complex multicellular life forms. However, recent research has now revealed that primitive single-celled organisms were already using these "human" signal molecules in the earliest stages of evolution. Through evolution, cells maximized the number of IMP "awareness" proteins their membranes could hold. To acquire more awareness, and therefore increase their probability of surviving, cells started to assemble, first into simple colonies and later into highly organized cellular communities. As described earlier, the physiologic functions of multicellular organisms are parceled out to specialized communities of cells forming the body's tissues and organs. In communal organizations, the cell membrane's intelligence processing is carried out by the specialized cells of the organism's nervous and immune systems. It was only 700 million years ago, recent in regard to the time frame of life on this planet, when single cells found it advantageous to join together in tightly knit multicellular communities, organizations we recognize as animals and plants. The same coordmating signal molecules used by free-living cells were used in these newly evolved closed communities. By tightly regulating the release and distribution of these function-controlling signal molecules, the community of cells would be able to coordinate their functions and act as a single life form. In the more primitive multicellular organisms, those without specialized nervous systems, the flow of these signal molecules within the community provided an elementary "mind," represented by the coordmating information shared by every cell. In such organisms, each cell directly read environmental cues and personally adjusted its own behavior. 130 Chapter Five Biology and Belief However, when cells came together in community, a new politic had to be established. In community, each cell cannot act as an independent agent that does whatever it wants. The term "community" implies that all of its members commit to a common plan of action. In multicellular animals, individual cells may "see" the local environment outside of their own "skin," but they may have no awareness of what is going on in more distant environments, especially those outside of the whole organism itself. Can a liver cell buried in your viscera, responding to its local environmental signals, make an informed response regarding the consequence of a mugger that jumps into your environment? The complex behavior controls needed to ensure a multicellular organization's survival are incorporated within its centralized information processing system. As more complex animals evolved, specialized cells took over the job of monitoring and organizing the flow of the behavior regulating signal molecules. These cells provided a distributed nerve network and central information processor, a brain. The brain's function is to coordinate the dialogue of signal molecules within the community. Consequently, in a community of cells, each cell must acquiesce control to the informed decisions of its awareness authority, the brain. The brain controls the behavior of the body's cells. This is a very important point to consider as we blame the cells of our organs and tissues for the health issues we experience in our lives. Emotions: Feeling the Language of Cells In higher, more aware life forms, the brain developed a specialization that enabled the whole community to tune into the status of its regulatory signals. The evolution of the limbic system provided a unique mechanism that converted the chemical communication signals into sensations that could be experienced by all of the cells in the community. Our conscious mind experiences these signals as emotions. The conscious mind not only "reads" the flow of the cellular coordinating signals that comprise the body's "mind," it can also gen- 131 The Biology of Belief erate emotions, which are manifest through the controlled release of regulatory signals by the nervous system. At the same time that I was studying the mechanics of the cell's brain and gaining insight into the operation of the human brain, Candace Pert was studying the human brain and becoming aware of the mechanics of the cell's brain. In Molecules of Emotion, Pert revealed how her study of information-processing receptors on nerve cell membranes led her to discover that the same "neural" receptors were present on most, if not all, of the body's cells. Her elegant experiments established that the "mind" was not focused in the head, but was distributed via signal molecules to the whole body. As importantly, her work emphasized that emotions were not only derived through a feedback of the body's environmental information. Through self-consciousness, the mind can use the brain to generate "molecules of emotion" and override the system. While proper use of consciousness can bring health to an ailing body, inappropriate unconscious control of emotions can easily make a healthy body diseased, a topic I will expand upon in Chapters 6 and 7. Molecules of Emotion is a very insightful book describing the scientific discoveiy process. It also provides some revealing insights into the struggles encountered when trying to introduce new "ideas" into science's Old Boy Club, a subject with which I am all too familiar! [Pert 1997] The limbic system offered a major evolutionary advance through its ability to sense and coordinate the flow of behavior-regulating signals within the cellular community. As the internal signal system evolved, its greater efficiency enabled the brain to increase in size. Multicellular organisms gained increasingly more cells that were dedicated to responding to an ever-wider variety of external environmental signals. While individual cells can respond to simple sensory perceptions such as red, round, aromatic, and sweet, the extra brainpower available in multicellular animals enables them to combine those simple sensations into a higher level of complexity and perceive "apple." 132 Chapter Five Biology and Belief Fundamental reflex behaviors acquired through evolution are passed on to offspring in the form of genetic-based instincts. The evolution of larger brains, with their increased neural cell population, offered organisms the opportunity not only to rely on instinctual behavior, but also to learn from their life experiences. The learning of novel reflex behaviors is essentially a product of conditioning. For example, consider the classic example of Pavlov framing his dogs to salivate at the ring of a bell. He first trained them by ringing a bell and coupling that stimulus with a food reward. After awhile, he would ring the bell but not offer the food. By that time, the dogs were so programmed to expect the food that when the bell rang, they reflexively started to salivate even though no food was present. This is clearly an "unconscious," learned reflex behavior. Reflex behaviors may be as simple as the spontaneous kick of the leg when a mallet taps the knee, or as complex as driving a car at sixty-five miles per hour on a crowded interstate highway while your conscious mind is fully engaged in conversation with a passenger. Though conditioned behavioral responses may be inordinately complex, they are "no-brainers." Through the conditioned learning process, neural pathways between eliciting stimuli and behavioral responses become hardwired to ensure a repetitive pattern. Hardwired pathways are "habits." In lower animals, the entire brain is designed to engage in purely habitual responses to stimuli. Pavlov's dogs salivate by reflex...not by deliberate intention. The actions of the subconscious mind are reflexive in nature and are not governed by reason or thinking. Physically, this mind is associated with the activities of all of the brain structures that are present in animals that have not evolved self-consciousness. Humans and a number of other higher mammals have evolved a specialized region of the brain associated with thinking, planning and decision-making called the prefrontal cortex. This portion of the fore-brain is apparently the seat of the "self-conscious" mind processing. The self-conscious mind is self-reflective; it is a newly evolved "sense organ" that observes our own behaviors and emotions. The self-conscious mind also has access to most of the data stored in our long-term 133 The Biology of Belief memory bank. This is an extremely important feature allowing our history of life to be considered as we consciously plan our futures. Endowed with the ability to be self-reflective, the self-conscious mind is extremely powerful. It can observe any programmed behavior we are engaged in, evaluate the behavior and consciously decide to change the program. We can actively choose how to respond to most environmental signals and whether we even want to respond at all. The conscious mind's capacity to override the subconscious mind's preprogrammed behaviors is the foundation of free will. However, our special gift comes with a special pitfall. While almost all organisms have to actually experience the stimuli of life first-hand, the human brain's ability to "learn" perceptions is so advanced that we can actually acquire perceptions indirectly from teachers. Once we accept the perceptions of others as "truths," their perceptions become hardwired into our own brains, becoming our "truths." Here's where the problem arises: what if our teachers' perceptions are inaccurate? In such cases, our brains are then downloaded with misperceptions. The subconscious mind is strictly a stimulus-response playback device; there is no "ghost" in that part of the "machine" to ponder the long-term consequences of the programs we engage. The subconscious works only in the "now." Consequently, programmed misperceptions in our subconscious mind are not "monitored" and will habitually engage us in inappropriate and limiting behaviors. If I included as a bonus in this chapter a slithering snake that pops out of this page right now, most of you would run from the room or throw the book out of the house. Whoever "introduced" you to your first snake may have behaved in such a shocked way as to give your impressionable mind an apparently important life lesson: See snake.. .snake baaad! The subconscious memory system is very partial to rapidly downloading and emphasizing perceptions regarding things in your environment that are threatening to life and limb. If you were taught that snakes are dangerous, any time a snake comes into 134 Chapter Five Biology and Belief your proximity, you reflexively (unconsciously) engage in a protective response. But what if a herpetologist were reading this book and a snake popped out? No doubt herpetologists would not only be intrigued by the snake, they would be thrilled with the bonus included in the book. Or at least they'd be thrilled once they figured out that the book's snake was harmless. They would then hold it and watch its behaviors with delight. They would think that your programmed response was an irrational one, because not all snakes are dangerous. Further they would be saddened by the fact that so many people are deprived of the pleasure of studying such mteresting creatures. Same snake, same stimulus, yet greatly different responses. Our responses to environmental stimuli are indeed controlled by perceptions, but not all of our learned perceptions are accurate. Not all snakes are dangerous! Yes, perception "controls" biology, but as we've seen, these perceptions can be true or false. Therefore, we would be more accurate to refer to these controlling perceptions as beließ. Beließ control biology! Ponder the significance of this information. We have the capacity to consciously evaluate our responses to environmental stimuli and change old responses any time we desire.. .once we deal with the powerful subconscious mind, which I discuss in more depth in Chapter 7. We are not stuck with our genes or our self-defeating behaviors! How the Mind Controls the Body My insights into how beliefs control biology are grounded in my studies of cloned endothelial cells, the cells that line the blood vessels. The endothelial cells I grew in culture monitor their world closely and change their behavior based on information they pick up from the environment. When I provided nutrients, the cells would gravitate toward those nutrients with the cellular equivalent of open arms. WTien I created a toxic environment, the cultured cells would retreat from the stimulus in an effort to wall themselves off from the noxious 135 The Biology of Belief agents. My research focused on the membrane perception switches that controlled the shift from one behavior to the other. The primary switch I was studying has a protein receptor that responds to histamine, a molecule that the body uses in a way that is equivalent to a local emergency alarm. I found that there are two varieties of switches, HI and H2, that respond to the same histamine signal. When activated, switches with HI histamine receptors evoke a protection response, the type of behavior revealed by cells in toxin-containing culture dishes. Switches containing H2 histamine receptors evoke a growth response to histamine, similar to the behavior of cells cultured in the presence of nutrients. I subsequently learned that the body's system-wide emergency response signal, adrenaline, also has switches sporting two different adrenaline-sensing receptors, called alpha and beta. The adrenaline receptors provoked the exact same cell behaviors as those elicited by histamine. When the adrenal alpha-receptor is part of an IMP switch, it provokes a protection response when adrenaline is perceived. When the beta-receptor is part of the switch, the same adrenaline signal activates a growth response. [Lipton, et al, 1992] All that was interesting, but the most exciting finding was when I simultaneously introduced both histamine and adrenaline into my tissue cultures. I found that adrenaline signals, released by the central nervous system, override the influence of histamine signals that are produced locally. This is where the politics of the community described earlier comes in to play. Suppose you're working in a bank. The branch manager gives you an order. The CEO walks in and gives you the opposite order. Which order would you follow? If you want to keep your job you'll snap to the CEO's order. There is a similar priority built into our biology, which requires cells to follow instructions from the head honcho nervous system, even if those signals are in conflict with local stimuli. I was excited by my experiments because I believed that they revealed on the single-cell level a truth for multicellular organisms — that the mind (i.e. acting via the central nervous system's adrenaline) 136 Chapter Five Biology and Belief overrides the body (acting via the local histamine signal). I wanted to spell out the implications of my experiments in my research paper, but my colleagues almost died from apoplexy at the notion of injecting the body-mind connection into a paper about cell biology. So I put in a cryptic comment about understanding the significance of the study, but I couldn't say what the significance was. My colleagues did not want me to include these implications of my research because the mind is not an acceptable biological concept. Bio-scientists are conventional Newtonians — if it isn't matter.. .it doesn't count. The "mind" is a non-localized energy and therefore is not relevant to materialistic biology. Unfortunately, that perception is a "belief" that has been proven to be patently incorrect in a quantum mechanical universe! Placebos: The Belief Effect Every medical student learns, at least in passing, that the mind can affect the body. They learn that some people get better when they believe (falsely) they are getting medicine. When patients get better by ingesting a sugar pill, medicine defines it as the placebo effect. My friend Rob Williams, founder of PSYCH-K, an energy-based psychological treatment system, suggests that it would be more appropriate to refer to it as the perception effect. I call it the belief effect to stress that our perceptions, whether they are accurate or inaccurate, equally impact our behavior and our bodies. I celebrate the belief effect, which is an amazing testament to the healing ability of the body/mind. However, the "all in their minds" placebo effect has been linked by traditional medicine to, at worst, quacks or, at best, weak, suggestible patients. The placebo effect is quickly glossed over in medical schools so that students can get to the real tools of modern medicine like drugs and surgery. This is a giant mistake. The placebo effect should be a major topic of study in medical school. I believe that medical education should train doctors to recognize the power of our internal resources. Doctors should not dismiss the power of the mind as something inferior to the power of chemicals and the scalpel. They should let go of their con- 137 The Biology of Belief viction that the body and its parts are essentially stupid and that we need outside intervention to maintain our health. The placebo effect should be the subject of major, funded research efforts. If medical researchers could figure out how to leverage the placebo effect, they would hand doctors an efficient, energy-based, side effect-free tool to treat disease. Energy healers say they already have such tools, but I am a scientist and I believe the more we know about the science of the placebo, the better we'll be able to use it in clinical settings. I believe the reason the mind has so summarily been dismissed in medicine is the result, not only of dogmatic thinking, but also of financial considerations. If the power of your mind can heal your sick body, why should you go to the doctor and more importantly, why would you need to buy drugs? In fact, I was recently chagrined to learn that drug companies are studying patients who respond to sugar pills with the goal of eliminating them from early clinical trials. It inevitably disturbs pharmaceutical manufacturers that in most of their clinical trials the placebos, the "fake" drugs, prove to be as effective as their engineered chemical cocktails. [Greenberg 2003] Though the drug companies insist they're not trying to make it easier for ineffective drugs to get approved, it is clear that effectiveness of placebo pills are a threat to the pharmaceutical industry. The message from the drug companies is clear to me: if you can't beat placebo pills fairly, simply remove the competition! The fact that most doctors are not trained to consider the impact of the placebo effect is ironic because some historians make a strong case that the history of medicine is largely the history of the placebo effect. For most of medical history, doctors did not have effective methods to fight disease. Some of the more notorious treatments once prescribed by mainstream medicine include bloodletting, treating wounds with arsenic, and the proverbial cure-all, rattlesnake oil. No doubt some patients, the conservatively estimated one third of the population who are particularly susceptible to the healing power of the placebo effect, got better with those treatments. In today's world, when doctors wear- 138 Chapter Five Biology and Belief ing white coats deliver a treatment decisively, patients may believe the treatment works — and so it does, whether it is a real drug or just a sugar pill. Though the question of how placebos work has in the main been ignored by medicine, recently some mainstream medical researchers are mrning their attention to it. The results of those studies suggest that it is not only wacky, nineteenth-century treatments that can foster a placebo effect but also modern medicine's sophisticated technology, including the most "concrete" of medical tools, surgery. A Baylor School of Medicine study, published in 2002 in the New England Journal of Medicine evaluated surgery for patients with severe, debilitating knee pain. [Moseley, et al, 2002] The lead author of the study, Dr. Bruce Moseley, "knew" that knee surgery helped his patients: "All good surgeons know there is no placebo effect in surgery." But Moseley was trying to figure out which part of the surgery was giving his patients relief. The patients in the study were divided into three groups. Moseley shaved the damaged cartilage in the knee of one group. For another group, he flushed out the knee joint, removing material thought to be causing the inflammatory effect. Both of these constitute standard treatment for arthritic knees. The third group got "fake" surgery. The patient was sedated, Moseley made three standard incisions and then talked and acted just as he would have during a real surgery — he even splashed salt water to simulate the sound of the knee-washing procedure. After 40 minutes, Moseley sewed up the incisions as if he had done the surgery. All three groups were prescribed the same postoperative care, which included an exercise program. The results were shocking. Yes, the groups who received surgery, as expected, improved. But the placebo group improved just as much as the other two groups! Despite the fact that there are 650,000 surgeries yearly for arthritic knees, at a cost of about $5,000 each, the results were clear to Moseley: "My skill as a surgeon had no benefit on these patients. The entire benefit of surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee was the placebo effect." Television news programs graphically illustrated 139 The Biology of Belief the smrining results. Footage showed members of the placebo group walking and playing basketball, in short doing things they reported they could not do before their "surgery." The placebo patients didn't find out for two years that they had gotten fake surgery. One member of the placebo group, Tim Perez, who had to walk with a cane before the surgery, is now able to play basketball with his grandchildren. He summed up the theme of this book when he told the Discovery Health Channel: "In this world anything is possible when you put your mind to it. I know that your mind can work miracles." Studies have shown the placebo effect to be powerful in treating other diseases, including asthma and Parkinson's. In the treatment of depression, placebos are stars. So much so that psychiatrist Walter Brown of the Brown University School of Medicine has proposed placebo pills as the first treatment for patients with mild or moderate depression. [Brown 1998] Patients would be told that they're getting a remedy with no active ingredient, but that shouldn't dampen the pills' effectiveness. Studies suggest that even when people know they're not getting a drug, the placebo pills still work.) One indication of the power of the placebo came from a report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The report found that half of severely depressed patients taking drugs improve versus thirty-two percent taking a placebo. [Horgan 1999] Even that impressive showing may underestimate the power of the placebo effect because many study participants figure out they're taking the real drug because they experience side effects that are not experienced by those taking the placebo. Once those patients realize they're taking the drug, i.e. once they start believing that they're getting the real pill, they are particularly more susceptible to the placebo effect. Given the power of the placebo, it is no wonder that the $8.2 billion antidepressant industry is under attack by critics who charge that drug companies are hyping the effectiveness of their pills. In a 2002 article in the American Psychological Association's Prevention & Treatment, "The Emperor's New Drugs," University of Connecticut psychology professor Irving Kirsch found that eighty percent of the 140 Chapter Five Biology and Belief effect of antidepressants, as