It’s the environment, stupid!

 This is the provocative title of the second chapter of the book “The Biology of Belief”, whose author is Ph.D. cell biologist Bruce H. Lipton. 

In fact, this shocking slogan tries to paraphrase the famous motto of the Democratic Party in the 1992 US presidential elections: It’s the economy, stupid! It seems that they found it so funny within the party itself that by repeating it, the phrase went viral. We don’t know the impact it had on the population about choosing their vote, but no doubt it brought good luck to Bill Clinton. As we know, he won the elections and became president of the nation, defeating George Bush Senior.

 Leaving Yankee politics and its anecdotes aside, we are going to focus on the aforementioned book and its second chapter: It’s the environment, stupid! It’s not really that Bruce Lipton is insulting us, but rather he is talking to himself. He is trying to remember the wise advice his thesis professor had given him while he was conducting his research: “When the cells you are studying start to get sick, you have to look for the cause in the surroundings first, not in the cell itself». There it is: the surroundings in the first place, that is, the environmental factors.

 “The Biology of Belief” is a very particular book, full of jokes and funny anecdotes. But it is much more than that, so I encourage you to read it. It doesn’t matter if natural sciences are your thing or not. With fine irony and great insight, its author tells us about his life journey, which initially led him to be a student, and later, a biology teacher. As he recounts in its almost 300 pages, his own personal journey paralleled his astonishing discoveries. In fact, from the first time he looked through a microscope, at the tender age of seven, until he was able to publicly express that academic biology was wrong, quite a few years passed (more than fifty). 

What? Have you said that academic biology is wrong? But how dare you!

Let’s take it bit by bit. We’ll start at the moment when Lipton experienced a scientific epiphany (a eureka moment) in the middle of a sleepless night on a remote Caribbean Island. He was 40 years old and and worked as a professor at the medical school in Montserrat, a tiny British territory southeast of Puerto Rico. There, his own students had shown him that you can change the course of your life by changing your thoughts. And what does this have to do with academic biology? you may be wondering. Everything. Cells work just like people. Aha! They can flourish and develop or wither and spoil. It all depends on the environment they are in. But we are going to develop this calmly, “deeespaaacito”, like in the Caribbean. The point is that, from that moment on, Lipton felt the urge to make known everything he had discovered throughout his career. The thing is that he needed to organize his ideas before proclaiming them to the world, which is why he needed another 20 years. First, he had to write in an organized and clear way what was on his mind. Then he had to find the right people to help him publish it. Finally, he had to muster enough courage to do it.

Indeed, this book, first published in 2005, is the result of a lifetime work and research. The author tells us how he became aware of the fact that, contrary to the central dogma of biology, our genes do not control our lives. In contrast, our thoughts and our interaction with the environment DO shape the creation of our proteins, and so therefore, DO control our lives. Since then, Lipton has dedicated himself, body and soul, to scatter it to the four winds.

 Of course, if you haven’t already read this book, I highly recommend it to you. If this is not possible for you or you cannot wait, you have come to the right place, since, with tremendous daring, I am going to try to make a small summary of it so that we can understand each other better. I feel it’s important.

Let’s see if I can get it.

To start with, we can imagine ourselves going back to the end of the 60’s. Lipton, as a young postgraduate researcher, discovered something very interesting in his experiments with cells. He observed that, contrary to what was taken for granted at the time, the nucleus of a cell is not the most important part of it. This is something of utmost importance.  Remember a cell is the morphological and functional unit of every living being. The cell is the primary, primordial organism from which all the great variety of species of living beings on our planet develop. As we all know, there are species which consist of just a single cell (unicellular organisms), and there are also multicellular organisms, consisting of more than one cell, as it is the case of humans. Therefore, studying the cell is basic to studying life itself on Earth.

