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Book Review

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the


power of consciousness, matter and
miracles

Bruce H. Lipton; Santa Rosa, CA, Mountain of


Love/Elite Books, 2005; 224 pages.

The central dogma of modern orthodox biology is that life is controlled by genes. In The Biology of
Belief, cell biologist Bruce Lipton explains how the latest research has shown genetic determinism to be
fundamentally flawed, and presents a very readable account of the new biology. He says that research
into the way cells receive and process information shows that a cells life is controlled not by its genes
but by the physical and energetic environment, which, in the case of humans, includes our thoughts. He
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writes: 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 (p. 17). The new
biology is an advance on the old one but, as we will see, it still has severe limitations.

Genetic delusions

Since the cracking of the genetic code by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, DNA has
assumed an all-powerful status. At first it was thought to be responsible only for our physical
characteristics, but then scientists started claiming that our genes control our emotions and behaviour as
well. Lipton says that genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues, and
organs. But even this goes too far: genes are blueprints for the production of proteins how proteins
assemble themselves into cells, tissues, and organs is not understood.

Prior to the Human Genome Project, scientists held that one gene was needed to provide the blueprint
for each of the over 100,000 different proteins that make up our bodies. Since there are also over
20,000 regulatory genes, the human genome was expected to contain a minimum of 120,000 genes
located in the 23 pairs of chromosomes. However, geneticists were shocked to discover that the human
genome consists of only about 25,000 genes. More than 80% of the DNA that was thought to be required
does not exist! The one-gene, one-protein concept, which was a fundamental tenet of genetic
determinism, has therefore had to be consigned to the scrap heap.

There is not much difference in the total number of genes found in humans and in primitive organisms.
The microscopic nematode roundworm known as Caenorhabditis elegans has a body consisting of 969
cells and a simple brain of about 302 cells, yet its genome consists of as many as 24,000 genes. This
means that the human body, comprising over 50 trillion cells, contains only 1000 more genes than this
lowly worm. The fruit fly has 15,000 genes 9000 fewer than the more primitive Caenorhabditis worm.
Humans have roughly the same number of genes as mice! As geneticist and Nobel Prize winner David
Baltimore has said, it is clear that we do not gain our undoubted complexity over worms and plants by
using more genes. Understanding what does give us our complexity ... remains a challenge for the future
(p. 64).
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Darwinism and epigenetics

Lipton argues that genes cannot control life because they cannot turn themselves on or off. That is
done by signals from the cellular environment. Epigenetics, the study of the molecular mechanisms by
which the environment controls gene activity, is today one of the most active areas of scientific research.
Environmental influences, including nutrition, stress, and emotions, can modify genes, without changing
their basic blueprint, and these modifications can be passed on to future generations. DNA makes up
only half the content of chromosomes; the other half consists of regulatory proteins, which are turning out
to play as crucial a role in heredity as DNA. Studies of protein synthesis reveal that epigenetic factors
can create 2000 or more variations of proteins from the same gene blueprint.

Biologists central dogma (first formulated by Francis Crick) posits the primacy of DNA, involving a
one-way flow of information from DNA to RNA to proteins. Lipton, on the other hand, argues for the
primacy of the environment. Regulatory genes direct the activity of protein-encoding genes, but
environmental signals control how regulatory proteins bind to DNA. The flow of information is therefore:
environmental signal regulatory protein DNA RNA protein. Information can also flow in the reverse
direction, but subject to tight restrictions: RNA can rewrite DNA, protein antibodies can change DNA,
and changes in DNA influence the binding of regulatory proteins.

Evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms has become so compelling that some scientists have
started speaking favourably again of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829), the much-scorned
evolutionist who believed that traits acquired as result of environmental influence could sometimes be
passed on to offspring. The genome is certainly turning out to be far more fluid and responsive to the
environment than previously supposed. It is clear that DNA does not control biology, and that information
can be transmitted to descendants in ways other than through the base sequence of DNA.

