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As beliefs control our lives, then how to change our self-limiting beliefs to achieve the desired result. What are the control means available with each of us, then this critical piece of knowledge is for you. It covers the biology of our body cells, environmental effect on them, how mind is different from brain, the synergy between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind with a lot of real-life examples. Earlier also, I had given reference to Bruce Lipton from his life-changing book titled The Biology of Belief.
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.: The Jump From Cell Culture to Consciousness
Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., cell biologist, and lecturer, is an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. Bruce was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and later performed groundbreaking stem cell research at Stanford Medical School. His pioneering research on cloned human stem cells presaged today’s revolutionary new field of epigenetics. He is the bestselling author of The Biology of Belief and The Honeymoon Effect, and he is the co-author, with Steve Bhaerman, of Spontaneous Evolution. Bruce received the prestigious Goi Peace Award (Japan) in honor of his scientific contribution to world harmony.
IMCJ: How does that relate to your beliefs on the effects of the environment on the evolution of genetics?
Dr. Lipton: Let’s pretend that the old belief of genetic determinism is valid. That would mean that the genes you are born with are going to control the characteristics of your life. Well, the problem is that the environment is ever-changing. There is no static environment. Why is that relevant? Well, if your genes are designed to keep you alive in environment A and then the environment changes to environment B, then those genes may not support your vitality at all. They may actually lead to your death. Therefore, then, your life is totally under the control of these mechanical devices, which are not connected to the environment.
That would be silly. Life would have died out a long time ago when upheavals in the environment occurred like we are experiencing right now in regard to climate change. Why is this new insight important? Because the new insight says, “No, you are not controlled by your genetics. Your genes are controlled by your environment, and more specifically your perception of the environment.” This allows dynamic control of your biology. If genes controlled your life, your fate would be determined regardless of what was happening in the environment: “These are your genes, this is your life. You have this cancer gene, you are going to get cancer and die.” The fact is, there is no such thing as a cancer gene.
That is a belief that is self-sabotaging. If you believe you have a cancer gene and you believe that gene can turn on and give you cancer, then your belief is manifesting chemistry that will create cancer because you are translating your perception into chemistry. A perception of cancer can cause cancer. Less than 10% of cancer has any hereditary linkage of all. The other 90% or more of cancer is a direct response to the environment and the perception of the individual in that environment. It basically says, “Genetic control is a limitation because you can only express what your genes express.”
The new science called epigenetic control sounds almost like the same thing. When I say genetic control, it translates as “controlled by genes.” The new science is called epigenetics. It sounds similar, but it is profoundly different. Epi means “above,” so when I say epigenetic control, I am literally saying, “control above the genes.” This is the new biology. It reveals that the environment and our perception of the environment are what control our genetic activity.
This is profound. A revolution for the simple reason that the conventional belief, which most of the public is already programmed with, is genetic determinism. That makes us victims because, as I said, I cannot control the genes if the genes are controlling themselves. Therefore, my life is an expression of a pattern of genes unfolding and I am a victim of this pattern. Epigenetics changes the entire game, because it says that genetic expression is directly due to the environment and our perception of the environment.
We are capable of changing the environment we live in and we are capable of changing our perceptions. Therefore, we are not victims, but we are actually masters of our genetic activity. We have to recognize that the belief of being a victim is a perception. If that is what you believe, then you can be a victim because you are going to translate your perception into biology. This is why your work becomes important in this case, Craig, because knowledge is power. A lack of knowledge is by definition a lack of power.
A lack of knowledge about this new understanding of epigenetics is actually a disempowering experience for the individual on this planet. If you believe genes control your life, then you let go of the control and programs take over. If you understand epigenetics and you say, “Wait, I have the ability to change conditions environmentally or perceptually to enhance my life, rather than to fall victim to illness,” that is self-empowerment. That is why the new knowledge is power-inducing.
