World Futures

ISSN: 0260-4027 (Print) 1556-1844 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gwof20

A Review of The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the

Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles
Jeanne Olund
To cite this article: Jeanne Olund (2010) A Review of The Biology of Belief: Unleashing
the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles, World Futures, 66:5, 381-385, DOI:
10.1080/02604020903076754
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02604020903076754

Published online: 08 Jul 2010.

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Date: 14 November 2016, At: 21:27

World Futures, 66: 381385, 2010

c Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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ISSN 0260-4027 print / 1556-1844 online
DOI: 10.1080/02604020903076754

BOOK REVIEW
JEANNE OLUND
California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, USA

Lipton, Bruce, Ph.D. The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles. Santa Rosa, CA: Mountain of Love/Elite Books, 2005
(pp. 224, US $25.00, hardcover, ISBN: 0975991477)
Cellular biologist Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., calls for a New Biology in his book The
Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles.
This New Biology goes beyond Darwinisms focus on the individual and survival
of the fittest to one that stresses the importance of community. Using humor,
analogies from everyday life to explain more complicated concepts, and nonscientific language where possible, Liptons book has now sold over 150,000
copies and received the Best Books 2006 Award as the Best Science Book.
Lipton deftly conveys to the reader his fascination with single-celled organisms;
from the moment he first peered into a microscope at age seven, continuing with
his first foray into the facility housing his graduate schools electron microscope
where he sees cells magnified more than 100,000 times, and leading to an early
morning epiphany as he contemplates the details of cellular structure. Lipton
brings us with him as he comes to realize the significance of his findings.
Trained in the Newtonian approach to science, where an understanding of
structure is expected to provide an understanding of function, Lipton began his
work by exploring the molecular anatomy of cells, certain that the secrets of the
cells functions were contained within this structure. Lipton had learned what
he refers to as the Central Dogma of Molecular Biologythat genes control
biological life, including physical characteristics, emotions, and behaviors. After
years in academia however, he began to question this Central Dogma because
of one major flawgenes cannot turn themselves on or off (26). In other
words, an external trigger is necessary for gene activity. Lipton began studying the
environments role in regulating gene activity and now believes that cells provide
information not only about the mechanisms of life but also about how to live.
There are about 50 trillion cells in the human body and every function in our
bodies is expressed within a single cell. Each cell is an intelligent being that can
survive on its own and that actively seeks out environments supportive of survival.
Cells also have the capacity to create cellular memory, which is profoundly
important because it represents an inherent intelligence mechanism by which
cells evolve (39). Scientists are now realizing that organisms not only share their
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cellular communities via gene transfer to offspring but also by exchanging these
genes with other species (which makes the dangers of genetic engineering more
apparent). This cooperation between species stresses community over individual
and has provided evidence that the interaction among different species may be
more important to evolution than the interaction of individuals within a species.
In his quest to locate the intelligence within the cell, Lipton, in an inspirational
moment, realizes that the cellular membrane acts as the brain of the cell. He
writes that the true secret of life lies in understanding the elegantly simple
biological mechanisms of the magical membrane (76).
The cellular membrane contains Integral Membrane Proteins or IMPs, consisting of receptor and effector proteins. The receptor proteins function as molecular
antennas that are tuned to specific environmental signals, either internal or external
to the cell. These environmental signals can be physical signals or vibrational energy fields (light, sound, or radio frequencies). When a particular receptor protein
is activated by its resonant signal, the associated effector protein responds in a lifesustaining manner. Effectively, the receptoreffector proteins in combination act
like a stimulusresponse mechanism or switch, translating environmental signals
into cellular behavior or activating particular genes. Lipton realized this proved
that the cells operations are primarily molded by its interaction with the environment [and] not by its genetic code (86), which means the corresponding cell or
organism is able to respond dynamically to its ever-changing environment. There
are perhaps hundreds of thousands of these receptoreffector protein switches
within a cells membrane, which together account for the behavior of the cell.
Therefore a holistic and not a reductionist Newtonian approach must be employed
to understand the behavior of a cellthe activities of all the switches must be
considered at any given time.
After providing evidence that the behavior of cells and organisms is controlled
by the environment, Lipton discusses the increased complexity of higher-order
organisms. Cells expand the surface area of their membranes to allow for more
IMPs but when the areas limit is reached, cells begin to form communities with
other cells to divide labor and share awareness.
The significance of these findings, considered in light of discoveries within
quantum physics (which Lipton complains that most biologists ignore), support a
call for research into energy healing modalities and a necessary reduction in pharmaceuticals. Since quantum science has shown that the environment (universe)
is an integration of interdependent energy fields entangled within interactions,
there is not a linear flow of information within biological systems. Pharmaceutical
drugs are designed to interact with one particular symptom but because the systems themselves are interdependent and even redundant, the drug may cause side
effects due to its interaction with other parts of the system. And the drug is only
intended to address the symptom and not the root cause of the problem.
Research studies have shown that energy signal transfer within biological systems is many times faster than chemical signals (186,000 miles per second versus
less than 0.25 inches per second) and more than 100 times more efficient. Because
of the increased speed and efficiency, Lipton stresses the importance of studies into
alternative therapies based on energy healing and chides the medical community

