Oh good, now they discovered the fat controller in the body. So it is not your fault that you are 200lbs over weight, it is because the fat controller is faulty. And by the way, here’s a medication while we are at it. Now you can continue to gorge yourself with food while having a slim profile.
Fat Guy in Chair
祸从口出，病从口入
There is a Chinese saying “祸从口出，病从口入”. It means, “trouble comes from out of the mouth (speech), sickness comes in through the mouth”. Simple and succinct.
Where I grew up, the fat controller is you. You decide how much you eat, what you eat, when you eat. I’m pretty sure some of the starving africans have faulty fat controllers … … strange thing we don’t see obese africans who happen to be starving huh?
Flawed Way of Thinking
This is the problem with people this days. They have a problem, say obesity, and instead of reflecting on their lifestyle, food-intake etc, they want to see if there is a miracle drug or cure for their “disease”. Why? So they can continue living their life the way they did. And that to me is the root problem: Not seeing that our present lifestyle or behaviour (or eating habits for that matter) is the problem. We’ve been conditioned to relegate the blame to external factors. And when we internalise, it is still external. Now, it is the gene, the fat controller that is genetically flawed etc etc. Something is very flawed with this way of thinking.
Enough is enough. We need to practise some self-control and not cry “gene-plea” at the drop of the hat. Else where, some researchers are finding correlation between genetics and violence. So does that make a murderer innocent of the crime committed? Should we charge the gene in court? If we start believing that genetics strongly influence our behaviour to this extent, then we might as well believe in the stars and horoscope. Huh? You believe in that?
To me, it is just a convenient way of finding a place to place blame. Nothing more.
What About Karma?
The teaching of the law of karma, or causality, is not that of determinism. It is not fatalistic either. Rather, our past actions can shape our present and future but at the present moment, there is an element of volition. We can and will, act according to our intentions. Whether we succumb to our impulses and act on them is where we differ from a pure-deterministic organic-machinery.
The Human Will
Still, I want to give more credit to human volition and will than not. I believe that if we try hard enough, most things in life are within reach and can be accomplished. Sure, not everyone will end up reaching the moon, but surely mainly a desired weight is not rocket science or a herculean task for a start right?
Now, if you cannot even manage your eating habits, how else can you manage your mental / emotional habits?