Good. As we said, contrary to what was thought, Lipton discovered that the nucleus is not the main organelle of the cell. To demonstrate this, he extracted the nucleus of the cells and surprisingly observed that they could live for weeks. Evidently, they ended up dying because, lacking genetic material, they could not replace the defective proteins. However, throughout the weeks that they were still alive, they showed complex and coordinated vital behaviors. In fact, the only thing the cells couldn’t do was reproduce. This led him to the conclusion that it is the cell membrane, and not the nucleus, the main organelle of the cell. Obviously, the membrane is responsible for regulating the relationship of the cell itself with the environment where it lives. In fact, it regulates the entry of nutrients and the exit of waste, and controls what happens both outside and inside the cell. In that sense, the membrane is something like a person’s sense organs which regulates sensations and emotions. Therefore, it can be said that the membrane is to the cell, what the nervous system is to a complex organism. Thus, continuing with the parallelism, the nucleus of the cell would only be its reproductive system, while the membrane would be its brain and nervous system. Such is the enormous importance of the cell membrane.

However, Doctor Lipton did not stop there and continued with his investigation. He focused on the way genes encode proteins. As we know, proteins are the main organic molecules, the most important component of living organisms. They are the essence of life itself, and whoever controls proteins controls everything. And who controls them? The point is that proteins are created from the instructions of DNA, the genetic material. Therefore, it was assumed that it was DNA that controlled life. This had been the main dogma in biology until Doctor Lipton arrived.

Now let’s split hairs. The cell nucleus contains, in addition to DNA, regulatory proteins. What is interesting here is that these proteins control genetic activity, that is, the way in which DNA is expressed. And who controls these proteins? Well, the environmental signals. These signals modify the binding of proteins to DNA. Therefore, they are the ones that control genetic activity.

To demonstrate this, Doctor Lipton carried out very interesting experiments with stem cells. A note here! Let us remember that stem cells have the potential to become any specialized cell. They also have the peculiarity that in Petri dishes they divide every ten hours. Petri dishes are discoidal containers with a culture medium inside, where the cells can be nourished and developed (you surely have an image of one of them now, right?). Well, having said that, let’s continue.

After a few weeks of continuous divisions in the Petri dishes, Lipton had thousands of stem cells, all of which were identical. Then he placed some of them on another plate with another medium, that is, changing the environment. By modifying the chemistry of the medium, the stem cells developed in such a way that they gave rise to muscle cells (myocytes).Then, he took others from the first plate and put them in a different environment, resulting in bone cells (osteocytes). Again, he deposited other stem cells from the first plate and changed the environment, giving rise to adipocytes, that is, fat cells. All of them were initially the same stem cells, from the same Petri dish. The only thing different was the environment. By changing the environment in the Petri dishes, their genetic expression and therefore their proteins changed, giving rise to different types of cells (muscle, bone and fat). Such is the effect of environmental influences on stem cells. It became clear then that it is the environment that controls life.

Going into further detail here, it’s not my main purpose, but I find it’s important to dedicate a few words to telomeres and telomerase. This is an enzyme related to cellular aging processes, which helps cells stay alive by adding DNA to telomeres (the finishing end of chromosomes).Various types of research have shown that a healthy lifestyle improves the production of this enzyme and therefore we have control over the production of telomerase in our body. This would lead us back to the verification that it is indeed possible to modify our genes.

At this point a new science emerged: epigenetics. Epi means “on, or above” in Greek. The science that studies the factors that affect genes, investigating to which extent we have control over our genes. In the same way that a stem cell develops different proteins depending on its environment, can we ask ourselves to what extent we, complex beings, have control over our genes? If a stem cell has it, is it possible that we humans have the capacity of changing our lives if our environment is altered?

Research shows that environmental influences, including nutrition, stress, and emotions, have a large impact on protein formation. And in fact, these changes are transmitted to future generations, that is, they are inherited. Thus, we can conclude that environmental influence (the lifestyle we lead) modifies our genes. Therein lies the foundation of epigenetics. This is the new paradigm: from “DNA control”, we move to the “supremacy of the environment”. It’s the environment, my dear!

If you usually read this blog, you may remember my post titled “Los lirios del campo» (The lilies in the fields) in which I wrote, among other things, about how genes are modified in people that have suffered from trauma and how these changes are passed on to the next generations. Let me recover an excerpt from that post:

In his book “It didn’t start with you”, Mark Wolynn tells us something very interesting. It turns out that at the University of Zurich they have done transgenerational experiments with mice and these have shown that lived experiences can be transmitted from generation to generation through genes. “What? Also, their life experiences?” Pay attention please.

