Teaching the Body Health
Quantum physics continues to make believers out of scientists
and informs spirituality.
Most of us grew up believing what scientists believed. We "knew"
that a cell's nucleus contained its DNA, that DNA contains
genetic material, and that the nucleus of a cell therefore
functioned as its brain. We believed that the genetics coded
into these cellular "brains" determined our physical
characteristics, our health, and even our personalities.
Former medical school professor and Stanford biology researcher
Bruce Lipton used to believe that, too. Then, his study and
research showed him that these things just were not true. You
can take the nucleus out of a cell, he found, and it will go on
functioning for months. So the nucleus cannot be the cell's
brain.
What is the cell's "brain," it turns out, is the microscopically
thin membrane that surrounds and encloses the cell. And that
membrane takes its instructions not from the DNA at the nucleus,
but from environmental factors surrounding the cell, including
thoughts and perceptions. Our beliefs influence the functioning
of our cells, Lipton learned, and actually alter genetic codes.
As a result of his research, Lipton has become a student of
quantum physics and spirituality. Like other cellular
biologists, he has found that quantum physics helps explain the
mechanism of communication between mind and body.
In early 20th century America, no one had heard of quantum
physics, but a spiritual movement based on the principle that
our thoughts create our lives was already being revived from the
midst of mainstream Christianity. One of its pioneers was a
woman named Myrtle Fillmore, who was exposed to this principle
during the final stages of tuberculosis.
When Fillmore heard the teaching that reshaped her understanding
of spirituality, she had lived with a diagnosis of tuberculosis
and other illnesses for many years. Now, she faced a very poor
prognosis. With a husband who was not much healthier than she,
and children to provide for, Fillmore was told she had just a
number of months to live.
When she heard a lecture by a spiritual teacher, Fillmore had an
epiphany. She realized that she was a child of God, and as a
child of God, there was no reason to "inherit" tuberculosis or
any other illness, as she'd been taught. From that evening on,
she began to praise her body's essential health, wholeness, and
power to heal. She spent time every day focusing on the
realization that she was a child of health and wholeness, not
illness. In other words, she re-trained her cells to be healthy.
It took about two years before Myrtle Fillmore saw the physical
evidence of a complete healing in her body, but she did not let
that trouble her. After all, she'd already outlived her death
sentence. She felt that, after so many years of being
conditioned for illness, it was natural that the cells of her
body took a while to learn what she now taught them. Myrtle
Fillmore outlived her prognosis by more than 45 years, and she
helped countless others access their own power to heal by
teaching their bodies to be healthy. She never heard of quantum
physics, but like many in the field of spirituality, she knew
how to put it to good use in her life.