By Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
The following excerpts are taken from
several of Bruce Lipton’s articles.
His ground-breaking theories and the
ability to relate them to chiropractic
are worth reading all of his articles in
their entirety. Dr. Lipton is our keynote
speaker at our Spring Extravaganza
this year in NJ.
Recent advances in cellular
science are heralding an
important turning point.
For almost fifty years, we have held
the illusion that our health and fate
were preprogrammed in our genes,
a concept referred to as genetic
determinacy. Though mass consciousness
is currently imbued with the
belief that the character of ones life is
genetically predetermined, a radically
new understanding is unfolding at
the leading edge of science. This new
awareness is bringing conventional
biomedical philosophy into close
alliance with D.D. Palmer’s original
Chiropractic philosophy.
Through the action of the nervous
system, each individual cell is also
influenced by a much larger environment,
that experienced by the whole
organism. Your liver cell knows what’s
going on in your liver, but through
the nervous system, it also aware of
what’s going on in your job or in your
relationships.
The cells receive environmental
signals via the central nervous
system. In truth, the cell’s receive
a “perception” of the environment
as interpreted by the Educated
brain. Our nervous system tabulates
approximately four billion environmental
signals per second. Its primary
role is to “read” the environment
and make appropriate adjustments
of growth and protection behaviors
in order to ensure survival. Memory
systems evolved to facilitate information
handling by storing previously
“learned” experiences. Memories,
which represent perceptions, are
scored on the basis of whether they
support growth or require a protection
response. In chiropractic philosophy,
these learned perceptions constitute
the Educated Intellect, which is by
evolutionary design, a derivative of
the collective Innate Intelligence.
Perception of environmental threats
suppress a cell’s growth activities
and cause it to modify its cytoskeletal
in adopting a protection “posture.”
Suppressing growth mechanisms
conserves valuable energy needed
in exercising life-saving protection
behaviors.
In humans, a similar systemic switch
functions to shut down our growth
processes and prepares us for
launching a protection response.
This switching mechanism is
represented by the Hypothalamus-
Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. The
brain’s hypothalamus is instrumental
in perceiving and assessing environmental
signals. The perception of
stress causes the hypothalamus to
secrete corticotropin-releasing factor
(CRF), which in turn, activates certain
pituitary cells to release adrenocorticotropic
hormone (ACTH) into the
blood.
ACTH stimulates the adrenal gland to
secrete adrenal hormones. These hormones
constitute a “master switch”
that regulates the systems growthprotection
activity and routes vascular
flow in preparation for “fight or flight”
reactions. Firstly, adrenal hormones
shunt blood from the viscera and
redirect it toward the body’s somatic
tissues, which adopts a protective
posture. Reduced blood flow to the
viscera, by definition, implies a suppression
of growth-related behaviors.
Secondly, adrenal hormones directly
inhibit the action of the immune
system, the internal “protection”
mechanism. The adrenal system’s
function is to protect the body from
threats it perceives in the external
environment. Adrenal suppression
of the high budget immune system
makes more energy available to the
somatic system. Consequently, the
more stress one experiences, the more
susceptible they will be to dis-ease.
Adrenal hormones also reroute brain
blood flow by constricting forebrain
blood vessels and dilating hindbrain
vessels. Fight or flight situations are
more successfully handled using
hindbrain-mediated reflex behaviors.
Constriction of forebrain blood flow
suppresses “logic” or “executive
reasoning,” since slower thinking
responses ultimately jeopardize
fight-flight reactions. Have you ever
experienced a loss of intelligence
in response to adrenal-mediated
“exam stress?”
Collectively, HPA stress suppresses
visceral-mediated growth, inhibits the
An Interview
with Dr. Bruce Lipton
MasterTalk Volume 3, Number 9
by Dennis Perman, D.C.
Earlier this year, ODOC had the opportunity
to bring Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. and Dennis
Perman, D.C., to our Spring Convention.
