by Kalendaine » April 8th, 2007, 9:50 am
Just a quick thought - what is DNA? simply an instruction booklet. tells you how to build and run and maintain your body. However, no single cell is going to need all of the information that is in the genetic code, so large portions of it are 'turned off' in every cells - for instance, why would a muscle cell need to know how a neuron is made, or a neuron a muscle cell? if needed, they just switch them back on - and the kicker here is that it's mostly environmental, external factors that tell it to turn on and off a specific portion of code. environmental, in this instance, is outside the cell - for instance, a drug, hormones, neuropeptides, RNA chains, etc.
And that's not all. A cell sometimes keeps several 'working copies' of a specific part of its code, working like machines for a particulular purpose. Every once in a while, it'll also send out little snippets of DNA - in the form of RNA chains - to other cells nearby - sort of like messages to your next door neighbor, which also counts as an external stimulus for the next-door cell. In fact, that's how the immune system stays on top of things - the white blood cells (there's a specific type that i'm describing, but i forget what it's called) tag identifying traits of bacteria and virii and pass along the message in a RNA chain, floating through your bloodstream, which 'updates' the other white blood cells.
Now, combining that with Blink's comment (and reference) about how hypnosis can produce 'statistically significant' effects in the immune system, would it not be possible to state that maybe hypnosis could have a larger effect than you're giving it credit for?
i think it's very possible that hypnosis can change the genetic code - and if not change, then perhaps selectively 'turn off' those parts that are unwanted/unneeded. Our bodies are supremely adaptive - our minds, just as much, if not more. perhaps it actually can, but if you don't believe it can't, then it has just as much effect as if it doesn't.