measured in clinical trials, could be attributed to the placebo effect. [Kirsch, et al, 2002] Kirsch had to invoke the Freedom of Information Act in 2001 to get information on the clinical trials of the top antidepressants: these data were not formcorning from the Food and Drug Administration. The data show that in more than half of the clinical trials for the six leading antidepressants, the drugs did not outperform placebo, sugar pills. And Kirsch noted in a Discovery Health Channel interview that: "The difference between the response of the drugs and the response of placebo was less than two points on average on this clinical scale that goes from fifty to sixty points. That's a very small difference. That difference clinically is meaningless." Another interesting fact about the effectiveness of antidepressants is that they have performed better and better in clinical trials over the years, suggesting that their placebo effects are in part due to savvy marketing. The more the miracle of antidepressants was touted in the media and in advertisements, the more effective they became. Beliefs are contagious! We now live in a culture where people believe that antidepressants work, and so they do. A California interior designer, Janis Schonfeld, who took part in a clinical trial to test the efficacy of Effexor in 1997, was just as "stunned" as Perez when she found out that she had been on a placebo. Not only had the pills relieved her of the depression that had plagued her for thirty years, the brain scans she received throughout the study found that the activity of her prefrontal cortex was greatly enhanced. [Leuchter, et al, 2002] Her improvements were not "all in her head." When the mind changes, it absolutely affects your biology. Schonfeld also experienced nausea, a common Effexor side effect. She is typical of patients who improve with placebo treatment and then find out they were not on the real drug—she was convinced the doctors had made a mistake in the labeling for she "knew" she was on the drug. She insisted that the researchers double-check their records to make absolutely sure she wasn't on the drug. 141 The Biology of Belief 142 Nocebos: The Power of Negative Beliefs While many in the medical profession are aware of the placebo effect, few have considered its implications for self-healing. If positive thinking can pull you out of depression and heal a damaged knee, consider what negative thinking can do in your life. When the mind, through positive suggestion improves health, it is referred to as the placebo effect. Conversely, when the same mind is engaged in negative suggestions that can damage health, the negative effects are referred to as the nocebo effect. In medicine, the nocebo effect can be as powerful as the placebo effect, a fact you should keep in mind every time you step into a doctor's office. By their words and their demeanor, physicians can convey hope-deflating messages to their patients, messages that are, I believe completely unwarranted. Albert Mason for example, trunks his inability to project optimism to his patients hampered his efforts with his ichthyosis patients. Another example is the potential power of the statement: "You have six months to live." If you choose to believe your doctor's message, you are not likely to have much more time on this Earth. I have cited the Discovery Health Channel's 2003 program "Placebo: Mind Over Medicine" in this chapter because it is a good compendium of some of medicine's most interesting cases. One of its more poignant segments featured a Nashville physician, Clifton Meador, who has been reflecting on the potential power of the nocebo effect for 30 years. In 1974 Meador had a patient, Sam Londe, a retired shoe salesman suffering from cancer of the esophagus, a condition that was at the time considered 100 per cent fatal. Londe was treated for that cancer but everyone in the medical community "knew" that his esophageal cancer would recur. So it was no surprise when Londe died a few weeks after his diagnosis. The surprise came after Londe's death when an autopsy found very little cancer in his body, certainly not enough to kill him. There were a couple of spots in the liver and one in the lung, but there was Chapter Five Biology and Belief no trace of the esophageal cancer that everyone thought had killed him. Meador told the Discovery Health Channel: "He died with cancer, but not from cancer." What did Londe die of if not esophageal cancer? Had he died because he believed he was going to die? The case still haunts Meador three decades after Londe's death: "I thought he had cancer. He thought he had cancer. Everybody around him thought he had cancer...did I remove hope in some way?" Troublesome nocebo cases suggest that physicians, parents and teachers can remove hope by prograrnming you to believe you are powerless. Our positive and negative beliefs not only impact our health, but also every aspect of our life. Henry Ford was right about the efficiency of assembly lines and he was right about the power of the mind: "If you believe you can or if you believe you can't...you're right." Think about the implications of the man who blithely drank the bacteria that medicine had decided caused cholera. Consider the people who walk across coals without getting burned. If they wobble in the steadfastness of their belief that they can do it, they wind up with burned feet. Your beliefs act like filters on a camera, changing how you see the world. And your biology adapts to those beliefs. When we truly recognize that our beliefs are that powerful, we hold the key to freedom. While we cannot readily change the codes of our genetic blueprints, we can change our rninds. In my lectures I provide two sets of plastic filters, one red and one green. I have the audience pick one color and then look at a blank screen. I then tell them to yell out whether the image I project next is one that generates love or generates fear. Those in the audience that don the red "belief" filters see an mviting picture of a cottage labeled "House of Love," flowers, a sunny sky and the message "I live in Love." Those wearing the green filters see a threatening dark sky, bats, snakes, a ghost hovering outside a dark, gloomy house and the words "I live in fear." I always get enjoyment out of seeing how the audience responds to the confusion when half yell out "I live in love," and the other half, in equal certainty, yells out "I live in fear" in response to the same image. 143 The Biology of Belief Then I ask the audience to change to the opposite colored filters. My point is that you can choose what to see. You can filter your life with rose-colored beliefs that will help your body grow or you can use a dark filter that turns everything black and makes your body/ mind more susceptible to disease. You can live a life of fear and or live a life of love. You have the choice! But I can tell you that if you choose to see a world full of love, your body will respond by growing in health. If you choose to believe that you live in a dark world full of fear, your body's health will be compromised as you physiologically close yourself down in a protection response. Learning how to harness your mind to promote growth is the secret of life, which is why I called this book The Biology of Belief. Of course the secret of life is not a secret at all. Teachers like Buddha and Jesus have been telling us the same story for millennia. Now science is pointing in the same direction. It is not our genes but our beliefs that control our lives.. .Oh ye of little belief! That thought is a good entrée into the next chapter, in which I'll detail how living in love and living in fear create opposite effects in the body and the mind. Before we leave this chapter, I'd just like to emphasize again that not only is there nothing wrong with going through life wearing the proverbial rose-colored glasses. In fact, those rose-colored glasses are necessary for your cells to thrive. Positive thoughts are a biological mandate for a happy, healthy life. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: Your beliefs become your thoughts Your thoughts become your words Your words become your actions Your actions become your habits Your habits become your values Your values become your destiny 144 Chapter GROWTH AND PROTECTION Evolution has provided us with lots of survival mechanisms. They can be roughly divided into two functional categories: growth and protection. These growth and protection mechanisms are the fundamental behaviors required for an organism to survive. I'm sure you know how important it is to protect yourself. You may not realize though that growth is vitally important for your survival as well —even if you're an adult who has reached your full height. Every day billions of cells in your body wear out and need to be replaced. For example, the entire cellular lining of your gut is replaced every seventy-two hours. In order to maintain this continuous turnover of cells, your body needs to expend a significant amount of energy daily. By now you won't be surprised to learn that I first became aware of how important growth and protection behaviors are in the laboratory where my observations of single cells have so often led me to insights about the multicellular human body. When I was cloning 145 The Biology of Belief human endothelial cells, they retreated from toxins that I introduced into the culture dish, just as humans retreat from mountain lions and muggers in dark alleys. They also gravitated to nutrients, just as humans gravitate to breakfast, lunch, dinner and love. These opposing movements define the two basic cellular responses to environmental stimuli. Gravitating to a life-sustaining signal, such as nutrients, characterizes a growth response; moving away from threatening signals, such as toxins, characterizes a protection response. It must also be noted that some environmental stimuli are neutral; they provoke neither a growth nor a protection response. My research at Stanford showed that these growth/protection behaviors are also essential for the survival of multicellular organisms such as humans. But there is a catch to these opposing survival mechanisms that have evolved over billions of years. It turns out that the mechanisms that support growth and protection cannot operate optimally at the same time. In other words, cells cannot simultaneously move forward and backward. The human blood vessel cells I studied at Stanford exhibited one microscopic anatomy for providing nutrition and a completely different microscopic anatomy for providing a protection response. What they couldn't do was exhibit both configurations at the same time. [Lipton, et al, 1991] In a response similar to that displayed by cells, humans unavoidably restrict their growth behaviors when they shift into a protective mode. If you're running from a mountain lion, it's not a good idea to expend energy on growth. In order to survive —that is, escape the lion—you summon all your energy for your fight or flight response. Redistributing energy reserves to fuel the protection response inevitably results in a curtailment of growth. In addition to diverting energy to support the tissues and organs needed for the protection response, there is an additional reason why growth is inhibited. Growth processes require an open exchange between an organism and its environment. For example, food is taken in and waste products are excreted. However, protection requires a 146 Chapter Six Growth and Protection closing down of the system to wall the organism off from the perceived threat. Inhibiting growth processes is also debilitating in that growth is a process that not only expends energy but is also required to produce energy. Consequently, a sustained protection response inhibits the creation of life-sustaining energy. The longer you stay in protection, the more you compromise your growth. In fact, you can shut down growth processes so completely that it becomes a truism that you can be "scared to death." Thankfully, most of us don't get to the "scared to death" point. Unlike single cells, the growth/protection response in multicellular organisms is not an either/or proposition— not all of our 50 trillion cells have to be in growth or protection mode at the same time. The proportion of cells in a protection response depends on the severity of the perceived threats. You can survive while under stress from these threats but chronic inhibition of growth mechanisms severely compromises your vitality. It is also important to note that to fully experience your vitality it takes more than just getting rid of life's stressors. In a growth/ protection continuum, elimmating the stressors only puts you at the neutral point in the range. To fully thrive, we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives that stimulate growth processes. The Biology of Homeland Defense In multicellular organisms, growth/protection behaviors are controlled by the nervous system. It is the nervous system's job to mom-tor environmental signals, interpret them, and organize appropriate behavioral responses. In a multicellular community, the nervous system acts like the government in organizing the activities of its cellular citizens. When the nervous system recognizes a threatening environmental stress, it alerts the community of cells to impending danger. The body is actually endowed with two separate protection systems, each vital to the maintenance of life. The first is the system that mobilizes protection against external threats. It is called the HPA axis, 147 The Biology of Belief which stands for the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis. When there are no threats, the HPA axis is inactive and growth flourishes. However, when the brain's hypothalamus perceives an environmental threat, it engages the HPA axis by sending a signal to the pituitary gland, the "Master Gland," which is responsible for organizing the fifty trillion cells of the community to deal with the impending threat. Think back to the cell membrane's stimulus-response mechanism, the receptor-effector proteins — the hypothalamus and pituitary gland are behavioral equivalents. Similar to the role of a receptor protein, the hypothalamus receives and recognizes environmental signals; the pituitary's function resembles that of the effector protein in that it launches the body's organs into action. In response to threats from the external environment, the pituitary gland sends a signal to the adrenal glands, informing them of the need to coordinate the body's "fight or flight" response. The technical details of how stress stimuli engage the HPA axis follow a simple cascade: In response to perceptions of stress registered in the brain, the hypothalamus secretes a corticotrop in-releasing factor (CRF), which travels to the pituitary gland. CRF activates special pituitary hormone-secreting cells causing them to release adrenocorticotropic hormones (ACTH) into the blood. The ACTH then makes its way to the adrenal glands, where it serves as the signal to turn on the secretion of the "fight-flight" adrenal hormones. These stress hormones coordinate the function of the body's organs, providing us with great physiologic power to fend off or flee danger. Once the adrenal alarm is sounded, the stress hormones released into the blood constrict the blood vessels of the digestive tract, forcing the energy-providing blood to preferentially nourish the tissues of the arms and legs that enable us to get out of harm's way. Before the blood was sent to the extremities, it was concentrated in the visceral organs. Redistributing the viscera's blood to the limbs in the fight or flight response results in an inhibition of growth-related functions; without the blood's nourishment the visceral organs cannot function properly. The visceral organs stop doing their life-sustaining work of digestion, 148 Chapter Six Growth and Protection absorption, excretion and other functions that provide for the growth of the cells and the production of the body's energy reserves. Hence, the stress response inhibits growth processes and further compromises the body's survival by interfering with the generation of vital energy reserves. The body's second protection system is the immune system, which protects us from threats originating under the skin, such as those caused by bacteria and viruses. When the immune system is mobilized, it can consume much of the body's energy supply. To get a sense The Biology of Belief of how much energy the immune system expends, recall how physically weak you become when you are fighting infections such as a flu or a cold. When the HPA axis mobilizes the body for fight or flight response, the adrenal hormones directly repress the action of the immune system to conserve energy reserves. In fact, stress hormones are so effective at curtailing immune system function that doctors provided them to recipients of transplants so that their immune systems wouldn't reject the foreign tissues. Why would the adrenal system shut down the immune system? Imagine that you are in your tent on the African savannah suffering from a bacterial infection and experiencing a bad case of diarrhea. You hear the gutty growl of a lion outside your tent. The brain must make a decision about which is the greater threat. It will do your body no good to conquer the bacteria if you let a lion maul you. So your body halts the fight against the infection in favor of mobilizing energy for flight to survive your close encounter with a lion. Therefore, a secondary consequence of engaging the HPA axis is that it interferes with our ability to fight disease. Activating the HPA axis also interferes with our ability to think clearly. The processing of information in the forebrain, the center of executive reasoning and logic, is significantly slower than the reflex activity controlled by the hindbrain. In an emergency, the faster the information processing, the more likely the organism will survive. Adrenal stress hormones constrict the blood vessels in the forebrain reducing its ability to function. Additionally, the hormones repress activity in the brain's prefrontal cortex, the center of conscious volitional action conscious activity. In an emergency, the vascular flow and hormones serve to activate the hindbrain, the source of life-sustaining reflexes that most effectively control fight or flight behavior. While it is necessary that stress signals repress the slower processing conscious mind to enhance survival, it comes at a cost...diminished conscious awareness and reduced intelligence. [Takamatsu, et al, 2003; Arnsten and Goldman-Rakic 1998; Goldstein, et al, 1996] 150 Chapter Six Growth and Protection Fear Kills Remember the shell shocked, frozen look on my Caribbean medical students' faces when they failed my test, the medical school equivalent of a voracious lion? Had my students stayed frozen in fear, I can guarantee you that they would have performed dismally on their finals. The simple truth is, when you're frightened you're dumber. Teachers see it all the time among students who "don't test well." Exam stress paralyzes these students who, with trembling hands, mark wrong answers because in their panic, they can't access cere-brally stored information they have carefully acquired all semester. The HPA system is a brilliant mechanism for handling acute stresses. However, this protection system was not designed to be continuously activated. In today's world, most of the stresses we are experiencing are not in the form of acute, concrete "threats" that we can easily identify, respond to and move on. We are constantly besieged by multitudes of unresolvable worries about our personal lives, our jobs, and our war-torn global community. Such worries do not threaten our immediate survival but they nevertheless can activate the HPA axis, resulting in chronically elevated stress hormones. To illustrate the adverse effects of sustained adrenaline, let's use an example of a track race. An extremely well-trained and healthy group of sprinters step up to the starting line. When they hear the command: "On your mark!" they get on their hands and knees and adjust their feet into the starting blocks. Then the starter barks out, "Get set." The athletes' muscles tighten as they prop themselves up on their fingers and toes. When they shift into "Get set" mode, their bodies release the flight-promoting adrenaline hormones that power their muscles for the arduous task ahead. While the athletes are on hold awaiting the "Go" command, their bodies are straining in anticipation of that task. In a normal race, that strain lasts only a second or two before the starter yells, "Go!" However, in our mythical race, the "Go" command, which would launch the athletes into action, never comes. The athletes are left in the starting blocks, their blood coursing with adrenaline, their bodies fatiguing with the strain of preparing for the race that 151 The Biology of Belief never comes. No matter how toned their physique, within seconds, these athletes will physically collapse from the strain. We live in a "Get set" world and an increasing body of research suggests that our hyper-vigilant lifestyle is severely impacting the health of our bodies. Our daily stressors are constantly activating the HPA axis, priming our bodies for action. Unlike competitive athletes, the stresses in our bodies are not released from the pressures generated by our chronic fears and concerns. Almost every major illness that people acquire has been linked to chronic stress. [Segerstrom and Miller 2004; Kopp and Rethelyi 2004; McEwen and Lasky 2002; McEwen and Seeman 1999] In a revealing study published in 2003 in Science, researchers considered why patients on SSRI antidepressants, such as Prozac or Zoloft, don't feel better right away. There is usually at least a two-week lag between starting the drugs and the time the patients feel they are getting better. The study found that depressed people exhibit a surprising lack of cell division in the region of the brain called the hippocampus, a part of the nervous system involved with memory. Hippocampal cells renewed cell division at the time patients first began to experience the mood-shifting effect of the SSRI drugs, weeks after the onset of the drug regimen. This study and others challenge the theory that depression is simply the result of a "chemical imbalance" affecting the brain's production of monoamine signaling chemicals, specifically serotonin. If it were as simple as that, the SSRI drugs would likely restore that chemical balance right away. More researchers are pointing to the inhibition of neuronal growth by stress hormones as the source of depression. In fact, in chronically depressed patients, the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, the center of higher reasoning, are physically shrunken. A review of this study published in Science reported: "Overtaking the monoamine hypothesis in recent years has been the stress hypothesis, which posits that depression is caused when the brain's stress machinery goes into overdrive. The most prominent player in this theory is the hypothala-mic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis." [Holden 2003] 152 Chapter Six Growth and Protection The HPA axis' effect on the cellular community mirrors the effect of stress on a human population. Picture a vibrant community back in the Cold War years, when the possibility of a nuclear attack by the Russians weighed heavily on Americans' minds. Like cells in a multicellular organism, the members of this Cold War society actively work at jobs that contribute to the community's growth and usually get along with each other. Factories are busy manufacturing, construction people are building new homes, grocery stores are selling food, and