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for its continued reliance on pharmaceutical drugs. Studies of energy healing could
examine the interdependency of interacting parts of the entire system and the possibility of identifying and treating the root cause. Although Western medicine
continues to diagnose and treat symptoms as a simple physical cause and effect
(linear) system, in an ironic twist, this same medical approach is now detecting
diseases using energy scanning devices such as computerized axial tomography
(CAT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and positron emission
tomography (PET) scans.
So aside from potential research into energy healing and less reliance on pharmaceutical drugs, where does this leave us? In the last half of the book, Lipton
writes about the implications.
He starts with a discussion of the mind, which he separates into two subdivisionsconscious (creative and mutable) and subconscious (filled with
stimulus-response tapes derived from instincts and learned behavior). Lipton contends that, based on cellular characteristics, the subconscious mind is much more
powerful than the conscious mind and will emerge victorious if there is unknown
conflict between the two.
Higher-order life forms are made up of communities of cells and within these
communities each cell cannot act independently (the term community itself
implies that its members commit to a common plan of action). As organisms
became more complex, a group of specialized cells banded together to form the
brain and to coordinate the behavior of the cellular communities. Within the human
brain, there is a prefrontal cortex that is associated with self-conscious mind
processing. This part of the brain can observe behavior, evaluate this behavior, and
change the responseit is the seat of free-will. In other words, we can actively
choose how to respond to most environmental signals and whether we even want to
respond at all (emphasis in original, 134). Our brains are so advanced that we do
not actually have to experience the stimuli but can instead acquire perceptions from
teachers. Once we acquire a response pattern though, it may become hardwired
into our brain and thereafter be a programmed response within the subconscious
(consider the ease in which we drive to work each day as compared to how much
thought it took to first learn to drive).
A problem occurs when we program inaccurate data into our subconscious
mind and thereafter habitually respond to certain perceptions or stimuli in inappropriate or limiting ways. Because our mind controls our physiology, the essence
of Liptons book is that beliefs control biology. The good news is that we have the
capability to consciously evaluate and modify our responses but because they are
programmed into the subconscious, change may not be easy.
Lipton once again backs up his statements with references to cellular behavior. He identifies two categories of survival found within our cells: growth and
protection. Growth processes maintain optimal functioning and gravitate toward
life-sustaining signals while protection processes protect the cell and move away
from threatening signals. Due to the energy expended, growth and protection
processes cannot operate simultaneously. So if an organism is operating in a protective mode, it is restricting its growth. If an organism operates in a continual
state of perceived stress (a protection process), it ultimately results in a cessation

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of growth. Therefore, if inaccurate beliefs are programmed into the subconscious

and result in a protection response, growth will not be supported.
Due to the risk of learned, inaccurate perceptions, Lipton stresses the importance of conscious parenting and even conscious conception and pregnancy
because stimuli pass into the fetal environment. Citing various brain wave studies, Lipton argues that infants and young children have brain wave frequencies
that are more programmable compared to older humans, likely due to the sheer
amount of information necessary to be learned during the first few years of life.
Children, at least in part, learn by watching and listening to their parents and
these behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes become hard-wired pathways within their
brains. These perceptions are programmed into the subconscious mind and unless
reprogrammed, control our biology for the rest of our lives.
Young children are not evolved enough to critically assess parental perceptions
as true characterizations or not, so unthinking or uncaring parents may pass on
negative beliefs to their children. These limitations and inaccurate beliefs not
only influence behavior, they can also play a role in determining health. But when
aware, the conscious mind can override the automatic response of the subconscious
mind and create a new responsethese inaccurate beliefs, once identified, can be
overwritten. As this is habitual behavior, overwriting these beliefs may not be easy
(Lipton briefly discusses one method in the addendum) so parental awareness of
the influence their behavior and comments have on their children is crucial to
prevent limiting beliefs from taking hold within the childs subconscious. Take
heed of the growth and protection lessons from cells and shift your lives into
growth whenever possible. And remember that for human beings the most potent
growth-promoter ... is Love (181).
Lipton saves his discussion of immortality and his belief in God for the epilogue.
Here he once again defends his conclusions by basing them on his scientific
training. These beliefs are derived from training and his studies of receptor
effector proteins. As was discussed earlier, receptoreffector proteins act like
switches that control biological life. These switches are primarily triggered by
signals from the environmentevery protein in our bodies is resonant with a
signal in the environment. As we are made of protein, we are made in the image of
the environment and that environment is the Universe or, as Lipton writes, God.
Identity receptors lie on the surface of each of our cells. These identity receptors
are unique to each person and because they are on the membranes outer surface,
act as antennas that download a complementary signal from the environment.
Lipton interprets this to mean that each persons identity exists in the environment
whether the physical body exists or not. In other words, we are immortal. And
because the environment itself represents all that there is (or God), our identity
receptors download only a small bit of the wholeeach of us then is a small part
of God.
Lipton does not downplay the state of the world today. He discusses the threat
to the earths survival due to extinction, pollution, and global warming and notes
that there are two ways out of this dilemma: to die or mutate (189). As he has
so clearly conveyed, we are designed to fit an environment. Unfortunately, it is
not the one that we are making. Lipton reminds us that the Earth has survived

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previous catastrophic events. He believes that the current abuse of the planet will
itself become extinct, another step in evolution will occur, and bands of humans
will form healthy, altruistic communities just as single-celled organisms evolved
to form multi-cellular communities. We will become a global community that
recognizes ourselves as made in the image of the environment, of God, and we
will live in a way that supports the entire planet. Lipton calls us forward to join likeminded groups of individuals consciously working to advance human civilization
toward Love and a blending of science and spirit. This may be the only possible
choice we can make if we are to survive.