Book Review: “The Biology of Belief”

Do you think the illnesses in your body are totally out of your control? Do you believe that your genes are to blame for all your health issues and bad luck? Then you NEED to read Bruce Lipton’s “The Biology of Belief”! I read it a year ago and can honestly say it’s one of a small handful of books that I believe not only should be studied in all schools but had a huge effect in turning my life around. This is a groundbreaking book about the relatively new science of epigenetics, which has been proven to show that environmental factors have a greater effect on our body than our genes. It proves how our DNA is NOT set in concrete and does NOT 100% control our destiny. In fact, DNA can be altered by outside influences and that includes OUR OWN MINDS! The key message of this book is that if you learn to think in the correct manner, you can essentially change who you are.

Although this is essentially a science book, it is by no means one of those dry tomes that bores you with just research and theories. There is Bruce Lipton’s personal story at the heart of everything and he’s clearly a charismatic individual who has lead an incredible life. You’ll hear about his career as a biologist and how unusual circumstances changed the path of his life and took him down a journey of discovery he never expected. As a mainstream scientist, he learned groundbreaking discoveries about DNA:

“Epigenetic research has established that DNA blueprints passed down through genes are not set in concrete at birth. Genes are not destiny! Environmental influences including nutrition, stress and emotions, can modify these genes without changing their basic blueprint.”

Yes, there is a fair bit of science in here, but it’s not as dry as in most of these type of books and he explains it very well, so that a layman (i.e. someone like me who knows jack-shit about biology!) can understand it relatively easily. This has been written for the average Joe and not his nerdy science peers! But the finer details of  experiments are necessary to show he knows what he’s talking about and is not just some rogue mad-scientist!

One thing that really fascinated me was the insight into the scientific profession, particularly the discovery that many scientists are very unwilling to learn about new branches of science and are much more closed minded than you might think. Lipton of course, is not one of them! And that’s a wonderful thing because here we have someone considered a bit of a maverick and a trailblazer but also a down-to-earth guy who has allowed me and millions of others, to see that this world is so much more than we thought. It’s too easy to think that we are at the peak of human civilisation and advancement. We aren’t anywhere near it, in my opinion, and this book shows how little we really know.

THE PAINFUL TRUTH

Don’t bother reading this if you don’t come to it with an open mind. You aren’t ready for it yet. Maybe I wouldn’t have been, a few years ago. There are things in here about the placebo effect, about the scandalous lies of the pharmaceutical companies, about the lack of knowledge of doctors, about the role your thoughts play in your overall health, about your own genetic make-up, that might shock you. For example:

“Drug companies are studying patients who respond to sugar pills with the goal of eliminating them from early clinical trials. It inevitably disturbs pharmaceutical manufacturers that in most of their clinical trials the placebos, the “fake” drugs, prove to be as effective as their engineered  chemical cocktails.”

Be prepared to rethink the way you think about your body, your beliefs, about society and about your life in general. This isn’t just about biology or DNA – this book is about the mind. It’s about humans. It’s about the universe. It’s a book that has the potential to change lives. Everyone should read this but if you have health issues or if you are struggling in any aspect of your life, you NEED this. Don’t be put off by the sciencey bits – you only need to understand the results of the experiments and what they mean, rather than how it all works.

And it doesn’t matter if you are a matter-of-fact science-based dude, a spiritual type or devoutly religious – this book brings science and spirituality together, so they BOTH have meaning and complement each other. That’s one of the main things I took away from this. It’s easy to think that you have to be in one camp or the other. But The Biology of Belief shows that there is no reason why BOTH can’t be right.

THE POWER OF THOUGHT

Perhaps the biggest take-away from this book is the idea that our subconscious beliefs can cause molecular changes in our genes. So with things like meditation and hypnosis (where you can access your subconscious mind), you can actually change your DNA, change your beliefs and change the record spinning in your mind so that you literally become a different person! That’s the biology of belief in action. It’s why I meditate every morning and twice a day if possible. So if you’re really struggling to make lasting change in your life, just remember this: you have the power to change it within. You just have to learn to use you thoughts.

I want to end with this quote which backs up what I’ve previously written about prescription drugs:

“Meanwhile, the media essentially avoids the issue of deaths by medicine by directing our attention to the dangers of  illicit drugs. They admonish us that using drugs to escape life’s problems is not the way to resolve one’s issue. Funny……..I was just going to use that exact sentence to describe my concerns about the overuse of legal drugs. Are they dangerous? Ask the people who died last year. Using prescription drugs to silence a body’s symptoms enables us to ignore personal involvement we may have with the onset of those symptoms. The overuse of prescription drugs provides a vacation from personal responsibility.”

Powerful stuff.