Secrets of Your Cells: Discovering Your Body's Inner Intelligence (3 page)

About the Cell

You will have ample opportunity to investigate the nature of the cell throughout this book. By way of introduction, let me just say here that our cells are our oldest living ancestors, shared by all of life since its creation. We all possess the same building blocks, molecules, and biochemical principles. Written in the biography of the cell are the mysteries of life, growth, and transformation. At every moment of every day, our cells orchestrate millions of molecular symphonies, guided by cellular intelligence in a delicately designed system of checks and balances, push and pull, collaboration and communication. Fundamental to cellular functioning is the
molecular embrace,
in which elements of the cell fit together like hand in glove to realize their combined destinies; connection is, in itself, a building block of life.

When we examine the life of the cell, we are witnesses to sheer genius. In my view, based on much experience and study, there is clearly an intelligence at work. When you have completed the journey at hand and turn the page on the final chapter, concluding your own investigation into the intricacies and dynamics of cellular life for now, you, too, may find that you have adopted this view.

Cells and the Sacred

This book speaks to two dimensions of our human experience: scientific investigation and spiritual exploration—here we bridge science and the sacred. When we mine for scientific facts, we are engaging our intellectual brain, the one that wants data, analysis, proofs, and measurements. The scientist wants to know why and how. If you also want to know the
physical, perceivable whys and hows of the cell’s functioning, you have come to the right place; I have allowed the scientist in me full rein.

The sacred and spiritual experience is said to have no place in science, yet to fully know and appreciate life and our place in it, I believe both dimensions need to be present. Our inner, intuitive, natural knowing, which I sometimes call the feminine side of science, looks at the whole of experience rather than only its measurable components. Cells can be appreciated for their philosophical teachings as well as their physiological abilities, and this book speaks to both. Our cells are little crucibles of measurable, discernible biochemical interaction that also carry the seeds of divinity. There is poetry written in the scientific alphabet of life; molecular scribes have much to say. So I ask you to open your mind and your heart as you investigate the cellular world for yourself, for the cell holds deeper truths than can be found in its wondrous scientific realities. We are a constellation of trillions of individual energy holders—soul keepers, I believe—that carry the wisdom of the ages and keys to the Mysteries.

A Playbook and Guide

I have designed this book to be both a playbook and a guide to the cellular universe. It will encourage you to engage with your cells in very practical ways to invigorate your body and ignite your imagination. I want you to fall in love and enjoy an intimate relationship with your cells.

Cranky? Your cells receive the tense messages you are sending them and tighten up. Feeling relaxed and peaceful? So, too, are your cells, moving with ease and efficiency. Our choices influence their life experience and ours; cells respond to what we give them. When we bring them fresh air, they are able to produce energy more efficiently. If we nourish them with love, laughter, and music, pleasure-inducing endorphins flood our being with happiness. When we worry, our internal pharmacy bombards them with stress hormones that can damage them—and us. I have sprinkled throughout the book information and explorations to
help you learn how to treat your trillions of tiny building blocks—and yourself—in nurturing and life-affirming ways.

Among the explorations you will find are what I call
body prayers,
a term I have borrowed from a friend and colleague who once orchestrated for me a wonderful ritual dance she called a body prayer. A body prayer is a sacred movement, one in which the soul expresses itself. Many of the body prayers contained here are qigong exercises; these are adapted from ancient Taoist practices and combine mental focus, breathing, meditation, movement, and imagery. They are meant to get you moving, and if you perform them with intention, they will energize your body and transform your consciousness. They will help you create daily awareness that supports change, inspires commitment, and imparts sacred knowing.

Moving through the Book

Each chapter will take you into a specific feature of your cells while exploring its spiritual potential and offering activities to engage your mind and body. As you move through the book, your body of scientific knowledge will build, and you will deepen your experience of your own cellular life.

In
chapter 1
, “Sanctuary–Embrace,” we explore
sanctuary
as we discover our cells’ creation story, consider the cell as a sanctuary and container for life, and learn about the features of our cellular membrane.
Chapter 2
, “I AM–Recognize,” takes us into the cell’s recognition capabilities—discerning self from other, carrying markers of identity, and wielding the wonderful complexity of the immune response. The larger lesson about self found here is present in ancient scripture: I AM THAT I AM. And in this chapter, we learn to make our cells hum. In
chapter 3
, “Receptivity–Listen,” we travel from the “I” to the “we”—cellular communication and listening. We learn about the nature of our cell membrane receptors and how our cells tune in to the vast array of information signals they receive.
We find that our cells always live
in the now,
and we are encouraged to follow their lead.

In
chapter 4
, “The Fabric of Life–Choose,” the concept of the “brain” of the cell, so brilliantly described by pioneering scientist Dr. Bruce Lipton, is expanded to include an even more embracing intelligence contained in our cells: the cytoskeleton. We see that the
scaffolding and fabric
of the cytoskeleton are the likely anatomic location where energy healing takes place and consciousness resides. There are also lessons for us here about attachments and letting go.
Chapter 5
, “Energy–Sustain,” is an exploration of energy: how our cells use, make, and conserve it, and how we, the larger organism, can sustain and maintain it.
Chapter 6
, “Purpose–Create,” moves us deep into our spiraling DNA molecules and genetic expression and takes a look at what can go wrong with our DNA as well as our self-correcting abilities. At this point, we will also begin to look at metaphysical symbols that echo the rhythms and patterns found within the cell.