From that association, Dr. Lipton had the
opportunity to speak to the Masters Circle
programs throughout America, which lead
Dr. Perman to do an interview with Bruce for the MasterTalk recordings. This
interview has been transcribed and is presented here with the permission of
Dr. Perman. Attend the ICPA Extravaganza this spring and hear the Masters
Circle Dr. Bob Hoffman and Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
DENNIS: We are on location in the MVP in Chicago and I just had
the extraordinary experience of three hours with one of the most brilliant
presentations I have had in recent memory. The gentleman I am about to
introduce to you is an absolute treasure in chiropractic. Remarkably, he is not
a chiropractor. But he is someone who got turned on to the chiropractic message
in a very unique way and has something so significant to offer…This is
future Nobel Prize stuff, people…Let me introduce to the MasterTalk audience,
Dr. Bruce Lipton.
BRUCE: Thank you so much.
DENNIS: Bruce, to try and encapsulate your research in a twelve-minute interview
is near impossible. But I need you to make an opening statement about immune system and stunts intelligence.
The degree of expression of
these influences is directly related
to the level of perceived stress.
The more stress, the less growth.
The interference with growth due
to chronic stress leads to dis-ease,
since the body is unable to adequately
maintain its metabolic vitality.
In conclusion, conventional allopathic
medicine is now beginning to realize
that genetic expression, which influences
the character of the body, is
under the control of the environment.
However, the growth or protection
posture of an individual’s tissues
and organs is mediated by the
nervous system’s perception of its
environment. Perceptions are beliefs.
Misperceptions can inappropriately
increase or decrease physiologic
mechanisms and produce dis-ease.
The role of perception and mind
is now becoming a point of focus
in allopathic healthcare, as they
try to unravel the mysteries of the
placebo effect and the role of
pyschosomatic stress.
The power of perceptions or beliefs
in promoting health or disease was
originally recognized by D. D. Palmer.
In chiropractic, perceptions constitute
the Educated, and it is this Educated
that so worries and bothers Innate.
He wrote, “The determining cause of
disease are traumatism, poison and
auto-suggestion.” Auto-suggestion
(personal beliefs, self-talk) produces
“auto-traumatic action directed to
any organ or portion of the body,
thereby modifying bodily functions,
exciting or relieving morbid conditions
by mental processes independently
of external influence.”
When Educated perceives an
environmental stress, it will signal
the requirement for a protection
response. Protection behaviors,
mediated by the somatic nervous
system will adjust the spine to provide
a defensive posture. Consider
the relationship between a powerful
alpha-male dog and a dog of lesser
rank. The latter will acquire a protective
submissive posture, lowered
head and body, in order to avoid
inciting the wrath of the alpha-male.
After holding this posture for a
long time (i.e., a chronic protection
response), the dog’s spine will
acquire obvious subluxations that
would adversely impact its health.
A spinal adjustment would alleviate
these subluxations. However, if the
dog returns to the same environment,
it will continue to perceive a need
for a protection posture. Under such
circumstances, the dog’s Educated
mind will employ auto-suggestion
mechanisms that will return the spine
to its subluxated condition. In addition
to the adjustment, the dog will
need to either alter its environment
or alter its perceptions, in order to
remain free of dis-ease.
As Palmer suggests, the chiropractor
needs to seriously consider the role
of auto-suggestion in the healing
process. While adjustments alone
can alleviate subluxations, problems
generated by an erring Educated,
may require the need for “reeducation”
as a means of reversing dis-ease
producing beliefs.
In 1907, chiropractors rejected D. D.
Palmer’s philosophy as being too
religious or metaphysical. In an
effort to present themselves in a
more “scientific” light, the profession
has been gradually moving toward
allopathic science for the last ninety
years. Interestingly, allopaths have
now begun to realize Palmer’s truths.
If things continue as they are,
allopaths may soon be more
“chiropractic” than chiropractors!
Bruce H. Lipton, scientist and lecturer,
received his Ph.D. at the University
of Virginia in Charlottesville (1971).
