Thoughts become things? 6. Genetics vs. Epigenetics

There is a saying that what I eat lasts for three generations. Is that really the case?

All living things on Earth have their own genes (DNA). Genes are the basic unit of heredity. Genes contain an enormous amount of information needed to construct and maintain living cells and are passed on to offspring through reproduction.

In the past, we relied on classical genetics, which states that diseases are caused by innate genes. So, I was concerned that if there was a certain disease in the family, there was a high possibility that I would also contract that disease. However, in recent years, this is not an absolute condition, and although the genes themselves do not change, a new type of genetics, or epigenetics, has been discovered that can make one develop or not develop a disease by activating or suppressing the gene depending on the environment, food, and mind. It’s a trend. For example, in the case of identical twins, the genes are naturally identical. However, even if you have the same diabetes genetic factors, you may or may not develop diabetes 50 years later depending on differences in environment and lifestyle. In other words, lifestyle, food, and stress determine the operation of disease genes. Even if the gene is the same, it varies depending on the environment in which the gene is placed or how it is used.

Mencius’s mother, who lived near the market, watched him play as a merchant and moved three times because she thought it was not enough, this is also an example of how important the environment is. The 80-year-old mother of Poeun Jeong Mong-ju at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty told her son Jeong Mong-ju when she advised him not to go to visit Lee Seong-gym, saying, “A white heron should not go where a crow hangs,” also shows the importance of the environment. Activating or suppressing the same gene can be controlled depending on the environment, the organism’s lifestyle habits, and stress, i.e., the mind.

The English word for the disease is “DISEASE”. If you break it down, it is DISEASE. It means it’s not comfortable. This implicitly shows that not only the body is not comfortable, but the mind is also not comfortable. “Take it easy” means to think comfortably. Parents’ good lifestyle habits and thoughtfulness are passed on to their offspring without any filtering. That is why it is said that education of children should be done not with words but with actions and hearts. I completely agree with the saying that all diseases begin in the mind and have seen it countless times in clinical practice. Rather than vague anxiety or unfilial thoughts about who I might get sick from, I think it would be a more independent, humane, and reasonable idea to create my own body and pass it on to my descendants.

Genetics, environment, and thoughts, i.e. matter and mind

Genetics is also now revealing that matter and mind are interconnected.

Dr. Jin-man Kim, director of Peace Oriental Clinic