Whereas traditional darwinism sees evolution as essentially random, purposeless, and violently
competitive, Lamarck suggested that evolution was based on cooperative interaction among organisms
and their environment. In Darwins Blind Spot (2002), Frank Ryan chronicles a number of striking
examples of cooperation among organisms. For instance, there is a yellow shrimp that gathers food
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while its partner gobi fish protects it from predators. There is also a species of hermit crab that carries a
pink anemone on top of its shell. Fish and octopuses like to feed on hermit crabs, but when they
approach this species, the anemone shoots out its brilliantly coloured tentacles, with their microscopic
batteries of poisoned darts, and stings the potential predator. In return, the anemone eats the crabs
leftover food.

We now know that genes are transferred between members of the same species and of different
species. This highlights the dangers of genetic engineering. Tinkering with the genes of a tomato, for
example, could alter the entire biosphere in unforeseen ways. One study has shown that when humans
digest genetically modified foods, the artificially created genes transfer into and alter the beneficial
bacteria in the intestine. Similarly, gene transfer among genetically engineered agricultural crops and
surrounding native species has given rise to highly resistant superweeds. As Lipton says, scientists are
messing around with our genes and environment without understanding how interconnected everything
is.

Cells, brains, membranes

Although cells appear to be anatomically simple, they display incredible complexity and power, and
employ technologies that scientists have barely begun to understand. Like humans, single cells analyze
thousands of stimuli from the microenvironment they inhabit, and select appropriate behavioural
responses to ensure their survival. They are even capable of altering their own genes.

Lipton rejects the orthodox idea that the nucleus is the cells brain. If their nuclei and genes are
removed, cells can survive for up to two months or more. They continue to exhibit complex, coordinated,
life-sustaining behaviours, but eventually die not because they have lost their brain but because they
have lost their reproductive capabilities and are unable to replace failed proteins or replicate
themselves. In other words, the nucleus is the cells gonad. Lipton comments:

Confusing the gonad with the brain is an understandable error because science has always
been and still is a patriarchal endeavor. Males have often been accused of thinking with their
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gonads, so its not entirely surprising that science has inadvertently confused the nucleus with
the cells brain! (p. 66)

Lipton proposes that the true brain controlling cellular life is the membrane the magical mem-brain,
as he calls it. The membrane is a semi-permeable, three-layered skin, only seven millionths of a
millimetre thick, which holds the contents of a cell together. But behind its apparent simplicity lies great
functional complexity. For instance, prokaryotes, which include bacteria and other microbes, consist of a
cell membrane enveloping a droplet of cytoplasm, yet they display intelligence. They can sense the
presence of food and propel themselves towards it, and they can recognize toxins and predators and
take evasive action.

Instead of the cells operations being controlled by DNA blueprints stored in the nucleus, as
conventional biology would have us believe, Lipton proposes that this is done by integral membrane
proteins (IMPs) which include receptor (awareness) and effector (action) proteins. The membranes
effector proteins, operating in response to molecular and radiant-energy signals which its receptors pick
up from the environment, control the reading of genes so that worn-out proteins can be replaced or new
proteins created.

The cells operations are therefore primarily moulded by its interaction with the environment, not by its
genetic code. Genes cannot preprogram a cell or an organisms life, because cell survival depends on
the ability to dynamically adjust to an ever-changing environment. In Liptons view, the membranes
function of interacting intelligently with the environment to produce behaviour makes it the true brain of
the cell; if the membrane is destroyed, the cell dies. In multicellular organisms key functions of the
membrane are taken over by specialized tissues and organs nervous system, lungs, muscles, etc.

Drugs and health

Millions of people attribute failing health not to a combination of mental, physical, and emotional
causes, but simply to the inadequacies of their bodys biochemical mechanics. Increasingly, the first
choice in dealing with unruly children, for example, is to medicate them to correct their chemical
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imbalances, rather than grappling with what is truly going on in their bodies and minds.

Although scientists have linked lots of genes to lots of different diseases and traits, they have rarely
found that one gene causes a particular disease or trait. Lipton points out that the diseases that are
todays scourges diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are not the result of a single gene, but of
complex interactions among multiple genes and environmental factors. Only 5% of cancer and
cardiovascular patients can attribute their disease to heredity.

