“Perception controls behavior, perception controls genes, perception rewrites genes”. Bruce Lipton
Epigenetics is yet a new type of science that is growing in popularity and promise in the scientific world. Epigenetics is the study of cellular and physiological traits, or the external and environmental factors, that turn our genes on and off, and in turn, define how our cells actually read those genes. It works to see the true potential of the human mind, and the cells in our body.
“That’s just the way I am” “It’s in your DNA” “I was born like this” “it’s in your genes”. The dogma of molecular biology which states that biological information is transferred in a sequence in one direction. It has lead us into a belief that we are powerless to determinism. It’s all controlled by your genetic code, which you were born with.
However, scientists have shattered this dogma and thankfully proven its falsehood. Contrary to what many people are being led to believe, a lot of emphasis placed on genes determine human behavior is nothing but theory and doctrine.
“We are free to make decisions that impact our lives and those of others. Our beliefs can change our biology. We have the power to increase our feeling of self-worth and improve our emotional state.
Bruce Lipton, the leading scientist in epigenetic field explains: “Let’s get right to the bottom-line, genes are blueprints. They are actually physical, molecular blueprints on how to make the proteins of the body. The proteins of the body give us our physical structural characteristics but the proteins also provide for the behavior because proteins are molecules that move and change shape, so these are molecules of life.
The characters of the proteins are apparently built into the blueprint. Well, for the longest time we gave this blueprint this self -actualization character, but it turns out a gene’s blueprint is the same as a blueprint in an architect’s office. And why I want to bring that up is because think of this situation: we walk into an architect’s office and she is working on blueprint.
We lean over her shoulder and we ask the architect, “is your blueprint on or off?”
And of course the architect will look at you like, “what are you talking about? “ These is no on and off, it’s a blueprint!” And that is precisely the point. The genes are blueprints but they don’t self regulate, they don’t act on their own and they don’t make decisions. They don’t control anything.
Blueprints are only effective if you have somebody who reads blueprints. Well, this is what epigenetics is all about. Epigenetics is about the fact that we are beginning to understand who reads the blueprints, who engages the blueprints and who can modify the blueprints.
And it turns out it is our perception of the world that actually engages these epigenetic mechanisms. Perception is an act of awareness of environment through physical sensation. Perception sees the environment and activates behaviour.