It was done in the following way. They traumatized a group of mice and analyzed the next two generations. They randomly separated a litter of newborn mice from their mothers. Every day for two weeks, the baby mice were taken away from their mothers for three hours. This situation is extremely stressful for these rodents. In fact, erratic behavior and certain signs of depression evidenced the damage: the mice that had been traumatized were reckless and wandered in open, bright spaces, something they would normally avoid as it meant a risky situation.

In a second stage of the experiment, males from traumatized litters fathered offspring that displayed abnormal behaviors like those of their fathers, even though they had never experienced such trauma. The insulin and blood glucose levels of these pups were also lower than in normal mice, which is considered a sign of stress. The next generation, that is, the grandchildren of the stressedmice, also showed abnormal behaviors. Despite having no growth problems, the damage caused to these mice extended to three generations.

What do you think? Interesting, isn’t it? Does it seem that science is opening to new perspectives? Let’s hope so. Let’s hope that society is becoming aware of the importance of the environment, beyond what our genes dictate. Perhaps this will help us to abandon the position of victims and take responsibility for creating the life we ​​want.

 Returning to Lipton’s transcendental work, in addition to questioning the central dogma of biology regarding the importance of genes, he also questions the mechanisms that lead species to evolve. It reached a point where the following question was asked: Perhaps Darwin’s evolutionary dogma and his central idea of ​​“the struggle for survival” needs to be revised? What are the cells telling us? If we take that every living being is made up of cells, whether one (single-celled organism) or billions (multicellular organism), can we observe the theory of the evolution of species under a new paradigm? It is not something crazy. Quite the opposite, it makes sense if you think about it. If it is the environmental signals that influence our genes and determine our lives, perhaps the reviled evolutionist Jean Baptiste Lamarck had a point. If we can affect our genes, that means that their transmission, and therefore, evolution, is not a random matter (Einstein already said it: “God does not play dice with the Universe”). If we can modify our genes, that means that the fight for survival is not the fundamental fact to advance life. If we consider that environmental signals and our relationship with them determine the evolution of species, as Lamarck proposed decades before Darwin himself, then we will be able to see the meaning of life from a different perspective. Not from bloody claws and vicious competition, but from cooperation. If I can interfere with my own genes through the way I relate to the environment, I no longer need to compete against my fellow humans to survive. All I must do is cooperate. Indeed, cooperation is the basis of evolution: cells, of course, have been doing it for billions of years. Lipton is right again when he states that it is not struggle, but cooperation, that makes life evolve.

It is essential to take this into account. The life of future generations depend on it. Peace and love are essential if we want to survive and evolve. As you can see, these are not hippie proclamations. This is science, cellular and evolutionary biology. What’s more, quantum physics can help us at this point. For a century it has been known that atoms are empty, and that subatomic particles can also behave like energy waves. So, everything is energy in vibration. As much as it may be difficult for our rational mind to understand, we are energy. Our bodies are emitters and receivers of energy. Our words, as well as our thoughts, are energy. That is why it is essential to observe ourselves: How do I speak to myself? How do I speak to others? How do I talk to my children? The invitation therefore is to do an exercise of introspection if we want to help the new generations. Let’s turn off the TV and look inside ourselves. That’s where all the answers are. Indeed, this is where science and spirit come together. It is in our hands to create a better world.

And here is the summary of the book. How do you find it? Have I been able to awaken a certain interest in you? In any case, I insist, it is best that you go to the original source to read in depth.

 In my case, when the book came into my hands, I read it straight through. As I turned each page, I was more and more surprised. As I read on, my mind shattered to the point of experiencing a cosmic orgasm, pure ecstasy! It seemed to me that it was the definitive manifesto, the solution to all the enigmas, the end of the science-spirit duality! A masterpiece. How was it possible that this man had not appeared in the newspapers, nor had he been awarded the Nobel Prize? In my opinion, we were facing a revolutionary Genius of science, the Albert Einstein of the 21st century.