He argues that drugs and surgery are powerful tools when not overused, but the notion of simple drug
fixes is fundamentally flawed. Every time a drug is introduced into the body to correct function A, it
inevitably throws off function B, C, or D. That is why pharmaceutical drugs come with information sheets
listing numerous side effects, ranging from irritating to deadly. People who take over-the-counter
antihistamines, for example, may experience allergy relief but also the side effect of feeling drowsy.
Synthetic hormone replacement therapy has been shown to have disturbing side effects that result in
cardiovascular disease and neural dysfunctions such as strokes.

According to a recent study, iatrogenic illness illness resulting from medical treatment is the
leading cause of death in the US, and adverse reactions to prescription drugs are responsible for more
than 300,000 deaths a year.

We have been programmed by pharmaceutical corporations to become a nation of


prescription drug-popping junkies with tragic results. ... Using prescription drugs to silence a
bodys symptoms enables us to ignore personal involvement we may have with the onset of
those symptoms. (pp. 109, 113)

Research suggests that our hyper-vigilant lifestyle has a severe impact on the health of our bodies.
Almost every major illness is linked to chronic stress, and the inhibition of neuronal growth by stress
hormones can lead to depression.

Lipton argues that far more money should be spent on research into alternative medicine, such as

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acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, and massage therapy, which are based on the belief that energy
fields help to control our physiology and health.

Mind over matter

The well-known placebo effect dramatically demonstrates the healing power of the mind: fake drugs
often prove just as effective as genuine chemical cocktails, provided patients believe they are receiving
the real thing. The placebo effect has proved powerful in treating various diseases, including asthma
and Parkinsons disease. In a study of severely depressed patients, 50% of those taking drugs improved
but so did 32% of those taking a placebo. In more than half the clinical trials for the six leading
antidepressants, the drugs did not outperform placebo sugar pills. Interestingly, antidepressants have
performed better and better in clinical trials over the years, suggesting that slick marketing has produced
a placebo effect, demonstrating that beliefs are contagious! In a study of patients with severe knee pain,
those who received surgery improved, but those in the placebo group (incisions were made in their
knees and then sewed up) improved just as much.

The opposite of the placebo effect is the nocebo effect. Negative thinking including the hope-
deflating messages that physicians sometimes convey to their patients can damage health. For
instance, a man suffering from cancer of the esophagus a condition considered at the time to be 100%
fatal died a few weeks after his diagnosis, yet an autopsy found that there was not enough cancer in his
body to kill him. Our positive and negative beliefs impact not only our health, but every aspect of our lives.

In 1952 Dr Albert Mason, a British physician, used hypnosis to successfully treat a very severe case of
warts, which covered most of a 15-year-old boys body. Mason was later shocked to learn that the boy
was not in fact suffering from warts but from a lethal genetic disease called congenital ichthyosis. This
shows that the mind can even override genetic programming. Mason tried to cure a number of other
ichthyosis patients but never with the same success. He attributed this to his own irrepressible doubts
about the ability of hypnosis to cure this genetic condition in contrast to simple warts.

According to the germ theory, bacteria and viruses are the cause of disease. This theory was
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developed in the 19th century and was initially very controversial. One critic was so convinced it was
wrong that he brazenly gulped down a glass of water laced with vibrio cholerae, the bacteria thought to
cause cholera. Astonishingly, the mans belief was so strong that he was completely unaffected by the
virulent pathogen! Another demonstration of mind over matter is fire walking: thousands of people have
managed to walk across hot coals, while those who waver in their beliefs suffer burns. There are also
many unexplained cases of terminal cancer patients recovering their lives through spontaneous
remissions.

Lipton says that thoughts

directly influence how the physical brain controls the bodys physiology. Thought energy can
activate or inhibit the cells function-producing proteins ... 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. (p. 125)

He stresses that this requires not just positive thinking, but also eliminating the habitually negative and
self-sabotaging thought patterns of the subconscious mind.

