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Cellular Consciousness
From Quantum Physics to Alternative Medicine
In recent years, medicine has turned to a more spiritual means of
healing oneself. This spiritual method is separated from conventional
medicine in that it uses mental and intangible approaches to treat
illness as opposed to physical and chemical cures such as surgery
and antibiotics. One such healing technique is called Quantum Medicine.
Quantum Medicine is based on Quantum Mechanics and the concept that
our bodies are made up of "intelligent" cellular structures.
By combining Quantum Mechanics and medicine, we are ultimately capable
of healing our own bodies through manipulation of these "intelligent
cells."
But first, to understand this, we must understand how Quantum Mechanics
works. According to Quantum Mechanics, until you measure the position
of a photon, it doesn't exist. Particles with definite positions
and velocities simply do not exist until you measure their position.
The entity that governs the Quantum world is called a "probability
wave." Probability waves govern where a particle WOULD appear
IF we measured its position and how fast it WOULD be going IF we
measured its speed. This idea, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle,
says that while we cannot predict the exact location and "spin,"
or velocity, for one particle, we can, however, predict the location
and "spin" of many particles combined. At first this may
seem incomprehensible because when we look around us, everything
seems stable. Objects do not move around every time you look at
them. This is because the objects on our size level are a combination
of billions and trillions of particles. The position of each particle
may be uncertain, but when there are so many of them, the probabilities
add up to what is "certain" (Science).
One might take these ideas even further to suggest that the particles
that make up our surroundings are sentient. This leap in reasoning
seems like a rather large one. However, research has shown that
the position and "spin" of any given particle is affected
by the mere observation of it. Thus, by laws of Quantum Mechanics
that state that a particle does not exist until measured, we can
argue for a loose interpretation of "intelligence" among
these particles. This is where we make the jump from Quantum Mechanics
into medicine.
When we consider that our bodies are made up of the very same "intelligent"
particles as in our interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, it is easy
to see how the cells in our bodies would also be intelligent. First,
we must define what we mean by "intelligence." For the
purposes in this paper, we will define intelligence as "know-how,"
rather than the intelligence of, say, a genius. There is no doubt
that the cells in our bodies have this kind of know-how. When a
blood cell rushes to a wound site and begins to form a clot, it
has not traveled there at random. It actually knows where to go
and what to do when it gets there, as surely as a paramedic--in
fact, more surely, since it acts completely spontaneously and without
guesswork (Chopra 37). From this line of thinking, we can derive
three things about our bodies. One, intelligence is present everywhere
in our bodies. Two, our own inner intelligence is far superior to
any we can try to substitute from the outside. Three, intelligence
is more important than the actual matter of the body, since without
it, that matter would be undirected, formless, and chaotic (Chopra
41).
In the past, science held that the brain was solely responsible
for controlling the rest of the body. It was believed that the brain
sent messages, via the nervous system, to all other organs, tissues,
etc., so they could perform their intended functions. However, in
the 1970s, a series of important discoveries that centered neurotransmitters,
chemical substances that transmit nerve impulses across a synapse
in the brain, took place (Pert 351). At first, it was believed that
only two neurotransmitters were needed: acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter
that activates a distant cell, and norepinephrine, which slows down
the activity. As biologists dug deeper, they began to realize there
were many, many neurotransmitters. They were all related, but each
with a different purpose. For instance, if you take a sleeping cat,
remove a tiny portion of its spinal fluid, and inject it into a
cat that is awake, the second cat will immediately fall asleep.
This is because a cat's brain puts its body to sleep chemically,
with its own sleeping potion (Chopra 55).
Just when science had learned how the brain instructed each part
of our body how to behave, there came a quantum leap in complications.
In the early 1980s, the same neurotransmitters and receptors found
in the nervous system were discovered on cells in the immune system
called monocytes (Chopra 63). In the past, the central nervous system
was credited with relaying messages to the body from the brain.
Now it was apparent that the brain alone was not just sending messages
through the nervous system; intelligence was being circulated throughout
the entire body. Unlike neurons, which are fixed in place on the
central nervous system, monocytes travel through the blood stream.
