The Biology of Belief - Bruce H. Lipton [9]
In ivory tower science, that kind of thinking would no doubt win me the wacky Dr. Dolittle award for anthropomorphism or more precisely cytopomorphism—thinking like a cell, but for me it is Biology 101. You may consider yourself an individual, but as a cell biologist, I can tell you that you are in truth a cooperative community of approximately fifty trillion single-celled citizens. Almost all of the cells that make up your body are amoeba-like, individual organisms that have evolved a cooperative strategy for their mutual survival. Reduced to basic terms, human beings are simply the consequence of “collective amoebic consciousness.” As a nation reflects the traits of its citizens, our human-ness must reflect the basic nature of our cellular communities.
Living the Lessons of Cells
Using these cell communities as role models, I came to the conclusion that we are not victims of our genes, but masters of our fates, able to create lives overflowing with peace, happiness, and love. I tested my hypothesis in my own life after a nudge from my audiences, who asked me why my insights hadn’t made me any happier. They were right: I needed to integrate my new biological awareness into my daily life. I knew I had succeeded when, on a bright Sunday morning in the Big Easy, a coffee-shop waitress asked me: “Honey, you are the happiest person I ever did see. Tell me child, why are you so happy?” I was taken aback by her question, but nevertheless I blurted out, “I’m in Heaven!” The waitress shook her head from side to side mumbling, “My, my,” and then proceeded to take my breakfast order. Well, it was true. I was happy, happier than I had ever been in my life.
A number of you critical readers may rightly be skeptical of my claim that Earth is Heaven. For by definition, Heaven is also the abode of the Deity and the blessed dead. Did I really think that New Orleans, or any other major city, could be part of Heaven? Ragged homeless women and children living in alleys; air so thick that one would never know if stars really existed; rivers and lakes so polluted that only unimaginable “scary” life forms could exist in them. This Earth is Heaven? The Deity lives here? He knows the Deity?
The answers to those questions are: yes, yes, and I believe I do. Well, to be completely honest, I must admit that I don’t know all of the Deity personally, for I don’t know all of you. For God’s sake there are over six billion of YOU. And to be more fully honest, I don’t really know all of the members of the plant and animal kingdom either, though I believe they also comprise God.
In the immortal words of Tool Time’s Tim Taylor: “Baaaaack the truck up! Is he saying that humans are God?”
Well … yes I am. Of course I am not the first to have said that. It is written in Genesis that we are made in the image of God. Yes, this card-carrying rationalist is now quoting Jesus, Buddha, and Rumi. I have come full circle from a reductionist, scientific take on life to a spiritual one. We are made in the image of God, and we need to put Spirit back into the equation when we want to improve our physical and our mental health.
Because we are not powerless biochemical machines, popping a pill every time we are mentally or physically out of tune is not the answer. Drugs and surgery are powerful tools when they are not overused, but the notion of simple drug fixes is fundamentally flawed. Every time a drug is introduced into the body to correct function A, it inevitably throws off function B, C, or D. It is not gene-directed hormones and neurotransmitters that control our bodies and our minds; our beliefs control our bodies, our minds, and thus our lives … Oh ye of little belief!
The Light Outside of the