IMCJ: As a person’s belief system manifests in their chemistry, what are the factors that come together to constitute somebody’s belief patterns?
Dr. Lipton: The more fundamental statement is, I said, “The brain is the chemist.” But the mind is the imagery that the brain is trying to complement with chemistry. The brain is perceiving the mind. Whatever the mind’s image is, the brain is going to translate that image into chemistry.
Many of us, when we were young, played with something called paint by numbers. You get an image that is all carved up into little pieces with numbers inside each little fraction of this fractured image. The numbers refer to the paint color in the paintbox. If you match the paint and fill in the spaces with the right numbered colors, then lo and behold, you create this beautiful picture. To simplify what life is all about, it is doing paint by numbers in reverse. The mind starts with a completed picture and the brain breaks down the picture into numbers. The numbers do not represent paint. They represent neurochemicals, hormones, growth factors, and regulatory agents. These secretions then go into the body and cause the body to become a physical complement to the image.
IMCJ: So the brain, our chemist, is actually doing the mind’s bidding?
Dr. Lipton: That is where a problem arises. The term mind is actually a misinterpretation or a misperception. The mind suggests that there is a single mind. No. The fact is that what we refer to as the mind is actually two interdependent mechanisms working in harmony with each other. We refer to these two different pieces of the mind as one: the first being the conscious mind, and the other being the subconscious mind.
This is really important because the two minds learn in different ways, which is very critical. The two minds are interdependent. They work together, but they have different functions. The subconscious mind is the primal mind and constitutes about 90% of our brain. The subconscious mind is habitual. It has programs in it—habits. These habits play automatically without us thinking about them. It is subconscious, meaning that these behaviors would play without our conscious even being involved.
When you were an infant, you learned how to walk. It was a conscious process. Then it became a habit. Today, you don’t have to think, “I’m going to walk from this side of the room to the other side of the room. Left leg first, okay, now move the right leg.” All you have to do is have the intention to move to the program, then the subconscious mind will automatically do this without your conscious mind participating at all.
Many of the habits are derived from instincts built into the system. In other words, if you walk outside and it is cold out, the reception of the cold by the nervous system will adjust the biology to heat itself up and keep your temperature at 98 degrees by warming up the system. If you walk outside and it is warm out, the nervous system will pick up that information and it will adjust the body to cool itself down so it does not go above 98 degrees. Your body temperature is not under your conscious control; it is subconscious.
Those are instincts that built-in. We also acquire habits. As I said, walking is a habit. We did not have that habit when we were born; we had to learn how to walk. It is not just restricted to learning as a youth. For example, when you were old enough to get a driver’s license, you had to learn how to drive. You had to practice. You create a habit by learning. Once you learn how to drive, you don’t have to think about the details of driving.
Consider the first time you got into a car. Look how overwhelming it was for the conscious mind to deal with that. We have mirrors—rear-view mirrors, and mirrors on the door. We have this windscreen to check out what is going on in front of us. We have the dashboard with gauges and all kinds of things happening. We have the gas and brake pedals, and the clutch pedal if you have a manual transmission. When you learned how to drive, it was super complicated because so many details had to be considered.
Now you have been driving for a while, and guess what? When you get in the car, you do not have to think about any of those details. They are now automatic habits. I can get in a car, click the ignition key, start driving the car, and never once think about the details. Habit will manage the driving of the car for me. The subconscious mind is the habit mind. We learn habits through life experiences, as well as those that were programmed as instincts.
On the other hand, there is the conscious mind. The conscious mind is completely different in its function. It is a creative mind. It is the mind that expresses our wishes, our desires, our aspirations, and what we want from life.
If I say, “Hey Craig, tell me what you want from your life?” Whatever you offer is going to come from the conscious mind, because that is the creative wish. That is something that you are looking forward to having. It does not exist, but you can visualize that it can occur. Consciousness is creative, and subconsciousness is habitual.
Articles from Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal are provided here courtesy of InnoVision Media
