> You talk about eating the perfect amount or eating
> less. How about dieting to look better? Is that vanity wrong?
Up to a limit, it is ok. In the effort to look better, you will
probablely improve your health and add a few more years to your life
time.
The problem starts when you want to measure up to some
unachievable standard. Thrn it becomes attachment and it starts to
interfere with your daily life and your humor. Ever noticied how grim
and ill-tempered those magazine models look like? They probablely
live in a very rigid rotine in order to avoid gaining weight.
Particularly, I prefer more elegant, a few-ponds-above-the-ideal-but-
happy, kind of girls.
> Or should we just live with the body we were given? I would like to
> hear other people's opinions.
I think that the idealization of heterossexual relationships is
one of the the greatest trappings of your time. An english
philosopher wrote once that every time you close an established
church, you open a sect. In a way, it is true about the cult of
personal beauty. In a very individualistic and competitive world, the
heterossexual relationship, of romantic nature or not, is probablely
one of the fewest sources of happinesss and personal realization
available. We dont live in small farming communities in Europe, we
live in elegant middle class areas in which you dont necessarily know
your neighbors. Your company can fire you, if you become redudant or
unnecessary. The traditional religions are not meaningfull anymore,
to many. So, your affective liason with your girlfriend, boyfriend,
fiancee or espouse becomes the remaining source of meaning. It is no
wonder that the romantic love is one of the greatest themes of the
bourgeous literature of the 19th century or one of the most recurrent
themes of the cinematography of the 20th century.
The problem is that only a few people are really entitled to
complete personal realization in this area. Only a few people are
really good looking (And, sorry, heterossexual feelings are about
physical atractiveness. Never forget, mother nature is trying to get
you to choose the best possible partner, so you will have good
looking and healthy children). Only a few people look like the
inspiring 26-years-old actress you saw the other day on the movie.
But, again, this is one the fewest sources of meaning available, so
we throw ourselves in the search for ideal standards. The result, for
many, is frustation and a feeling of inadequateness. So they start to
starve themselves in order to try to achieve realization and the
right to be noticied and enjoy the absolute happiness of being good-
looking. Or they develop bulimic problems. Or they submit themselves
to corrective surgery.
So, take care of yourself. But dont expect absolute gain from
it.
Regards,
Francisco.
>
> Eternity
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