Energy and spirit

The new biology is still essentially a materialistic theory, which seeks to explain everything in terms of
physical matter-energy. Although Lipton describes himself as having been transformed from an agnostic
scientist into a card-carrying mystic who believes that eternal life transcends the body, his interpretation
of spirit and immortality remains very limited.

His acceptance of the reality of many paranormal phenomena is a step in the right direction:

Discovery after discovery about the mechanics of chemical signals ... cannot explain
paranormal phenomena. Spontaneous healings, psychic phenomena, amazing feats of
strength and endurance, the ability to walk across hot coals without getting burned,
acupunctures ability to diminish pain by moving chi around the body, and many other
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paranormal phenomena defy Newtonian biology. (p. 99)

He does not say whether he accepts the reality of materializations and dematerializations of objects and
entities, the projection and manifestation of astral bodies, and similar psychic phenomena that pose a
far greater challenge to the materialistic paradigm.

The main problem is that he equates spirit and mind with energy, but he seems to accept only
conventional forms of energy, such as electromagnetic energy (e.g. radio waves, microwaves, visible
light, and very low-frequency radiation) and acoustic energy. He claims that electromagnetic radiation is
sufficient to explain not only protein folding and shape-shifting, and gene regulation, but also
morphogenesis (the process by which cells form themselves into organs and tissues). More radical
biologists such as Rupert Sheldrake, on the other hand, argue that previously unrecognized causal
factors like morphic fields are required to explain such phenomena. The same applies to instincts
and the selfconscious mind.

Lipton, however, speaks of instinctive behaviours being passed on to offspring in the form of genetic-
based instincts yet there is no serious evidence that DNA encodes habits. He regards the mind as
immaterial energy seated in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, and does not appear to believe that it can
exist independently of the body. He endorses the conventional darwinian view that the evolution of higher
mammals somehow brought forth selfconsciousness, and declares that the receptor-effector protein
complex is the fundamental unit of awareness/intelligence, ignoring the possibility that mind works
through physical forms and structures from more ethereal levels of reality.

By contrast, according to the theosophic or ancient-wisdom tradition, consciousness is not magically


generated by matter but is the ultimate ground of the universe; consciousness-life-substance is an
eternal and universal unitary essence, manifesting in infinite degrees of density and in endlessly varied
forms. The physical world is therefore the outer shell of inner worlds, composed of subtler grades of
energy-substance (astral, mental, and spiritual), which are imperceptible to our normal senses but just as
material to the entities that inhabit them as our own world is to us. Likewise, the physical body is
animated and organized by inner bodies such as an astral model-body, a reincarnating soul or mind,
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and a spiritual-divine self or monad. Strong support for this worldview is provided by a broad body of
scientific research in fields such as fundamental physics, new energy, psychic and consciousness-
related phenomena, and memories of past lives. For adepts possessing the necessary occult powers,
subtler realms and bodies are visible and tangible realities.

Materialized mysticism

Lipton says: We are immortal, spiritual beings who exist separately from our bodies (p. 184).
Although this sounds very radical and progressive, what he has in mind turns out to be far more mundane
than the existence of an immortal soul: We are mortal and following our demise, ... our corporeal
remains will be consumed and recycled back to the environment (p. 201). This is nothing but the
common materialistic interpretation of immortality.

Lipton does, however, go one step further, saying that just as a televison set picks up broadcasts
transmitted through the air, so our self-identity is generated by information present in the external
environment, which is downloaded by our cells receptors. He sees evidence that an individuals
broadcast, or self, is still present even after death in the fact that patients who have received organ
transplants sometimes report behavioural and psychological changes. For instance, one conservative,
health-conscious American was astonished when she developed a taste for beer, chicken nuggets, and
motorcycles after her heart-lung transplant. Her donor turned out to be a young motorcycle enthusiast who
loved chicken nuggets and beer. In another case, a young girl began having nightmares of murder after
her heart transplant, and her dreams were so vivid they led to the capture of the murderer who killed her
donor.

