In the Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton lays a scientific foundation that positive thoughts are a biological mandate for a happy, healthy life.
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., is a cell biologist and his book The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles is about how his work with cells led him to believe that genes and DNA do not control a person’s biology.
Rather, Lipton claims that signals from outside the cell, including the energy from positive and negative thoughts, control biology.
Lipton’s Theory on Cell Receptors
All cells have receptors that respond to their environment. For example, receptors detect estrogen, insulin, histamines, etc., which is how these substances affect the body’s cells. But not only do a cell’s receptors respond to physical substances, they also respond to vibrational energy fields such as light, sound, and radio frequencies.
Lipton’s research with cells led him to the conclusion that it is not the DNA in the cell’s nucleus that “programs” the cell, as traditionally believed, but the signals that come in through the cell’s receptors. That is, the physical and energetic environment controls the life of a cell.
Biology and Quantum Physics
According to quantum physics, physical atoms are made up of spinning, vibrating vortices of energy. Each atom has its own specific energy signature, and collections of atoms (molecules) have their own identifying energy patterns. All physical matter is made up of molecules, including human beings, and each piece of matter (or person) radiates its own unique energy signature.
Lipton points out that because Western biologists have ignored the energy component while focusing on the physical things that affect cells. Lipton claims that they have arrogantly dismissed 3,000 years of effective Eastern medicine as unscientific, even though it’s actually based on a deeper understanding of the universe. Lipton goes on to say that, “vibrational frequencies can alter the physical and chemical properties of an atom as surely as physical signals like histamine and estrogen.”
Thoughts and Perceptions
Lipton claims that cells respond to vibrational frequencies. Thoughts and perceptions are vibrational frequencies; therefore, cells respond to thoughts and perceptions. The problem is that not all a person’s thoughts and learned perceptions are accurate.
Biologically speaking, human brains have the ability to rapidly download “an unimaginable number of beliefs and behaviors into our memory.” The subconscious minds of young children become programmed with the fundamental behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that are observed in their parents. These programs control a person’s biology for the rest of their lives, unless they consciously figure out a way to reprogram the mind.
A stimulus automatically engages the behavioral response that was learned when the signal was first experienced. Although the conscious mind can observe what is happening and step in and change the behavior, a person must be fully conscious. This can be difficult, which is why willpower so often fails.
Methods for Changing Perceptions
Although the Biology of Belief explains the science of why thoughts and perceptions are important, and even notes that a person can choose what to see, and choosing to look at negative rather than the positive aspects of life makes a person susceptible to disease,
Lipton doesn’t actually get into how to change thoughts and perceptions. However, many methods are available today to change beliefs, including Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), the Sedona Method or Abundance Course (also known as Lester Levenson’s Release Technique), Ho’oponopono, the Work of Byron Katie, and PSYCH-K.
Lipton concludes that because controlling perceptions equal beliefs, beliefs control biology. And that leads to the conclusions that learning to harness you mind to promote growth is the secret of life, and positive thoughts are a biological mandate for a happy, healthy life.
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