Q: The media today promotes the "perfect" life, which often is associated with perfection in terms of physical appearance. These ideas of flawlessness are embedded in the minds of the youth today by the means of photographs of models on magazines covers, movies, TV shows, etc. They often seek to mirror that ?image? which appears in the media. What does your organization say about such depiction of ?perfection? in today?s society?
S: There is a misconception that has been fixed in the minds of the youth today by the deceptive depiction of what is the true "perfection". Through media, the minds of the youth have been poisoned. To improve their physical appearance, they go to extreme of eating disorders. Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the globe, especially in the west. This epidemic has not only affected women but also men. Here is some of the basic information on these conditions:
- An estimated 10% of female college students suffer from a clinical or sub-clinical (borderline) eating disorder, of which over half suffer from bulimia nervosa.
- An estimated 1 in 100 American women binges and purges to lose weight.
- Approximately 5% of women and 1% of men have anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder.
- 15% of young women have significantly disordered eating attitudes and behaviour.
- It is estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 Canadian women aged 13 to 40 have anorexia nervosa and twice as many have bulimia.
- Studies suggest that 5-10% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males.
- An estimated 1 in 3 of all dieters develop compulsive dieting attitudes and behaviour. Of these, one quarter will develop full or partial eating disorders.
Furthermore, studies show that about 10-15% of eating disorders are fatal for those affected. Thus, we see that the pressures that are put upon the younger generation often lead them to have thoughts of dissatisfaction about their own physical appearance and they change their attitude towards life. Such negative behaviour often leads to serious conditions such as liver, kidney or heart failure, and in many cases, it is fatal.
Moreover, such an impact on the body even causes a psychological impact, which not only affects their body but also the mind and intellect. They seek to "fit into" society by significantly altering not only their attitude towards eating, but also their attitude towards themselves and their lives. They not only hurt their bodies, but rather neglect the need of their life. Our true ?identity? is the Soul and not the physical body. For the Upanishads sages state in the Chandogya Upanishad: That which is the subtle essence, this whole world has for its Self (Atman). That is the truth. That is the Atman. That art thou (tat tvam asi).
We see from this that we, in reality, are souls and not merely flesh and bones. We have observed at times that when a person's soul leaves the body, the person is considered dead. And even though the physical body of the dead person is in front of us, we considered the person to be "passed away". Yet when people are alive in this world, they spend a lot of time on their physical appearance. But we may transcend these boundaries that have been set by society once we realize our true identity. Then only we seek perfection of a higher kind. The bible speaks about perfection; Christ tells his disciples (Mathew 5:48): Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So the perfection one should seek is that of the soul and not of the body because the body perishes. Also, human body is not the end, rather the means to attain the Perfect- the Supreme Soul. We must aptly maintain our body to act as a perfect instrument in acquiring the devout qualities within ourselves and become "perfect" in the truest sense of the word. Therefore, today's Youth needs to be guided to find the actual meaning of perfection. Their attention must be turned away from glimmer and glamour of the material world to the glory and grandeur of the inner divine world. Upon witnessing inner perfection, the youth will be able to remove the veil of false identity that society has placed over his eyes.