kids are in school learning their ABCs. The community is in a state of health and growth while its residents constructively interact toward a common goal. Suddenly, the sound of an air raid siren rocks the town. Everyone stops working to run off, seeking the safety of bomb shelters. The harmony of the community is disrupted as individuals, acting only in support of their own survival, fight their way to a bomb shelter. After five minutes, the all-clear signal sounds. Residents return to their jobs and resume their life in a growing community. But what would happen if the sirens sound, the residents run into their air raid shelters and there is no all-clear signal to release them? People would stay in their protective postures indefinitely. How long can they maintain their protection posture? The community eventually collapses in the face of dwindling food and water supplies. One by one even the strongest die because chronic stress is debilitating. A community can easily survive short-term stress, like an air raid drill, but when the stress goes on and on it results in cessation of growth and the breakdown of the community. Another illustration of the influence of stress on a population is the story of the 9/11 tragedy. Up to the moment those terrorists attacked, the country was in a state of growth. Then immediately after 9/11, as the shock of the news spread to reach not just the people of New York but the entire nation, we experienced a threat to our survival. The impact of government proclamations stressing the continued presence of danger in the wake of the attack, were like the influence of the 153 The Biology of Belief adrenal signals. They shifted the members of the community from a state of growth to a state of protection. After a few days of this heart-stopping fear, the country's economic vitality was so compromised that the president had to intervene. To stimulate growth, the president repeatedly emphasized, "America is open for business." It took awhile for the fears to subside and for the economy to rebound. However, the residual threats of terrorism are still debilitating the vitality of our country. As a nation we should look more carefully at how our fear of future acts of terrorism is undermining our quality of life. In some sense, the terrorists have already won since they have succeeded in frightening us into a chronic, soul-sapping protective mode. I'd also like to suggest that you examine how your fears and the ensuing protection behaviors impact your life. What fears are stunting your growth? Where did these fears come from? Are they necessary? Are they real? Are they contributing to a full life? We'll deal more with these fears and where we got them in the next chapter on conscious parenting. If we can control our fears, we can regain control over our lives. President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the destructive nature of fear. He chose his words carefully when he told the nation in the grips of the Great Depression and looming World War: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." Letting go of our fears is the first step toward creating a fuller, more satisfying life. 154 Chapter CONSCIOUS PARENTING: PARENTS AS GENETIC ENGINEERS Parents Matter No doubt you've heard the seductive argument that once parents bestow their genes on their children, they take a back seat in their children's lives —parents need only refrain from abusing their children, feed and clothe them, and then wait to see where their preprogrammed genes lead them. This notion allows parents to continue with their "pre-kids lives" — they can simply drop their children off at daycare and with babysitters. It's an appealing idea for busy and/or lazy parents. It's also appealing for parents like me, who have biological children with radically different personalities. I used to think that my daughters are different because they inherited different sets of genes from the moment of conception—a random selection process in which their mother and I had no part. After all, I thought, they grew up in the 155 The Biology of Belief same environment (nurture), so the reason for their differences had to be nature (genes). The reality, I know now, is very different. Frontier science is confirming what mothers and enlightened fathers have known forever, that parents do matter, despite best-selling books that try to convince them otherwise. To quote Dr. Thomas Verny, a pioneer in the field of prenatal and perinatal psychiatry: "Findings in the peer-reviewed literature over the course of decades establish, beyond any doubt, that parents have overwhelming influence on the mental and physical attributes of the children they raise." [Verny and Kelly 1981] And that influence starts, says Verny, not after children are born, but BEFORE children are born. When Verny first posited the notion that the influence of parents extends even to the womb in his landmark, 1981 book, Vie Secret Life of the Unborn Child, the scientific evidence was preliminary and the "experts" skeptical. Because scientists used to think that the human brain did not become functional until after birth, it was assumed that fetuses and infants had no memory and felt no pain. After all, noted Freud, who coined the termed "infantile amnesia," most people do not remember anything that happened to them before they were three or four years old. However, experimental psychologists and neuroscientists are demolishing the myth that infants cannot remember —or for that matter learn — and along with it the notion that parents are simply spectators in the unfolding of their children's lives. The fetal and infant nervous system has vast sensory and learning capabilities and a kind of memory that neuroscientists call implicit memory. Another pioneer in pre- and perinatal psychology, David Chamberlain writes in his book Hie Mind of Your Nezvborn Baby: "The truth is, much of what we have traditionally believed about babies is false. They are not simple beings but complex and ageless — small creatures with unexpectedly large thoughts." [Chamberlain 1998] These complex, small creatures have a pre-birth life in the womb that profoundly influences their long-term health and behavior: "The quality of life in the womb, our temporary home before we were born, 156 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers programs our susceptibility to coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and a multitude of other conditions in later life," writes Dr. Peter W. Nathanielsz in Life in the Womb: The Origin of Health and Disease. [Nathanielsz 1999] Recently, an even wider range of adult-related chronic disorders, including osteoporosis, mood disorders and psychoses, have been intimately linked to pre- and perinatal developmental influences. [Gluckman and Hanson 2004] Recognizing the role the prenatal environment plays in creating disease forces a reconsideration of genetic determinism. Nathanielsz writes: "There is mounting evidence that programming of lifetime health by the conditions in the womb is equally, if not more important, than our genes in determining how we perform mentally and physically during life. Gene myopia is the term that best describes the current all-pervasive view that our health and destiny throughout life are controlled by our genes alone...In contrast to the relative fatalism of gene myopia, understanding the mechanisms that underlie programming by the quality of life in the womb, we can improve the start in life for our children and their children." The programming "mechanisms" Nathanielsz refers to are the epi-genetic mechanisms, discussed earlier, by which environmental stimuli regulate gene activity. As Nathanielsz states, parents can improve the prenatal environment. In so doing they act as genetic engineers for their children. The idea that parents can transmit hereditary changes from their life to their children is, of course, a Lamarckian concept that conflicts with Darwinism. Nathanielsz is one of the scientists now brave enough to invoke the "L" word for Lamarck: ".. .the transgener-ational passage of characteristics by nongenetic means does occur. Lamarck was right, although transgenerational transmission of acquired characteristics occurs by mechanisms that were unknown in his day." The responsiveness of individuals to the environmental conditions perceived by theirs mothers before birth allows them to optimize their genetic and physiologic development as they adapt to the environmental forecast. The same life-enhancing epigenetic plasticity of 157 The Biology of Belief human development can go awry and lead to an array of chronic diseases in older age if an individual experiences adverse nutritional and environmental circumstances during fetal and neonatal periods of development. [Bateson, et al, 2004] The same epigenetic influences also continue after the child is born because parents continue to influence their child's environment. In particular, fascinating new research is emphasizing the importance of good parenting in the development of the brain: "For the growing brain of a young child, the social world supplies the most important experiences influencing the expression of genes, which determines how neurons connect to one another in creating the neuronal pathways which give rise to mental activity," writes Dr. Daniel J. Siegel in Tlie Developing Mind. [Siegel 1999] In other words, infants need a nurturing environment to activate the genes that develop healthy brains. Parents, the latest science reveals, continue to act as genetic engineers even after the birth of their child. Parental Programming: The Power or the Subconscious Mind I'd like to tell you about how I—who put myself in the category of those who were not prepared to have children —came to question my ingrained assumptions about parenting. You won't be surprised to hear that I started my réévaluation in the Caribbean, the place where my shift to the New Biology took root. My reassessment was actually inspired by an unlucky event, a motorcycle accident. I was on my way to present a lecture when I went off a curb at high speed. The bike wound up upside down. Luckily I was wearing a helmet because I sustained a major blow to my head when the bike hit the ground. I was unconscious for half an hour and for a while my students and colleagues thought I was dead. When I came to, I felt as if I had broken every bone in my body. For the next few days I could hardly walk, and when doing so, I resembled a yelping version of Quasimodo. Every step was a painful reminder that "speed kills." As I creaked out of the classroom one 158 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers afternoon, one of my students suggested that it might help if I visited his roommate, a fellow student, who was also a chiropractor. As I explained in the last chapter, I not only had never been to a chiropractor, I had been taught by my allopathic community to shun chiropractors as quacks. But when you're in that much pain and you're in an unfamiliar setting, you wind up trying things you would never consider in your cushier moments. At the chiropractor's make shift dormitory "office" I was introduced for the first time to kinesiology, popularly known as muscle testing. The chiropractor told me to hold out my arm and resist the downward pressure he applied to it. I had no problem resisting the light force he put on my arm. Then he asked me to hold out my arm and resist him again while I said, "My name is Bruce." Again, I had no trouble resisting him, but by now I was starting to think that the admonishments of my academic colleagues were right on the mark — "This is nuts!" Then, the chiropractor told me to hold out my arm and resist his pressure while saying earnestly: "My name is Mary." To my amazement, my arm flopped down, despite my strong resistance. "Now wait a minute," I said. "I must not have been resisting enough, try that again." So we did, and this time I concentrated even more forcefully on resisting. Nevertheless, after repeating, "My name is Mary," my arm sunk like a stone. This student, who was now my teacher, explained that when your conscious mind has a belief that is in conflict with a formerly learned "truth" stored in the subconscious mind, the intellectual conflict expresses itself as a weakening of the body's muscles. To my astonishment, I realized that my conscious mind, which I exercised so confidently in academic settings, was not in control when I voiced an opinion that differed from a truth stored in the unconscious mind. My unconscious mind was undoing the best efforts of my conscious mind to hold up my arm when I claimed my name was Mary. I was amazed to discover that there was another "mind," another force, that was co-piloting my life. More shocking was the fact that this hidden mind, the mind I knew little about (except theoretically in psychology) was actually more powerful than my conscious mind, just 159 The Biology of Belief as Freud had claimed. All in all, my first visit to a chiropractor turned out to be a life-changing experience. I learned that chiropractors could tap into the body's innate healing power using kinesiology to target spinal misalignments. I was able to saunter out of that dorm feeling like a new man after a few simple, vertebral adjustments on the "quack's" table...all without the use of drugs. And most importantly, I was introduced to the "man behind the curtain," my subconscious mind! As I left the campus, my conscious mind was awhirl over the implications of the superior power of my formerly hidden subconscious mind. I also coupled those musings with my study of quantum physics, which taught me that thoughts could propel behavior more efficiently than physical molecules. My subconscious "knew" that my name was not Mary and balked at my insistence that it was. What else did my subconscious mind "know" and how had it learned it? To understand better what had happened in that chiropractor's office, I first turned to comparative neuroanatomy which reveals: the lower an organism is on the Tree of Evolution, the less developed its nervous system and thus the more it relies on preprogrammed behavior (nature). Moths fly toward the light, sea turtles return to specific islands and lay their eggs on the beach at the appropriate time, and the swallows return to Capistrano on a specific date, yet, as far as we know, none of these organisms have any knowledge of why they engage in those behaviors. The behaviors are innate; they are genetically built into the organism and are classified as instincts. Organisms higher in the Tree have more complexly integrated nervous systems headed by bigger and bigger brains that allow them to acquire intricate behavioral patterns through experiential learning (nurture). The complexity of this environmental learning mechanism presumably culminates with humans, who are at the top, or at least near the top, of the Tree. To quote anthropologists Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda: "Human beings are more dependent on learning for survival than other species. We have no instincts that automat- Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers ically protect us and find us food and shelter, for example." [Schultz and Lavenda 1987] We do have, of course, behavioral instincts that are innate—consider the infant's mstinct to suckle, to quickly move his hand away from fire, and to automatically swim when placed in water. Instincts are built in behaviors that are fundamental to the survival of all humans, independent of what culture they belong to or what time in human history they were born. We are born with the ability to swim; infants can swim like graceful porpoises moments after they are born. But children quickly acquire a fear of water from their parents — observe the response of parents when their unattended child ventures near a pool or other open water. Children learn from their parents that water is dangerous. Parents must later struggle to teach Johnny how to swim. Their first big effort is focused on overcoming the fear of water they instilled in earlier years. But through evolution, our learned perceptions have become more powerful, especially because they can override genetically programmed instincts. The body's physiological mechanisms (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow/bleeding patterns, body temperature) are by their nature, programmed instincts. However, yogis as well as everyday people using biofeedback can learn to consciously regulate these "innate" functions. Scientists have focused on our big brains as the reason for our ability to learn such complex behavior. However, we should temper our enthusiasm for the big brain theory by considering that cetaceans (porpoises and dolphins) have a greater cerebral surface area packed into their craniums than we do. And the findings of British neurologist Dr. John Lorber, highlighted in a 1980 article in Science, "Is your Brain Really Necessary?" also call into question the notion that the size of the brain is the most important consideration for human intelligence. [Lewin 1980] Lorber studied many cases of hydrocephalus ("water on the brain") and concluded that even when most of the brain's cerebral cortex (the brain's 161 The Biology of Belief outer layer) is missing, patients can live normal lives. Science writer Roger Lewin quotes Lorber in his article: "There's a young student at this university [Sheffield University] who has an IQ of 126, has gained a first-class honors degree in mathematics, and is socially completely normal. And yet the boy has virtually no brain... When we did a brain scan on him, we saw that instead of the normal 4.5 centimeter thickness of brain tissue between the ventricles and the cortical surface, there was just a thin layer of mantle measuring a millimeter or so. His cranium is filled mainly with cerebrospinal fluid." Lorber's provocative findings suggest that we need to reconsider our long-held beliefs about how the brain works and the physical foundation of human intelligence. I submit in the epilogue of this book that human intelligence can only be fully understood when we include spirit ("energy") or what quantum physics-savvy psychologists call the "superconscious" mind. But for the moment, I'd like to stick to the conscious and subconscious minds, concepts that psychologists and psychiatrists have long grappled with. I'm grappling with it here to provide the biological foundation for conscious parenting as well as energy-based psychological healing methods. Human Programming: When Good Mechanisms Go Bad Let's go back to the evolutionary challenge for human beings, who have to learn so much so quickly to survive and become a part of their social community. Evolution has endowed our brains with the ability to rapidly download an unimaginable number of behaviors and beliefs into our memory. Ongoing research suggests that a key to understanding how this rapid downloading of information works is the brain's fluctuating electrical activity as measured by electroencephalograms. The literal definition of electroencephalograms (EEGs) is "electric head pictures." These increasingly sophisticated head pictures reveal a graded range of brain activity in human beings. Both adults 162 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers and children display EEG variations that range from low frequency Delta waves through high frequency Beta waves. However, researchers have noted that EEG activity in children reveals, at every developmental stage, the predominance of a specific brain wave. Dr. Rima Laibow in Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback describes the progression of these developmental stages in brain activity. [Laibow 1999 and 2002] Between birth and two years of age, the human brain predominantly operates at the lowest EEG frequency, 0.5 to 4 cycles per second (Hz), known as Delta waves. Though Delta is their predominant wave activity, babies can exhibit periodic short bursts of higher EEG activity. A child begins to spend more time at a higher level of EEG activity characterized as Theta (4-8 Hz) between two and six years of age. Hypnotherapists drop their patients' brain activity into Delta and Theta because these low frequency brain waves put them into a more suggestible, programmable state. This gives us an important clue as to how children, whose brains are mostly operating at these same frequencies between birth and six years of age, can download the incredible volume of information they need to thrive in their environment. The ability to process this vast quantity of information is an important neurologic adaptation to facilitate this information-intense process of enculturation. Human environments and social mores change so rapidly that it would not be an advantage to transmit cultural behaviors via genetically programmed instincts. Young children carefully observe their environment and download the worldly wisdom offered by parents directly into their subconscious memory. As a result, their parents' behavior and beliefs become their own. Researchers at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute have found that baby chimps also learn by simply observing their mothers. In a series of experiments, a mother was taught to identify the Japanese characters for a variety of colors. When the Japanese character for a specific color was flashed on a computer screen, the chimp learned to choose the right color swatch. Upon selecting the right color, the chimp received a coin that she could then put in a vending 163 The Biology of Belief machine for a fruit treat. During her training process, she was holding her baby close. To the surprise of researchers, one day, as the mother was retrieving her fruit from the vending machine, the infant chimp activated the computer. When the character appeared on the screen, the chimp selected the correct color, received a coin and then followed his mother to the vending machine. The astonished researchers were left to conclude that infants can pick up complex skills solely by observation and don't have to be actively coached by their parents. [Science 2001] In humans as well, the fundamental behaviors, beliefs and attitudes we observe in our parents become "hard-wired" as synaptic pathways in our subconscious minds. Once programmed into the subconscious mind, they control our biology for the rest of our lives...unless we can figure out a way to reprogram them. Anyone who doubts the sophistication of this downloading should think about the first time your child blurted out a curse word picked up from you. I'm sure you noted its sophistication, correct pronunciation, its nuanced style and context carrying your signature. Given the precision of this behavior-recording system, imagine the consequences of hearing your parents say you are a "stupid child," you "do not deserve things," will "never amount to anything," "never should have been born" or are a "sickly, weak" person. When unthinking or uncaring parents pass on those messages to their young children, they are no doubt oblivious to the fact that such comments are downloaded into the subconscious memory as absolute "facts" just as surely as bits and bytes are downloaded to the hard drive of your desktop computer. During early development, the child's consciousness has not evolved enough to critically assess that those parental pronouncements were only verbal barbs and not necessarily true characterizations of "self." Once programmed into the subconscious mind, however, these verbal abuses become defined as "truths" that unconsciously shape the behavior and potential of the child through life. As we get older, we become less susceptible to outside programming with the increasing appearance of higher frequency Alpha waves 164 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers (8-12 HZ). Alpha activity is equated with states of calm consciousness. While most of our senses, such as eyes, ears and nose, observe the outer world, consciousness resembles a "sense organ" that behaves like a mirror reflecting back the inner workings of the body's own cellular community; it is an awareness of "self." At around twelve years of age, the child's EEG spectrum begins to show sustained periods of an even higher frequency defined as Beta waves (12-35 Hz). Beta brain states are characterized as "active or focused consciousness," the kind of brain activity used in reading this book. Recently, a fifth, higher state of EEG activity has been defined. Referred to as Gamma waves (>35Hz), this EEG frequency range kicks in during states of "peak performance," such as when pilots are in the process of landing a plane or a professional tennis player is engaged in a rapid-fire volley. By the time children reach adolescence, their subconscious minds are chock-full of information that range from the knowledge of how to walk, to the "knowledge" they will never amount to anything, or the knowledge, fostered by loving parents, they can do anything they set out to do. The sum of our genetically programmed instincts and the beliefs we learned from our parents collectively form the subconscious mind, which can undo both our ability to keep our arm raised in a chiropractor's office and our best New Year's resolutions to stop sabotaging ourselves with drugs or food. Again I go back to cells, which can teach us so much about ourselves. I've said many times that single cells are intelligent. But remember, when cells band together in creating multicellular communities, they follow the "collective voice" of the organism, even if that voice dictates self-destructive behavior. Our physiology and behavior patterns conform to the "truths" of the central voice, be they constructive or destructive beliefs. I've described the power of the subconscious mind, but I want to emphasize that there is no need to consider the subconscious a scary, super-powerful, Freudian font of destructive "knowledge." In reality, the subconscious is an emotionless database of stored programs, 165 The Biology of Belief whose function is strictly concerned with reading environmental signals and engaging in hard-wired behavioral programs, no questions asked, no judgments made. The subconscious mind is a programmable "hard drive" into which our life experiences are downloaded. The programs are fundamentally hardwired stimulus-response behaviors. Behavior activating stimuli may be signals the nervous system detects from the external world and/or signals that arise from within the body such as emotions, pleasure and pain. When a stimulus is perceived, it will automatically engage the behavioral response that was learned when the signal was first experienced. In fact, people who realize the automated nature of this playback response frequently admit to the fact that their "buttons have been pushed." Before the evolution of the conscious mind, the functions of animal brains consisted only of those that we link with the subconscious mind. These more primitive minds were simple stimulus-response devices that automatically responded to environmental stimuli by engaging genetically programmed (instincts) or simple learned behaviors. These animals do not "consciously" evoke such behaviors, and in fact, may even be oblivious to them. Their behaviors are programmed reflexes, like the blink of an eye in response to a puff of air or the kick of a leg after tapping the knee joint. The Conscious Mind: The Creator Within The evolution of higher mammals, including chimps, cetaceans and humans, brought forth a new level of awareness called "self-consciousness," or, simply, the conscious mind. The newer conscious mind is an important evolutionary advance. The earlier, subconscious mind is our "autopilot"; the conscious mind is our manual control. For example, if a ball comes near your eye, the slower conscious mind may not have time to be aware of the threatening projectile. Yet the subconscious mind, which processes some 20,000,000 environmental stimuli per second v. 40 environmental stimuli interpreted by the conscious mind in the same second, will cause the eye to blink. 166 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers [Norretranders 1998] (see illustration below). The subconscious mind, one of the most powerful information processors known, specifically observes both the surrounding world and the body's internal awareness, reads the environmental cues and immediately engages previ- Conscious Mind Subconscious Mind Visualizing the information-processing powers of the conscious and subconscious minds. Consider that the image of Machu Picchu above is comprised of 20,000,000 pixel dots, each representing a BIT of information received by the nervous system in one second. How much of that information enters the conscious mind? In the lower picture, the dot represents the total amount of information that is processed by the conscious mind. (Actually the dot is 10X more than enters consciousness, I had to enlarge it because it was barely visible.) In contrast, the powerful subconscious mind processes alt the remaining incoming information (the black area) in the same second. 167 The Biology of Belief ously acquired (learned) behaviors —all without the help, supervision or even awareness of the conscious mind. The two minds make a dynamic duo. Operating together, the conscious mind can use its resources to focus on some specific point, such as the party you are going to on Friday night. Simultaneously, your subconscious mind can be safely pushing the lawn mower around and successfully not cutting off your foot or running over the cat—even though you are not consciously paying attention to mowing the lawn. The two minds also cooperate in acquiring very complex behaviors that can subsequently be unconsciously managed. Remember the first day you excitedly sat in the driver's seat of a car, preparing to learn how to drive? The number of things that had to be dealt with by the conscious mind was staggering. While keeping your eyes on the road, you had to also watch the rear and side view mirrors, pay attention to the speedometer and other gauges, use two feet for the three pedals of a standard shift vehicle and try to be calm, cool and collected as you drove past observing peers. It took what seemed to be a long time before all these behaviors were "programmed" into your mind. Today, you get in the car, turn the ignition on and consciously review your shopping list as the subconscious mind dutifully engages all the complex skills you need to successfully navigate through the city —without even once having to tnink about the mechanics of driving. I know I am not the only one out there who has experienced this. You are driving and having a delightful discussion with the passenger sitting next to you. In fact, your consciousness gets so caught up in the conversation, that somewhere down the road it dawns on you that you haven't even paid attention to your driving for five minutes. After a momentary start, you realize that you are still on your side of the road and steadily moving along with the flow of traffic. A quick check of the rear view mirror reveals that you did not leave a wake of crumpled stop signs and smashed mailboxes. If you weren't consciously driving the car during that time, then who was? The subconscious mind! And how well did it do? Although you didn't observe its behavior, the sub- 168 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers conscious mind apparently performed just as well as it was taught during your driver education experience. In addition to facilitating subconscious habitual programs, the conscious mind also has the power to be spontaneously creative in its responses to environmental stimuli. In its self-reflective capacity, the conscious mind can observe behaviors as they're being carried out. As a preprogrammed behavior is unfolding, the observing conscious mind can step in, stop the behavior and create a new response. Thus the conscious mind offers us free will, meaning we are not just victims of our programming. To pull that off however, you have to be fully conscious lest the programming take over, a difficult task, as anyone who's tried willpower can attest. Subconscious progxamrning takes over the moment your conscious mind is not paying attention. The conscious mind can also think forward and backward in time, while the subconscious rnind is always operating in the present moment. When the conscious mind is busy daydreaming, creating future plans or reviewing past life experiences, the subconscious mind is always on duty, efficiently managing the behaviors required at the moment, without the need of conscious supervision. The two minds are truly a phenomenal mechanism, but here is how it can go awry. The conscious rnind is the "self," the voice of our own thoughts. It can have great visions and plans for a future filled with love, health, happiness and prosperity. While we focus our consciousness on happy thoughts, who is running the show? The subconscious. How is the subconscious going to manage our affairs? Precisely the way it was programmed. The subconscious mind's behaviors when we are not paying attention may not be of our own creation because most of our fundamental behaviors were downloaded without question from observing other people. Because subconscious-generated behaviors are not generally observed by the conscious mind, many people are stunned to hear that they are "just like their mom or their dad," the people who programmed their subconscious minds. The learned behaviors and beliefs acquired from other people, such as parents, peers and teachers, may not support the goals of our 169 The Biology of Belief conscious mind. The biggest impediments to realizing the successes of which we dream are the limitations programmed into the subconscious. These limitations not only influence our behavior, they can also play a major role in determining our physiology and health. As we've seen earlier, the mind plays a powerful role in controlling the biological systems that keep us alive. Nature did not intend the presence of the dual minds would be our Achilles heel. In fact, this duality offers a wonderful advantage for our lives. Consider it this way: What if we had conscious parents and teachers who served as wonderful life models, always engaging in humane and win-win relations with everyone in the community? If our subconscious mind were programmed with such healthy behaviors, we could be totally successful in our lives without ever being conscious! The Subconscious Mind: I Keep Calling and No One Answers While the ''thinking-self' nature of the conscious mind evokes images of a "ghost in the machine,'' there is no similar self-awareness operating in the subconscious mind. The latter mechanism is more akin to a jukebox loaded with behavioral programs, each ready to play as soon as appropriate environmental signals appear and press the selection buttons. If we don't like a particular song in the jukebox, how much yelling at or arguing with the machine will cause it to reprogram its play list? In my college days, I saw many an inebriated student, to no avail, curse and kick jukeboxes that were not responsive to their requests. Similarly, we must realize that no amount of yelling or cajoling by the conscious mind can ever change the behavioral "tapes" programmed into the subconscious mind. Once we realize the ineffectiveness of this tactic, we can quit engaging in a pitched battle with the subconscious rnind and take a more clinical approach to reprogramming it. Engaging the subconscious in battle is as pointless as kicking the jukebox in the hope that it will reprogram its play list. 170 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers The futility of battling with the subconscious is a hard message to get across because one of the programs most of us downloaded when we were young is that "will power is admirable." So we try over and over again to override the subconscious program. Usually such efforts are met with varying degrees of resistance because the cells are obligated to adhere to the subconscious program. Tensions between conscious will power and subconscious programs can result in serious neurological disorders. For me, a powerful image of why we should not challenge the subconscious comes from the movie "Shine." In the movie, based on a true story, Australian concert pianist David Helfgott defies his father by going off to London to study music. Helfgott's father, a survivor of the Holocaust, programmed his son's subconscious mind with the belief that the world was unsafe, that if he "stood out" it might be life threatening. His father insisted he would be safe only if he stayed close to his family. In spite of his father's relentless programming, Helfgott knew that he was a world-class pianist who needed to break from his father to realize his dream. In London, Helfgott played the notoriously difficult "Third Piano Concerto" of Rachmaninoff in a competition. The film shows the conflict between his conscious mind wanting success and his subconscious mind concerned that being visible, being internationally recognized, was life-tlrreatening. As he labors through the concerto, sweat pouring from his brow, Helfgott's conscious mind fights to stay in control, while his subconscious mind, fearful of winning, tries to take control of his body. Helfgott consciously forces himself to maintain control through the concerto until he plays the last note. He then passes out, overcome by the energy it took to battle his subconscious programming. For that "victory" over the subconscious, he pays a high price: When he comes to, he is insane. Most of us engage in less dramatic battles with our subconscious mind as we try to undo the programming we received as children. Witness our ability to continually seek out jobs that we fail at, or remain in jobs we hate, because we don't "deserve" a better life. 171 The Biology of Belief Conventional methods for suppressing destructive behaviors include drugs and talk therapy. Newer approaches promise to change our programming, recognizing that there is no use "reasoning" with the subconscious tape player. These methods capitalize on the findings of quantum physics that connect energy and thought. In fact, these modalities that reprogram previously learned behaviors can be collectively referred to as energy psychology, a burgeoning field based on the New Biology. But how much easier it would be to be nurtured from the beginning of life so that you can reach your genetic and creative potential? How much better to become a conscious parent so that your children and their children will be conscious parents, making reprogramming unnecessary and making for a happier, more peaceful planet! A Twinkle In Your Parents7 Eyes: Conscious Conception & Conscious Pregnancy You all know the expression, "When you were only a twinkle in your parents' eyes." A phrase that conjures up the happiness of loving parents who truly want to conceive a child. It turns out it is also a phrase that sums up the latest genetic research suggesting that parents should cultivate that twinkle in the months before they conceive a child. That growth-promoting awareness and intention can produce a smarter, healthier and happier baby. Research reveals that parents act as genetic engineers for their children in the months before conception. In the final stages of egg and sperm maturation, a process called genomic imprinting adjusts the activity of specific groups of genes that will shape the character of the child yet to be conceived. [Surani 2001; Reik and Walter 2001] Research suggests that what is going on in the lives of the parents during the process of genomic imprinting has a profound influence on the mind and body of their child, a scary thought given how unprepared most people are to have a baby. Verny writes in Pre-Parenting: Nurturing Your Child from Conception: "It makes a difference whether we are conceived in love, haste or hate, and whether a mother wants to be preg- 172 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers nant...parents do better when they live in a calm and stable environment free of addictions and supported by family and friends." [Verny and Weintraub 2002] Interestingly, aboriginal cultures have recognized the influence of the conception environment for millennia. Prior to conceiving a child, couples ceremonially purify their minds and bodies. Once the child is conceived, an impressive body of research is documenting how important parents' attitudes are in the development of the fetus. Again Verny writes: "In fact, the great weight of the scientific evidence that has emerged over the last decade demands that we reevaluate the mental and emotional abilities of unborn children. Awake or asleep, the studies show, they [unborn children] are constantly tuned in to their mother's every action, thought and feeling. From the moment of conception, the experience in the womb shapes the brain and lays the groundwork for personality, emotional temperament, and the power of higher thought." Now is the time to stress that the New Biology is not a return to the old days of blaming mothers for every ailment that medicine didn't understand—from schizophrenia to autism. Mothers and fathers are in the conception and pregnancy business together, even though it is the mother who carries the child in her womb. What the father does profoundly affects the mother, which in turn affects the developing child. For example, if the father leaves and the mother starts questioning her own ability to survive, his leaving profoundly changes the interaction between the mother and the unborn baby. Similarly, societal factors, such as lack of employment, housing and healthcare or endless wars that pull fathers into the military, can affect the parents and thus the developing child. The essence of conscious parenting is that both mothers and fathers have important responsibilities for fostering healthy, intelligent, productive and joy-filled children. We surely cannot blame ourselves, nor our parents for failures in our own or our children's lives. Science has kept our attention focused on the notion of genetic determinism, leaving us ignorant about the influence beliefs have on our 173 The Biology of Belief lives, and more importantly, how our behaviors and attitudes program the lives of our children. Most obstetricians are also still uneducated about the importance of parental attitudes in the development of the baby. According to the notion of genetic determinism that they were steeped in as medical students, fetal development is mechanically controlled by genes with little additional contribution from the mother. Consequently, Ob-Gyns are only concerned with a few maternal prenatal issues: Is she eating well? Taking vitamins? Does she exercise regularly? Those questions focus on what they believe is the mother's principal role, the provision of nutrients to be used by the genetically programmed fetus. But the developing child receives far more than nutrients from the mother's blood. Along with nutrients, the fetus absorbs excess glucose if the mother is diabetic, and excess Cortisol and other fight or flight hormones if the mother is chronically stressed. Research now offers insights into how the system works. If a mother is under stress, she activates her HPA axis, which provides fight or flight responses in a threatening environment. Stress hormones prepare the body to engage in a protection response. Once these maternal signals enter the fetal blood stream, they affect the same target tissues and organs in the fetus as they did in the mother. In stressful environments, fetal blood preferentially flows to the muscles and hindbrain, providing nutritional requirements needed by the arms and legs, and by the region of the brain responsible for life-saving reflex behavior. In supporting the function of the protection-related systems, blood flow is shunted from the viscera organs and stress hormones suppress forebrain function. The development of fetal tissue and organs is proportional to both the amount of blood they receive and the function they provide. When passing through the placenta, the hormones of a mother experiencing chronic stress will profoundly alter the distribution of blood flow in her fetus and change the character of her developing child's physiology. [Lesage, et al, 2004; Christensen 2000; Arnsten 1998; Leutwyler 1998; Sapolsky 1997; Sandman, et al, 1994] 174 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers At the University of Melbourne, E. Marilyn Wintour's research on pregnant sheep, who are physiologically quite similar to humans, has found that prenatal exposure to Cortisol eventually leads to high blood pressure [Dodic, et al, 2002]. Fetal Cortisol levels play a very important regulatory role in the development of the kidney's filtering units, the nephrons. A nephron's cells are intimately involved with regulating the body's salt balance and consequently are important in controlling blood pressure. Excess Cortisol absorbed from a stressed mother modifies fetal nephron formation. An additional effect of excess Cortisol is that it simultaneously switches the mother's and the fetus' system from a growth state to a protection posture. As a result, the growth-inliibiting effect of excess Cortisol in the womb causes the babies to be born smaller. Suboptimal conditions in the womb that lead to low birth-weight babies have been linked to a number of adult ailments that Nathanielsz outlines in his book Life In The Womb, [Nathanielsz 1999] including diabetes, heart disease and obesity. For example, Dr. David Barker [ibid.] of England's University of Southampton has found that a male who weighs less than 5.5 pounds at birth has a 50% greater chance of dying of heart disease than one with a higher birth weight. Harvard researchers have found that women who weigh less than 5.5 pounds at birth have a 23 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease than women born heavier. And David Leon [ibid.] of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that diabetes is three times more common in 60-year-old men who were small and thin at birth. The new focus on the influences of the prenatal environment extends to the study of IQ, which genetic determinists and racists once linked simply to genes. But in 1997, Bernie Devlin, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, carefully analyzed 212 earlier studies that compared the IQs of twins, siblings, and parents and their children. He concluded that genes account for only forty-eight percent of the factors that determine IQ. And when the synergistic effects of mingling the mother and father's genes are factored in, the true inherited component of intelligence plummets even further, to thirty-four percent. [Devlin, et al, 1997; McGue 1997] 175 The Biology of Belief Devlin, on the other hand, found that conditions during prenatal development significantly impact IQ. He reveals that up to fifty-one percent of a child's potential intelligence is controlled by environmental factors. Previous studies had already found that drinking or smoking during pregnancy can cause decreased IQ in children, as can exposure to lead in the womb. The lesson for people who want to be parents is that you can radically shortchange the intelligence of your child simply by the way you approach pregnancy. These IQ changes are not accidents; they are directly linked to altered blood flow in a stressed brain. In my lectures on conscious parenting, I cite research, but I also show a video from an Italian conscious parenting organization, Associazione