BL: Within every one of our bodies at this very moment, there are billions of stem cells, embryonic cells designed to repair or replace damaged tissues and organs. "-However, the activity and fate of these regenerative cells are epigenetically controlled. That means they are profoundly influenced by our thoughts and perceptions about the environment. Hence our beliefs about aging can either interfere with or enhance stem cell function, causing our physiological regeneration or decline.
MAB: What part does evolution play in this?
BL: Well, as it turns out, Darwin was wrong. Current science overrides Darwin’s theories emphasizing competition and struggle, but this information can take years to get into the textbooks. Cooperation and community are actually the underlying principles of evolution, as well as the underlying principles of cell biology. The human body represents the cooperative effort of a community of fifty-trillion single cells. A community, by definition, is an organization of individuals committed to supporting a shared vision.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had it right fifty years before Darwin. In 1809, Lamarck wrote the problems that will beset humanity will come from separating ourselves from nature, and that will lead to the dissolution of society. His understanding of evolution was that an organism and its environment create a cooperative interaction. If you want to understand the fate of an organism, you have to understand its relationship to the environment. He recognized that separating ourselves from our environment cuts us off from our source. He was right.
And when you understand the nature of epigenetics, you see his theory is now substantiated. With no mechanism to make sense of his theory before, and especially since we bought the concept of neo-Darwinian biologists who said the human body was subject to genetic control, Lamarck looked stupid. But guess what? New leading-edge science reveals he was right, after all.
MAB: So, how does this play out on the cellular level?
BL: Information from the environment is transferred to the cell via the cell membrane. We used to think that the cell nucleus was the brain of the cell. But in 1985 I discovered that the membrane is actually the brain of the cell. The nucleus, as it turns out, is actually the reproductive center.
The cell membrane (mem-brain!) monitors the condition of the environment and then sends signals to the genes to engage cellular mechanisms, which in turn, provide for its survival. In the human body, the brain sends messages to the cell’s membrane to control its behavior and genetic activity. This is how the mind, via the brain, controls our biology.
For example, an important discipline in the health sciences is referred to as psychoneuroimmunology. Literally this term means: the mind (psycho-) controls the brain (neuro-), which, in turn, controls the immune system (immunology). This is how the placebo effect works!
When the mind perceives that the environment is safe and supportive, the cells focus on growth. Cells need growth in order to maintain the body’s healthy functioning.
However, when confronted by stress, cells adopt a defensive protection posture. When that happens, the body’s energy resources, normally used to sustain growth, are diverted to systems that provide protection. The result is that growth processes are restricted or suspended in a stressed system.
While our systems can accommodate periods of acute (brief) stress, prolonged or chronic stress is debilitating because the body’s energy demands interfere with the maintenance it requires, and this is what leads to dysfunction and disease.
For example, the fear that has been propagated in the United States since 9-11 has had a profoundly destructive effect upon the health of our citizens. Every time the government advertises concerns of more terror attacks, the fear alone causes stress hormones to shut down our biology and engage in a protection response.
Since the World Trade Center attack, the health of the country has plummeted and the pharmaceutical companies’ profits have skyrocketed (with a 100% increase in less than five years!)
Our color-coded terror alert system has also been responsible for another serious consequence. In a state of fear, stress hormones change the flow of blood in the brain. Under normal, healthy situations, blood flow in the brain is preferentially focused in the forebrain, the site of conscious control. However, in stress, the forebrain blood vessels constrict, forcing the blood to the hindbrain, the center of subconscious reflex control. Simply, in fear mode we become more reactive and less intelligent.
MAB: In your workshop, you talked about how we receive stress information. Would you elaborate on that?
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