Wow! This is one of the most powerful books I’ve read in a very long time. Can’t in all honesty say it was an easy read, at least not for the first half of the book, but it certainly rewarded the effort it took to get my head round some the concepts and ideas introduced here.
Bruce Lipton is a cell biologist who taught this subject at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and later at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. As a teacher of medical students, not only in the mainland US but also for a couple of years on Martiinique and Grenada, I had to assume that Bruce Lipton was an expert on his subject.
The early chapters of the book look at the basics of how cells function – not aimed at the medical student level but aimed at the laypersons level of understanding. Now I don’t know you but I’ve never formally studied biology so didn’t really have a clue about stuff like eukaryotes and prokaryotes (which, amazingly, I find that I now do), cytoplasm, enzymes and DNA – and of course the key to everything, proteins. Now I thought protein was just something you had to make sure you included in your diet, but it seems it’s the key to allowing the ‘machinery’ of an individual cell to function, as well as the key to deciding which of your genes are allowed to exert their influence. This is the bit where it starts to get really interesting, because the author then goes on to discuss how the genetic material, the DNA, is not actually the driving force of life, reproduction, or the expression of genetic material in a body.
This is what has been taught for decades, the DNA is in control. Bruce Lipton says no – the cell membrane is not only intelligent, but also in charge. He then goes on to prove this hypothesis.
If all that sounds a bit heavy it is written in a beautifully entertaining and interesting way and I was left with an understanding of cell mechanisms almost effortlessly.
The author then moves on to belief and explores the placebo effect and the amazing nature of a mind that can heal a body (even of something that requires surgery) just because it thinks it is receiving medical treatment. After that he looks at how belief translates into quantum effects that impact the cell membrane and bring about physiological responses to thought.
The only thing missing is what to do with this information in order to change your own reality – but the author does offer some suggestions for further exploration of this particular area.
Brilliant, thought-provoking and a new way of looking at life not from an ideas point of view but from the perspectives of the mechanics of how the science works. It brings these ideas of Mind over Matter, ideas that have been in the world of New-Age airy-fairyness for a long time, right down into the practical world of the science lab showing you the exact mechanisms and how they function at an atomic level.
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles is Highly recommended.