Dying to
Be Thin
Over many thousands of years humanity
has participated in some strange and bizarre behaviors.
In ancient Rome, it was common to eat an extravagant meal
and then regurgitate that meal to return and eat again.
In some cultures the foot is bound to keep it from growing,
rings are worn around the neck to elongate it, some cultures
mutilate genitals or other body parts as a justified practice.
For some these practices seem cruel and are viewed as
a misuse of the human body. Other feel that it is time
for humanity to move beyond damaging the human body that
houses our spirit. When we look at food, we should see
resources to give our bodies nutrition so that we can
function to the best of our ability in this vehicle that
houses our spirit. The spirit is the most important aspect
of caring for our bodies. Today, anorexia and bulimia
are plaguing our society and destroying some of our youth.
Part of this obsession and addiction
to a carnal trait as a distortion of reality needs to
be carefully considered. Commercial enterprise has opened
the flood gates to beauty and youth as a prized possession
and made the focus of the carnal an ultimate achievement.
This standard has created a subliminal message that lurks
into the minds of our youth. Then, when tragedy strikes,
this standard can become an outlet of choice for those
that struggle to deal with real issues. This emphasizes
an over exposure of an impossible standard and works like
a recruiter for those seeking to gain control of an issue
much deeper than the carnal. Our society’s obsession
with the carnal has led to the premature death of many
and has halted some possible progressive leaps for the
human spirit. Even more tragically, we are becoming bombarded
with a profit driven medical industry more interested
in increasing the bottom line than in curing or freeing
someone from disease. They in turn are subject to mounds
of red tape and politics. This means that those with an
eating disorder may not get help or have access to a facility.
This cycle only further agitates an already declining
moral.
The court systems do not adequately address
this addiction and often this gap leaves families struggling
to find help for their family member who is committing
slow suicide before their eyes. This suicide as the family
sees it can last for 5 or more years or for less. Once
a person becomes 18, it can become impossible to get help
for an individual incapable of helping themselves. This
gap must be closed if we are to save those who fall into
the trap of an eating disorder.This form of addiction
should be treated the same way we treat drug addicts as
far as required assistance.
Also, we need woman and men to speak
out about beauty and to stop allowing commercial interests
to dictate what is desirable and what defines beauty.
Health should always come first over beauty. This can
only happen if individuals start to expand their understanding
of what purpose we have on this planet. Women are not
meant to be showpieces and objects of sex. Men should
not be expected to be emotionless hard individuals. The
lack of societal understanding of beauty is a serious
problem. A woman or man’s worth should always be
first what is in their spirit.
Human biology will actually cause certain
people to be attracted to one another. There seems to
be evidence that this relates to gene compatibility. Also,
some will say this is also related to preference. Just
as a gorilla who speaks sign language can communicate
that he or she has a preference for a certain gorilla
as a partner, we too have that same tendency. However,
this does not have a direct correlation to finding some
stigma standard as the desired attraction. Instead, society
and commercial interests have created a standard of beauty
that becomes attached to an emotional state. This tragic
toll on humanities' environment has been in the least
a distraction to other more important standards.
These individuals who one day decide
to sacrifice their health and focus on an impossible standard
of perfection that is actually very far from a state of
mastery, begin a journey of death. This slow form of suicide
begins to distract these individuals from spiritual growth.
Their world becomes consumed by food, control, and manipulation.
The families of these individuals will often get locked
into a cycle of enabling.
There is a real need for those leaders
who are in the public eye to acknowledge a disinterest
in industry standards of beauty. Expressing an acceptance
and desire for health should be the focus. Again greed
has played into a cycle of creation that has led to an
outlet for those who get trapped in unhealthy emotional
outlet. Before more individuals get recruited by the distorted
cycle of coping, then we should rethink our standards
of desire. Where are the ad campaigns showing how sexy
a sweet man is or a woman who chooses to eat healthy and
refuse junk food? Where are the role models who go against
industry standards to show how the human spirit can evolve?
Dying to be thin is a symptom to a much
bigger issue. It is a symptom that our society like Rome
is subject to falling apart from the inside out. Just
as those who focus on the carnal, they will miss life's
subtle opportunities to become part of a maturing process
which is a true process for our purpose in this life.
It is time to get past the industry standards of beauty
and desire and recognize that there is a much bigger purpose
to why we have physical bodies in the first place. We
are here in the physical to experience things in a way
that we would not in the non-physical world. The physical
world is a tool for us to learn, grow, and love. Humanity
has played in the carnal for too long and it is time for
us to grow up and encourage others to see true beauty
in how we handle our emotional issues correctly.
Written by Dianne Irene. All Rights Reserved December
2011
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