This means they come in contact with every part of the body. In
fact, if any emotion we feel requires the production of neurotransmitters
in our brain cells, then the immune cells must also feel those same
emotions.
With one discovery, the idea of an intelligent cell took on a reality
of its own. The know-how possessed by neurotransmitters came to
represent a consciousness within our entire body. The story does
not end here, however. When researchers looked further, beyond the
nervous and immune systems, they began to discover the same neuropeptides
and receptors for them in other organs. This means that your heart
or kidneys can "think" in the sense that they can produce
the same neuropeptides found in the brain (Chopra 65). This leads
us to the next point, that the whole body is a thinking, feeling
entity.
Our bodies are connected at the level of the neurotransmitter. This
means that every part of the body must know what every other part
of the body is "feeling" or experiencing at any given
time. When a person is mentally depressed, the emotion manifests
itself in a physical way. The depression affects the immune system,
which, in turn, makes it easier to get sick. Even expressions are
manifestations of the whole-body depression. It is no secret that
cancer patients who are more positive about their disease often
live longer even if their cancer is farther along than someone with
a negative attitude. Contrarily, stress is a well-known contributor
to sickness, heart attacks, and the like.
Once we establish the idea that our bodies are so tied together,
the question of treatment comes to mind. If illness is a whole-body
condition, how does one treat oneself on a cellular level? For this,
we need to turn back to our model of the quantum and to dive further
into what the body is really capable of.
The human body is a pharmaceutical marvel in that it is capable
of manufacturing its own drugs. One proof of this is our body's
ability to produce cancer-killing agents called "interleukins."
Interleukins keep the cancer cells that assault our bodies on a
daily basis at bay (Chopra 86). When we consider this fact, we can
see how we might be able to manipulate our bodies into making other
drugs such as antibiotics like penicillin and painkillers like morphine.
Factor in the idea that, by the quantum mechanics model, our molecules
and cells are intelligent, and we become a veritable pharmacy waiting
to be utilized. For example, all camels exhibit an unusual tolerance
for high levels of pain--they can calmly chew on thorns while at
the same time being beaten with a stick by an irate camel driver.
Researchers examined camels' brain cells and found that they produce
large quantities of a specific biochemical that, if injected into
other animals, causes them to ignore pain, too (Chopra 56). Humans
have a similar system through which they are able to produce painkillers
called endorphins, which means "internal morphine," and
enkephalin, meaning "inside the brain." Strong emotions
can also override pain signals. For instance, when a mother rushes
to save her child from a burning house or a wounded soldier fights
on, ignoring pain of his injuries (Chopra 57).
Just as the body can produce painkillers, it is also able to produce
other types of chemicals. Throughout Deepak Chopra's book, Quantum
Healing, he cites several examples of people who are in the final
stages of cancer entering "spontaneous remission" despite
the fact that they are not on chemotherapy or any other form of
treatment. He cites that while the medical profession does not consider
it a miracle for the human body to heal a broken bone, cases of
spontaneous remission in cancer patients is still largely unexplained.
These notions may seem amazing at first, but on a fundamental level,
they are entirely possible. Throughout history, people have practiced
this type of alternative medicine or spiritual healing, especially
Native Americans. Today, they are practiced in the form of treatments
such as Reiki, or laying on of hands, which includes drawing out
negative energies by running the practitioner's hands over the patient's
body. While some studies claim to have debunked these practices,
we are reminded that science is also not perfect. Chemotherapy and
other cancer treatments are not 100 per cent effective, nor are
many other forms of medicine. To ignore these alternative forms
of medicine is simply bad science (Chopra 12-15, 66). These are
not new ideas; rather, they have been around for thousands of years.
We are just beginning to come to terms with the fact that modern
medicine does not hold all the answers.
Works Cited
Chopra, Deepak. Quantum Medicine: Exploring the Frontiers of
Mind/Body Medicine. New York: Bantam New Age Books, 1990.
Pert, Candace. Molecules of Emotion. New York: Simon, 1997.
Science and Spirit Resources. 25 July 2000 http://www.science-spirit.com.
By Lissa
Copyright 2000
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