Nazionale Educazione Prenatale, which graphically illustrates the interdependent relationship between parents and their unborn child. In this video, a mother and father engage in a loud argument while the woman is undergoing a sonogram. You can vividly see the fetus jump when the argument starts. The startled fetus arches its body and jumps up, as if it were on a trampoline when the argument is punctuated with the shattering of glass. The power of modern technology, in the form of a sonogram, helps to lay to rest the myth that the unborn child is not a sophisticated enough organism to react to anything other than its nutritional environment. Nature's Head Start Program You may be wondering why evolution would provide such a system for fetal development that seems so fraught with peril and is so dependent on the environment of the parents. Actually, it's an ingenious system that helps ensure the survival of your offspring. Eventually, the child is going to find itself in the same environment as its parents. Information acquired from the parents' perception of their environment transits the placenta and primes the prenate's physiology, preparing it to more effectively deal with future exigencies that will be encountered after birth. Nature is simply preparing that child to best survive in that environment. However, armed with the latest 176 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Cenetic Engineers science, parents now have a choice. They can carefully reprogram their limiting beliefs about life before they bring a child into their world. The importance of parental programming undermines the notion that our traits, both positive and negative, are fully determined by our genes. As we have seen, genes are shaped, guided and tailored by environmental learning experiences. We have all been led to believe that artistic, athletic and intellectual prowess are traits simply passed on by genes. But no matter how "good" one's genes may be, if an individual's nurture experiences are fraught with abuse, neglect or mis-perceptions, the realization of the genes' potentials will be sabotaged. Liza Minelli acquired her genes from her superstar mother Judy Garland and her father filmmaker Vincent Minelli. Liza's career, the heights of her stardom and the lows of her personal life, are scripts that were played out by her parents and downloaded into her subconscious mind. If Liza had the same genes, but was raised by a nurturing Pennsylvania Dutch farming family, that environment would have epigenetically triggered a different selection of genes. The genes that enabled her to pursue a successful entertainment career would have likely been masked or inhibited by the cultural demands of her agrarian community. A wonderful example of the effectiveness of conscious parenting programming is superstar golfer Tiger Woods. Although his father was not an accomplished golfer, he made every effort to immerse Tiger in an environment that was rich with opportunities to develop and enhance the mindset, skills, attitudes and focus of a master golfer. No doubt, Tiger's success is also intimately connected with the Buddhist philosophy that his mother contributed. Indeed, genes are important —but their importance is only realized through the influence of conscious parenting and the richness of opportunities provided by the environment. Conscious Mothering and Fathering I used to close my public lectures with the admonition that we are personally responsible for everything in our lives. Such a closure did 177 The Biology of Belief not make me popular with the audience. That responsibility was too much for many people to accept. After one lecture, an older woman in the audience was so distressed by my conclusion that she brought her husband backstage and in tears vehemently contested my conclusion. She did not want any part of some of the tragedies she had experienced. This woman convinced me that my summary conclusion had to be modified. I realized that I didn't want to contribute to foisting blame and guilt on any individual. As a society, we are too apt to wallow in guilt or scapegoat others for our problems. As we gain insights over a lifetime, we become better equipped to take charge of our lives. After some deliberation, this woman from the audience happily accepted the following resolution: You are personally responsible for everything in your life, once you become aware that you are personally responsible for everything in your life. One cannot be "guilty" of being a poor parent unless one is already aware of the above-described information and disregards it. Once you become aware of this information, you can begin to apply it to reprogram your behavior. And while we're on the subject of myths about parenting, it is absolutely not true that you are the same parent for all of your children. Your second child is not a clone of the first child. The same things are not happening in your world that happened when the first child was born. As I said above, I once thought that I was the same parent for my first child as I was for my very different second child. But when I analyzed my parenting, I found that was not true. When my first child was born, I was at the beginning of my graduate school training, which was for me, a difficult transition fraught with a high workload accompanied by high insecurity. By the time my second daughter was born, I was a more confident, more accomplished research scientist ready to start my academic career. I had more time and more psychic energy to parent my second child and to better parent my first daughter, who was now a toddler. Another myth I'd like to address is that infants need lots of stimulation in the form of black and white flash cards or other learning tools marketed to parents to increase the intelligence of their children. Michael Mendizza and Joseph Chilton Pearce's inspiring book Magical 178 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers Parent-Magical Child makes it clear that play not programming is the key to optimizing the learning and performance of infants and children. [Mendizza and Pearce 2001] Children need parents who can playfully foster the curiosity, creativity and wonder that accompanies their children into the world. Obviously, what humans need is nurture in the form of love and the ability to observe older humans going about their everyday lives. When babies in orphanages, for example, are kept in cribs and only provided with food but not one-on-one smiles and hugs, they develop long-lasting developmental problems. One study of Romanian orphans by Mary Carlson, a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School, concluded that the lack of touching and attention in Romanian orphanages and poor-quality day-care centers stunted the children's growth and adversely affected their behavior. Carlson, who studied sixty Romanian children from a few months to three years of age, measured their Cortisol levels by analyzing samples of saliva. The more stressed a child was, as determined by the higher than normal levels of Cortisol in its blood, the poorer the outcome for the child. [Holden 1996] Carlson and others have also done research on monkeys and rats demonstrating crucial links among touch, the secretion of the stress hormone Cortisol, and social development. Studies by James W. Prescott, former director of the National Institutes of Health's section on Human Health and Child Development, revealed that newborn monkeys deprived of physical contact with their mothers or social contact with others, develop abnormal stress profiles and become violent sociopaths. [Prescott 1996 and 1990] He followed up these studies with an assessment of human cultures based on how they raise their children. He found that if a society physically held and loved its children and did not repress sexuality, that culture was peaceful. Peaceful cultures feature parents who maintain extensive, physical contact with their children, such as carrying their babies on their chests and backs throughout the day. In contrast, societies that deprive their infants, children and adolescents of exten- 179 The Biology of Belief sive touch are inevitably violent in nature. One of the differences between populations is that many of the children not receiving touch suffer from somatosensory affective disorder. This disorder is characterized by an inability to physiologically suppress surging levels of stress hormones, a precursor to violent episodes. These findings provide insight into the violence that pervades the United States. Rather than endorsing physical closeness, our current medical and psychological practices often discourage it. From the unnatural intervention of medical doctors in the natural process of birthing, for example, separating the neonate for extensive periods from the parents into distant nurseries, and the advising of parents not to respond to their babies cries for fear of spoiling them. Such practices, presumably based upon "science," undoubtedly contribute to the violence in our civilization. The research regarding touch and its relationship to violence is described in full at the following website: www.violence.de. But what about the Romanian children who come out of deprived backgrounds and become what one researcher called "the resilient wonders." Why do some children thrive despite their backgrounds? Because they have "better" genes? By now you know that I don't believe that. More likely, the birth parents of these resilient wonders provided a more nurturing pre- and perinatal environment, as well as good nutrition at crucial points in the child's development. The lesson for adoptive parents is that they should not pretend their children's lives began when they came into their new surroundings. Their children may have already been programmed by their birth parents with a belief that they are unwanted or unlovable. If more fortunate, they may have, at some crucial age in their development, received positive, life-affirming messages from their caretakers. If adoptive parents are not aware of pre- and perinatal programming, they may not deal realistically with post-adoption issues. They may not realize that their children did not come to them as a "blank slate" anymore than newborns come into the world as blank slates, unaffected by their nine months in their mothers' womb. Better to recognize that prograrnming and to work, if necessary, to change it. 180 Chapter Seven Conscious Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers For adoptive and non-adoptive parents alike, the message is clear: Your children's genes reflect only their potential, not their destiny. It is up to you to provide the environment that allows them to develop to their highest potential. Notice I do not say that it is up to parents to read lots of parenting books. I've met lots of people who are intellectually attracted to the ideas I present in this book. But intellectual interest is not enough. I tried that myself. I was intellectually aware of everything in this book, but before I made the effort to change, it made no impact on my life. If you simply read this book and think that your life and your children's lives will change, you're doing the equivalent of accepting the latest pharmaceutical pill thinking it will "fix" everything. No one is fixed until they make the effort to change. Here is my challenge to you. Let go of unfounded fears and take care not to implant unnecessary fears and limiting beliefs in your children's subconscious minds. Most of all, do not accept the fatalistic message of genetic determinism. You can help your children reach their potential and you can change your personal life. You are not "stuck" with your genes. Take heed of the growth and protection lessons from cells and shift your lives into growth whenever possible. And remember that for human beings the most potent growth-promoter is not the fanciest school, the biggest toy or the highest-paying job. Long before cell biology and studies of children in orphanages, conscious parents and seers like Rurni knew that for human babies and adults the best growth promoter is Love. A lifetime without Love is of no account Love is the Water of Life Drink it down with heart and soul 181 EPILOGUE SPIRIT AND SCIENCE The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the power of all true science. — Albert Einstein We've come a long way since Chapter 1, when I faced my panicked medical students and started my journey to the New Biology. But throughout the book I have not strayed far from the theme I introduced in the first chapter — that smart cells can teach us how to live. Now that we're at the end of the book, I'd like to explain how my study of cells turned me into a spiritual person. I also want to explain why I am optimistic about the fate of our planet, though I concede that optimism is sometimes hard to maintain if you read the daily newspaper. I've specifically separated my discussion of Spirit and Science from the preceding chapters of the book by entitling this section the Epilogue. An epilogue is generally a short section at the end of the work that details the fate of its character...in this case moi. When the awareness that prompted this book first came into my head twenty years ago, I saw something in it that was so profound it immediately transformed my life. In the first instant of my big "aha," my brain was reveling in the beauty of the newly envisioned mechanics of the cell membrane. A few heartbeats later I was overtaken by a joy that was so deep and wide, my heart ached and tears flowed from my eyes. The mechanics of the new science revealed the existence of our spiritual essence and our immortality. For me, the conclusions were so unambiguous I instantly went from non-believer to believer. I know that for some of you the conclusions I am going to present in this section are too speculative. Conclusions drawn in the previous chapters of the book are based upon a quarter of a century of studying cloned cells and are grounded in the astonishing new discoveries that are rewriting our understanding of the mysteries of life. The conclusions I offer in this Epilogue are also based upon my scientific train- 183 The Biology of Belief ing —they do not spring from a leap of religious faith. I know conventional scientists may shy away from them, because they involve Spirit, but I am confident in presenting them for two reasons. One reason is a philosophical and scientific rule called Occam's razor. Occam's razor holds that when several hypotheses are offered to explain a phenomenon, the simplest hypothesis that accounts for most of the observations is the most likely hypothesis and should be considered first. The new science of the magical mem-Brain in conjunction with the principles of quantum physics offer the simplest explanation that accounts for the science of not only allopathic medicine, but also for the philosophy and practice of complementary medicine and spiritual healing as well. Also, after so many years of personally applying the science I have outlined in this book, I can attest to its power to change lives. However, I concede that while science led me to my euphoric moment of insight, the experience resembled instantaneous conversions described by mystics. Remember the biblical story of Saul who was knocked off his horse with a lightning bolt? For me, there was no lightning bolt that came forth from the Caribbean skies. But I ran wild-eyed into the medical library because the nature of the cell's membrane that was "downloaded" into my awareness in the wee hours of the morning convinced me that we are immortal, spiritual beings who exist separately from our bodies. I had heard an undeniable inner voice informing me that I was leading a life based not only on the false premise that genes control biology, but also on the false premise that we end when our physical bodies die. I had spent years studying molecular control mechanisms within the physical body and at that astounding moment came to realize that the protein "switches" that control life are primarily turned on and off by signals from the environment... the Universe. You may be surprised that it was science that led me to that moment of spiritual insight. In scientific circles, the word "spirit" is as warmly embraced as the word "evolution" is in fundamentalist circles. As you know, spiritualists and scientists approach life in vastly differ- 184 Epilogue ent ways. When life is out of whack for spiritualists, they beseech God or some other invisible force for relief. When life is out of whack for scientists, they run to the medicine cabinet for a chemical. It is only with a drug like Rolaids™ that they are able to spell relief. The fact that science led me to spiritual insight is appropriate because the latest discoveries in physics and cell research are forging new links between the worlds of Science and Spirit. These realms were split apart in the days of Descartes centuries ago. However, I truly believe that only when Spirit and Science are reunited will we be afforded the means to create a better world. A Time of Choice The latest science leads us to a world view not unlike that held by the earliest civilizations, in which every material object in Nature was thought to possess a spirit. The Universe is still thought of as One by the small number of aborigines who survive. Aboriginal cultures do not make the usual distinctions among rocks, air and humans; all are imbued with spirit, the invisible energy. Doesn't this sound familiar? This is the world of quantum physics, in which matter and energy are completely entangled. And it is the world of Gaia that I spoke of in Chapter 1, a world in which the whole planet is considered to be one living, breathing organism, which needs to be protected from human greed, ignorance and poor planning. Never have we needed the insights of such a worldview more. When Science turned away from Spirit, its mission dramatically changed. Instead of trying to understand the "natural order" so that human beings can live in harmony with that order, Modern Science embarked on a goal of control and domination of Nature. The technology that has resulted from pursuing this philosophy has brought human civilization to the brink of spontaneous combustion by disrupting the web of Nature. The evolution of our biosphere has been punctuated by five "mass extinctions," including the one that killed the dinosaurs. Each wave of extinction nearly wiped out all life on the planet. Some researchers believe, as I mentioned in Chapter 1, that we 185 The Biology of Belief are "deep" into the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the others caused by galactic forces such as comets, the current extinction is being caused by a force much closer to home —humans. As you sit on your porch and watch the sunset, note its spectacular color. The beauty in the sky reflects the pollution in the air. As the world we know decays, the Earth promises us an even greater light show. Meanwhile we are leading lives without a moral context. The modern world has shifted from spiritual aspirations to a war for material accumulation. The one with the most toys wins. My favorite image for the scientists and technologists who have led us into this spiritless world comes from the Disney movie, Fantasia. Remember Mickey Mouse as the hapless apprentice to a powerful sorcerer? The sorcerer instructs Mickey to do the chores of the lab while he is away. One of the chores is to fill a giant cistern with water from a nearby well. Mickey, who had been observing the sorcerer's magic, tries to bypass the chore by applying a spell to a broom, which turns it into a water-bucket-carrying lackey. When Mickey falls asleep, the robotic broom fills and then overfills the cistern, flooding the lab. Upon awakening, Mickey tries to stop the broom. But his knowledge is so limited, he fails and the situation gets even worse. The water takes over, until the sorcerer, who does have the knowledge to quiet the broom, returns and restores balance. Here's how Mickey's predicament is described in the movie: "This piece is a legend about a sorcerer who had an apprentice. He was a bright young lad, very anxious to learn the business. As a matter of fact, he was a little too bright because he had started practicing some of the boss's magic tricks before learning how to control them." Today's very bright scientists are "Mickey Mousing around" with our genes and our environment without understanding how interconnected everything on this planet is —a course of action bound to have tragic results. How did we get to this point? There was a time when it was necessary for scientists to split from Spirit, or at least the corruption of Spirit by the Church. This powerful institution was in the business of suppressing scientific discovery when it was at odds with Church 186 Epilogue dogma. It was Nicolaus Copernicus, a savvy politician as well as a gifted astronomer, who launched the Spirit/Science split when he released to the public his profound manuscript De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres). The 1543 manuscript boldly declared that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the "Heavenly Spheres." This is obvious today, but in Copernicus' time it was heresy, because his new cosmology was at odds with an "infallible" Church, which had declared the Earth to be the center of God's firmament. Copernicus believed that the Inquisition would destroy both him and his heretical beliefs, so he prudently waited until he was on his deathbed to publish his work. His concern for his safety was fully justified. Fifty-seven years later Giordano Bruno, a Dominican monk who had the temerity to speak out and defend Copernicus' cosmology, was burned at the stake for this heresy. Copernicus outsmarted the Church—it is hard to torture an intellectual when he is in his grave. Unable to kill the messenger, the Church eventually had to deal with Copernicus's message. A century later French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes insisted on using scientific methodology to examine the validity of all previously accepted "truths." The invisible forces of the spiritual world clearly didn't lend themselves to such analysis. In the post-Reformation era, scientists were encouraged to pursue their studies of the natural world and spiritual "truths" were relegated to the realms of religion and metaphysics. Spirit and other metaphysical concepts were devalued as "unscientific" because their truths could not be assessed by the analytic methods of science. The important "stuff" about life and the Universe became the domain of rational scientists. If the Spirit/Science split needed any more reinforcement, it got it in 1859 when Darwin's theory of evolution made an instant splash. Darwin's theory spread across the globe like today's Internet rumors. It was readily accepted because its principles dovetailed with people's experiences in breeding pets, farm animals and plants. Darwinism attributed the origins of humanity to the happenstance of hereditary variations, which meant that there was no need to invoke Divine intervention in our lives or our science. Modern scientists were no less 187 The Biology of Belief awed by the Universe than the cleric/scientists who preceded them, but with Darwin's theory in hand they no longer saw a need to invoke the Hand of God as a grand "designer" of Nature's complex order. Preeminent Darwinist Ernst Mayr wrote: "When we ask how this perfection is brought about, we seem to find only arbitrariness, planless-ness, randomness, and accident..." [Mayr 1976] While Darwinian theory specifies that the purpose of life's struggles is survival, it does not specify a means that should be used in securing that end. Apparently, "anything goes" in the perceived