Most of us are familiar with the quote by the philosopher George Santayana, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” As I considered this, I stumbled across Warren Buffet’s “What we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history.” If I think of my small, insignificant participation in the machinations of the planet, I find myself asking what do I need to learn from my own history? In what way do I keep repeating the same story? While I may be just a drop in the ocean of humanity’s manifestations, if all the drops made decisions together, it could change the course of the sea, right?
But according to neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, we have no free will. Any decision or choice we make is determined by how our genetic makeup responds to circumstance. If I make a decision to join a protest march, or yell at my husband (Who me? Yell?) or decide on a purple sofa, I am at the mercy of my biology.
But wait! The emerging science of epigenetics suggests that we can change the expression of our DNA, effectively changing our behavior. As I watch history repeating itself, knowing full well that I have barely an inkling of the gigantic wheels of intrigue turning behind each crisis, I ask myself, what am I not seeing about the wheels that spin in my own manifestations? What makes me defensive when my husband points out that the reason I can’t lock the bike is that I’ve placed it incorrectly? Why do I feel rising ire when someone is late to meet me? What combination of gene expression raises my eyebrow and purses my lips when I desperately want someone to think I’m being neutral? Am I doomed to forever be the genetic expression of my parents, my race, my history? Is my belief that I have a choice in the matter simply genetics as well? AAAHHHHHH!
These are the moments when my DNA says, “Lavinia, go lie down. Notice your breath. Listen to the contact of your back with the floor.” The fear, rage and self-sabotage that lives in my history does not have to repeat itself. By making that small choice, I alter the chemistry of my genetic expression, (not to mention my facial expression) and experience hope. According to Oxford, hope is defined as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Surely there is a gene for that.