He served as an Associate Professor
of Anatomy at the University of
Wisconsin’s School of Medicine.
Lipton’s research on mechanisms
controlling cell behavior employed
cloned human muscle cells. In addition,
he lectured in Cell Biology, Histology
and Embryology. Bruce resigned his
tenured position to pursue independent
research integrating quantum physics
with cell biology.
His breakthrough studies on the cell
membrane, the “skin” of the cell,
revealed that the behavior and health
of the cell was controlled by the environment,
findings that were in direct
contrast with prevailing dogma that life
is controlled by genes. Lipton returned
to academia as a Research Fellow at
Stanford University’s School of
Medicine to test his hypotheses (1987-
1992). His ideas concerning environmental
control were substantiated in
two major scientific publications. The
new research reveals the biochemical
pathways connecting the mind and
body and provides insight into the
molecular basis of consciousness
and the future of human evolution.
www.brucelipton.com
References available online:
www.icpa4kids.com
Uncovering the Biology of Belief continued from page 2
the chiropractor needs to seriously
consider the role of auto-suggestion
in the healing process process
pathways 5
the environment vs. the previous understanding of the primacy
of DNA. Could you give us a one or two-minute synopsis
of what you just spoke about so I can use it as a jumping
off point for the rest of the interview?
BRUCE: Absolutely. The basic question we bring up is that
our current belief or nature is that we believe that we are
genetic automatons…that the concept of genetic determinism
wherein our genes control our biology, our behavior,
our emotions so that we become more or less a machine,
and the character and quality of the machine is based on
heredity, so that we become more or less a victim, I guess.
If we got good stuff we are very happy and if we have negative
characters we attribute that to things out of our control…
our genes.
DENNIS: Now, this idea of the signal that turns on what
makes us tick, makes us work, being from the outside
rather from the inside is a revolution! It is opposite of what
has been “established,” quote-unquote, in organized
science. So, this not only demonstrates a proof for the
chiropractic premise, but it also very much demonstrates
the proof for the Masters Circle premise, because what we
say is, “Who you are determines how or what you do
works…that success comes from you, not to you.”
I would like to spend some time talking about perception
and belief, and how those factors contribute to the internal
environment that leads to better and better function.
BRUCE: Yes, so basically as we talked about, the old idea
was that genes controlled it, but the new idea recognizes a
new idea, a new process called epigenetics, and that means
control above the genes. This is all within about the last
decade or so. It is such a radical departure from our belief
because it shows that genes don’t actually control
anything, but that genes are responsive to the environment.
So the cells have perception molecules that read the
environment and then adjust the genes. The nature of it is
very dynamic. Basically, it says that the genes would never
knowthe plan for the future. So the belief that we are genetically
determined is really fallacious, because how could a
system know what was going to happen next and already
plan for it. The system is dynamic, the genes turn on and off
as they’re needed, and the response of the gene matches
the need of the environment. So, then all of a sudden, we
realize that then between the genes and expression is the
perception. Well, the relevance about the perception is that
that is a live-time event, as I am perceiving the environment
right now. Well, the interesting part about the perceptions,
is that these perceptions are then interpreted by the body
which the adjusts the behavior and the genes of the system
to meet the demands or needs of the environment.
Well, there are two levels of perception. One level of perception
is that which we have learned over time. Once it is
learned, we don’t have to relearn them again and again and
again. So that, when the stimulus shows up, instead of
going through our cognition and awareness, it just bypasses
that and goes right to the learned behavior. In chiropractic,
that is called “The Educated Mind.” The Educated Mind is a
very good thing because it allows our mind not to be
focused on everything at once, and therefore, all the small
details are taken care of.
This is a good thing, but it has potential for messing with us,
the reason being that we acquire the Educated through our
experiences. Therefore, the experiences we have had may
be good experiences, or bad experiences. Whatever way
they are, we learn them, so that a negative experience could
become an educated process that runs our biology. Then,
instead of doing an adjustment that is a benefit to us, we
adjust ourselves out of sync with the environment. And
since it is “Educated,” we don’t even see that, and as a
result the unfoldment of our life is controlled by our past
experience.
