I have discussed at length issues around health with doctors over the years and it came down to a question I asked recently. I asked a doctor friend who shall remain anonymous but not for long – I just need his permission first and then I will update this post with this identity. I am going to stick to keeping my blog articles to less than 600 words but for such an important topic like this, I am going to let this blog article expand as much as it needs to.
The conversion went something like this;
You know how your medical background is based on an assumption that genes determine your health – that genes turn themselves on and off? He answered yes. I then asked, “Have you come across any scientific study that has validated this assumption?” He thought and thought and finally said no! I then encouraged him to try to find it and even ask his peers to help because if they cannot find it, then we have a very big elephant in the room.
What this means is, the way we see our bodies and the relationship with the body’s environment is fundamentally wrong. We see bodies as independent machines and that some things that go horribly wrong have nothing to do with our mental, emotional and external environment. We know logically that stress, exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins can create disease, but doctors largely stick to matching drug treatments drugs to symptoms. Maybe helpful in the short term but not so useful in the long term.
After a long discussion about this I concluded that I did not believe there are cancer genes. He agreed with me!
I have lost too many dear family and friends to cancer. Just recently we lost my sweet mother in law by a vicious cancer that made me feel so angry at how nature can be so cruel. What is the common factor in all these cases from personal observation? A constant propensity to worry about the ‘what if’ consequences of life that rarely eventuate. One wonders what pressure we place on the body in terms of chronic stress and the relationship this has with chronic disease.
So when I see a post from a Ted Talk I am very challenged…
“What can we learn from people with the genetics to get sick — who don’t? With most inherited diseases, only some family members will develop the disease, while others who carry the same genetic risks dodge it. Stephen Friend suggests we start studying those family members who stay healthy. Hear about the Resilience Project, a massive effort to collect genetic materials that may help decode inherited disorders.” (VIDEO)
This way of thinking really challenges me deeply. Surely our ability to not stress is the answer. Our immune system cannot rebuild while we are in stress. It’s confusing why science and medical institutions assume that the environment does not impact on what genes are expressed. As a non scientist but who respects science, I have come to understand that genes are design code instructions that build and regulate the function of a wide range of proteins in the cell to create capability so each cell can survive and thrive in the environment being perceived.
We know nature works through adaptation and regulating proteins and gene expression. In other words, when adapting needs a capability that is not possible in the current genetic expression, the cell will access the genes and make them available for use. To adapt, it may even switch off genetic expression that is no longer relevant. The last time I checked, human cells are a part of nature too.
I do wonder if there is even any scientific evidence that genes have a mind of their own. How can a 7 year medical degree be focused on evidence based science and medicine and not even have Genetic Determinism scientifically validated? How would a doctor explain a blind boy who develops echolocation like a bat or dolphin. Where did this capability come from? From the 97% of unused DNA could be a safe assumption, right?
It’s ridiculous and embarrassing to even want to assume that we don’t have the power over our health by our lifestyle choices and attitude. How can we be so eager to deny we don’t have free will with what genes are expressed and prefer to give our free will to the genes? Isn’t that a mindless and reckless thing to do?
I respect all doctors and nurses because they have personally helped me many times with my health. Doctors perform a great and vital role in our society, but have they been positioned into an unfortunate situation where matching drugs to symptoms caused by so called genetic flaws with no acknowledgment of environmental root causes? Is this preventing personal responsibility by keeping us from embracing the wisdom that we make ourselves sick by the stress we place on our bodies? Stress from worry, anxiety, chemicals and toxicity in the food and air.
If we want to prevent genetic disease, surely we need to stop perceiving a world that needs us to stay in constant high stress because this prevents the body from nourishing and repairing itself. If the body thinks it’s under attack, it will not dilute its’ resources into absorbing nutrients until it is out of danger. Chronic stress means it is constantly tricked into believing it is in danger.
If we eat highly toxic and low nutrient food and breathe in toxic air, are we not stressing the body and preventing it from functioning beyond survival?
Therefore our genetic expression will prioritise capability for protection and ignore its capability for growth. This is starving the body over time and this creates disease because we are forcing cells to make a decision between altruistic self sacrifice for the benefit of the community or going rogue with a selfish agenda to save it’s life. Those cells that choose the later is the definition of disease because the body’s unity and coherent function has been compromised by cells multiplying with a self agenda to perpetuate their growth above all else; sounds like ulcers, tumours and cancers to me.
If we realised the importance of our perception and how the world affects our health based on our interpretation of that world, what impact can this have on our health?
Although I am passionate about this topic and have a major vested interest in personal empowerment in all areas of life including health, I can get biased in the way I see things. So please help me out and share with me your experiences. Scientists and doctors need to debate this because otherwise, what can explain placebo and cancer remission?
These Ted Talks will really help what is possible when we reach out and expand our wisdom about our health and through the understanding of nature: –
Salvatore Iaconesi: What happened when I open-sourced my brain cancer
George Helou is the founder of EP7 – Empowered for Purpose in 7 Steps. Life Coach, Work Culture Consultant, Author and Motivational Speaker, George has 15 years personal development experience and is based in his Life Coach Perth Office in Subiaco. 08 9380 8350. www.lifecoachperth.com