Epigenetics

Today’s recognized father of Epigenetics is Dr. Bruce Lipton. He initially coined the term in 1995. Epigenetics is the change in organisms due to modifications in gene expression rather than gene code alteration. Changes are due to signaling to DNA within the body influenced by environmental forces and our perceptions/beliefs. Dr. Lipton’s book, Biology of Belief, introduced most of the world to his groundbreaking research and views.

Biology of Belief has been met with criticism by the medical community since refutes much of what undergirds western medicine today. Western medicine today is largely Newtonian in nature. A direct derivation of the theories Isaac Newton launched in the 1700s. Newton’s theory became the basis of physics on focused on large systems such as the universe, the planets rather than the human body. Newtonian physics and its application to modern medicine is analogous to fixing a clock by removing a faulty part within the machinery. If a part of the body is in a state of dysfunction or disease, it’s either removed or destroyed many times without regard to the root of the problem. The body is viewed as machinery.

Dr. Lipton’s theory of Epigenetics is a sharp departure from Newtonianism and its deterministic philosophy. Built into western medicine is the ethos that one’s fate is determined by one’s genetic predispositions. Dr. Lipton makes the case that genes are only blueprints with no function and weak links in the chain. Environment including perceptions largely driven by the subconscious mind are in fact determinative. Being that the subconscious is many, many times more powerful than the conscious mind and we operate daily driven by the subconscious by as much as 95%, our perceptions from the time we are in our mothers’ womb govern how we function mentally and physically throughout life.

He even quantifies his premise at the cellular level through studies of cell voltage. Cells are able to regrow and regenerate at -50 millivolts and create a pH of 7.88. Normal operating cell voltage should be between -20 and -25 with pH in the 7.35-7.45 range. As we trend toward dysfunction or disease, our cellular environment moves toward acidity with a pH below 7 and a positive charge. At a charge of +30 and pH of 6.48, cancer occurs. He was able to study the effect of perceptions/positive and negative emotions on cellular voltage and find conclusively that there is a direct relationship between potential for health or disease based the power of perception.

The Human Genome Project initially sought to verify there are roughly 125,000 genes corresponding to 120,000 proteins within the body. There were very disappointed to find there are only 25,000 genes. Major revelation given that plants contain 26000 genes and an earthworm 24000. This paves the way for what is really a second Genome project through epigenetics and provides for all of us that have been told we are destined for an outcome due to genetics.

Sources: “The Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton