How Our GENES Listen To Our Beliefs: Heal The Body & Prevent Disease | Dr. Bruce Lipton

Guess what? Positive thinking can heal you of any disease. Negative thinking can create any disease. It can even kill you. You believe you're going to die. That's a belief.

Help me understand the way in which our thoughts and our feelings, our emotions are transmitted to our cells and to our genes.

Anger has a chemistry. Jealousy has a chemistry. All of our emotions are chemicals. and I say, so what? I say, you have a thought in your head and that thought is translated into chemistry by the brain. The chemistry goes into the body via the blood and adjusts the genetics. So what was the point? What was the starting point of that cascade? The answer was a thought. And then people go, oh, thinking, you know, like, oh, positive thinking. I go, guess what? For nearly a hundred years, medicine has recognized, yeah, positive thinking is very important because it provides for what we call the placebo effect. You have an illness, the doctor said, there's the greatest new pill. This is made just for your illness. You take that pill, you get better, and then you find out the pill was a sugar pill. You're only left with one conclusion. What heals you? The belief in the sugar pill. Now, everybody goes, oh yeah, placebo, placebo. I go, yeah, but no one talked about what about negative thinking? Because placebo is positive.

No SIBO.

No SIBO. And I go, equally powerful in shaping your life, but in the opposite direction.

How did you first kind of figure this out and then take us through the sort of the origins of the biology of the belief and the understanding that you've come to through that? And we'll get deep into the weeds on this, talk about epigenetics and gene expression and lots of other other cool stuff.

Mark, this is an ancient history story for me right now, because it's about 50 years ago, even more than 50, I was cloning stem cells and people go, well, stem cells, that's a topic of conversation. But what are stem cells? Stem cells are embryonic cells in your body. And the reason why you have embryonic cells in your body is very simple. When you look in the mirror, see yourself as a single entity, that's an illusion. You're actually made out of 50 trillion cells. The cells or the living entity and Bruce is a community of cells. Mark is a community of cells. And so I say, well, this is great, 50 trillion cells. And then I go, but every minute we lose millions of cells. Yeah, I mean, the number is so hard to imagine. But when you're doing trillions, that number is so big that nobody understands it. It's a trillion. But it's, so we lose a million cells every minute or so. by the end of the day, you've lost about several hundred billion cells. I go, well, how many days can you live if you lose that many cells every day? And the answer is you can't. And so I want everyone to understand, if you're watching this show, the reason why you're watching this show is that inside your body are stem cells, which is another word for embryonic cell. And I say, what are their function? Well, obviously what the point is, if you're losing that many cells every day, you have to replace that many cells every And so if your question, do I have stem cells? The answer is, if you're watching this program, yes, you do.

But how good they are, how old they are, how they function, that varies. But yes, we all have themselves.

So I was teaching in the medical school, medical students, and I was teaching cell biology and understanding the nature of genetics. And I go back in those days, the conventional story, unfortunately, it's still the conventional story because the people, the public hasn't caught up with the science. The story was that genes control the character of your life. And I go, well, that was a very unfortunate situation because I say, well, wait a minute, as far as you know, did you pick the genes you came with? I go, no. And I say, if you don't like the characteristics, can you change those genes? I go, no. And then we add on top of that, genes turn on and off by themselves. And all of a sudden you start to realize what we have been teaching is victimization, meaning your life is not under your control, your life is under the control of the genes and you have no control over them. And all of a sudden I say we're a victim and people please understand when a person perceives themselves to be a victim, they're perceiving themselves to be powerless. I have no control. And when a person is powerless, what do you think they're going to do? They're going to look for somebody to empower them. And unfortunately, having been a former professor in medical school, what is controlling us is in one sense controlled by the pharmaceutical industry because those are the rescuers. They're coming in, your body's not working right, we have a chemical, we'll put that chemical in, you'll be safe. And everybody gives up and goes, yes, give me a prescription. And I go, let's look at this for a couple of seconds. Number one is this, is that, genes, when everybody's been told, genes turn on, genes turn off. Let me give you a very important insight. A gene is simply a blueprint to make a protein. And the proteins are the building blocks of your body, about a hundred thousand different proteins. And I go, but proteins are very complex molecules and they wear out, they break down. You know, put a piece of meat on a plate and come back a week later, that meat's not going to look the same. And I go, so you're saying that So your proteins are breaking down, normal wear, but you have to replace them and they're very complex molecules. So interesting point is the gene is a blueprint to make the protein. That's exactly what it is. I go, so why is that important? And the answer is very simple. Go into an architect's office and she's working on a blueprint and say, hey, is your blueprint on or off? And she would look at you like, crazy, it's a blueprint, there's no on and off. I go, precisely. Blueprints are information, but they have to be read. You read a blueprint. So I say, the genes are information, but which genes, which blueprints you're going to look at have to be selected. I go, well, who does the selecting? I go, Ah, now we jump from the genes making the selection and we find out that consciousness. I go, Number one, let's clear the air right here. This is a very important point. That the most valid science on this planet today, the most valid science is quantum physics. There's no more truth than any other science. I go recognize a fact. Principle number one from day one, quantum physics 1927, consciousness is creating our life experience. And I go, this is not philosophy, this is actually physics. And I go, oh my God, consciousness is creating a, well, in medicine as most people know, for years and years, only until recent times, did even consciousness come into our understanding.

Well, I still didn't have a course in consciousness in medical school, so I'm not sure it's still there, it's not there yet.

That's quite unfortunate because what they're still predict, you know, what they're still suggesting to the public, is you're controlled by genes. And if you're controlled by genes, then that means you have no control. And that means you're a victim. And that means we must find somebody to heal us. And the relevance about all that is genes are responsible. This is a very important scientific fact. Genes are responsible for less than 1% of disease. I go, wait a minute, everybody was genes for alcoholism, genes for diabetes, genes and genes. I go, no, no, no, no, no, no. genes are for less than one percent.

And you're talking about single gene disorders for sort of autosomal dominant.

Yeah, there's actually, there's about six of them. There's about six dominant one gene. You got this gene, you have like hemophilia. You got a hemophilia gene. You got hemophilia or Down syndrome or whatever it is.

Right.

Okay. And so the, the bottom line is this, that we have to understand what is controlling the genes. Well, this is where 50 years ago I was Culturing or cloning stem cells, I'd say, wait, wait, stem cell, embryonic cell, cloning. You put one cell in a Petri dish all by itself and it divides every 10 hours. So first there's one, then there's two, then there's four, eight, 16, doubling.

Exponential.

Yeah, at the end of the week, 30,000 cells in the Petri dish. Most important scientific fact, they all came from one parent. that meant they're all 30, 000 genetically identical cells. So I split the cells into three petri dishes. All dishes had genetically identical cells. But I changed. Just stick with me a minute, folks, because you're going to get to this. We're getting there.

We're getting there. I know you're getting to the answer to the question.

I grow cells in a fluid called culture medium. A culture medium is a laboratory version of blood. so if I grow human cells, I say, what's human blood made out of? And then in the lab, I synthesize a version called culture medium. Well, since I culture, since I'm synthesizing the culture medium in lab, I make three different versions of culture medium. Now, remember, culture medium is environment for the cells, and I make three slightly different versions of culture medium. Let's call them environment a, b and c. So I have three dishes. genetically identical cells. And then what's interesting about it is I feed one dish environment A, I feed another dish culture medium with environment B, and the third dish with a different culture medium. Different environment. Different environment. That's all it basically is. But what happened is environment A, the cells form muscle. In environment B, genetically identical cells, but they form bone. And in the third dish, again, genetically identical cells, but a different environment, they form fat cells in them. thinking, oh my God, I'm teaching in the medical school room right next door that genes control life. And these experiments say the determination of the fate of those cells wasn't based on the genes. They all had the same genes. It was based on the environmental input to that, the culture medium. So I go, oh my goodness. So the chemistry of the environment was selecting the genes. I go, yeah. And I go, okay, now, that's great. What the hell does that mean for me as a human? Well, let's just take a jump. I'm growing cells in a plastic dish, but as a human, we are skin covered Petri dishes. Yes, underneath your skin, you've got 50 trillion cells and the original culture medium, blood. I go, so what? I say, it doesn't make a difference if the cells in the plastic dish or in the skin dish. It's still controlled by the environment, culture medium, blood, the chemistry. and then all of a sudden it says, well, wait, so what controls my genes? I go, same as in the plastic dish, it's the chemistry of your blood. And I go, oh, and then I say, but what determines the chemistry of my blood? And I go, the brain is the chemist. I go, yeah, yeah, but that still didn't answer the question. What chemistry should I put into that blood? The brain is going to make it. I go, and this is the the part that changed my entire life. It turns out and says, wait a minute, whatever thoughts you have in your head, that's a vision. And what happens is the brain translates that vision of the thought into complementary chemistry. If you have a vision of love, you release beautiful chemistry into the blood, dopamine for pleasure, oxytocin bonding, a growth hormone. and I go, what's the relevance? I say, when you're in love, you feel great and your cells are getting nourished by growth hormone, which gives them great health. And that's why when people fall in love, they glow. They're healthy. Love produces health. But in contrast, if I have a picture of fear, I don't release love chemistry. Now I release protection chemistry. I'm afraid of something. So I put in to my system, stress hormones. I put in factors that affect the immune system. And I go, this is different chemistry. So I said, wait, there's a chemistry for growth, love, and there's a chemistry for protection, and that's fear. Love opens up and makes you grow. Fear shuts you down and puts you in protection. And you can't stay shut down for a long period of time because that interferes with all the functions of the body. So guess what? Positive thinking can heal you of any disease. Negative thinking can create any disease. It can even kill you. You believe you're going to die? That's the belief. And I say so belief, the picture is translated into chemistry, brain, and the chemistry via the blood goes to the cells and controls genetics and behavior. So your thoughts are the primary control of your genes. And I go, significance, just simple conclusion. the old story, what is called genetic determinism, genes determine the character of your life. That's what most people learn is no longer valid. It is now recognized that the genes are receptive to the signal that you send them. And all of a sudden I say, well, then your thoughts are overriding your genes. I go, yes, they do. And then a conclusion, which Mark has been talking about for years, is well then you better start thinking healthy thoughts because it's the negative thoughts that put the chemistry in that will create any disease. And all of a sudden it goes positive thinking, negative thinking, but it's all connected to belief.

Yeah, it's so powerful, Bruce. This is such a huge insight. And I want to get into the weeds on this a little bit. I just sort of want to back up a little bit because I think we really do have a very granular understanding about how food influences gene expression and epigenetics and our biology. We have a deep understanding about exercise and sleep and stress, which is sort of a form of our thoughts. But those all we know regulate our biology. And in fact, you know, 95% of chronic disease is caused by our exposome, everything that our genes are exposed to. Now, it's food, it's exercise, it's stress, it's toxins, it's our microbiome, and it's our thoughts. So I want to kind of dive deep because we've dived very deep on these other topics. I want to dive deep on the mechanisms, the science under underlying this hypothesis that is that our thoughts influence our biology. And Candace Pert from the NIH, who I know is a friend of yours and I knew very well, wrote a book called Molecules of Emotion. How our emotions really are regulating our biology and these there are literally molecules of our emotion that are speaking to every cell in our body. So can you kind of walk us through now you've taken us from the high level, okay, yes, you've sort of looked at how different inputs influence our cell biology and our gene expression and our epigenetics. But how does it actually work on a granular level? What is the science behind this? Because I think this where it gets really interesting.

Well, it does because up until, you know, this time of understanding, it was a black box. Life happens. How? But once we understand this, when I started to show that the environment was controlling the cells. Then of course, the direction was, well, how does the environment control the direction of the cell? And it led me way off the trail of genes because genes are just the blueprints. The question was, how does an environmental signal cross into the cell and then regulate the genetics? And this is the foundation, as you brought our attention to, Mark here, is it's a new understanding of genetics. It's called not genetic control, it's called epigenetic control. And people go, well, genetic control, epigenetic, it all sounds the same, but I say, no, it's a revolutionary difference because epi means above. I mean, what do we call skin? We call skin epidermis. I said, why do we call it that? Because epi means above. And so I say, epidermis means above the dermis. And I go, yes, just underneath the skin. is a layer called dermis and the skin integument is above the dermis. So we call it epidermis. And I say, so what about epigenetic control? And I go, old story. This character is under genetic control, meaning genes control the character. New story, this character is under epigenetic control. And I go, what does that mean? I go, epi means above epigen, above the gene control. and that's when all of a sudden we started to recognize that the environment is controlling the genes. Now the profound difference for all the people out here is very important for this reason. While the gene story says I can't control them, they control me, the new story epigenetics says it's the environment and response to the environment that controls the genes. I go, wait a second, then that's my option. I'm the one that determines how I'm going to respond. I'm the one that's going to control my environment. All of a sudden I go, we went from victim to master. If you understand this, then you recognize, I have power over my genes through my thoughts. Placebo effect, nocebo effect, that's the term in medicine of how the thoughts are going to interact here. And so I said, well, when I started to show this to my colleagues, they looked at me because everybody at that time, 1967, was invested in genetics. Everyone around me in the lab, everyone was genetics. We're going to find a gene for this, we're going to find a gene for that. I'm the only guy out there going, it's not genetics, it's the environment. And of course they said, who are you? I said, Bruce. And they said, yeah, that's what we thought. And they let it go. And I had to work for a while because the missing piece was How did that environmental signal get into that cell?

Yes, that's what I want to know. Tell us.

So I went back and I said, look, this works on bacteria, the most primitive of all organisms. The environment of the bacteria is controlling the genetics and behavior. So I go, well, wait, there's no nucleus and there are genes. And I also did some research where I took the nucleus out of the cell. The nucleus is in your textbooks right now. It says the nucleus is the brain of the cell. Where the hell did they come up with that? And I go, because they thought genes were like neurons. They turn on, they turn off, they control our biology. So the nucleus is envisioned as the brain. The joke, the joke is the nucleus is the gonad, the reproduction structure. I always joke in the lecture, I used to joke, how did a bunch of male scientists come up with the idea that the gonad was the brain. And, you know, it was a big joke and all that, but the reality was the brain of the cell has to respond to the environment and then send a message to the genes. I go, how does it do that? I started looking not at the nucleus, I started looking at the skin of the cell, the membrane. And I go, why is that relevant? And I go, well, if you know human embryology, guess where our brain comes from. the membrane, the skin of the embryo. And I go, oh, then a cell and a human, both of them, the skin is the source. And I say, why is the skin the source? The answer is simple. The skin is the separation from the outside to the inside. So the skin can read outer environment, inner environment, and adjust the cell. So I start looking at the membrane. At that time, there's a principle of biology that is called that the structure implies the function. The more complex the structure, the more complex the function. So if you look at the membrane in the electron microscope, it's the most simple organization in a cell. It looks like an Oreo cookie, dark light dark, a little structure, and that's all it is. so for the longest time, my colleagues would say, oh, yeah, the skin is like plastic wrap. It just holds the cytoplasm together. But what they couldn't see is in that electron microscope, you couldn't see there are proteins that are built into the membrane. And I say there are two classes of protein. This is where it comes down to the whole world changes. One class of proteins has antennas, just like television antennas, are called receptors.

Okay?

And it's built into the skin of the cell receptor. Again, where are your receptors? Eyes, ears, nose, taste, touch, pain, temperature, all your receptors are built into the skin. So you and the cell have the receptors built in the skin, but in the cell it's primitive and simple. It's a protein with an antenna. And when a signal comes in that is in complement to that antenna, It causes the protein to change shape and that changing shape is the action of life. Proteins provide for anatomy. Yep, you can be alive or dead, you still have the anatomy and it's still based on proteins. A cadaver is a dead person but it's got all the proteins, they still look like a human. What's the difference between alive and a dead person? The answer is this. in a live person, the proteins respond to environmental signals, cold, hot, rain, what's going on in the world. The receptors pick it up just like our eyes, ears, nose, we know what's going on in the world. We can see it, feel it, smell it, taste it. The cell does the same. The cell is actually a miniature human. And I go, so what about it? And I go, how does it see the world? And I say, there are proteins called receptors, just like this is a receptor of the eye. And I say, how does it see the world? I say, when a signal matches the receptor, it causes the receptor to move. And that's where life comes from. It's a simple equation. Protein plus signal equals behavior. That's fundamental about life. I don't care if it's a whole human or a single protein. It's the environmental signal that gauges a protein that causes us to live and move. that's the movement of life is proteins changing shape. So I say, yep, it takes a signal and a protein. What's the difference between a live person and a dead person? They both have proteins, but in the dead person, no signals. No signals are coming in, so the proteins never change shape. If they never change shape, then there's no movement, there's no life cadaver. Okay? So I'm looking at the membrane and I recognize right away, there are receptors that are responding to these signals. But there's a second protein type called a channel. A channel means like a pipe or connection from one side to the other. English channel is a channel of water that goes between Britain and Europe. It's a narrow channel of water, the English Channel. A channel is a protein that is closed normally and when a signal comes in, the protein opens up. so it's closed. And when a signal comes, the protein opens up and a signal can go through the cell. So I say, what do we have? Protein one receptor sees a signal in the environment. Protein two, the channel, translates that signal into a signal that goes into the cell and controls behavior and genetics. So I'm studying this back then, 1985, when I finally saw it, I said, my whole world changed because I was writing a definition of the cell membrane, and I gave all the conventional physiological descriptions of the cell membrane. But this night, on this night, I wrote a different definition. I recognized that the membrane is a crystal structure. If you see the molecules, they're all lined up like soldiers. And the membrane has a liquid core, a lipid core, visualize a bread and butter sandwich. Two pieces of bread and a layer of butter. I go, water can soak into the bread, but water can't go through the butter to soak into the other bread because it can't go across the membrane, that bread and butter sandwich. The butter stops it. So by definition, the membrane is called a non-conductor. Nothing can get across because when it hits the lipid, nothing in water will go through the lipid. So it's separated from the outside. But then you put the proteins in there and like the channel that's one that opens and closes can let stuff in. So I say, oh, well then it can conduct some stuff. I go, some stuff because the channels determine what comes in, sodium, potassium, calcium, glucose, histamine, whatever the signals are, the environment, the channel lets the signal come in. So now I'm looking at the memory, I say, well it's not a non-conductor. because stuff can go through. Can everything go through? A full conductor? Nope, nope, nope. Only what can go through the channel. Sodium, potassium, glucose, histamine. So it's like, it's not a non-conductor it's not a full conductor. I write, it's a semi-conductor so I, now I, I Define the membrane and I wrote this down. And here's the definition. 1985 about, I'm. like one o'clock in the morning, I'm going, the membrane is a crystal semiconductor with receptors and channels. But there's another word for receptors called gate. So I write down, the membrane is a crystal semiconductor with gates and channels. And I wrote that down. I go, I just read, I just read that definition. Where did I. My first computer, Macintosh, and right next to it is a book from Radio Shack about your microprocessor that runs the computer. And I said, oh my God, I opened up the book in the introduction, first paragraph almost, a chip is a crystal semiconductor with gates and channels. I go, ah, what a coincidence. The membrane has the same definition. But then as I started to follow the function of the receptor, the channel, the membrane and put it all together, I said, oh my God, it's not like a chip. It is a chip.

It's a transducer, right?

It translates environment with signals that type on the receptors. Imagine the receptors on the surface of the cell, they're all these little antennas. I say, imagine that these receptors are downloading information. I go, they not imagine it. That's what they do. They take the information from the environment, connect it to the channel, and that signal goes into the cell. And I go, wait a second. Then the membrane is not like a chip. The membrane is a chip. Oh, my God. The nucleus has programs. The nucleus is a hard drive. It's got all the programs how to do stuff. Yeah. But how do you activate the programs in your computer? You type on the keyboard and that pulls up the program. And I go, oh no, the membrane has these antennas which are like a keyboard. If you look at the surface of the cell, there are all these different keys, sodium key, potassium key, glucose key, histamine, estrogen. I go, what? If the environment has that signal, it activates the key just like typing on the computer. and that sends a signal into the cell which controls the protein, signal plus protein makes the movement, and it also controls the genetics and all of a sudden I say, oh my God, a cell is a programmable chip. And that's why an embryo cell, before it's been programmed, it can form anything, skin, muscle, bone, brain, it can form anything. So it's a embryo is a chip that hasn't been programmed.

So, Bruce, how does then, you know, when you have thoughts or beliefs, how do those, like specifically what molecules, what neurochemicals, what hormones, what is regulating and translating your thoughts and feelings and beliefs, good or bad, into biological signals that then is affecting your health, your gene expression, your immune system, everything. Can you kind of take us down that path?

Yeah, okay, now let's back it up. The cells are like in the skin covered Petri dish. They're living in a fluid, just like cells in a plastic dish. The fluid is all around. The fluid chemistry is going to determine which receptors are going to be activated, which then through the channel determines which behavior is going to be activated. So the chemistry of the environment determines which genes and which behaviors are going to be activated. That's what the culture study showed. For sure, for sure. This culture medium, you get muscle. Change the culture medium, you get bone. And all of a sudden it's like, well then, and then we go back to, then the brain is the one that determines the chemistry and that chemistry then is based on your thought. Am I happy? Am I afraid? Am I angry? I go, oh, these thoughts make different chemistry, like putting it into the blood of the culture medium of your cells.

So is it like cortisol? Is it sex hormones?

Is it- Every one of them.

All of it, right?

Everyone. So for every signal the cell can receive, there's a receptor that is tuned to that signal. Now, a very important part about your work, Mark, which comes in here is this. I said the culture medium is the growth medium. It provides the nutrition and the nourishment to make the cells grow. When you eat food, you're creating culture medium. that's what the food is translated into. So all of a sudden I could give you a simple insight. When I was growing cells in a tissue culture, I didn't buy my ingredients at Kmart. You know, I went and bought the highest quality ingredients in the world because if I gave them less than quality ingredients, the cells would immediately show dysfunction. I could look at it in the microscope, put in a culture medium that isn't a really good culture medium, not a good quality. and the cells, you can watch them get sick right there. I'm going, well, what do you think happens in the skin covered culture dish? You're making culture medium. So there's two parts to the culture medium. Mark, you emphasize one of the most important parts and that is the nutrition element. If I'm not giving the good signals of food, then my cells are not responding in a proper way. If I give them a bad chemical food, in the cells, you can watch them. They get sick right away. You can watch them die. So I go, so why is nutrition important? I say, because that's where the culture medium comes from. And that's why it is incumbent upon us to, if you want to be healthy, natural, organic, you know, biodynamic food, growing healthy, industrial farm food is toxic. I go, what do you mean it's toxic? I show in the class a picture of a farmer spraying the plants. The farmer's wearing a hazard suit. My God, he's spraying the food you're going to eat and he's wearing a hazard suit. I think, you know, hello, hello. And the issue is this, is that genetic engineering, trying to manipulate food is a great failure. We've lost the nutritional elements, the elements, the minerals, the things that we need to have in our food are not really fully present in industrial farm food. And in addition, of course, it's toxic because they spray all the dumb stuff on the food. And that's why if you're making culture medium, I made culture medium, I didn't compromise a thing. I had to get the best ingredients because the cells respond to what is in the culture medium, the blood. And if you're eating food and you're not putting in the best nutritional elements in that food, then you're compromising the fate of your cells. So again, I'm a culture medium lab. You. You eat dinner. That's right. That's right. So we've got.

We've got. We know that the things that are hugely impacting us, we all accepted food, exercise, all things we talked about. the belief stuff is hard for people because it's like, how do you change your thoughts? How do you change your beliefs? You know, if you, if you live in a world where everything looks, you know, like black versus, you know, rose colored glasses, I tend to be more rose colored glasses. You can look at the same event and two people have this totally different interpretation and have a totally different effect on their biology. So one person can experience the same thing and create positive molecules of emotion, and another person can experience exactly the same thing and experience negative molecules of emotions. So in a way, this is a little bit daunting for people because it's like, okay, if I say, don't eat sugar, people go, I can figure that out. If I say don't think blah, blah, blah or don't feel this or do feel this or don't feel more love and less fear, well, that's easy to say, hard to do. So, can you talk about how do we start to translate this science into actionable ways that we can change our beliefs and change our way of thinking and change the way we interpret and filter the world to actually reframe it and actually start to generate the power of our thoughts to create health and longevity?

Well, let's step back one second. And I said, the function of the brain is to put the chemistry into the blood. And I said, yeah, but where does it get it from? I said, the picture in the mind. I go, the mind? Yeah, the mind has a misleading character. The mind sounds like, oh, there's one mind. I go, no, there are two minds. And this is where the whole world gets screwed up, because we say the mind. Well yeah, my mind, I should have consciousness and I want to be healthy, then how come I'm not healthy? I got that in my mind. I go, because here's the problem, there are two minds. And if you don't get this, then nothing makes sense. And I'll give you the reason why. The brain is a computer. That's what I was finding out. The cells are miniature chips. The body's got 50 trillion chips. but when you put all the chips together, that's called a computer. So I say, so what's the point about the, this computer? I say, let's go back to the old days when you would buy a brand new computer. You spent a couple thousand dollars. Okay. And, and the point about it is simply this, is that you get a brand new computer. You just took it home. $2,000. I say, brand new. I say, push the start button. The screen lights up. That's called booting up. It's booted up. The screen's lighted. And I go, now do something. And you go, I can't do anything. I said, you just bought a brand new computer. What do you mean you can't do anything? Before you can use a computer, you have to put programs in a computer. I go, oh, but the brain is. Is an organic computer, just like the Silicon one you use. I say, we need to put programs in. So we can use the computer. So I say, when do the programs come in? I go, ah, the programs start coming in in the last trimester of pregnancy. The fetus is reading the environment. I say, how can the fetus read the environment? It's inside the womb. I go, remember, the fetus is nourished by the mother's blood. I go, yep. That's why in the old days when I was in medical school, we say, what's the role of the mother? Eat well, take vitamins and supplements, exercise. And I go, oh, is that all the mother has to do? Well, in those days, it was the belief the genes are going to control it, the mother just had to nourish it. In the new day of epigenetics where environmental signals are important, all of a sudden I say, blood has nutrition and blood has environmental signals. The emotional chemicals, anger, love, jealousy, whatever ones you want. They're chemicals that generate those experiences. So if the mother is having an experience, then the blood from the mother is going to go into the fetus. By the last trimester, the brain is now booted up. But now guess what? It will read pattern. If the mother is has periods of anger, then the chemistry of anger comes in periodically. That's a pattern. the fetus will learn that. If the mother's happy, then good, happy, loving chemistry comes to the fetus and the fetus is happy. So all of a sudden I say then the first programming occurs even before you're born. Because while you're in the womb, your brain is downloading programs because the mother is Head Start program. She sees the world in which the fetus is going to live. If the world is war-torn, there's war and violence, and she experiences that, then the chemistry that goes to the fetus is the stress chemistry, which will cause the body to build up like an athlete and become a fighter, like a street fighter. So all of a sudden it goes very importantly what it says is simply this, what's the mother's perception of the world? If she feels safe and happy, then the baby is getting information, I'm safe, happy, grow, be in love. If she's angry or she's afraid, then the fetus is afraid. Does the fetus know why? No. The fetus has the chemistry of fear. It's just a chemistry. It has no vision, but it knows that out in that world, the mother is giving information that it's not safe. And if it's not safe, then the genetics has to change to make a body that will fight to survive versus, okay. So that's when the programming starts. But it really kicks into gear.

But, but, how do, how do, how do people like change their thoughts? Because I think, you know, what you're saying is very empowering, but it's also very scary. As I listen to him, like, wow, my beliefs, my thoughts are changing my biology and making me sick or healthy.

Yeah. How do I use that information in a practical way? Like, the big part that we didn't get to is I said there were two, we have the, the programming is the equivalent of putting a program in a hard drive in your computer. It's built in. Now it's a program. okay? And then when the conscious mind, that's the creative mind, the subconscious mind, the hard drive, is the habit mind. It's got habits or programs. Programs are habits. And so I learn from experiences. I create programs in my hard drive. But when I'm conscious, the conscious mind is like the Creator that types on the keyboard. I can type in all the wonderful messages. I want to be healthy. I love life. I'm going to get a great job. I'm going to find a great relationship. I say, oh, that's conscious. That's creative. That's cool. I say, what about the subconscious? I say, no, the subconscious programs didn't come from you. They came from your experiences in the environment during the development. When you're born, was your father a happy person or an angry person? Is your mother, you know, you, how do you, why do I need a program? I'll tell you why I need a program. I have to fit into a family. I have to fit into a culture. And I go, yeah, but cultures change over time. And I go, that's why it's not genetic. You have to learn culture. I say, how do you learn? I say, how does an infant learn? They can't read a book. They can't go to school. And here's the secret. For the first seven years of your life, your brain is not operating with creative consciousness, which is right behind your forehead. It's operating off of hindbrain hard drive. And I go, so why is that important? Because the hard drive is downloading experiences. I say, how? Watch your father. Watch your mother. Watch your siblings. Watch your community. In a state of that development, and the brain is in a vibration state, let's back up. You can put wires on a person's head and read the brain function, its energy vibrations. A child's brain, if you put the EEG on the child's brain, up through age seven, it's not functioning at the higher vibration of consciousness. It's functioning just a little lower. It's called theta, theta vibration. I go, so what's theta? Theta is hypnosis. I go, so what does that mean? I say, for the first seven years of a child's life, the brain is not using creativity. The brain is in hypnosis. I say, what is it doing? Observing how a father behaves, observing how a mother behaves, how a community behaves. It observes and in state of hypnosis downloads the pattern.

Totally. Our childhood shapes our whole worldview and beliefs and subconsciousness.

So how do we sort of undo that as we get older? I can't get to that yet because first you have to find out, well, if I have a conscious mind and it overrides the program because I'm creator, then how come as Quantum physics said consciousness is creating our life experience. Then how come the world looks like the way it does? Violent, tearing apart, chaos, all this stuff. It's like, where's that coming from? I go, that's coming from the subconscious. That's not the conscious. The conscious is, I want to be in love. I want to be healthy. I want to be happy. I go, then how come we're not living heaven on earth? Because that's what the conscious mind would create. how come we have this problem? And here comes the answer to the most important part that you didn't even know what the question was. Here's the answer. And the answer is this. The conscious mind can type on the keyboard, just like on your computer. You can put the data in, you can create whatever you want. You can type on it. But the conscious mind, and here it goes, can think. So what? I say thinking is inside. I say, Mark, today's Tuesday. What are you doing on Thursday? It's not written in front of you, but I bet you in a minute you could go, oh, Thursday I am. And you have a picture in your mind. And I say, well, wait a minute. Then when you were using your conscious mind, you were back up one second. Body is a vehicle like a car. It moves around. It's got a steering wheel. okay. When the conscious mind, it's got its hands on the steering wheel, looking out the window, it will drive you to wishes and desires. And then I go, yeah, but the conscious mind can think. The hell does that mean? It's not looking out the window. The moment you start thinking, you're not looking out, you're looking in. I say, what if you're driving the car and you start thinking? You start thinking, I go, then you're not looking out the windshield. I go, and I go, don't worry. You know why the subconscious is programs. It knows how to drive the car, and it's a million times more powerful a computer than the conscious mind. So guess what? You don't even have to pay attention to the road. The subconscious mind will drive it. Okay, so I go, wait, every time you are thinking, then the conscious creative mind is no longer looking out the window. it's looking inside. So every time you are thinking, then the conscious mind is not controlling the vehicle. I go, but I'm still here. And I go, the subconscious has got programs. And so the moment the conscious mind is thinking, the subconscious mind autopilot takes over. Now I'll tell you where the problem is. Where the programs come from in the subconscious mind, I go, from other people. Did they answer what you wanted? Did their behavior match what you want in your life? Probably not. Then I go, therefore, then here's the point. And this is it. Of all the things we talk about right now, Mark, this is it. 95% of the day is the amount of time a person spends thinking. I go, well, wait a minute. Then 95% of the day I'm not driving the vehicle. I go, nope. 95% of the day, the subconscious programs. But they came from other people, good programs, bad programs, 60% of the programs we downloaded during that development are disempowering, self-sabotaging and limiting beliefs. And I go, but you're operating 95% of the day from those programs, not from the creative program, because the creative mind is thinking the biology's taken over by the program. For 50 years, I've given the same story, Mark, so I'll give it again, another 51 years, here's the same story. you have a friend, you know your friend's behavior very, very well, and you know your friend's parent. And one day you see your friend has the same behavior as the parent. So you, you, you got a volunteer. You go, hey, Bill, you're just like your dad. Back away from Bill. I know exactly what Bill's going to say. You know it, too, because you were there. Bill will go, how could you compare me to my dad? I'm nothing like my dad. And I go, here's the reality, everybody else can see that Bill behaves like his dad. Yeah. The only one that can't see it is Bill. I go, explanation is simple. Bill was programmed by his dad in the first seven years, knows those behaviors, those are programs. And then 95% of the day Bill is thinking, so he's not controlling, so the father program starts manifesting. He can't see it. Bill can't see it. I go, why not? He's not even looking at his own behavior. he's thinking. So he's not even seeing his own behavior, but everybody else does. And everybody else says, well, wait, that's the same as his dad. And then Bill goes, what are you talking about? Why? Bill's the only one that didn't see it. And I go, you ready for this one? This is the killer. We are all Bill. Every day, every one of us is spending 95 of our time thinking and turning over the control to the subconscious. I go, was that a good program or bad program? Well, 60% are negative. So, you know, and do you see it? No. So you become in, it's invisible to you to see your participation. All you see is it's not working. I wanted to be happy and I'm not. Well, that person did this to me and this person screwed me here and that, and you're blaming all these people. and the idea was, hey, you didn't see you were the one that started the program because you're the one that was playing the negative programs and they're responding to it. And, and I go, that means most people have no understanding of personal responsibility. Most people are victims. I'm victim of this. I'm a victim of that. And I go, no. So are you running your life? I say, yeah, but are you running it with the conscious creative mind, wishes and desires? or are you running it with the subconscious mind habits and programs? The answer is 95% of the day you're running it from the programs. A very important point. Remember, the consciousness controls the genetics. Everyone's thinking, cancer is caused by a gene. I go, that's a big BS, that means belief system, a big belief system story for this reason, and that is this, there is not one gene that causes cancer. There's not one gene, you have that gene, you get cancer. No, not one.

I said, well, what about the BRCA gene? Even though it's in a very high rate of cancer, it's not 100%, which means the environment has an impact. That's what the point is. 50 or 60 or 100 years ago had less cancer than they do now because of environmental influences of our diet and environmental toxins, for sure.

Well, thank you, because that's exactly where the issue comes down to, the issue comes down to this. Where did the cancer come from? I can tell you, ready? They followed the fate of what happens when a baby is adopted into a family where there's cancer running in that family. The baby, adopted baby, will get the same family cancer with the same probability as any natural siblings, except the adopted baby has totally different genetics. So where did the cancer come from? Being in the family in that first seven years of programming, Cancer is a program. And you can change cancer by changing the program. But if you believe the cancer is genetically controlled, which means you have no control, then you all of a sudden say I'm a victim. And then you want to kill all the cancer cells because that's the technology. And I go, the cancer cells are not the problem. They're the symptom. That's the result of a problem. And so you can kill all the damn cancer cells you want, but you never got to the cause of the problem. The cause of the problem was something that caused a cell to become cancer. And all of a sudden we go back to the consciousness and the programming. And the same thing, diabetes type two, 100% environment, 100% environment. And I go, so why is this important? Because as you've been talking about, let's get away from the idea that I am a genetically programmed individual. No. I'm a creator and I'm creating this. And the emphasis is how? Through the blood, the chemistry, two parts, nutrition and information. And the idea about it is this, if you fail on the nutrition, it's like the machine will break down. That's what the function is. If you don't take care of the car, it breaks down. When you look in the junkyard and you see all the cars piled up, I say, is that because they were built wrong, genetically incorrect. I go, no, no, it was driver error that put those cars into the junkyard. It's driver error that's responsible for 99% of disease on this planet.

So, Bruce, this is really powerful work. I mean, it's just elucidated the sort of beautiful ways in which, you know, our environment, our beliefs, our attitudes, our thoughts literally speak to every cell in our body and you know, it's, it, for me, it sometimes can be a bit daunting because, you know, if you, if you are in a negative spiral or if you have, you know, beliefs that you feel like are so rigid, you have to be able to learn how to rework your thinking. You know, I, I recently had a friend go to Hoffman, which is a sort of a, I don't know, it's a seven day intensive reworking and reparenting of yourself and reprogramming of your brain from your childhood trauma. And it was just profound to see how it helped him to kind of reshift some of the automatic ways of thinking and automatic ways of being that he had. Now, there are many ways to do this. There's many approaches. There's many programs. There's Byron Katie. There's, you know, my friend Shelley Lefkoe's work, which is amazing. Hoffman therapy. There's a lot of ways to get to this. Medicine ceremonies, MDMA, assisted psychedelic therapy. But I think it's an important thing to realize that your health depends on your mindset and your way of seeing the world and your beliefs and your attitudes. And it's not a Harry Potter. kind of spiritual concept. It's actually physiology and biology.

It's.

Chemistry.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I always, you know, you always say the greatest pharmacy is the one between your ears. And I think we don't have the only real pharmacy. The only real pharmacy. Well, there's other pharmacies.

It's a real pharmacy for this reason. If I take a drug and the drug affects me, that means there's a receptor. that is tuned to that drug. If you have a receptor on your cell tuned to that drug, do you think it was put on that cell waiting for the pharmaceutical company to create the drug? I say, no, if you got a receptor for the drug, that means you already make that drug.

That's right.

If you're not making it, then it's not the problem is why is that drug not working? That's right.

I mean, the receptor for mushrooms or LSD or or MDMA or- Change consciousness.

You get out of it.

Canniboids or pot or cannabis are all in your brain and that's why they work. So, you already have these. We actually have endogenous, meaning our own molecules that regulate these pathways.

We just have to learn how to activate them. Yeah. The whole idea about it is that if you're taking a drug, first thing is this, the only reason that drug works is because you already have a receptor for that drug. And, if you already have a receptor for that drug, then by definition, you already manifest or can manifest that drug. And then you have to say, why is it not working? I say, what's your mindset? Why do some people, why do people get sick? A lot of them. I'll give you a simple reason. They go in their life. Okay. It has to do. What is the program? Let's start with that. How what? How do I know what my programs are? I say, why? Well, you weren't in, in the last trimester of pregnancy. The fetus had no conscious awareness of what was going on. It downloaded programs, but not being aware. You're born. You were programmed a whole year from zero to one. By what? Watching, downloading. I say, okay, tell me the program you got when you were zero. I don't know. I wasn't there. I go, no. Okay, you were program another whole year from one to two. Tell me the program that you got in them. I wasn't aware. of what was going on. Two to three at the end, by near three, you can start to remember some images that come in. Okay, so I'm going to tell you right now, simple fact, what are your programs? And the answer is, most people have no idea what the hell their programs are, why they weren't there. But then here comes the beautiful resolution. 95% of your life is from the program. So your life is a printout. of your programs? And I say, so what does that mean? I say, look at your life, very simple. Right now, just look, I say, the things you like that come into your life, they come in because you have programs to acknowledge and support those. But here's the one, the things that you want and you have to work hard. You have to put a lot of effort into it. I'm going to make it, I'm working hard. I'm working hard to make it. I go, why are you working so hard? And the answer you ready? Simple. The program you downloaded doesn't support that. And so you're trying to override 95% process from a million times more powerful processor from five percent from a small conscious processor. Mathematically, it doesn't work. And therefore, look at your life right now. You want to know what the programs are? You're creating, you're manifesting from the program. So I say, don't worry about the things that come into your life that you like because that program is already there. So don't have to deal with it. But you have to start looking and say, but I'm not successful in relationship. I'm not successful in health. I'm not successful on my job. And I go, we have been led to believe that I'm just a victim and these things are happening to me. And I go, no, that's your own program. And so I can tell you right now, you want to see what your programs are? Look right now. Whatever you're struggling to accommodate or to create, that struggle is not because the universe won't give it to you. That struggle is your program doesn't support that conclusion. So now you have an idea of, I have programs that aren't working. And now, of course, you know, if I wait here, I think Mark will ask me a question, how do you change those programs? But I'll wait until he asks me that question.

Well, I really, I really love it. So just tell us quickly, because we have to wrap up. I wanted to sort of just quickly, how do we change that program?

Okay, the first thing of understanding is what is the program? Again, look at where the struggle is. But then you want to put in a new program. I say, well, there are three ways to change the program. I say, what are they? I say, the first way is how did you get the programs in the first place? In the first seven years, your brain was operating at a lower vibration than consciousness called theta. Remember, some of us old enough remember the old days, a hypnotherapist would have a watch and he'd swing it back and forth and as he's swinging and you're supposed to watch it go back and forth, he would say, you,'re getting tired, you're getting sleepy. I said, why? Because when you're awake, you're functioning from the higher vibration of consciousness. But the moment you fall asleep, guess what? It drops down to the next lower vibration, theta. So if you can be in theta, that's what the hypnotherapist is trying to get you to relax. If you can get into theta, then it's hypnosis and you can download, just boom. So I go, number one way of downloading, get in state of hypnosis. So how do you do that? I say, fall asleep. Why? The moment your consciousness disconnects for the evening, the moment it disconnects, the next period of time, a short period of time, the brain is operating in theta, hypnosis. so if you put on earphones or earbuds with a program you want to be true in your life and you can get them self-help programs. And I say every night you put the earphones or earbuds on and start the program. The moment you fall asleep, you don't hear the program, but the subconscious does. It's in a state of hypnosis. So repeating this every night is called self-hypnosis. By repeating this every night, you have to do it a number of nights because it's not in theta for a long period, but long enough to make a change. And I love it. How hard is it? And I say, well, to learn fall asleep, I go, oh, okay, that's not too much work. All I have to do is fall asleep and the earbuds are going to play a program that my subconscious will pick up. Repetition of that will change the program. So that's called self-hypnosis. Number two, that theta phase ends by age seven. But you still learned habits. You learned how to drive a car, play an instrument, drive a bike. I said, you learned a habit after theta. I go, how did you do it that way? So number two, repetition, practice. The new age phrase, which always makes me laugh, is fake it till you make it. Meaning you're not a happy person, then all day long say to yourself as many times you can. I am happy. I am happy.

You know, I always say that you can actually act into your feelings or feel into your actions, right? So if you actually can change your actions, your feelings will change.

Right? Right. And make it permanent. You just repeat it because that's how a habit is formed. Repetition. So repeat the new habit. Repeat it and repeat it. And one day you wake up, you don't have to repeat it because now it's downloaded. And once it's downloaded, you never have to do it again. That's beautiful part. So that's number two. First one, again, is self-hypnosis second one is repetition. And the third one is a new version of psychology called energy psychology. You've listed a couple before, Mark. One I use is called psych-k. What is, they basically represent super learning. What the hell is super learning? I go, maybe you've seen somebody read a book where they just move their finger down the page. As fast as they move that finger down, they read all the words. That's super learning. Well, if you can engage super learning, then you can rewrite a program in minutes. You can walk away 10-15 minutes later with a whole new way of life. It works, but you have to get into that super learning and there's processes that could get you there. One of them is called Cook's Hookup. And so it basically says three ways to change. At night, put the earphones on self-hypnosis. during the daytime, repetition of what you want to be true. Just keep repeating it, just keep repeating it. And number three, engage one of the energy psychology modalities. And let me just offer the public on my website, simple, brucelipton.com Under resources, I got 25 or more different energy psychology modalities. Mark brought up a few of them. I've got those on the website. Go check it out. There's a little paragraph about this process and then a website. And I say, why is it important? And the answer is this. You want to take control of your life? You've only lost it because you invisible subconscious programming and that's manifesting in your life. Use any of those three processes and you can rewrite those programs and become powerful. Let me just close with this. I want to take your time. There's a movie called the Matrix and it's listed as science fiction. I go, no, no, Matrix, it's a documentary. I go, what do you mean? Well, the premise is everybody's been programmed. I go, that's not a premise, that's a reality. Everybody's been programmed. The Jesuits knew this program and told their followers and nobody understood what they were saying. They said, give me a child until it is seven and I will show you the man. What did they know? They knew that the first seven years, give me the child till it's seven, was programming and the rest of the life of that person, 95% comes from the program. So give me a child till seven and I'll show you the man. And then they created Catholic school and where the programming started. And the point about all this is if we understand this and you start to recognize the truth of what we're talking about, then what would happen like in the movie, the Matrix, they said you can get out of the program.

Yeah, that's what you're offering, right?

How can you get out? Yeah. And I go, falling in love is the same as taking the red pill in the Matrix.

I love that.

Get out of the program. I say, why? And here's the simple reason. Why do you play the program? Because conscious mind's thinking. I say, what happens when you fall in love? I say, you stop. stop thinking. You stay what is called mindful. Why? You waited for this person to show up. They're here. This isn't a time to think and disconnect. It's time to be here. Be here now. I go, what happens when you fall in love like that? You stop playing the program. And I say, then what is the result? 24 hours. 24 hours your life went from blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You meet this person, you fall in love. 24 hours later. Oh, life is beautiful. It's Heaven on Earth.

Jesus go away.

It's the honeymoon. I go, that is what would happen if you stop playing the programs. The honeymoon is a creation from the conscious created mind, not from the program. And so when you stop playing the program, Heaven on Earth, I go, guess what? You could have this your whole life. It's only when you start thinking again that the programs show up and throw a monkey wrench in. so what if you rewrite the programs we just talked about and I say, well then guess what, whether you're paying attention with your conscious mind or you're thinking and the subconscious takes over, but if the subconscious has the same program as the conscious wishes, then whether you're thinking or not thinking, you're still playing wishes and manifesting heaven on earth.

If you love that last video, you're going to love the next one. Check it out here. How you think and how you act and how you feel is your personality. Your personality has a very direct relationship with your personal reality, which means if you want to change your personal reality.

If you want to change something about.

Your life, you got to change.