Chapter 7
, “Memory–Learn,” brings us to an exploration of cellular resonance and holographic memory plus the role our senses play in remembering. We experience how to create cellular networks to reinforce and strengthen learning and memory and investigate how to create new habits and break old ones. In
chapter 8
, “Wisdom Keepers–Reflect,” we leap from inside the cell to see its characteristics reflected in the myths and symbols of ancient civilizations. Finally, in
chapter 9
, “Connection–Cell-ebrate,” we recall our entire voyage, mine it for some of its key lessons, and give gratitude for all we have shared.

Here I have given you a thumbnail sketch of the terrain you are about to travel. I wish you a rewarding voyage full of wonder, inspiration, and discovery.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you your cells . . .

Chapter 1

Sanctuary–Embrace

Each one of us carries a fifteen billion year existence in us, so that when we encounter one another we ought to be awed by the experience. And when we encounter ourselves . . . every hydrogen atom in our bodies has been in existence for fourteen billion years—imagine how many stories they have to tell us.

— MATTHEW FOX
One River, Many Wells

D
o you ever think about how life began or how the earth was created? I’ve read myths about the origins of life and reviewed scientific experiments that seek to determine how it all began. But it wasn’t until a little girl asked me where her brother would go when he died that I thought more deeply about what I knew about creation, life, and death. After that conversation, I created a collage to reflect my view of the question, embracing both dimensions that I address in this book: science and wonder, molecules and mystery. We will consider these topics at the beginning of this chapter.

Then we will move past these questions and examine life as we now find it. We will look at how our molecules form a container for life, and
how our cells’ inherent intelligence generates the know-how to enable us to survive and thrive. And because this book straddles two worlds—science and the sacred—in learning about the ways of our cells, and the molecules of which they are made, we will have opportunities for both personal and spiritual discovery.

In this chapter we discover
sanctuary.

Origins: Myths of Creation

“In the beginning . . .” This is how many stories of life’s origins start. But what was the beginning? Before there was life, what was there? Emptiness, the abyss, a void? Rocks and water? Is physical creation purely a random accident of nature, or was it divinely guided? These have been questions throughout the ages.

Myths and stories give us a way to think about life and our place in the universe, and every culture has a treasured myth that explains symbolically how life began. Most religious and spiritual traditions also tell tales of creation and how we humans came into existence. The Old Testament underlying Judeo-Christian beliefs actually offers two creation stories: the seven days of creation and the Adam and Eve story. The New Testament adds an additional idea that “in the beginning was the word” and that the word was from God: sound created the universe.

Sound is a primal force that when studied through the science of cymatics can be shown to organize physical matter.
¹
Cymatic experiments using varying sound vibrations have revealed an astonishing array of forms developing in amorphous sand particles or fluid water. If sound vibrations can demonstrably cause the formation of shapes in matter, it is not a great leap to imagine that sound had a hand in shaping life. In fact, according to Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi scriptures, it was indeed sound and an even more subtle energy—the vibration of thought—that created the universe.

Modern science’s myth of creation is the big bang, a colossal explosion that started it all. Here again we find sound at the center of the story of our beginnings.

I take this idea into present-day reality by recognizing the ways in which sound—including music and the “noise” of our thoughts and beliefs—shapes our reality, our continuing life moment by moment.

In the scientific creation myth, our beginnings occurred in a vacuum in which no sound could be heard, and of course hearing creatures did not yet exist. Then the universe burst into existence. Renowned musicologist and drummer Mickey Hart puts it this way: “Fifteen or twenty billion years ago the blank page of the universe exploded and the beat began.”
²
What emerged from the cosmic soup of neutrinos, photons, quarks, and strings were rhythmic vibrations that keyed the formation of galaxies, solar systems, planets, us. The vibrations of the big bang reverberated across space, organizing elemental atoms into simple gases and then increasingly more complex molecules and life. Though this origin story encompasses scientific facts from the disciplines of astronomy, quantum physics, chemistry, and biology, ultimately it probably cannot be proven, so like its religious counterparts it lies in the realm of mythic conjecture colored by cultural beliefs.

Dying stars are intimately related to our existence as living organisms on earth. All elements necessary for life—carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, etc.—are manufactured in the nuclear furnaces in the interiors of stars. It is in the dying of stars and their release of these components that life has its birth.

— MICHAEL DENTON, MD, PHD
Nature’s Destiny

I used to think that people who said we came from the stars were simply exercising poetic license. Yet in our evolutionary trails and tales, the heavens and stars, including our own sun, existed long before living things. In fact, we now know that our earth contains minerals that were set free by the expansion and explosion of stars. The combination of these elements created both stable and unstable forms. Those that survived long enough joined with others to build more and more complex structures—and we, perhaps the most complex of all, are the intricate product of these molecular constructs. We literally embody the scientific creation myth.

An Alchemical Creation Tale: Molecular Embrace

My interpretation of how life began on this planet is this: Simple molecules sloshed and mingled in hot, churning waters. Carbon and hydrogen atoms, our earliest molecular ancestors, formed chains—you can envision them as pearls, or beads that snap together. Molecular strands organized themselves into sheets and wiggly shapes. Then, somewhere along the way to cellular creation, a major disturbance occurred: a lightning bolt, a falling meteorite, a vast explosion, a shockwave. Dramatic and momentous events brought the hydrocarbon strings closer together; the floating molecules found one another. They swirled, gathered together, and embraced while clinging to the salty waters in which they were floating. And their merging formed
a container for life.
Life needs a container in which to exist!

Once I captured this scene clearly in my mind, I wrote this poem. I haven’t changed a word of it, even after learning that University of California professor Dr. David Deamer, who has been researching our origins for thirty years, believes that the gathering of molecules occurred in warm tide pools rather than hot, turbulent seas.