Italian version

A few days ago, a psychotherapist told me that all our behaviors have a purpose. We all act according to goals and beliefs that guide our actions, more or less consciously. This is not just about high-level beliefs, such as religious beliefs or convictions based on our morality or our view of life. Even our emotional and behavioral patterns are based on certain beliefs that we could define as “biological,” that is, convictions and thought constructs that we have consolidated based on our perceptions of the environment and the situations we have experienced. The same life situation (e.g., being entrusted with a prestigious job with a generous salary increase) can be experienced in opposite ways by two people who have different beliefs about facing the unknowns of a new challenge.

The concept of “biological beliefs” brought to mind Bruce Lipton’s book “The Biology of Belief,” which I read about fifteen years ago. Bruce Lipton was born in 1944 in the United States and is a well-known cell biologist, also famous for his work in popularizing science through books, media, and conferences. In his book, Lipton manages to explain in a simple way the mechanism by which cells decode environmental signals picked up through the cell membrane and produce the proteins necessary for their biological needs by activating DNA. In describing this mechanism, Lipton places strong emphasis on the fact that intelligence lies in the cell membrane, which, following the perception of signals from the external environment, activates the DNA accordingly. Therefore, our biological destiny is not determined by DNA, but is mainly influenced by our perceptions.

This is the basic principle of epigenetics: the result of our genes’ activity does not depend solely on our DNA, but on how it has been activated, which depends on the interpretation (perception) of the signals picked up by the cell. On a practical level, epigenetics deals with investigating:

• The influence of the environment and lifestyle on the development and progression of diseases
• How epigenetic changes modify DNA and are passed on to subsequent generations
• The reversibility of epigenetic mechanisms

Bruce Lipton can be considered one of the pioneers of epigenetics, which has now become a very important discipline. Here is an excerpt, translated from English, from the article “How epigenetics influences human disease” published on the European Journal of Internal Medicine website:
… The very first definition of epigenetics was “epigenesis,” a term taken from the ancient Greek language meaning “above genes” and coined by the British biologist Conrad H. Waddington in 1942, later transformed into epigenetics: the discipline that is revolutionizing our understanding of gene regulation, heredity, and modern biology and medicine.
… The American geneticist Barbara McClintock’s … provided evidence for the dynamic nature of the genome but also hinted at the existence of complex gene regulation mechanisms that went beyond the central dogma of molecular biology: DNA→RNA→proteins. In recognition of her discoveries, McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983. Her work … significantly contributed to the development of epigenetics as a whole.

The book also contains a very interesting second part, which fascinated me the most. Reflecting deeply on the epigenetic mechanism, Lipton argues against the Darwinian paradigm of survival of the fittest, based on his belief that evolution is driven by collaboration between living beings.
If we think about it, each individual is a harmonious and cooperative community of about 50 trillion cells. What force sustains this harmonious collaboration? Lipton identifies this unifying biological force as love, which is therefore not just a feeling in itself or a romantic emotion, but the actual substrate that nourishes our lives.

In my opinion Bruce Lipton’s books and work are a wonderful example of a bridge between Science and spirituality.

You can send your comment to info@esperienzedivalore.it, I will be happy to respond.