DENNIS: So this is the contrast you were talking about
between the subconscious programming and the conscious
decision-making.
BRUCE: Yes, and the conscious decision-making says, I am
observing my behavior and the old way I used to do this.
I used to make stupid mistakes, castigate myself or problems
and be mad at myself. Now, with consciousness, when
I observe that behavior, I have the power to say, “Don’t play
that tape, let’s play a different one, a new tape. So I begin
to learn, and as I learn I can re-educate the “Educated.” So the problem I was trying to bring out in today’s lecture
was very importantly this…That the Educated tapes that run
our lives were acquired in our earliest formative period,
during our fetal development and through the first six years
of our life. These are not tapes that we created with
consciousness; these are observed behaviors in our environments.
We observed how our parents handled their lives,
how they handled each other and all the nuances of dealing
with the community. We “download” those exactly. The
relevance is that when we are not paying attention, by
definition, the Educated runs our system. Therefore, when
we are not paying attention, we are exercising and expressing
behaviors that are not ours from our conscious belief,
and maybe conflict with our conscious beliefs.
DENNIS: This is what Larry
[Markson] talks about
when he talks about MFTP,
Mothers, Fathers, Teachers
and Preachers. It is that
purpose of many of the
technologies that we use
in the Masters, affirmations,
visualization, goalsetting,
resource-building,
anchoring, to be able
to selectively create new
conscious impressions, so
that you can override the
Subconscious Educated.
BRUCE: Right, and in that
process, put in a better
Educated. It is not to not
have Educated, Educated is
great because… Let us think
of it this way. If we were
raised in a family situation
where the parents always expressed “win-win” situations,
where they were always in balance with the environment
and all that. Then just think about it, our Educated Mind
would be programmed with all those types of programs.
Therefore, the rest of our lives, even if we weren’t conscious,
that Educated process would always lead us to success,
even without us paying attention.
DENNIS: So you would say then, from that then you would
conclude that putting yourself in an environment of positivity
that is consistently re-enforcing the conscious decisionmaking
that comes from that positive environment would
probably make it easier for someone to succeed.
BRUCE: Not probably…would! Therefore, what you have to
do is find yourself an environment that supports you, that
sends you environmental signals of how qualified you are,
how good you are and all that, rather than the kind of
signals from a dysfunctional family, like, “you’re a stupid
child” or “ you’re not good at these things,” or that you don’t
deserve something.
DENNIS: Or what you hear in certain chiropractic gatherings
nowadays, about the demise of the profession, about how
difficult it is to make it right now. That clearly is not true;
there never has been a better time to be a Chiropractor.
BRUCE: That is, unless your Educated is off. I talk about this
in the lecture. I talk about how living systems have an
“Innate” and an “Educated.” Innate is always 100% right
and 100% right for you. The Educated is where the problems
come from. Chiropractic, as a profession, is a living system.
What I experience is that
Chiropractic, in general,
experiences its own subluxations,
meaning, that
it has an Innate, which is
Philosophy. And it has an
Educated, all the little
details you learn in courses.
What has happened is
that people have gotten
so caught up in, which
details are the right or
wrong details, that their
Educated is in the way of
the bigger picture…the
Innate, the Philosophy. If
everyone would back off
their Educated and get
back in alignment with
their Philosophy, then the
Subluxation would disappear
and there would be
harmony in the field. So,
it is interesting, in that Chiropractic is a patient in and of
itself.
DENNIS: What a brilliant over-riding metaphor! That really
takes us to the next topic I would like for us to talk about,
which is the Love and Fear Continuum. You made an amazing
comment about the relationship between survival and the
amount of energy that goes into growth vs. the amount that
goes into protection. Would you elaborate on that a bit?
