SUBJECT: So we've had this ongoing debate, right, nature
versus nurture.
And it asks the question are we pre-written beings, are we
pre-determined beings, do our genetics dictate
our fate, right, or are we made by our environment,
are we molded by our experience, does language structure how
we see the world, does culture dictate who we become,
are we molded and shaped by the unfolding dynamics
of interfacing with our environment?
This is sometimes known as epigenetics,
how literally things that happen to you
during your formative years can transform
how your genetic structure is expressed.
Experience can change biology, OK.
But recently this debate has taken on new heights
because some of the new science--
there's an article called The Social Life of Genes that
talked about this, which said that the idea of epigenetics
actually goes much farther, and that experience
throughout our lives affects our genetic expression.
And the doctor, the researcher quoted in the piece, actually
the best way to describe it.
He basically says, that our cells, compose our bodies,
are a technology for turning experience into biology,
that even the cognitive framing that we give to an experience
can change the physical expression
of our cellular biology.
So that consciousness itself, interpretation, storytelling,
and framing, how we give meaning to our lives,
can actually have a real effect at our genetic level,
at the way our genetic software expresses itself.
And we've always heard the bumper stickers that
talk about the power of the mind,
or the power of positive thinking,
or the fact that we can shape our reality,
but this notion not just effects genetic expression
at one point in your life, but throughout your life,
means that you're constantly composing
your own biological unfolding.
I design, therefore I become.
I've said it before, I'll say it again,
but we are as god's, my friends.
And we might as well get good at it.