c. 1997 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Some see God in the stars above. Others glimpse divinity in nature’s bounty, or a child’s heavenly smile.

But according to neuroscientist Candace Pert,”God is a neuropeptide”_ the flowing”information substances”that light up the body like some kind of cosmic switchboard of incoming and outgoing messages.

Listen, for instance, to Pert’s description of what lies within the human being: “I visualize a computer board with so many connections you can’t even draw them all _ a million little criss-crosses. At each intersection, cells with vibrating receptors face outward, waiting to receive information from substances (peptides) floating by. If you made an arrow diagram, you would see information flowing from the brain to the spleen, and from the spleen to the lungs _ the body is a dynamic system that can learn and change.” The consequences of such views do not always sit well with her scientific colleagues.

But, after decades of laboratory research in such prestigious institutions as Johns Hopkins University, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and, now, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, Pert boldly proclaims her message _ body and mind are not separate but a unified”bodymind”possessed of innate wisdom.

Speaking her mind has always been one of Pert’s defining characteristics. But, as she writes in her new book,”The Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel”(Simon & Schuster), faith in the spiritual dimension did not come until later in life and, when it did, it came in part from her disenchantment with the”macho ethic”involved in worshipping”the great god science.” Raised an atheist in a family in which”religion was considered taboo,”Pert said in an interview that as a young woman she”felt the way to get to the truth was by worshipping at the altar of the white-robed gods of science”and, lacking successful female scientists as role models, she eagerly joined the high-stakes game necessary for funding and professional recognition.

Her dedication paid off: As a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in 1972, Pert achieved recognition for her role in the discovery of the brain’s opiate receptors _ a molecule found on the surface of cells in both the body and brain. Her research laid the foundation for the subsequent discovery of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers and ecstasy inducers, and helped to further understanding of how drugs affect the body’s biochemistry. She became a pioneer on the frontier of PNI, or psychoneuroimmunology, the study of how emotions affect the immune system.

Because Pert had the science to prove what others had only intuited concerning the link between body and mind, she caught the attention of many leading figures in the burgeoning field of holistic medicine.

Like a kind of New Age Carl Sagan, she brought the interior universe alive to the general public, and became a popular lecturer at conferences around the world. Such respect, however, was less forthcoming from within her own more conservative profession.

Nor did she acquiesce easily to unfair treatment based on her gender. When her male collaborator on the opiate-receptor research received the prestigious Lasker award, considered to be a precursor to the Nobel prize, in her stead, she cried sexism. The incident made headlines but alienated her from many in the scientific community.

According to Pert’s account, the furor she stirred over the award has continued to haunt her career. For even though she continued to make great strides in the area of peptide research at the NIH, heading up her own laboratory for 13 years, the failure to fund a drug (Peptide T) she had discovered as a potential cure for AIDS caused her to abandon the NIH in despair. “When we had this great drug that was squelched, it was a shock,”she recalled.”Everything that I thought was important started to fall apart. The great god science I had worshipped was clearly a false god _ because it wasn’t about truth, it was about politics.” Ironically, however, it was Pert’s odyssey through the bastions of mainstream science, as well as the mounting evidence of her own research, that ultimately led to a life-changing spiritual conversion. “Once you start to see yourself as a bodymind,”she said,”you have a longer view. You’re coming from a higher self, and see everything in a different way.” Having amassed enough hard scientific data to convince herself that if she wanted to remain healthy she would have to heal her own emotions, Pert set out on a quest to explore the various complementary techniques that, according to her research, enliven both body and soul. “My work shows that information (carried by peptides) is stored by receptors all over the body. Thus, traumatic emotional events put down deep roots in the body. While we may not remember something consciously, the psychosomatic network in the body does. These chronic resentments sap our vitality, affecting how we experience reality,”she said.

That is why, she said, those things helping to transform attitudes _ from forgiveness work, dream analysis, massage therapy, meditation _ positively boost the body’s immune system by allowing feelings to flow, and patterns to change.

In her own case, it was a dream, Pert said, that melted the lingering resentments she had born for years against the scientific establishment, allowing her to forgive and move on.

Jolting her atheist family, she joined a Methodist church choir, experiencing the music as soothing to her bruised feelings.”Sitting through sermons every week I imbibed a lot of Christian ideas that to me are very beautiful. I totally believe in the message of Jesus about love and compassion and being an instrument of God.” Pert wears no specific religious label, however, calling herself a Buddhist, as well.”The Buddhist notion of compassion is so similar to Christianity,”she said.”In science, if two people in two different labs come up with the same answer doing it in two different ways you have to take that answer pretty seriously. Thus, it seems very significant that there are two religions with a parallel emphasis on love and forgiveness.” Today, the parallel paths of spirituality and biology running through Pert’s life have finally merged to come full circle.

The Jesuit-run Georgetown University Medical Center, where she is now Research Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, provides her with a setting that honors her passion for the holistic aspects of health.

Still, it is the miraculous mechanism of the body that continues to inspire this intrepid neuroscientist with awe.”Everything that’s there (in the body) has evolved over millions of years and is tried and true. You could say that it’s God’s will, because I see the work of God as it exists in biology today.”

MJP END PEAY