BRUCE: Very basically then, if I look at the biological
functions, I would tell you is that the simplest thing you can
say about any living system is that it has two main behaviors,
growth and protection. Both of these are required for
survival. The problem is, the system was designed for only
short or acute responses of protection and therefore, being
in growth most of the time. Yet the world that we live in has us in such fear of everything that we are spending more and
more time in protection. The consequences biologically are, the
cells don’t have the luxury to be both in growth and protection.
At the simple level, they respond to either the one or the
other. If we live in a threatening environment, we send signals
to our cells that they need to be in protection. They don’t
grow in the aspect and as a result, we start short-changing
our physiology by not supporting our own growth and maintenance.
You need to grow every day of your life. Every day
you are losing billions and billions of cells. If growth is what
replaces them and you are in protection, then when you lose
those cells, there are no new cells to replace them. And if
you stay in protection for some period of time, this chronic
nature will cause a depletion of the support of the system.
Then, dis-ease is rampant in
the biology. It requires that
we undo our need for protection.
We find that most of
these are beliefs and are not
really substantiated at all.
DENNIS: Now comment on
the effects of joy and stress
on the system you just
described.
BRUCE: The interesting part
is that we talk about a
continuum with growth on
one end and protection at
the other end. Stress puts
us into protection. When a
healer in any way says, all I
have to do is just remove the
stress, then we have that
scale with stress at one end
and you remove it. But now,
you are in the middle of the
scale, at a zero point…one direction is growth and the other
is still the stress you just came out of. If you are at zero, you
are still not in growth. So the removing of stress without the
enhancement of joy, which is the feeling you would have
when everything is working in harmony. Joy encourages
growth…stress encourages protection. The removal of stress
takes you to zero, it doesn’t mean you have any growth but
that you just have less stress. Now you are on that very narrow
pivot point, zero, which is real close to falling off into
dis-ease again. So, you want to enhance the system, you
want it to support itself, encourage its growth and maintenance.
You need to add something besides just removing
stress. You need to add wholeness and wellness back in,
which is the wonderful part of chiropractic. It is not just
about trying to remove stress, but also about showing a
fuller, more whole, more complete picture of how to live.
DENNIS: Boy, oh boy, we could talk a couple of hours on
that one!
BRUCE: We sure could, maybe twelve, in fact.
DENNIS: Yes, in fact, the twelve hours of your complete
presentation, which everyone should make it their business
to hear…it’s spectacular!
I want you to talk about community. It is critically important.
What we have been trying to do at the Masters Circle over
the last several years is to create more of a unified front, to
create more of a sense of community between chiropractors,
even chiropractors who have different viewpoints. We feel
there is more commonality than there is difference. You
made some very interesting comments about cells deferring
their own perspective to
become part of a central
voice, a central way of
looking at things. Please
talk about that.
BRUCE: As I was talking
about, every cell has its
own Innate Intelligence,
and that survival is based
on awareness. So when
we look at evolution, as
you go up the evolutionary
scale you see there is
more and more awareness
in each system. Well,
each system is still made
out of cells. Every cell is
still the intelligent unit.
So, what is the difference
between a cell living on
its own and a cell living in
an organism as a community?
What is the difference? The answer is that, when you
are alone you only have your own awareness to survive by.
When you are in a community, you share awareness, so
every member of the community brings in an additional
piece of awareness. Since survival is in direct proportion to
awareness, then a person who lives alone is threatening
their own survival as compared to someone who participates
in the community. Why? Because the community
enhances the support of all…one for all and all for one, as
the nature of the community. Therefore, you get the benefits
of being in an environment that provides you with more
options, alternatives and visions than the individual itself
can find. By coming into a community that endorses and
supports and encourages the labors you are involved with,
then your work is a lot easier because, with all this additional
information being shared through the community, it is not
So, you want to enhance the system,
you want it to support itself, encourage
its growth and maintenance. You need
to add something besides just removing
stress. You need to add wholeness and
wellness back in, which is the wonderful
part of chiropractic. It is not just
about trying to remove stress, but also
about showing a fuller, more whole,
more complete picture of how to live.
continued.
