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Genes, Thoughts and Your Spiritual Life

In our Six Foundations of Healing, we've already addressed Food and Nutrition, Detoxification and Structure. Now for the last three.

Regarding Genes: I believe that in a great many cases, we have a predisposition, rather than an imperative when it comes to our genes. Let me explain: If we trace our family lineage way back, we may find that many of our direct ancestors died of heart attacks and strokes, or senile dementias or on a more positive note, lived until the age of 102. I happen to have both the good, the bad and the ugly predispositions in my direct lineage. And, all this means is that I have no serious genetic imperative, just a few predispositions about which I have decided to be careful - namely, my heart and the health of my arteries and my brain. Just because my Northern European ancestors gave me a suboptimal gene or two does not necessarily mean that I will die prematurely of a heart attack or stroke or rot away in my wheelchair in the Home for the Befuddled.

The exceptions to somewhat minor predispositions are several fairly major predispositions and a few genetic imperatives. The fairly major predispositions one might have would include inherited gluten sensitivity, the tendency towards hemachromatosis (iron storage problems) and the inheritance of certain alleles. FYI, Alleles are forms of mutated genes responsible for hereditary variations. For example, the APOE 2 allele predisposes to sugar sensitivity and increased triglycerides; the APOE 4 allele ( not a terribly good one to have) predisposes to free radical damage, fat sensitivity and weight gain, Alzheimers and heart disease while the rather neutral APOE 3 allele has neither the symptoms of 2 nor 4. You can be genetically tested for these if you are interested, but I think that if you carefully examine your ancestry, you could surmise your personal allele.

The more serious genetic imperatives - most likely having nothing to do with you or me - would be conditions like early onset dementia (before age 55),certain ataxias or discoodinations, Huntington's disease, those rare genetic disorders in certain Sephardic Jews, thallasemia in Italians, the hemophilia that the English queens unwittingly gave to their sons, sickle cell anemia in many African Americans and many other genetic imperatives most of which are quite uncommon. These conditions can be recognized and managed, but not cured, at least not currently. Due to the recent mapping of the genome, however, conventional medicine is all atwitter about seriously fussing about with our genes - cutting, splicing, reconnecting and otherwise messing with our DNA to prevent or even cure these serious genetic disorders. (This genome stuff is all rather amazing and on the surface, seems to be a good thing but I am always worried about something called Unintended Consequences, and this remains to be seen.)

My recommendation: Make the most of what you have: Find out all you can about what your ancestors died of, then take special care of those weaker aspects in yourself and above all, don't worry about it as stress can exacerbate any predisposition. Our bodies were designed to be healthy. If we just tweak our lives to include caring for the genetic predispositions, then we will find that those predispositions may not in fact bite us in the mortal butt like we are hopelessly lead to believe.

Regarding Thoughts: I can be very brief about this one and I will tell you what I believe: Reality is an illusion and is merely a result of what we "outpicture". If we outpicture good, that's what we get; if we outpicture bad, that's what we get. It's very simple, because the truth is that whatever we think about anything is what it is. And this gives us all enormous power to create our lives exactly as we want them to be.

This does not mean that the table is not real and that when we slam our knee against it, it doesn't hurt. The illusory quality of our lives is merely in the meaning we ascribe to the table, to the love affair, to the health problem, to the whatever. The table just is, the love affair just is, the health problem just is. What we think about it is what counts. Since that Something -greater -than- us -out -there created us as loving beings full of light, then it's our imperative to accept and embrace this enormous gift, creating our lives as loving, healthy, happy and joyful.

Your goal is to be relaxed, happy and unworried. Someone once asked one of the oldest living human beings on the planet, a 114 year old man, what his secret to longevity was. His response was simple: "If it starts to rain. I let it."

My recommendation: There are lots of roads which lead to your awakening. Just choose one ( or more) to get there and start your journey.

Regarding Spirituality: Your most important fundamental self is your spirit. It is eternal. Your body is not. Pay attention to the eternal you. Acknowledge it. Nourish the eternal you with good thoughts. Support your physical body - the current "house" for your eternal spirit - with good food, light, deep breathing, water, good friends, loving people and above all, forgiveness. Use your healthy body to communicate your love, speak your joy, hear the beauty in the silence.

Study the sacred readings from awakened beings and know that they are just a variation of you. Find quiet and peace in your daily life. And fun and joy and occasional raucousness. Laugh a lot and watch funny movies. Tell jokes: Humor is one of the highest forms of consciousness. And esp. know in your deepest gut that It's all really very O.K. and above all, You are really very O.K.

My recommendation: Don't go looking for love, or joy or happiness. You ARE love, joy and happiness.

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