The Biology of Belief

“The Biology of belief” by Bruce H. Lipton presents an exciting new approach towards
biology. Dr Lipton is a cell biologist. Whatever insight he has gained from studying
single cells and their behavior, he is trying to see the multi-cellular organisms and their
behavior in the light of that insight. His research is resulting in such theories and
concepts about life which are shattering the central tenets of contemporary biology.

The central dogmas of biology, today, are:

I. The physical and emotional characteristics of living things are determined by

their genes. These genes are independent of any other mechanism in nature.
II. Life has evolved through the competitive survival of the fittest and this trend will
continue in the future.
III. Only the Newtonian Mechanics is sufficient to understand biological phenomena.
And allopathic medicine is the only scientific and valid form of medicine.
Alternative forms of medicine are not scientific and hence fake.
IV. Parents need only refrain from abusing their children, feed and clothe them, and
then wait to see where their preprogrammed genes lead them.1

The most important and the fundamental dogma of biology, is of genetic determinism.
According to it, not only the physical characteristics but also the emotional and
psychological characteristics of humans are determined by their genes. This started
with the work of Darwin and got a complete shape in 1949 when James Watson and
Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

Dr Lipton tells us that genes do regulate the making of proteins in living organisms but
the story does not finish here. Even the genes can be “wrapped” by the regulatory
proteins present in the nucleus so that those particular “hidden” genes are not “read”
while reading the genetic code and hence the functions related to them are not
generated. These regulatory proteins are triggered by the chemical and even electrical
signals received from the environment of the cell.

We should keep in mind that the chemical and electrical signals from the environment
pass through the cell membrane to reach inside the cell. Thus, these signals are
received, processed (in a sense) and transmitted to the cell by the cell membrane. That
is why Dr Lipton rejects the prevalent view that the nucleus is the “brain” of the cell. He
claims that the cell membrane is the “brain” of the cell, thus, calling it the cell mem-
BRAIN.

1 [Lipton, 2005], P.155

We can view the work of Dr Lipton in the context of the historical debate over Nature vs.
Nurture. The genetic determinism swung the pendulum decidedly towards the Nature.
But, with the work of Dr Lipton the pendulum has found its way back towards the
Nurture as it emphasizes the importance of the role played by the environment in
shaping the characteristics of humans. But, this time, the swing back to the Nurture is
very different. The ideas of Dr Lipton imply that the rigid separation we have historically
created between Nature and Nurture is not a good model to study the life and the
environment around it. Life is also a part of its environment and can not be removed
absolutely from its environment. Thus Nature and Nurture are both interdependent.
They both influence each other. Life forms receive environmental stimuli which cause
them to respond in a particular manner, consequently changing the environment.

This view gives a hope to the common man, telling him that he is not only a
deterministic bio-chemical automaton rather he can be the master of his own destiny.
By carefully selecting the environmental stimuli and responding to them intelligently, one
can influence his environment and in return his own biological makeup.

II

Most people take evolution as a dog-eat-dog version of the survival of the fittest. This
principle has been so dominant that we have overlooked the importance of the
cooperation between living organisms. The biological eco system presents the details of
the cooperation of the living bodies. They all are dependent on each other. There is a
balance in the environment. If any of the species go extinct this balance will be tilted.
Several such tilts in the balance cause it to collapse or to move on a different level.

We take ourselves as intelligent conscious individuals. But, in fact, a person is a closely-

coordinated colony of trillions of cells cooperating with each other and specializing
several functions required to form a human individual. If we look at life in this way, we
can gain social lessons from even our cells. The human societies need to adapt this
harmony among cells of these “cell-colonies” in the form of human bodies.

In the evolutionary process, humans have reached such a stage that they can avoid the
conflict between competing individuals through their intelligence. As humans, our sole
goal is not to remain alive and thus to get food or other resources. We are not animals,
rather we are social animals. In Dr Lipton’s words:

“The best way to stop it [violence] is to realize...that we are spiritual beings who need
love as much as we need food. 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.”2

2 [Lipton, 2005], P.202

 III

Quantum physics has changed the Newtonian notion of a matter only universe. Waves
and particles are the two faces of the same coin. So, energy and matter are inter-related
and mutually convertible. This has profound implications for biology and chemistry in
general and for the nature of drugs in particular.

Biologists usually don’t have knowledge of quantum physics. Due to this lack of
knowledge, conventional researchers have completely neglected the role that energy
can play in identifying and curing diseases.

