Epigenetics

your genes do not determine your future


Before I begin I wish to state I’m not a scientist or a geneticist, so my writings on this topic will be in the context of the USS, its aims and objectives.


The power of the mind

For years it was thought that the brain was fixed, a term known as causal closure. Also that it was incapable of creating new neurons, that only the physical can act on the physical (an idea based on Newtonian physics), and that it stopped developing at about 18 years. Consequently, education ended around this time. It was also thought we were pretty much predetermined by our genes. Now the study of epigenetics has thrown all that out the window.


The very notion that the brain could be altered, moulded, reshaped by such phenomena as thought or ‘intention’ was rejected outright. So dogmatic were scientists on this point that it wasn’t even the subject of research until very recent times. Now, all that has been reversed, and the study of epigenetics, along with neuroplasticity (the notion that the brain is malleable, and can be affected by thought), has proven that conditions other than the physical impact on the brain.


The word epigenetics derives from the Greeks epi (επί) meaning over, above, and genus. It encompasses, among other things, the study of phenotype (appearance) and gene expression. Recent research by Renato Paro, professor for Biosystems at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, on the drosophila fruit fly, showed that when temperature fluctuations caused changes in eye colour in newly hatched flies, these changes were passed on to future generations, while not affecting the underlying DNA sequence.


(ETH Zurich (2009)  see original research]


What this means is that such things as diet, exercise, education, etc, can impact at a genetic level in human development. As can relationships, social intercourse, and other psychological factors; and furthermore, the changes they make are then passed on to future generations.


Now how does this relate to the unscripted self, and the idea of awakening?


Well, think of the positive changes you make in your life, whether it’s taking up meditation or Reiki or developing an attitude of gratitude , or doing kundalini work. Any of these positive changes won’t just make you feel good, they will actually alter your DNA, and the physical landscape of your brain! And, these very positive and beneficial changes will be passed on to your children and impact on generations to come.


Way to go!


Epigenetics, neuroplasticity and cell memory

What happens when cells divide? Let’s look at the liver (an organ subjected to more abuse than any other singular one!) When liver cells divide, acetylated or methylated histones deactivate all other genes in the body, except liver cell types. Hence they recreate themselves, and not something else, that is, not some other cell type.


To put it in blunt terms those liver cells then recreate as liver, and not as your heart or some other organ. Remember the others have been deactivated. This is how your leg is your leg and not your ear.


I knew you always wondered about that!


On a more serious note this is also how tumours grow. What happens, receptor cells get switched on that aren’t supposed to and cause things to grow that shouldn’t.


Why?


Well, we know from epigenetic research it could be down to any number of reasons, environmental, diet, or some unknown. But what’s clear now is you don’t get a coronary at 76, per se, just because your father got one. Other factors can be at play.


But the really exciting news is that this can be reversed, those receptor cells that got switched on unintentionally can be switched off, and positive, life-affirming ones switched on instead. And the way to do this is through intention.


And hence the role of awakening.


Epigenetics and the new world

I believe the study of epigenetics holds out enormous promise for the future.


We are experiencing huge shifts in scientific thinking at present, with the old paradigms no longer adequate to explain these new changes. A whole new paradigm of science and consciousness is now being constructed. Therefore, it is only natural that the old thought systems are starting to break apart. The science of epigenetics is leading the way in this. It is showing us that these revolutionary new changes are taking place very close to home indeed, in our own bodies.


Too easily we say, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’, when maybe what we ought to be saying is the reverse,


‘I'll see it when I believe it’.


The world around us is the outpouring of our minds. Our senses only reflect this and tell us what we already know.


Change at the cellular level, as we’ve shown, will impact on behaviour, environment, and other dynamics.


And, I would add one more.


Love.


Love has a huge bearing on our perspective of things. And now, as epigenetics has shown us, change in perspective will impact on the physical as well.


And the really good news is you pass this on to your offspring.


So change your mind, change your heart, and you can produce a new generation of highly conscious and awake beings.


Things are looking up.



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There is a voice that doesn’t use words - listen!

Rumi


Reality is merely an illusion - albeit a persistent one.

Albert Einstein