Sometimes these things happen to me. I come very high, experiencing a peak of extreme emotion. And then everything returns to its normal state. It is the famous Gauss curve, which also applies to aspects of human behavior. Including, of course, mine. Once all that excitement died down, I realized that perhaps the world was not ready to accept what was said in this book. Was science, in its eagerness to separate itself from religion, incapable of integrating spirituality into the equation? Like the Church did in the past, was science now incapable of opening itself to new perspectives? How rigid and close was the scientific community?

At that moment, I understood that accepting Lipton’s theses meant, among other things, validating Doctor Hamer’s work. I understood that accepting Lipton’s theses means opening oneself to the idea that there is no separation between mind, emotion and matter. And that is something the powerful pharmaceutical industry will never accept. Obviously, the “legal drugs” business requires us to continue having limiting beliefs. It needs us to believe that we will always need drugs to heal. However, I did not lose hope. On the contrary. In a fit of activism, I wrote a few letters to the local newspaper, talking about all this. To my surprise, they were published.

The problem was however that the accusatory tone I used in them only generated “enemies” for me, which led me to hold bitter arguments and controversies. Ouch! I had to pause to reflect and become aware that this was not the way to go. As Bruce had taught us, this is not about fighting with bloody claws, but about cooperating. I swallowed my pride and continued my path of self-knowledge, trusting that life would take me to people like me. That’s when I heard the call from Africa. And as much as you want to ignore it, oh, when you get that call, you’re lost. So, I abandoned a clumsy attempt at a career in academia, left the practice I had opened, and went to Cameroon. It was essential to follow the example of the cells. There, in the jungle, I was able to experience firsthand what I had previously read in this book: the most important thing is not the individual, but the community. Indeed, Africa taught me the main thing: forget about yourself if you want to survive.

With that great learning in mind, I have tried to continue my path. Sometimes I forget, it’s true. I’m a human being and I make mistakes. However, there is always room for improvement. So, I have tried to remind myself every day: 

Forget about you. It’s not you. It’s the environment, “stupid”! 

As Lipton observed, cells never stop teaching us. For my part, I have tried to follow their example, trusting that is the community what really matters and Life is wiser than anyone. It is as if Life were continually reminding us: “Let go all expectations, have faith and keep always in mind that the right people will arrive at the right time.”

Fifteen years after reading his work for the first time, life has given me a great gift: I have recently had the honor and privilege of meeting Doctor Bruce Lipton in person while attending one of his seminars in Barcelona. So now I am going to relate the circumstances surrounding this meeting. Will you accompany me? 

It turns out that a few months ago, I was browsing the Internet, as usual. We already know how well the network of networks knows us, as it always provides us with content related to our previous searches. Suddenly, something caught my attention. It was a Younity ad. In case you don’t know, it is a platform dedicated to personal growth, which offers various teachings and proposals related to this topic. The announcement in question was about a future seminar by Bruce Lipton in Barcelona. Wow, it would be cool to go! At that moment, I made a mental note and put it away. A few days later, I returned to the matter and looked at it calmly. Indeed, he was coming to give a workshop-conference on the weekend of 9^th – 10^th November at the Palau de Congresos in Barcelona.

The magnanimous and sublime author of “The Biology of Belief”! Is it possible that you are coming to give a seminar? To Barcelona! Just four hours from Pamplona! I felt like a fifteen-year-old groupie looking forward to going to his favorite artist’s concert. I told myself:  I can’t miss it.  I must go.  I don’t care if alone or with someone else.

Guided by a force greater than myself, I made the reservation and paid the entrance fee. The first step had already been taken. The rest would follow. Let’s go!

 Curiously, at that very same time that I was experiencing that tremendous emotion, I observed how an old acquaintance made his appearance. It is one that usually appears without warning. Its name is “the imposter syndrome.” Does it sound familiar to you? I could hear … But why are you going there? My judgmental mind tried to sabotage me with all kinds of absurd thoughts. What if your ticket is not correct and then they don’t let you in? What if there is a problem and it gets cancelled? And are you going alone? What are you going to do there all by yourself, helpless? Another one of your crazy things…

Observing these limiting beliefs, I decided to ignore them, to trust my guts and let go off any expectations. I was going to put into practice what I had learned from the wisdom of the cells and surrender to life. As Bruce recommended during his talks, I was going to leave fear aside and open myself to love. That’s right: “Not my will, but yours be done.” 