struggle because the goal is simply survival—by any means. Rather than framing the character of our lives by the laws of morality, the neo-Darwinism of Mayr suggests that we live our lives by the law of the jungle. Neo-Darwinism essentially concludes that those who have more deserve it. In the West, we have accepted the inevitability of a civilization that is characterized by the "haves" and the "have-nots." We don't want to deal with the fact that everything in this world has a price. Unfortunately this includes, along with the ailing planet, the homeless as well as the child laborers who sew our designer jeans...they are the losers in this struggle. We Are Made In the Image of the Universe On that early morning in the Caribbean, I realized that even the "winners" in our Darwinian world are losers because we are one with a bigger Universe/God. The cell engages in behavior when its brain, the membrane, responds to environmental signals. In fact, every functional protein in our body is made as a complementary "image" of an environmental signal. If a protein did not have a complementary signal to couple with, it would not function. This means, as I concluded in that "aha!" moment, that every protein in our bodies is a physical/electromagnetic complement to something in the environment. Because we are machines made out of protein, by definition we are made in the image of the environment, that environment being the Universe, or to many, God. 188 Epilogue Back to the winners and losers. Because humans evolved as complements of their surrounding environment, if we change the environment too much, we will no longer be complementary to it.. .we won't "fit." At the moment, humans are altering the planet so dramatically that we are threatening our own survival as well as the survival of other, rapidly disappearing organisms. That threat encompasses Hummer drivers and fast food moguls with lots of money, the "winners," along with poverty-stricken laborers, the "losers," in this competition for survival. There are two ways out of this dilemma: to die or mutate. I think you should seriously ponder this as the need to sell Big Macs leads us to decimate the rain forests; as the staggering numbers of gas-guzzling vehicles foul the air; or as petrochemical industries erode the Earth and pollute the water. We were designed by Nature to fit an environment, but not the environment we are now making. I learned from cells that we are part of a whole and that we forget this at our peril. But I also recognized that each one of us has a unique, biological identity. Why? What makes each person's cellular community unique? On the surface of our cells is a family of identity receptors, which distinguish one individual from another. A well-studied subset of these receptors, called self-receptors or human leukocytic antigens (HLA), are related to the functions of the immune system. If your self-receptors were to be removed, your cells would no longer reflect your identity. These self-receptor-less cells would still be human cells, but without an identity they would simply be generic human cells. Put your personal set of self-receptors back on the cells and they again reflect your identity. When you donate an organ, the closer your set of self-receptors match the receptors of the person who is to receive the organ, the less aggressive the rejection reaction launched by the recipient's immune system. For example, let's say that a set of 100 different self-receptors on the surface of each cell is used to identify you as an individual. You are in need of an organ graft to survive. When my set of 100 self-receptors is compared to your self-receptors, it turns out that we have only 10 receptors that match. I would not be a great organ donor for you. 189 The Biology of Belief The very dissimilar nature of our self-receptors reveals that our identities are very different. The vast difference in membrane receptors would mobilize your immune system, shifting it into hyper-drive to eliminate the foreign, i.e., not-self, transplanted cells. You would have a greater chance of success if you could find a donor whose self-recep-tors more closely match the ones on your cells. In your search for a better donor, however, you will not find a perfect 100 per cent match. So far scientists have never found two individuals who are biologically the same. However, it is theoretically possible to create universal donor tissues when you remove the cells' self receptors, though scientists have yet to carry out such an experiment. In such an experiment, the cells would lose their identity. These self-receptor-less cells would not be rejected. While scientists have focused on the nature of these immune-related receptors, it is important to note that it is not the protein receptors, but what activates the receptors that give individuals their identity. Each cell's unique set of identify receptors are located on the membrane's outer surface, where they act as "antennas," downloading complementary environmental signals. These identity receptors read a signal of "self," which does not exist within the cell but comes to it from the external environmental. Consider the human body a television set. You are the image on the screen. But your image did not come from inside the television. Your identity is an environmental broadcast that was received via an antenna. One day you turn on the TV and the picture tube has blown out. Your first reaction would be, "Oh, #*$?!! The television is dead." But did the image die along with the television set? To answer that question you get another television set, plug it in, turn it on and tune it to the station you were watching before the picture tube blew out. This exercise will demonstrate that the broadcast image is still on the air, even though your first television "died." The death of the television as the receiver in no way killed the identity broadcast that comes from the environment. In this analogy, the physical television is the equivalent of the cell. The TV's antenna, which downloads the broadcast, represents our full 190 Epilogue set of identifying receptors and the broadcast represents an environmental signal. Because of our preoccupation with the material Newtonian world, we might at first assume that the cell's protein receptors are the "self." That would be the equivalent of believing that the TV's antenna is the source of the broadcast. The cell's receptors are not the source of its identity, but the vehicle by which the "self" is downloaded from the environment. When I fully understood this relationship I realized that my identity, my "self," exists in the environment whether my body is here or not. Just as in the TV analogy, if my body dies and in the future a new individual (biological "television set") is born who has the same exact set of identity receptors, that new individual will be downloading "me." I will once again be present in the world. When my physical body dies, the broadcast is still present. My identity is a complex signature contained within the vast information that collectively comprises the environment. Supporting evidence for my belief that an individual's broadcast is still present even after death comes from transplant patients who report that along with their new organs come behavioral and psychological changes. One conservative, health-conscious New Englander, Claire Sylvia, was astonished when she developed a taste for beer, chicken nuggets and motorcycles after her heart-lung transplant. Sylvia talked to the donor's family and found she had the heart of an eighteen-year-old motorcycle enthusiast who loved chicken nuggets and beer. In her book called A Change of Heart, Sylvia outlines her personal transformational experiences, as well as similar experiences of other patients in her transplant support group. [Sylvia and Novak 1997] Paul P. Pearsall presents a number of other such stories in his book, TTie Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy. [Pearsall 1998] The accuracy of memories that accompany these transplants is beyond chance or coincidence. One young girl began having nightmares of murder after her heart transplant. Her dreams were so vivid that they led to the capture of the murderer who killed her donor. 191 The Biology of Belief 192 One theory about how these new behaviors become implanted into the transplant recipient along with the organ is "cellular memory/' i.e. the notion that somehow memories are embedded in cells. You know 1 have immense respect for the intelligence of single cells, but I have to draw a line here. Yes, cells can "remember" that they are muscle cells or liver cells, but there is a limit to their intelligence. I do not believe cells are physically endowed with perception mechanisms that can distinguish and remember a taste for chicken nuggets! Psychological and behavioral memory does make sense if we realize that the transplanted organs still bear the original identity receptors of the donor and are apparently still downloading that same environmental information. Even though the body of the person who donated the organs is dead, their broadcast is still on. They are, as I realized in my flash of insight while mulling over the mechanics of the cellular membrane — immortal, as I believe we all are. Cells and organ transplants offer a model not only for immortality but also for reincarnation. Consider the possibility that an embryo in the future displays the same set of identity receptors that I now possess. That embryo will be tuned into my "self." My identity is back but playing through a different body. Sexism and racism become ridiculous as well as immoral when you realize that your receptors could wind up on a white person, a black person, an Asian, or a male or female. Because the environment represents "All That Is" (God) and our self-receptor antennas download only a narrow band of the whole spectrum, we all represent a small part of the whole...a small part of God. Earth Landers While the TV analogy is useful, it is not a complete one because a television is only a playback device. In the course of our lives, what we do alters the environment. We change the environment simply by being here. So a more complete way of understanding our relationship to Spirit is to compare a human to the Martian rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" or the other NASA landers we have sent to the Moon Epilogue 193 and Mars. Humans are not yet able to go physically to Mars, but we really want to know what it would be like to land on Mars. So we send up the equivalent of a human explorer. Although the Mars rovers don't physically resemble a human, they have functions of humans. These vehicles have cameras, which are the "eyes" that see the planet. They have vibration detectors, which are "ears" that hear the planet. They have chemical sensors, which "taste" the planet, etc. So the lander is designed with sensors that can experience Mars somewhat as a human would experience it. But let's look a little more closely at how the Mars rovers work. The rovers have antennas ("receptors") that are tuned to receive information broadcasts by a human being in the form of a NASA controller. The Earth-bound controller actually sends information that animates the Mariner on Mars. But the information is not a one-way street. The NASA controller also learns from the lander, because the vehicle transmits information about its Mars experiences back to Earth. The NASA controller interprets the information about the lander's experiences and then applies that new awareness to better navigate the Martian terrain. You and I are like "Earth landers" who receive information from an enviromnental controller/Spirit. As we live our lives, the experiences of our world are sent back to that controller, our Spirit. So the character of how you live your life influences the character of your "self." This interaction corresponds to the concept of karma. When we understand it, we must take heed of the life we live on this planet, because the consequences of our life last longer than our bodies. What we do during our lifetime can come back to haunt us, or a future version of ourselves. In the end, these cellular insights serve to emphasize the wisdom of spiritual teachers throughout the ages. Each of us is a spirit in material form. A powerful image for this spiritual truth is the way light interacts with a prism. When a beam of white light goes through a prism, the prism's crystalline structure diffracts the exiting light so that it appears as a The Biology of Belief rainbow spectrum. Each color, though a component of the white light, is seen separately because of its unique frequency. If you reverse this process by projecting a rainbow spectrum through the crystal, the individual frequencies will recombine, forming a beam of white light. Think of each human being's identity as an individual color frequency within the rainbow spectrum. If we arbitrarily eliminate a specific frequency, a color, because we don't "like it," and then try to put the remaining frequencies back through the prism, the exiting beam will no longer be white light. By definition, white light is composed of all of the frequencies. Many spiritual people anticipate the return of White Light to the planet. They imagine that it will come in the form of a unique individual like Buddha, Jesus or Muhammad. However, from my newly acquired spirituality, I see that White Light will only return to the planet when every human being recognizes every other human being as an individual frequency of the White Light. As long as we keep elinrinating or devaluing other human beings we have decided we don't like, i.e. destroying frequencies of the spectrum, we will not be able to experience the White Light. Our job is to protect and nurture each human frequency so that the White Light can return. 194 Epilogue Fractal Evolution—A Theory We Can Live With I've explained why I am now a spiritual scientist. Now I'd like to explain why I am an optimist. The story of evolution is, I believe, a story of repeating patterns. We are at a crisis point, but the planet has been here before. Evolution has been punctuated with upheavals, which virtually wiped out existing species, including the best-known casualties, the dinosaurs. Those upheavals were directly linked to environmental catastrophes just as today's crisis is. As the human population increases, we are competing for space with the other organisms with whom we share the planet. But the good news is that similar pressures in the past have brought into being a new way of living, and will do so again. We are concluding one evolutionary cycle and preparing to embark upon another. As this cycle comes to an end, people are becoming understandably apprehensive and alarmed by the failures in the structures that support civilization. I believe, however, that the "dinosaurs" that are currently raping Nature will become extinct. The survivors will be those who realize that our thoughtless ways are destructive to the planet and to us. How can I be so sure? My certitude comes from my study of fractal geometry. Here's a definition of geometry, which will explain why it is important for studying the structure of our biosphere. Geometry is a mathematical assessment of "the way the different parts of something fit together in relation to each other." Until 1975, the only geometry available for study was Euclidean, which was summarized in the thirteen-volume ancient Greek text, Die Elements of Euclid, written around 300 B.C. For spatially oriented students, Euclidian geometry is easy to understand because it deals with structures like cubes and spheres and cones that can be mapped on graph paper. However, Euclidian geometry does not apply to Nature. For example, you cannot map a tree, a cloud or a mountain using the mathematical formulas of this geometry. In Nature, most organic and inorganic structures display more irregular and chaotic-appearing patterns. These natural images can only be created by using the recently 195 The Biology of Belief discovered mathematics called fractal geometry. French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot launched the field of fractal mathematics and geometry in 1975. Like quantum physics, fractal (fractional) geometry forces us to consider those irregular patterns, a quirkier world of curvy shapes and objects with more than three dimensions. The mathematics of fractals is amazingly simple because you need only one equation, using only simple multiplication and addition. The same equation is then repeated ad infinitum. For example, the "Mandelbrot set" is based on the simple formula of taking a number, multiplying it by itself and then adding the original number. The result of that equation is then used as the input of the subsequent equation; the result of that equation is then used as the input for the next equation and so on. The challenge is that even though each equation follows the same formula, these equations must be repeated millions of times to actually visualize a fractal pattern. The manual labor and time needed to complete millions of equations prevented early mathematicians from recognizing the value of fractal geometry. With the advent of powerful computers Mandelbrot was able to define this new math. Inherent in the geometry of fractals is the creation of ever-repeating, "self-similar'' patterns nested within one another. You can get a rough idea of the repeating shapes by picturing the eternally popular toy, hand-painted Russian nesting dolls. Each smaller structure is a miniature, but not necessarily an exact version of the larger form. Fractal geometry emphasizes the relationship between the patterns in a whole structure and the patterns seen in parts of a structure. For example, the pattern of twigs on a branch resembles the pattern of limbs branching off the trunk. The pattern of a major river looks like the patterns of its smaller tributaries. In the human lung, the fractal pattern of branching along the bronchus repeats in the smaller bronchioles. The arterial and venous blood vessels and the peripheral nervous system also display similar repeating patterns. 196 Epilogue Are the repetitive images observed in Nature simply coincidence? I believe the answer is definitely "no." To explain why I believe fractal geometry defines the structure of life, let's revisit two points. First, the story of evolution is, as I've emphasized many times in this book, the story of ascension to higher awareness. Second, in our study of the membrane, we defined the receptor-effector protein complex (IMPs) as the fundamental unit of awareness/intelligence. Consequently, the more receptor-effector proteins (the olives in our bread and butter sandwich model) an organism possesses, the more awareness it can have and the higher it is on the evolutionary ladder. However, there are physical restrictions for increasing the number of receptor-effector proteins that can be packed into the cell's membrane. The cell membrane's thickness measures seven to eight nanometers, the diameter of its phospholipid bilayer. The average diameter of the receptor-effector "awareness" proteins is approximately the same as the phospholipids in which they are embedded. Because the membrane's thickness is so tightly defined, you can't cram in lots of IMPs by stacking them on top of one another. You're stuck with a one-protein-thick layer. Consequently, the only option for increasing the number of awareness proteins is to increase the surface area of the membrane. Let's go back to our membrane "sandwich" model. More olives mean more awareness —the more olives you can layer in the sandwich, the smarter the sandwich. Which has more intelligence capacity, a slice of cocktail rye or a large slab of sour dough? The answer is simple: the larger the surface area of the bread, the greater the number of olives that can fit into the sandwich. Relating this analogy to biological awareness, the more membrane surface area the cell has, the more protein "olives" it can manage. Evolution, the expansion of awareness, can then be physically defined by the increase of membrane surface area. Mathematical studies have found that fractal geometry is the best way to get the most surface area (membrane) within a three-dimensional space (cell). Therefore, evolution becomes a fractal affair. 197 The Biology of Belief Repeating patterns in Nature are a necessity, not a coincidence, of "fractal" evolution. My point is not to get caught up in the mathematical details of the modeling. There are repetitive fractal patterns in Nature and in evolution as well. The strikingly beautiful, computer-generated pictures that illustrate fractal patterns should remind us that, despite our modern angst and the seeming chaos of our world, there is order in Nature and there is nothing truly new under the sun. Evolution's repetitive, fractal patterns allow us to predict that humans will figure out how to expand their consciousness in order to climb another rung of the evolutionary ladder. The exciting, esoteric world of fractal geometry provides a mathematical model that suggests that the "arbitrariness, planlessness, randomness, and accident" that Mayr wrote about is an outmoded concept. In fact, I believe it is an idea that does not serve humanity and should, as rapidly as possible, go the way of the pre-Copernican Earth-centered Universe. Once we realize that there are repeating, ordered patterns in Nature and evolution, the lives of cells, which inspired this book and the changes in my life, become even more instructive. For billions of years, cellular living systems have been carrying out an effective peace plan that enables them to enhance their survival as well as the survival of the other organisms in the biosphere. Imagine a population of trillions of individuals living under one roof in a state of perpetual happiness. Such a community exists — it is called the healthy human body. Clearly cellular communities work better than human communities— there are no left-out, "homeless" cells in our bodies. Unless of course, our cellular communities are in profound disharmony causing some cells to withdraw from cooperating with the community. Cancers essentially represent homeless, jobless cells that are living off the other cells in the community. If humans were to model the lifestyle displayed by healthy communities of cells, our societies and our planet would be more peaceful and vital. Creating such a peaceful community is a challenge because every person perceives the world differently. So essentially, there are 198 Epilogue six billion human versions of reality on this planet, each perceiving its own truth. As the population grows, they are bumping up against each other. Cells faced a similar challenge in early evolution as described in Chapter 1, but the point bears repeating. Shortly after the earth was formed, single-celled organisms rapidly evolved. Thousands of variations of unicellular bacteria, algae, yeast and protozoa, each with varying levels of awareness, appeared over the next three-and-a-half billion years. It is probable that like us, those single-celled organisms began to multiply seemingly out of control and to over-populate their environment. They began to bump up against each other and wonder, "Will there be enough for me?" It must have been scary for them, too. With that new, enforced closeness and the consequent change in their environment, they searched for an effective response to their pressures. Those pressures led to a new and glorious era in evolution, in which single cells joined together in altruistic multicellular communities. The end result was humans, at or near the top of the evolutionary ladder. Similarly, I believe that the stresses of the increasing human population will be responsible for pushing us up another rung on the evolutionary ladder. We will, I believe, come together in a global community. The members of that enlightened community will recognize that we are made in the image of our environment, i.e. that we are Divine and that we have to operate, not in a survival of the fittest manner, but in a way that supports everyone and everything on this planet. Survival of the Most Loving You may agree that Rumi's words on the power of love are noble ones, but you may not believe that they fit these troubled times, when survival of the fittest may seem more appropriate. Isn't Darwin right that violence is at the core of life? Isn't violence the way of the natural world? WTiat about all those documentaries that show animals stalking animals, animals snaring animals, animals killing animals? Don't humans possess an inborn inclination to violence? The logic goes: 199 The Biology of Belief Animals are violent, humans are animals, and therefore humans are violent. No! Humans are not "stuck" with an innate, viciously competitive nature any more than we are stuck with genes that make us sick or make us violent. Chimps, who are the closest to humans genetically, offer evidence that violence is not a necessary part of our biology. One species of chimps, the bonobos, create peaceful communities with co-dominant males and females in charge. Unlike other chimps, the community of bonobos operates not with a violence-driven ethic but an ethic that can be described as "make love, not war." When the chimps in this society become agitated, they don't engage in bloody fights; they diffuse their divisive energy by having sex. Recent research by Stanford University biologists Robert M. Sapolsky and Lisa J. Share has found that even wild baboons, among the most aggressive animals on this planet, are not genetically mandated to be violent. [Sapolsky and Share 2004] In one well-studied baboon troop, the aggressive males died out from contaminated meat they foraged from a tourist garbage pit. In the wake of their deaths the social structure of the troop was reinvented. Research suggests that females helped steer the remaining, less aggressive males into more cooperative behaviors, which led to a uniquely peaceful community. In an editorial in Public Library of Science Biology where the Stanford research was published, chimp researcher, Frans B. M. de Waal of Emory University, wrote: ".. .even the fiercest primates do not forever need to stay this way." [deWaal 2004] In addition, no matter how many National Geographic specials you've watched, there is no dog-eat-dog imperative for humans. We are at the top of the predator/prey food chain. Our survival is dependent on eating organisms lower in the hierarchy, but we are not subject to being eaten by organisms higher in the chain. Without natural predators, humans are spared from becoming "prey" and from all the violence that the term implies. 200 Epilogue That does not mean that humans are outside the laws of Nature, of course, for eventually, we too shall be eaten. We are mortal and following our demise, one would hope after a long and violence-free life, our corporeal remains will be consumed and recycled back to the environment. Like a snake turning on itself, humans at the top of the food chain will eventually be devoured by organisms that are the lowest in the chain, the bacteria. But before that snake turns, we may not live a violence-free life. Despite our lofty position on the food chain, we are our own worst enemy. More than any other animal, we turn on ourselves. Lower-level animals sometimes turn on themselves, but most aggressive encounters among members of the same species are limited to threatening postures, sounds and scents, not death. And in social populations other than humans, the primary cause of intraspecies violence is either the acquisition of air, water and food required for survival, or the selection of mates for propagation. In contrast, the violence among humans that is directly linked to securing sustenance or in the process of mate selection is quite minimal. Human violence is more often associated with the acquisition of material possessions beyond what is necessary for sustenance or the distribution and purchase of drugs to escape the nightmare world we have created; or child and spousal abuse passed down generation after generation. Perhaps the most widespread and insidious form of human violence is ideological control. Throughout history, religious movements and governments have repeatedly prodded their constituents into aggression and violence to deal with dissenters and non-believers. Most human violence is neither necessary nor is it an inherent, genetic, "animal" survival skill. We have the ability, and I believe an evolutionary mandate, to stop violence. The best way to stop it is to realize, as I emphasized in the last chapter of this book, that we are spiritual beings who need love as much as we need food. But we won't get to the next evolutionary step by just thinking about it just as we can't change our children's and our lives simply by reading books. Join 201 The Biology of Belief communities of Hke-minded people who are working toward advancing human civilization by realizing that Survival of the Most Loving is the only ethic that will ensure not only a healthy personal life but also a healthy planet. Remember those under-prepared, under-appreciated Caribbean students who banded together, like the cells they studied in their histology course, to form a community of successful students? Use them as role models and you will help ensure a Hollywood ending not just for individuals mired in self-sabotaging beliefs, but also for this planet. Use the intelligence of cells to propel humanity one more rung up the evolutionary ladder where the most loving do more than just survive, they thrive. 202 ADDENDUM The science revealed in this book defines how beliefs control behavior and gene activity, and consequently the unfolding of our lives. The chapter on Conscious Parenting describes how most of us unavoidably acquired limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs that were downloaded into our subconscious minds when we were children. As I mentioned in that chapter, there are a variety of "energy" psychology techniques, which exploit the latest mind-body research to quickly access and reprogram those subconscious programs. Before 1 leave you, I'd like to talk a little about one of these energy psychology techniques called PSYCH-K'" because I have personal experience with it and I am confident of its integrity, simplicity, and effectiveness. I met Rob Williams, the originator of PSYCH-Kru, at a conference in 1990, where we were both presenters. As usual, at the conclusion of my presentation, I told my audience that if they changed their beliefs they could change their lives. It was a familiar conclusion with a familiar response from the participants: "Well, Bruce, that's great, but how do we do that?" In those days I didn't fully realize the crucial role the subconscious mind plays in the change process. Instead, I relied mostly on trying to power through negative behavior using positive thinking and willpower. I knew, though, that I had had only limited success in making personal changes in my own life. I also knew that when I offered this solution, the energy in the room dropped like a lead balloon. It seems my sophisticated audiences had, like me, already tried willpower and positive thinking with limited success! As fate would have it, I returned to my seat, and looked up to see that the next presenter was psychotherapist Rob Williams. Rob's opening remarks quickly had the entire audience on the edge of our seats. In his introduction, Rob stated that PSYCH-K™ can change long-standing, limiting beliefs in a matter of minutes. 203 The Biology of Belief Rob then asked the audience if there was anyone who would like to address an issue that had been troubling them. One woman caught both Rob's and my attention. She raised her hand tentatively, first up, then down, then up again. Her timidity was palpable. When Rob asked what her issue was, her face turned red and her response was inaudible. Rob actually had to leave the podium and confer with her, one-on-one. It was Rob who had to inform the audience that her problem was "speaking in public." Rob returned to the stage and the woman hesitantly followed. Rob asked her to tell the audience of nearly a hundred people a bit about her fear. Again she could hardly speak. Rob worked with the woman for about 10 minutes, using one of the PSYCH-K™ change techniques. Then he again asked the woman to tell the audience how she felt about speaking to them. The change was astomshing. Not only was she visibly more relaxed, she began talking to the audience in an excited, yet confident voice. The eyes of the conference attendees became like saucers and their mouths dropped as this woman took over the stage for the next five minutes. The woman got so carried away that Rob had to ask her to stop speaking and take her seat so he could finish his presentation! Because this woman was a regular attendee at an annual conference, and I was a frequent presenter, I was able to witness her amazing transformation over the next several years. She not only had gotten over her fear of public speaking, but even went on to organize Toast Masters in her community. Eventually, she became an award-winning public speaker! This woman's life was truly transformed in just a few minutes. In the fifteen years since I witnessed that woman's quick transformation, I have seen other people rapidly improve their self-esteem and change their relationships, their finances, and their health using PSYCH-K™. The PSYCH-K™ process is simple, direct and verifiable. It utilizes the mind/body interface of muscle testing (kinesiology) that I first discovered in a student-chiropractor's makeshift office in the Caribbean, to access the self-lirmting "files" of the subconscious mind. It also makes use of left brain/right brain integration techniques to effect 204 Addendum swift and long-lasting changes. In addition, PSYCH-K™ integrates Spirit into the change process, just as I have integrated Spirit into my understanding of Science. Using muscle testing, PSYCH-K™ accesses what Rob calls the "superconscious" mind to make sure that the person's stated goals are safe and appropriate. These built-in safeguards allow this system of personal change to be taught to anyone who is interested in taking charge of their lives by moving out of fear and into love. I use PSYCH-K™ in my own life. PSYCH-K™ has helped me undo my self-limiting beliefs, including one about not being able to finish my book. The fact that you are holding this book is one indication of the power of PSYCH-K™! I also lecture regularly with Rob. Instead of offering positive thinking and willpower at the end of my lectures, I instead happily turn audiences over to Rob. While this book is about the New Biology, I believe that PSYCH-K™ represents an important step toward the New Psychology for the 21st century, and beyond. You can find more information about PSYCH-K™ at Rob's web site: www.psych-k.com. 205 For scientific updates and more information, visit: www.brucelipton.com • Free downloadable articles and references • Books, videotapes and DVDs •Seminar and workshop schedules • Links to other valuable web sites Enjoy the full impact of Dr. Upton's startlingly clear science and dynamic presentation style captured live on video. These masterful works from an award winning teacher make science simple and our evolution as humans more hopeful. Watch as the concepts introduced in The Biology of Belief Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles are brought to life in 3 remarkable presentations. Own the video library that brings Science and Spirit together as you have never before seen. Visit www.brucelipton.com or call toll free 800-550-5571 206 References INTRO Lipton, B. H. (1977a). "A fine structural analysis of normal and modulated cells in myogenic cul- ture." Developmental Biology 60: 26-47. Lipton, B. H. (1977b). "Collagen synthesis by normal and bromodeoxyuridine-treated cells in myogenic culture." Developmental Biology 61:153-165. Lipton, B. H., K. G. Bensch, et at (1991). "Microvessel Endothelial Cell Transdifferentiation: Phenotypic Characterization." Differentiation 46:117-133. Lipton, B. H.. K. G. Bensch, et al. (1992). "Histamine-Modulated Transdifferentiation of Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells." Experimental Cell Research 199: 279-291. CH1 Adams, C L., M. K. L. Macleod, et al. (2003). 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Boston, Little, Brown and Company. 211 The Biology of Belief Page numbers in italics indicate an illustration 9/11 tragedy, stress resulting from, 153 A A (adenine), 60-61 aboriginal cultures, 120,185 acquired characteristics, transgenerational transmission of, 41-43,157 ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormones), 148 actin proteins, 88 activated cells, 38 acupuncture, 108 adenine (A), 60-61 adoptive parenting, 180 adrenal glands/hormones, 112,148,150 adrenal system vs immune system, 149,150 adrenaline, 136 adrenocorticotropic hormones (ACTH), 148 affinity maturation, 38 Age of Genetic Determinism, 50,61 agouti gene (mice), 70-72, 71 AIDS, 68,127 allopathic medicine, 16 alpha adrenaline-sensing receptors, 136 Alpha brain waves, 165 alternative medicine, 108,114 Amazonian shamans, 120 American Medical Association (AMA), 119 amino acid molecules composition of, 52-55,53, 54, 55 electromagnetic charges of. see electromagnetic charges (amino acid) peptide bonds, 53, 55 sequence of, on protein backbones, 60-61 amoebas, slime mold, 129 amoebic consciousness, collective, 27 anemones, symbiotic, 44 anthropomorphism, 35-36 antibiotics, detriment to survival of, 44 antibody genes, 38 antidepressants, 140-141,152 antihistimines, 107 Anxiety Disorder, 112 arsenic treatment of wounds, 138 Associazione Nazionale Educazione Prenatale, 176 asthma, placebo effect and, 140 Atomic Age, 109 atoms composition of, 100,102 discovery of energy basis of lack of physical structure, 100 Newtonian, 701 physical properties of, 102 Quantum, 202 stopping and enhancing waves of, 117-118 vibration/frequency patterns of, 117 voltage potentials and wavelengths, 102 Australian aborigines, 120 awareness, conscious mind and levels of, 166 awareness (IMP) proteins, 82-86, 128,130,136,197 B baboons, 200 bacteria beneficial, 44 functions of, 76 immune system and, 149-150 "bad vibes", 120 Baltimore, David, 63 Barker, Dr. David, 175 bases chemicals, 60-61 Baylor School of Medicine, 139 behavior regulating signals, 132 behavioral responses, conditioned, 133 belief (placebo) effect, 137-141 beliefs effects of negative, 142-143 effects of positive, 127-128, 137-141,143-144 power of, 142-143 self-sabotaging, 203 Bensch, Dr. Klaus, 26 beta adrenaline-sensing receptors, 136 Beta brain waves, 163,165 beta thalassemia, 51 big brain theory, 161 biofeedback, 161 biological dysfunctions, 104. see also diseases biological systems information from energy, 114-115 information transfer between energy and chemical signals, 111-112 redundancy of, 105-106 biologists, conventional, 102-103 biology belief system control of, 135-137 Central Dogma of, 16, 26, 60-61, 63, 68 control of, 68. see also genetic determinism theory ignoring exceptions to theories, 126-127 membrane-centered, 92 molecular, 23 need for integration of quantum and Newtonian mechanics, 110-111 212 Index new, 29 quantum physics and, 99 biomedical science conventional, 111, 125 energy waves and, 117 quantum physics and, 109 biosphere evolution of our, 185 sustaining life in the, 43,45 blood pressure, high and fetal Cortisol, 175 blood vessel cells, 106 bloodletting, 138 body-mind split, 124-125 bonobo chimps, 200 the brain brain waves, see brain waves cells of, 65-66, 75 EEG wave variations of, 163 effect of missing portions of cerebral cortex, 162 as electrical organ, 120 evolution of, 130-131,133 fluctuating electrical activity of, 162 function of, 130-131 influence of parenting on development of, 158 parts of, 133,150 rapid information downloading by, 162 brain waves calmness and Alpha, 165 of children, 163 constructive interference and, 115-116,118,121,125 destructive interference and, 116-117,120,125 hypnotherapy and, 163 porpoise and dolphin, 161 types of, 163-165 breast cancer, 115 Brown University School of Medicine, 140 Brown, Walter, 140 Bruno, Giordano, 187 c C (cytosine), 60-61 Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode), genetic experimentation of, 64 calmness, Alpha brain waves and, 165 cAMP (cyclic-AMP), 129-130 cancer, 72,110,115,127,142-143 cardiovascular disease, 107,157,175 Carlson, Mary, 179 Carnegie Foundation, 119 Carville, James, 49 CAT scans, 115 causation compared to correlation, 51 cell phones, impact of, 56 cell theory, 60-61. see also Darwinian theory; genetic determinism theory cells activated, 38 blood vessel, 106 brains of, 65-66, 75-76,128 cloned human, 26 communities of, 129-130 computers compared to, 92 contents of, 37 coordinating signals of, 131 cytoarchitecture of, 21 differentiation, 40 DNA and, 66 electromagnetic radiation and cellular activity, 111 endothelial, 72-73,135-136,146 enucleated, 65-66, 73, 92 environmental awareness, 15 environmental awareness of, 15 eukaryote, 38 evolution of, 87-88 functions and protein "gears" of, 128 genetic memory of, 39 growth responses of, 136 hereditary information passing, 69 human body compared to, 37-38 identity receptors of, 188-192 immune, 38 importance of environment of, 49-52 intelligence mechanism of, 39 intelligence of, 86-87,165 interconnectivity among information networks of, 104-105, 205 membranes of. see membranes, cell memory (long term and active) of, 38, 63,192 molecular composition of, 52 new gene creation by, 38 nuclei of, 37, 60, 65-66, 92 nucleus removal, 65-66 operation control of, 86 presence of "neural" receptors on body, 132 programmable nature of, 92 protection responses of, 136 protein molecules, see protein molecules receptor proteins of, 83 repeating ordered patterns in, 198 response to environmental stimuli, 146 response to perceptions, 128-129 self-receptor less, 189 213 The Biology of Belief specialization of, 87-88 specialized communities of, 40,130 structure and function relationship in, 21 cellular intelligence, 86-87 cellular memory, 38, 63,192 Central Dogma biology, 16, 26, 60-61, 63, 68 molecular biology, 23 cetaceans, cerebral surface of, 161 Chamberlain, David, 156 A Change of Heart (Sylvia), 191 channel proteins, 84-85 channels, membrane, 90 chemical signaling systems, 68-69, 99,111-112,131 child-rearing practices of peaceful cultures, 179 children behavior-recoding system of, 164 brain waves of, 163-165 causes of violence in, 180 effect of negative messages on, 164 effects of prenatal environment on, 156-158 importance of play in learning, 179 importance of touch for, 179-180 learning by observation, 163,164 orphanage raised, 179 parental influence on mental and physical attributes of, 156,158 prenatal preparation for survival, 176-177 subconscious mind of, 165 Theta brain waves and suggestibility of, 163,164 chimps, 163-164, 200 Chinese medicine, 108 chiropractic, 119,159-160 cholera, 126 chromosomes DNA and, 67 functions of, 60 number in human body, 62 chronic and sustained stress, effects of, 151-153 chronic diseases, fetal life and, 158 The Church Copernicus discoveries and, 62 evolution theory and, 42 suppression of science by, 62 Clinton, Bill, 49 collective amoebic consciousness, 27 communication systems, energy sensing, 120 comparative neuroanatomy, 160 complementary medicine, 16 complex behaviors, learning, 168 computer chips, defined, 91 computers, cells compared to, 92 The Concept of Mind (Ryle), 125 conditioned behavioral responses, 133 conditioning, 133 conformation (protein backbone shape), 55-57 congenital ichthyosis, 123-124,142 conscious conception, 172 conscious mind ability for spontaneous response creativity, 169 ability to generate health and disease, 132 ability to override subconscious mind, 134 awareness of "self", 165 cooperation with subconscious mind, 168 effects of conflict with subconscious mind, 159 experience of emotions, 131 future and past time awareness of the, 169 information processing, compared to subconscious mind, 267, 167-168 lack of awareness of subconscious-generated behaviors, 169 level of awareness and control with the, 166 repression for survival enhancement, 150 subconscious control during attention lapses, 169 subconscious mind interdependence with, 127-128 thinking-self nature of the, 170 when we're not paying attention, 169 conscious parenting, 162,173,177-181 conscious pregnancy, 172 constructive brain wave interference, 115-116,116,118,121,125 conventional medicine, 108-109, 112-114,124-125,137 Copernicus, Nicolaus, 62,187 Cornell, B.A., 91 coronary artery disease, 107,157,175 correlation compared to causation, 51 cortex, 133,150 corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), 148 The Cosmic Code (Pagels), 98 CPUs compared to effector proteins, 92 creationists, 42 CRF (corticotropin-releasing factor), 148 214 Index Crick, Francis, 22, 60-61 crystals, 90 cultures, peaceful, 179 cyclic-AMP (cAMP), 129-130 cystic fibrosis, 51 cytoarchitecture (cell), 21 cytokines, 99 cytological specialization (differentiation), 40 cytoplasmic proteins, 59 cytosine (C), 60-61 cytoskeletal effector proteins, 86 D The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Zukov), 99-100 Darwin, Charles, 22, 41, 43, 45, 50 Darwinian theory of Evolution control of individual, 41 hereditary factors and control of lives, 22,60 influence on the Spirit/Science split, 187-188 purpose of life's struggles, 188 struggle and violent nature of humans, 45 violence as the way of the natural world, 199-200 Darwin's Blind Spot (Ryan), 43-44 de Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste, 41-43, 72,157 de Waal, Frans B.M., 200 death, causes of, 107-108 Delta brain waves, 163 Department of Energy microbial genome program, 45 depression antidepressants and, 140-141,152 cause of, 152 genes and, 51 hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and, 152 placebo effect and, 140-141 Descartes, René, 124-125,187 destructive behaviors, trying to suppress, 172 destructive brain wave interference, 116-117,137,120,125 The Developing Mind (Siegel), 158 Devlin, Bernie, 175 diabetes, 51,157,175 differentiation, 40 digestion pathways, 59 Discovery Health Channel, 140,142 diseases cancer, 72,110,115,127,142-143 causation compared to correlation, 51 congenital ichthyosis, 123-124,142 cystic fibrosis, 51 detecting non-invasively, 115 diabetes, 51,157,175 energy signatures of, 115 epigenetics and, 72 etiology of, 51 fetal environment influence on chronic, 158 generation by conscious mind, 132 Germ Theory and, 126 heart, 51,107,157,175 instigation at the molecular level, 104,110 osteoporosis, 157 Parkinson's, 140 single-gene, 51 DNA blueprints of, 67 Central Dogma and, 63 chromosomes and, 67 composition of, 60-61 contribution to cellular life, 66 controls exerted by, 23, 26 discovery of genetic code, 22 double helix of, 61 electromagnetic radiation regulation of, 111 heredity and, 60-61 primacy of, 60-61 proteins and, 67 Regulatory Proteins of, 68 segments that encode proteins, 38 self-replicating nature of, 61 DNA/RNA. see DNA; nucleic acid molecules dolphins, brains of, 161 double helix (DNA molecules), 61 Double Helix Memory Disk, 92 Drell, Daniel, 45 drinking during pregnancy, 175-176 Drosophila (fruit flies), 64,105 drugs antibiotics, 44 antidepressants, 140-141,152 antihistamines, 107 dangers of prescription, 105-106,107,113 effects on the body, 28 lack of specificity of, 107 pharmaceutical industry push of, 109,112-114,138 side-effects