Lipton offers the following explanation:

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. (p. 192)

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But what is the nature of this environmental information? How does it originate and where is it stored?
Lipton seems to be saying that it takes the form of electromagnetic radiation in our physical environment!
He adds that each of us downloads only a narrow band of the spectrum, which in its totality constitutes
God.

According to theosophy, every physical object or entity, from atom to human to galaxy, has a more
ethereal inner constitution in which memories can inhere. This means that if an organ is transplanted into
another person, that person may under certain conditions tap into the memories associated with it.
Lipton, however, rejects the notion of cellular memory, since he does not recognize the existence of
astral bodies or of nonphysical forms of energy-substance of any kind.

He suggests that cell 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. (p. 192)

He postulates the existence of some sort of environmental controller or spirit, from which we receive
information and to which we relay our experiences, so that the way we live our lives influences our
present character or that of someone in the future who picks up the same information. This interaction,
he says, corresponds to the concept of karma (p. 193)! Liptons narrow interpretation of reincarnation
and karma is a very feeble and distorted echo of the teachings to be found in genuine mystical traditions,
east and west.

Instead of an ill-defined spirit, which somehow generates and maybe even consists of
electromagnetic energy, and whose origin, locality, and end are left hanging in the air by Lipton,
theosophy posits a series of inner bodies or souls of nonphysical grades of energy-substance, the lower
ones eventually dissipating after death in the physical and astral realms, while our higher aspects endure
for far longer. All our thoughts, deeds, and experiences are recorded in these various consciousness
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vehicles or souls, just as all events leave an imprint in the inner realms, and karma refers to natures
fundamental tendency to restore equilibrium by following every action with an appropriate reaction,
directed at whoever was responsible for the original action. In other words, we reap what we sow.

Liptons truncated, earth-bound brand of mysticism rules out the progressive evolution of the same
essential individuality from life to life. According to the wisdom tradition, on the other hand, reincarnating
souls return to earth again and again, enabling us to learn from our mistakes and gradually unfold our
higher potential. The new astral and physical bodies that the soul works through in each life contain many
of the same atoms used in the past, which carry the record of its previous personalities. On every level of
our being, we are exactly what we have made ourselves; what we inherit is our own past. That past is
often something of a burden, but we always have sufficient free will to begin to change ourselves for the
better.

Physical heredity is not simply a question of genetic determinism, with our genetic makeup ultimately
being a result of chance. Rather, it involves a soul being attracted to parents who can provide the
physical body and environment best suited to its karmic needs. Moreover, physical DNA merely contains
the code for the proteins that form the building blocks of our physical bodies. It does not govern the
building of our bodies, nor does it determine our basic habits and character traits these reflect
processes taking place in our inner astral and mental bodies.

Liptons attitude to evolution in general is similarly very limited. He argues that there is more
cooperation in nature than traditional darwinism allows, that organisms respond intelligently to their
environment, and that the hereditary transmission of characteristics does not depend solely on DNA. But
random mutations, environmental pressures, and epigenetic factors are not sufficient to explain the
incredible diversity and complexity of earths lifeforms, or how new types of fully functional organisms
tend to appear in the fossil record incredibly quickly. Nor do they explain the emergence of
selfconsciousness. Again, the wisdom tradition offers a much broader vision, arguing that memories of
the patterns and prototypes from past evolutionary cycles guide and influence the present cycle, each
physical lifeform being a vehicle for an evolving consciousness-centre or monad.

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To sum up: Lipton exposes many deficiencies in orthodox biology and evolutionary theory, and
provides a good summary of cutting-edge biological research. We are, as he says, spirits in material
form and should live in a way that supports everyone and everything on this planet. However, although
he believes the new biology bridges science and spirit, the spiritual vision he offers is severely limited.
He only accepts the existence of recognized forms of physical matter-energy, and ignores research
pointing to the existence of more ethereal realms behind and within the physical world.

by David Pratt. November 2005.

Worlds within worlds

Evolution and design

Rupert Sheldrake: a theosophical appraisal

Psychic powers

Where reincarnation and biology intersect

Consciousness and modern science

Genetic engineering: dream or nightmare?

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