The following days I mentioned it to several people, friends who are in the field of personal growth and who know Lipton. There were good wishes and encouragement, but no one joined me in this endeavor. It was clear to me that this adventure had to be undertaken alone. The next step, therefore, was to focus on planning for my journey and stay in Barcelona. 

When faced with the question of finding accommodation, I thought about friends who live in that city. I was feeling somehow embarrassed to ask, but the truth is that the occasion was worth the effort. I spoke to my friend Estela, told her about my plans and she offered me her house without hesitation. Wow, many thanks! How lucky I am to have your friendship. Estela is a medicine woman, therapist and organizer of sacred meetings. In addition, she is also a fan of Bruce Litpon. So, everything worked out wonderfully.

It seemed like things were falling into place. Next, I went to the train station to get my ticket. The truth is that I love going to the train station. I find exciting to go there to buy the ticket for a future trip. I know I can buy it online, but it is not the same. Going there, talking to the person at the ticket counter, receiving the printed ticket… It’s something that I find very exciting. The good old way! 

Well, let’s see. I already had the bought the train tickets, had the accommodation… What else was missing? I was crossing off the days left for the event on the calendar. And finally, it was time to get on the train to start this journey. I had booked a couple of days in advance of the event, so I would have time to wander around Barcelona. I felt it was better to go slowly. “Deeespaaacito”, like in the Caribbean.

 The train ride went smoothly, and I promised myself that no matter what happened, I wasn’t going to set any expectations for myself. I think it is the best way to travel. And with that in mind, Barcelona welcomed me with fabulous weather. How good it feels to travel, making this type of plans and having friends to visit.

Since I was free the day before the seminar, I had some extra time to meet my friend Helena. I remember that I went ahead of time to “Plaça Espanya”, where we had arranged to meet. To my surprise, I realized that it was next to the Palau de Congresos, the place where the event was going to take place the next day. I was curious and went to look around the place. When I arrived, I verified that no one from the event organization was there. It was something obvious, on the other hand. When I went to ask a guy who was at the door, I met a woman who to my surprise, was also going to be at Bruce’s seminar.  Her name is Mayte. I guess it was a big coincidence, right? Were we the only two people at the entire event who had gone there the day before? We chatted a little and became acquaintances and to tell you the truth, I felt very grateful to have met her. This unexpected meeting was a nice gift that I was receiving and then I knew I was no longer going to be alone. I know this may sound absurd, but for me it was fundamental. I still have sometimes a sort of social phobia. Mayte and I said goodbye until the next day and then my friend Helena, with whom I had arranged to meet, turned up right there.

Was magic running its course? It was exciting to see her again. Helena and I spent a fabulous day, touring the Montjuic park, the Fundació Joan Miró, the Gothic cathedral, the Ciutadella park… Many thanks for everything, Helena! All was going smoothly, and Barcelona didn’t stop giving me gifts. Would things remain this way during the seminar?

The next day, I woke up early, excited. I arrived just as the doors opened to the public, an hour before the start of the event. There were already a few people waiting in line, so while people were going in, I met Alejandro. We got underway in good conversation as we moved through the line and entered the Palau. Immediately, I saw Mayte, who introduced me to her friend Noelia. And shortly after, Olga and Kenneth joined us. Thus, without having planned it, the meetings were taking place easily and a sense of community was being generated. Meanwhile, the Palau was filling up with people and the excitement was increasing. At ten o’clock they officially welcomed us and announced that we would begin shortly. The expectation was noticeable among the respectable. Then Vladimir Briceno appeared, microphone in hand, and like a master of ceremonies, he made the official introduction of Bruce. And finally, the moment we were all waiting for arrived. After so many months of waiting, and after so many years of admiration, my dream was coming true right then.

Bruce Lipton’s entrance on stage was like that of great celebrities. People started applauding and cheering. It was no wonder. He responded by greeting, full of sympathy, exuding charisma. We were truly facing a Superstar.

 “¡Hola amigos, buenos días! Lo siento, no hablo español”, he said in perfect Spanish. “English, por favor? Thank you for being here.” These were his first words. And then he began to speak in his native language.