of, 105-106,107 Duke University, 70 dysfunctions, biological, see diseases 215 The Biology of Belief E Eastern medicine, 108 EEGs (encephalograms), 162,163 effector-receptor proteins, 83, 84-86, 92,148,197 Effexor, 141 Einstein, Albert, 102 electrical pathologies, 108 electromagnetic charges (amino acid) distribution altering of, 56 impact of changing, 60 interaction of, 53-54 repelling and attraction forces of, 55, 56-57 electromagnetic frequencies, physical signals vs, 111-112 electromagnetic spectrum, impact on biological regulation of, 111 electron microscopes, 20, 22 electrotherapy, 119 The Elements of Euclid, 195 E=mc2,102 Emory University, 200 emotions, 131-135 encephalograms (EEGs), 162,163 endothelial cells, 72-73,135-136,146 energetic signaling mechanisms, 111-112 energy amplification of, 115 constructive interference of waves of, 115-116 deflation of, 115 information from, in biological systems, 114-115 information transfer between chemical signals and, 111-112 relationship between matter and, 100,102,103, 704 spectral, 115 energy-based healing therapies, 99-100, 114,119-120,138 energy fields, reading by receptor proteins, 84 energy medicine, 84,114 energy psychology, 172, 203 energy-scanning devices, 115 energy sensing communication systems, 120 energy signatures, 100,115 energy waves, 115-118,116,117,121,125 enucleated cells, 92 enucleation of cells, 65-66, 73 environment cell awareness of, 15 cellular response to, 146 as contractor, 15 control of gene activity, 26-27 energy-based,16 humans as complements of the surrounding, 189 importance of cell, 49-52 perception of, 16-17 protein molecule complements of the, 188 response to, 16 environmental learning mechanisms, 160 environmental signal receptors of cell membranes, 83 environmental signals, 68-69,148 environmental stimuli, 68-69,132,146 enzymes (effector proteins), 86 Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution (Jablonka and Lamb), 72 epigenetic modifications, 71-72 epigenetics, 26-27, 67-73, 70,157-158 estrogen, 107 estrogen receptors, 107 Euclidean geometry, 195 eukaryote cells, 37 evolution biosphere, 185 brain, 130-131, 133 cell, 87-88 the Church and, 87-88 fractal, 197-198 increase of surface area of membranes and, 197 organic, 42 of physics, 100 repeating ordered patterns in, 198 theories of, 39-46, 87-88 upheavals of, 195 Evolution and the Diversity of Life (Mayer), 42 The Evolution of an Evolutionist (Waddington), 43 evolutionary cycle, current, 195 experiential learning (nurture), 160 extinctions, mass, 46,185-186 F Fantasia (Disney), 185 fats, 52 fears, effects of chronic, 151-154 fetal Cortisol and high blood pressure, 175 fetal nephron formation, stressed mothers and, 175 fetuses genetic engineering of, 172 genomic imprinting, 172 216 Index implicit memory of, 156 importance of parents' attitudes on developing, 173 influence of environment on later chronic diseases, 158 lead exposure and developing, 176 maternal diabetes and, 174 nervous systems of, 156 prenatal environment influences on, 176-177 sensory and learning capabilities of, 156 stress of mothers and development of, 174-175 fight or flight response, 146,148,150 fire-walking, 126 Flexner Report, 119 Food and Drug Administration, 141 Ford, Henry, 41,143 forebrain, 150 fractal evolution, 197-198 fractal geometry, 195-196 fractal patterns, 198 in nature, 198 free will, 134,169 Freedom of Information Act, 141 Freud, Sigmund, 156 fruit flies (Drosoplrila), genetic experimentation of, 105 fruit flies, genetic experimentation of, 64 G G (guanine), 60-61 Gaia hypothesis (Lovelock), 46,185 Gamma brain waves, 165 Gandhi, Mahatma, 144 Garland, Judy, 177 gates, membrane, 90 gears, molecular, 57-59, 58, 59 gene myopia, 157 gene transfer, 44-45 genes activation of, 51-52 antibodies, creation of, 38 biological control by, 27. see also genetic determinism theory cataloguing of, in human bodies, 62-65 creation by immune cells, 38 electromagnetic radiation and regulation of, 111 environmental control of, 26-27 exchange of, among individuals, 45 Human Genome Project, 62-65 influences on, 67 inter- and intra-species transfer mechanism, 44-45 lack of self-emergence of, 26 material of, 22 of multicellular organisms, 106 one-gene for one-protein theory, 62 as physical memories of learned experiences, 45 protein antibody, 38 reading, 67, 68, 86 redundancy of products of, 106 regulation of activity bv environment, 27 Regulatory Proteins and activity of, 68 role of, in humans, 181 genetic-based instincts, 133 genetic determinism theory, see also Darwinian theory Age of Genetic Determinism, 50, 61 defined, 50 fallacy of, 16, 26, 52 as a metaphor, 52 problems generated from emphasis on, 50-51 reconsideration of, 157 genetic engineering commencement of, 22 dangers of, 45 fetal, 172 genetics, molecular, 41 genome science, 44 genomic imprinting of fetuses, 172 geometry, 195-196 Germ Theory, 126 "Ghost in the Machine" (Ryle), 125 Golgi body, 37 "good vibes", 121 Goodman, L., 110 Great Depression, 154 growth processes, inhibiting, 147,148-150,154 growth/protection behaviors, 145-154 growth/protection continuum, 147 growth responses to stimuli, 136,145-154 growth survival mechanisms, 145 guanine (G), 60-61 H habits, 133 harmonic resonance, 116 Harvard Medical School, 179 "haves" and "have-nots", justification for, 188 healing therapies, energy-based, 99-100,114,119-120,138 health conscious mind creation of, 132 stress and, 151-153 217 The Biology of Belief heart disease, 51,157,175 The Heart's Code: The True Stories of Orga, Transplant Patients (Pearsall), 191 Helfgott, David, 171 hereditary factors, 22, 60 hereditary information, passing, 69 heredity and DNA, 60-61 hindbrain, 150 hippocampus, depression and the, 152 Hippocratic oath, 109 histamine, 106,136 HTV,127 HLA (human leukocytic antigens), 189 holistic flow of information, 103 hormone replacement therapy (HRT), synthetic, 107 hormones, 112,136,148,150 HPA (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis), 148,149,150-153 HRT (hormone replacement therapy), synthetic, 107-108 human beings as complements of the surrounding environment, 189 as complex signature derived from the environment, 191 fractal patterns in, 196 as individual frequencies of White Light, 194 individuality of, 45 instincts of, 161 intelligence of. 162 karma of, 193 made in the image of the Universe, 188 NASA landers compared to, 192-193 role of genes in, 181 as spirit in material form, 193 tendency to turn on ourselves, 201 unique biological identity of, 189 violence among, 200, 201 human body cataloguing of genes of, 62-65 cell organelles compared to, 37-38 complexity of, 64 effects of drugs on. see drugs energy sensing communication systems of, 120 genetic relationship with other organisms, 64-65 mind control of the, 128,135-137 mind distribution throughout the, 132 mind energy influence on the, 124-125 number of chromosomes in, 62 presence of "neural" receptors throughout, 132 programmed instincts of physiologic mechanisms, 161 protection systems of the, 147-148 protein molecules, number in the, 52 scanning energy spectra of, 115 signaling system of the, 106-107 stress and the, 106-107 Human Genome Project, 62-65 Human Health and Child Development (NTH), 179 human leukocytic antigens (HLA), 189 Huntington's chorea, 51 hydrocephalus, 161-162 hyper-sensory atrophy, 120 hypnosis, 123 hypnotherapy, brain wave activity and, 163 hypothalamus, 148 Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA), 148,150,153 I iatrogenic illnesses, 107-108 ichthyosis, congenital, 123-124,142 identity receptors of cells, 188-192 identity, source of human, 191 ideological control, violence and, 201 illnesses chronic stress and, 151-153 drugs and, 107-108 immortality and identity receptors, 192 immune cells, 38 immune system adaptations, 38-39, 42 bacteria, viruses and the, 149-150 HLA and the, 189 specialized cell communities of, 130 stress and the, 149, 149-150 implicit memory, 156 IMPs (Integral Membrane Proteins), 82-86,128,130,136,197 "infantile amnesia", 156 infants instincts of, 161 memory of, 156 nervous system of, 156 information downloading by the brain, 162 information processing by subconscious and conscious mind, 167-168 instincts, 133,160,161 intelligence cellular, 86-87 gene factor of, 175 218 Index DVTPs as fundamental unit of awareness/, 197 prenatal environment influence on,175-176 repression by survival reflexes, 150-152 Introduction to a Submolecular Biology (Szent-Gyorgyi), 110 IQj prenatal environment and, 175-176 J Jablonka, Eva, 72 Jordanova, L.J., 42-43 K karma, 193 keyboards compared to receptor proteins, 92 kidney stones, constructive interference treatment of, 118 kinesiology, 159-160, 204 Kirsch, Irving, 140-141 Koch, Robert, 126 Konigsberg, Irv, 49 Krebs cycle pathways, 59 L Laibow, Dr. Rima, 163 Lamb, Marion, 72 Lavenda, Robert H., 160-161 lead exposure and developing fetuses, 176 learning complex behaviors, 168 learning, experiential (nurture), 160 learning mechanisms, environmental, 160 Lenton, Timothy, 46 Leon, David, 175 Life in the Womb: The Origin of Health and Disease (Nathanielsz), 157,175 life, secret of, 143 life-sustaining reflexes, source of, 150 lifestyle, effects of a hyper-vigilant, 152-153 limbic system, emotions and the, 131,132 lipid molecules, 52 liquid crystals, 90 Londe, Sam, 142-143 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 175 Lorber, Dr. John, 161-162 Lovelock, James, 46 M Magical Parent-Magical Child (Mendizza and Pearce), 178-179 mammograms, electronic imaged, 114 Mandelbrot, Benoit, 196 Mandelbrot set, 196 Mason, Dr. Albert, 123-124,142 Master Gland (pituitary), 148 matter defined, 101-102 quantum physics model of, 102-103 reductionist model, 102-103 relationship between energy and, 100,102,103,104 Mayr, Ernst, 41-42,188,198 McClare, C.W.F., 111 Meador, Dr. Clifton, 142-143 medical education, Western, 108-109,138 medical industrial complex, 108 medicinal plants, 120 medicine alternative, 99-100,108,114,119-120,138 Chinese, 108 complementary, 16 conventional, 108-109,112-114,137 Eastern vs Western, 108 Newtonian physics and, 102 Western, 16,108,112-114,124-125,137 membrane-centered biology, 92 membranes, cell as brain of the cell, 75-76,128 chemical components of, 80 defined, 90 environmental signal receptors of, 83 evolution defined by the increase of surface area of, 197 evolution of, 87-88 evolution of surface area of, 197 gates and channels, 90 growth responses of, 136 IMP "awareness" proteins of, 130,197 integral proteins of, 82-86 perception switches of, 129,136 phospholipids, 80-81, 81 potential of, 85 protection responses of, 136 reflexive perception switches in, 129 sandwich analogy, 77-80, 82, 84-85,197 silicon semiconductors compared to, 91 stimulus-response mechanism of, 127-128,148 thickness of, 76,197 three-layered structure of, 76 memory, 156 Mendizza, Michael, 178-179 meridians, 108 mice, generic experimentation of, 64-65, 70-72, 71 microbial genome program (DOE), 45 microscopes, electron, 20, 22 219 The Biology of Belief the mind ability to generate molecules of emotion, 132 conscious mind, see conscious mind control of biology by, 127,135 distribution throughout human body, 132 fully consciousness of, 29 harnessing the power of, 124-125 influence on the body of, 124-125 self-consciousness of, 133-134 self-reflectiveness of, 134 subconscious mind. see subconscious mind superconscious mind, 162 mind-body split, 124-125 Tiie Mind of Your Newborn Baby (Chamberlain), 156 mind over body, 128,136-137 minds, dual, 166-170 Minelli, Liza, 177 Minelli, Vincent, 177 mitochondria, 37, 88 Modern Science, goal of, 185 molecular biology, Central Dogma of, 23 molecular gears, 57-59 molecular genetics, 41 molecules control by quantum physics, 110 energy patterns of, 100 non-polar, 80, 82-83 phospholipid, 80-81, 89-90,197 polar, 80, 82-83 polysaccharide, 52 protein, see protein molecules signal, see signal molecules thermo-chemical coupling in, 112 Molecules of Emotion (Pert), 132 monoamine signaling chemicals, 152 mood disorders, 157 morphogenesis, 111 Moseley, Dr. Bruce, 139 MRIs, 115 multicellular organisms ability to respond to external environmental signals, 132 differentiation, 40-41 history of, 39 number of genes in, 106 signal molecules and, 130 muscle contraction pathways, 59 muscle testing, 159, 204 myosin proteins, 88 N NASA landers on the Moon and Mars, 192-193 Nathanielsz, Dr. Peter W., 157,175 National Institutes of Health, 23,114,179 Natural Environment Research Council (Britain), 46 nature nurture and, 29, 69 repeating ordered patterns in, 198 negative beliefs, effects of, 142-143 neo-Darwinism, 29,41,188 nerve cells, membrane receptors of, 132 nervous systems control of growth/protection behaviors, 147 environmental awareness and response of, 89 fetus and infant, 156 function of, 40 specialized cell communities of, 130 neural dysfunctions, 107 neural receptors, body cells and, 132 neuroanatomy, comparative, 160 neuroscience, 120 neurotransmitters, 112 New Biology, 29,124,173 Newtonian physics, 99,100,101, 102-104,109-111 Nijhout, H.F., 51-52 nocebos, 142-143 non-polar (hydrophobic) molecules, 82 non-polar molecules, 80 nuclei, cell, 37, 60, 65-66, 92 nucleic acid molecules, 52 nurture, nature and, 160 o Ob-Gyns, support of parenting by, 174 obesity, 157,175 Occam's razor, 184 On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres (Copernicus), 187 Opportunity Martian rover, 192-193 organ transplants identity receptors of, 192 self-receptors, 189-190 theory of cellular memory and, 191-192 organelles, 37-38 organic evolution, 42 organisms living compared to non-living, 56 multicellular, see multicellular organisms 220 Index single-celled, 39,129-130 organs, specialized cell communities of, 130 Origin of the Species (Darwin), 22, 41, 60 orphanages, children from, 179 osteoporosis, 157 P Pagels, Heinz R., 98 Palmer, D.D., 119 paranormal phenomena, 99 parental programming, 177 parenting adoptive, 180 conscious, 162,173,177-181 inception of influence on children, 156 influence of attitudes on fetal development, 173 influence on mental and physical attributes of children, 156,158 ObGyn support, 174 Parkinson's disease, placebo effect and, 140 particles (quantum physics), 102 Pasteur, Louis, 126 pathologies, electrical, 108 Pavlov, Ivan, 133 peaceful cultures and child-rearing practices, 179 peak performance, Gamma brain waves and, 165 Pearce, Joseph Chilton, 178-179 Pearsall, Paul P., 191 peptide bonds (amino acid), 53, 55 perception (placebo) effect, 137-141 perception switches of membranes, 136 perceptions ability to acquire indirectly, 134 cellular response to, 128-129 defined, 87 overriding genetic instincts with learned, 161 responses to stimuli controlled by, 135 Perez, Tim, 140 perinatal development, influences on, 156-157 Pert, Candace, 132 PET (positron emission tomography) scans, 115 pharmaceutical industry, 109,112-114,138 phospholipid molecules, 80-81, 89-90,197 photons, 100 physical signals vs electromagnetic frequencies, 111-112 physics evolution of, 100 Newtonian, 99,100,102-104,109-110 quantum, see quantum physics pituitary gland, 148 placebo effect, 137-141 "Placebo: Mind Over Medicine", 142 play, importance of children's, 179 polar molecules, 80, 82-83 polysaccharide molecules, 52 Pophristic, V., 110 porpoises, brains of, 161 positive beliefs, effects of, 127-128, 137-141,143-144 positron emission tomography (PET) scans, 115 Pre-Parenting: Nurturing Your Child from Conception (Verny), 172-173 prefrontal cortex, 133,152 pregnancy conscious, 172 drinking, smoking and, 175-176 prenatal development, influences on, 156-158,172-177 prenatal environment, intelligence and, 175-176 Prescott, James W., 179 prescription drugs, see drugs Primacy of DNA, 61,63, 63, 69 Primacy of Environment, 68, 68, 69 Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 163 prisms and light, 193-194,194 prokaryotes, 76-77 protection responses to stimuli, 136, 145-154 protection survival mechanisms, 145 protein antibody genes, 38 protein gears of cells, 128 protein machines, 58-59 protein molecules accommodation of, 56 active conformation of, 83 amino acid, see amino acid molecules assembly of, 52, 59 attraction of complementary, 57 backbones, 55, 56-57, 60-61, 82 balanced state of, 55, 56 channel, 84-85 chaperones (helpers), 55 charged ion removal and addition, 56 code for recreating machinery of, 61 complex interactions between, 104-105, 205 conformations (shapes) of, 55, 55, 56-57 cytoplasmic, 59 221 The Biology of Belief defined, 63 DNA and, 38, 67 effector-receptor, 83, 84-86, 92,148 electromagnetic radiation regulation of syntheses of, 111 environmental signals and movement of, 128 examples of, 57-59,58, 59 folding, 55 impact of changing parameters of, 104 importance of, 52 interference from electromagnetic fields, 56 mapping protein-protein interactions, 1 myosin, 88 number of, in bodies, 52 pathways, 59 as physical/electromagnetic complements of the environment, 188 positive signals of, 57 receptor-effector, 83-84, 92 shape-shifting, 55, 56 signal generated movement of, 57 synthesizing, 63 transport, 84 ubiquitin, 37 protein-protein interactions, 104-105,105 Prozac, 152 PSYCH-K, 137, 203-205 psychology, energy, 172, 203 psychoses, 157 Q Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback (Rima), 163 quantum biological revolution, 121 quantum physics applied theory of, 109 atoms, nature of. see atoms biomedical science and, 109 holistic flow of information, 103 integration of Newtonian mechanics with, 110-111 model of matter, 102-103 Newtonian physics compared to, 110 relevance to biology, 99 spirituality and, 185 quantum tune-ups, 121 quarks, 100 R radioesthesia, 119,120 rattlesnake oil cure-all, 138 receptor "antennas", 83 receptor-effector proteins, 83-86, 92,148,197 receptors adrenaline-sensing, 136 identity, 188-192 immune-related, 190 reductionist model of matter, 102-103 redundancy of biological systems, 105-106 redundant signaling pathways, 106 reflexes, 133,150 reflexive perception switches, 129 Regulatory Proteins, 68 reincarnation and identity receptors, 192 "resilient wonders", 180 "Resonance in Bioenergetics" (McClare), 111-112 respiration pathways, 59 reverse transcriptase, 68 RNA, 61, 63, 68, 111 Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 154 Ryan, Frank, 43 Ryle, Gilbert, 125 S sandwich analogy (cell membranes), 77-80, 82, 84-85,197 Sapolsky, Robert M., 200 scanning technologies, non-invasive, 115 schizophrenia, 51 Schonfeld, Janis, 141 Schultz, Emily A., 160-161 science genome, 14 spirituality and, 184-185 suppression by the Church, 62 Science/Spirit split, 62,186-187 secret of life, 143 The Secret of Life of the Unborn Child (Verny), 156 the "self", see also conscious mind awareness of, 165 download of, from the environment, 191 identity receptors and, 192 self-consciousness, 133-134,166-170. see also conscious mind self-emergence, 26 self-receptorless cells, 189 self-receptors, 189-190 self-reflectiveness, 134,169 self-sabotaging beliefs, 203 serotonin, 152 Share, Lisa J., 200 sheep, pregnant, 175 Siegel, Dr. Daniel J., 158 signal-generated protein movements, 57 222 Index signal molecules distribution of mind throughout human body via, 132 of evolved closed cell communities, 130 fundamental human, 130 released into environment, 129 of single-celled organisms, 129 signal receptors, environmental, 83 signal transduction, 84 signal transfer, survival and, 112 signaling pathways, redundant, 106 signaling systems chemical, 68-69, 99,111-112,131 energetic, 111-112 specificity of, 106-107 signals behavior regulating, 132 cellular coordinating (mind), 131 chemical, 68-69, 99,111-112,131 chemical communication (emotion), 131-132 environmental, 68-69,128,146 physical, 111-112 protein molecule, 57 silicon semiconductors, 91 single-celled organisms living in community, 129-130 original organisms, 39 signal molecules of, 129 smoking during pregnancy, 175-176 sodium-potassium ATPase channel protein, 85 somatic hypermutation, 38 somatosensory affective disorder, 179-180 specialized cells, 40, 87-88,130 spectral energy, 115 Spirit Martian rover, 192-193 Spirit/Science split, 62,186-188 spirituality quantum physics and, 185 science and, 184-185 spontaneous remissions (cancer), 127 SSRI antidepressants, 152 Stanford University, 200 Stanford University School of Medicine, 26 stem cell cloning, 49 stimulus-response mechanisms of, 127-128,148 perceptions and, 135 stress, 106 stress, effects of, 151-153 stress hormones, effects of, 136,148-150 stress stimuli, HPA axis and, 148,150,151-152 strokes, 107,157 "struggle for life", 41 subatomic particles, 100 subconscious mind of children, 165 conscious mind interdependence with, 127-128,168 conscious mind overriding of, 134 conscious unawareness of behaviors generated by the, 169 control by, during conscious lapses, 169 cooperation with conscious mind, 168 defined, 165-166 effects of conflict with conscious mind, 159 environmental stimuli processing by, 166-170 function of the, 166 information processing, compared to conscious mind, 267, 167-168 lack of misperception monitoring in the, 134 lack of self-awareness of the, 170 limitations programmed into the, 170 memory system of die, 134 neurological processing abilities of the, 128 present time focus of the, 169 reflexive nature of actions of, 133 reprogramming the, 171,172 speed of the, 166 stimulus-response playback nature of the, 134 success, impediments to, 170 sugars, complex, 52 "superconscious" mind, 162 superweeds, 45 surgery, placebo effect and, 139 survival dependence on human learning for, 160-161 mechanisms for, 145-154 opposing mechanisms of, 146 prenatal preparation for, 176-177 repression of conscious mind for, 150 signal transfer and, 112 survival imperative, 40 survival of the fittest, 46,199 Survival of the Most Loving, 202 swimming instinct of infants, 161 switches, membrane perception, 136 Sylvia, Claire, 191 symbiotic relationships, 43-44 Systems Biology, 44 223 The Biology of Belief Szent-Gyorgyi, Albert, 110 T T (thymine), 60-61 Taylor, Tim, 28 Temin, Howard, 68 theories evolution, 39-46, 87-88 genetic determinism, sec genetic determinism Germ Theory, 126 one-gene for one-protein, 62 therapies, energy-based healing, 99-100,114,119-120 thermo-chemical coupling in molecules, 112 Theta brain waves, 163-165 thinking, effect of HP A axis on, 149,150 thinking self, 170 Thomas, Jeremy, 46 thymine (T), 60-61 tissue culture techniques, 50 tissues and organs, specialized cell communities of, 130 TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), 120 touch, importance of, 179-180 traits (organism), determinants of, 61 transducers, 91 transgenerational transmission of acquired characteristics, 41-43,157 transport proteins, 84 Tree of Evolution, position of organisms on the, 160 "truths", acquisition of, 134 u ubiquitin proteins, 37 unconscious mind, see subconscious mind universal donor tissues, theory of, 190 the Universe beings made in the image of, 188 nature of, 102 University of Melbourne, 175 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 175 University of Southampton, England, 175 University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, 22 US Department of Health and Human Services, 140 V vacuoles, 37 Verny, Dr. Thomas, 156,172-173 vibrational energy therapies, 120 victims, gene, 17, 27 violence causes of, 180, 201 as a human characteristic, 41,199-200 viruses, immune system and, 149-150 w Waddington, C.H., 43 warts, 123 Watson, James, 22, 60-61 waveforms as therapeutic agents, 118-119 waves atomic, 117-118 brain, set brain waves quantum physics, 102 Weinhold, F., 110-111 Weismann, August, 42 Western medicine, 16,108-109, 112-114,124-125,137 White Light, 194 will power, 171 Williams, Rob, 137, 203-205 Wintour, E. Marilyn, 175 womb, influence on child of life in the, 156-158 Woods, Tiger, 177 wounds, arsenic treatment of, 138 z Zoloft, 152 Zukov, Gary, 99-100 224