The traditional medicine, the pharmaceutical medicine, mostly suppress the symptoms
of a disease and do not solve the cause of the problem. The drugs industry has its
vested interest in the existing drug practice. So, they do not fund the alternative energy
cure research.

These are suggestions by Dr Lipton to improve the contemporary drug practice. It

remains to be seen how much we can get from this line of research. But, he is definitely
pointing to a way forward in diagnosing and curing the diseases.

This research is not only important for better cures of diseases but it will open new
avenues for the understanding of human brain. As the brain has long been recognized
to be an electrical organ, the research regarding electromagnetic stimuli and their
responses in human bodies will help us in understanding how brain receives such
stimuli from the environment and how it generates signals in response. Furthermore, it
will enable us to analyze the effects of our mental processes and thoughts on our
bodies.

Quantum Physics has proved that energy and matter are related to each other and can
affect each other. Similarly, mind (energy processes) and body (matter) can not be
separated. Descartes created a dichotomy between mind and body which was also
taken as granted in biology. We need to abolish this rigid separation as mind (energy
processes) can affect body (matter) “via the mechanics of constructive and destructive
interference”.3

Dr Lipton suggests that the power of mental processes can be more effective than
traditional drugs because “energy in more efficient means of affecting matter than
chemicals”.4

Dr Lipton also points out why simple positive thinking does not work in several cases. It
is because such people neglect the role played by the subconscious mind, which is

3 [Lipton, 2005], P.125

4 (Lipton, 2005), P.125

strictly habitual. It, usually, overrides the thinking of conscious mind as it is almost
“hard-wired”. So, we need to change our subconscious mind. This is the point where Dr
Lipton leaves the discussion open and does not enquire a suitable process to change
the programs of subconscious mind, perhaps, due to the lack of research in
contemporary psychology over this problem. In a same way, we underestimate the
power of emotions generated by subconscious mind and spend most of the time
analyzing the reasoning processes of the conscious mind.

Dr Lipton also discusses the problem of determinism and free will. According to him, our
conscious mind has the ability to check the subconscious programs and alter them,
though very little used by a majority of people. This very characteristic is the foundation
for free will.

Humans developed learning ability and to transfer that learning experiences through
communication. This helped us to enhance out knowledge as opposed to the genetic
learning mechanism which is very slow and also random. But the same advantage
becomes a problem. We learn through the teachings of our parents and teachers mostly
in our childhood. These ideas and concepts learned from elders in childhood become
part of our subconscious mind and establish as “beliefs”. That is why, people usually
deny to analyze their beliefs formed in early childhood because it needs to override the
programs of subconscious mind which is a difficult, complex and less probed process.

To further strengthen his argument, Dr Lipton gives several examples of placebo effect
or the ‘belief effect” as he calls I, the effect when “some people get better when they
believe (falsely) they’re getting medicine”5 while actually they are just taking sugar pills.
He also points to the fact that this placebo effect is not studied properly in medical
schools due to, in his words, the fact that “effectiveness of placebo pills are a threat to
the pharmaceutical industry”6.

Dr Lipton presents another phenomenon known as nocebo effect i.e. when the mind is
engaged in negative thinking and some patients don’t get better despite the proper
usage of medicine.

So, our mind, beliefs actually, control our body and this fact needs to be taken into
consideration by researchers in biology.

IV

It is not only the genes that determine the characteristics of a baby. People usually
“think that the human brain did not become functional until after birth”.7 But “fetal and

5 [Lipton, 2005], P.137

6 [Lipton, 2005], P.138

infant nervous system has vast sensory and learning capabilities”.8 So, when babies are
born, their minds are not tabula rasa or clean slates.

The subconscious mind is programmed in early childhood by parents. If parents

discourage the child and does not provide him / her comfortable and encouraging
environment, it has long term consequences for the personality and self-confidence of
the child.

During pregnancy, babies not only take food from their mother’s blood but other
chemicals also, which affects the functions of the proteins regulating the behavior of
genes. Thus, the environment in which babies are conceived, born and brought up has
a great impact on their life. So, parents need to be very careful in raising their children.

Conclusion

This book, as we have seen, opens new horizons for research in biology. It gives a
message to scientists in general to think always scientifically (rationally and skeptically)
and don’t become dogmatic with existing theories.

It also has a message for the common people to carefully analyze their beliefs. It also
gives a hope to humanity by giving it a lesson of love and affection and by undermining
the violent competition among people at national as well as at individual level.

Umair Khan

Jan 17-18, 2008

7 [Lipton, 2005], P.156

8 [Lipton, 2005], P.156