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