The DNA within our cells is fixed and unalterable. But a chromosome is only about 50% DNA, the remainder being a mix of markers and switches which parallel the DNA strands and influence the activities of the genes encoded within the DNA. The DNA contains a cell’s genome where as the markers and switches comprise the epigenome.
In studies of identical twins, the genetic makeup is nearly identical at birth, however, with time various events in the lives of the twins will act to turn on certain genes and turn off others. Thus, given different life events, the two members of an identical twin-set diverge with respect to their epigenetic makeup. Such life events may include diet, exercise habits, alcohol and tobacco use, one’s behavior and one’s thought processes e.t.c. So the patterns of diseases, heredity, identity and gender responses to various external factors depend upon one’s epigenome. So spiritual evolution becomes highly important. Moreover these epigenetic tendencies are transmissible to our progeny. They will receive not only the appropriate genome, but also will inherit our epigenome as altered by the life style histories of our parents, grandparents e.t.c.