In this simple and fun way, the seminar began. Well, what can I tell you about it? Ugh, I don’t even know where to start. I can tell you that, at the age of 80, Bruce Lipton is pure enthusiasm, pure vitality. His communication skills are outstanding, and it is evident that he enjoys what he does and lives every moment with tremendous passion. Throughout the two days we shared, he gifted us with a display of wisdom, humanity, scientific knowledge, friendliness, good humor… and a lot of humility. As an example of this, when I went to greet him for a moment and asked for a photo to be taken, while shaking hands, he thanked me for having attended the event. Bruce Lipton thanking me in person! It was incredible. Of course, I thanked him back. The credit is all yours, Bruce. I would have stayed chatting for hours and hours with him, but there was a long line of people who wanted to meet him.  He is a very close and friendly guy. A true Master.

As I say, Bruce didn’t stop talking throughout the two days. He filled the stage like a star with every step he took, for nearly a thousand people who had gathered there. People coming from all over the world. As he displayed his skills as a communicator, a more and more familiar atmosphere was created. Through the multiple slides, videos and funny anecdotes, we the attendees were awakening our individual consciousness in favor of a greater purpose. Like the cells in Bruce’s experiments, we became aware that by modifying environmental signals, it is possible to create paradise here on Earth. There was even a live demonstration of the therapeutic tool Psych-k, which consists of transforming our limiting beliefs by speaking directly to our unconscious through kinesthetic techniques. Indeed, our body has great wisdom, and a deep dialogue can be established with it. Kinesiology itself is an ancient practice that demonstrates this to us with effective results. If we can change our limiting beliefs, sending positive messages to our subconscious mind, we can work miracles. The key to everything is to change fear for love. And that starts with changing the way we talk to each other. If I can talk to myself better, if I am capable of loving myself, caring for myself and praising myself, from there, I will be able to share it with the rest of the world, with anyone I meet, contributing to improving the environment around me. And with this, I will be taking steps towards the creation of a new humanity, based, as we say, on love. That’s the key to everything. That is the alpha and omega of all things. Like “The Biology of Belief,” the seminar itself ended with the point at which science and spirituality come together. It is essential to understand that they are not opposed, but rather that they arrive at the same place. As we said before, quantum physics have confirmed what cells have been demonstrating for billions of years: if we are able to create environments free of violence and fear, we will flourish and evolve. The key to everything is to generate spaces of cooperation where love reigns. It’s that simple. It is in our hands to create our own Garden of Eden, our true Paradise here on Earth.

This is the great legacy that Buce H. Lipton leaves us, and for that I will be eternally grateful. Thank you very much for coming to share your knowledge and wisdom in Barcelona.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Vladimir Briceno and the entire Younity team for bringing you. Also, thank you, Mayte, Alejandro, Noelia, Olga and Kenneth, for the beautiful team we have created. Thank you, Lidia, for your presence at the seminar, meeting us there was a pleasant surprise. Thank you, Koro, for encouraging me without hesitation to attend. And of course, thank you very much, Helena and Estela, for your friendship and for being such good hosts. I am excited to see how the community is creating and expanding. 

For all these reasons, I consider that the best way to end this post is to let the Master put the final point on it. I would like to literally transcribe the last two paragraphs of the epilogue of “The Biology of Belief”. I say goodbye with this message full of hope and wisdom. Thank you for Being. 

Most human violence is not necessary; nor is it part of an inherited genetic component necessary for survival. We have the ability, and in my opinion an evolutionary responsibility, to end violence. The best way to do this is to realize […] that we are spiritual beings who need love as much as food. However, we will not take the next evolutionary step just by thinking about it, just as we will not change our lives or the lives of our children just by reading books. Communities must be formed, bringing together like-minded people who work for the progress of human civilization after realizing that the “survival of those who love most” is the only ethic that will ensure not only a healthy personal life, but also a healthy planet.

Do you remember the rejected and poorly prepared students from the Caribbean who came together, like the cells that studied in the subject of Histology, to form a community of successful students? Use them as role models and you will ensure a Hollywood ending, not only for individuals stuck in their own limited beliefs, but for this planet as well. Use the intelligence of cells to propel humanity to a higher rung on the evolutionary ladder where those who love most thrive, not just survive.