Last edited by Carol on Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:12 am; edited 1 time in total
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
I have nothing against eggs (they are very nutritious and can replace meat in animal food, for example cat food) as long as they come from free range hens. Since cats are carnivors I have to buy cat food containing meat for my cat. I buy only the type containing chicken (hopefully ). However there is something strange about my cat. he has problems with regular bowel movement so I also give him dry food containing more fiber. Who knows, maybe switching to some vegetarian dry food would be beneficial for him.
Not all kinds of meat ism unethical to eat, but most that's consumed in the US is.
The mainstream agricultural industry houses a massive amount of animals in living spaces barely bigger than their own bodies. Chickens living in cages stacked to the ceiling. Cows standing in their own XXXX.
It isn't like this in for all meat. Grass fed cows and free range chicken probably have a pretty good time living with no predators, getting fed, and having a (hopefully) quick, painless death
But most animals live miserable lives that I wish I didn't still support to some degree by eating meat that I know comes from these sources. Once one gets used to eating meat it is difficult to go without since it is such a dense meal. I grew up on it and although I've cut way back since leaving home, I still have cravings sometimes that I can't control
I struggled with being a vegetarian on ethical grounds for years. And it was a struggle because there's few vegetables that I actually like the taste of, regardless of how they're cooked. I know for a fact that not eating meat caused me to be more ungrounded, much more sensitive (which wasn't good when I didn't know how to block out the negative) and I felt the cold moreso as well. As a result I was mostly unbalanced and got sick a lot more too. Life was a battle moment to moment unless I was alone, and even then I was 'open' to all sorts of energies.
Then a few things happened. I realised that we are basically in animal bodies and that mine had been conditioned to eat meat, along with most others in our society, and there are reasons it requires animal proteins. The second was a real blow...when I found out that plants feel pain too when they are cut. Is it any more ethical to feed on these sentient beings than animals? Then I didn't want to eat anything, but my body hasn't evolved to that stage yet unfortunately. The third thing that occured to me was the thought that, "Is it not just as bad to let all that already-slaughtered meat in the shops go uneaten, making the animal's sacrifice all for nothing?"
So now I follow my intuition in what I eat, which isn't much really. And if it/my body tells me that meat is required, I eat meat, although I can NOT come at a bloody steak for instance. And I thank the animals and vegetables for their sacrifice for us when I eat them.
I also believe that our energies are fed on by others 'above' us as well, albeit mostly emotional and mental. Life just seems to be one huge recylcing system at an energetic level to me.
To my mind, the ethical concerns re eating meat or anything else is the wish and hope that those beings don't suffer too much when they are killed as food and I put time and money into trying to put a stop to those who are cruel to animals. I comfort myself also in thinking that these animals we eat are for the most part kept in reasonably comfortable conditions while they live and that if they were fending for themselves in the wild, their deaths via another predator could be so much worse. So many of them eat each other alive. At least the deaths are mostly quick when it's for human consumption and they don't feel each bite we take out of them until they do die.
My biggest regret re current society's ways is that they kill so many of everything, just so it can sit in the shops in case someone wants to buy them....so we arrogant consumers have such a huge choice. And they go in the bin if they are not sold, meaning the animal/vegatable's life was sacrificed for nothing. I so wish it could be like it was in the past when these sentient beings were only taken as they were needed for food....not a single one more.
A belief in life after death helps too. Death is not the issue. How and why it comes about is, for all of us.
1. Plants do not feel pain as they do not have a nervous system. 2. There is not such a thing as ethical killing of animals. It is just an excuse for those who don't want to feel bad about it. 3. Seeing meat in a store and buying it because it was killed anyway? the animals are killed because people are buying meat. Once they stop buying it, the animals won't be killed. 4. Those who think that eating meat is Ok, accept the fact that eating humans by other races, be it reptilian or others, is also Ok. And experiments on humans are Ok too then.
I know it is tough giving up meat since we all have been raised on it. I will still eat fish from time to time when I have cravings or feel that my body needs some animal protein. However I will never eat another mammal. Fortunately I love vegetables and fruit. I recommend watching some yt videos from slaughterhouses.It helps.
Blood type O tends to need meat and I do know of many who got sick due to not getting what the needed from meat protein. Then there are those who never eat meat and do great. Certain religions in India are prime examples but they eat a lot of curries and spicy food which works well. We were vegetarians for 7 years and then went back to meat thinking out daughter might need it but she never eats it and doesn't like it. She will eat fish (rarely) and some chicken.
We're back to juicing and egg dishes. I'm trying to wean my German husband off meat again and it's tough. As long as I keep egg salad and the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies handy he's happy.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
I will also eat chicken or turkey ocassionally if it is served in a salad and I am at a friends' house for dinner. I will not be fussing about the food then. But as I said before no mammals, especially veal, beef or lamb.And I do not buy or cook meat in my home.
The animals here on the islands are treated differently burgundia. They are out in the pastures grazing where it's green a lovely. We don't have any stock yards and when it's time for them to pass on the process is not like it is in other places. I do use raw beef (cut up small) for my dog as she won't eat anything from a can, nor will she eat dry food. She also likes the oatmeal cookies and poached eggs.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Yep, it's a painful subject, which is why I thought twice about answering. I used to be like you Burgundia. But yeah, how do you stop the animals wanting meat? And how do you stop friends and relatives from eating meat, and everyone else that all that meat is in the stores for? When you figure out how to stop everyone else from making it so, you'll have my unending thanks.
And, like it or not, there are plenty of studies that have been done that prove plants are sentient and do have feelings... do react to pain, love, music etc. There's the studies of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Dr Bill Williams and a British Botany professor, Malcolm Wilkins for instance. Just because they are not built like us and so feel like us doesn't mean they can't imo. They are a different kingdom after all.
As far as I'm concerned, whoever created life this way on our planet is to blame. Nature itself is very cruel for this very reason. And I can't stop that either.
But believe me, I'm very happy for you that a mainly vegetarian diet works for you.
I tend to share my vegetarian meals with my pets . They just love it wether cooked or raw.
What I find unethical about food in general is the way nature is treated in order to feed us . Due to the pesticides used , chemical additives, pollution and the addition of hormones to our food , there is very little nutritional value left in what we eat today wether animal products or else that is not organic, leading us to overconsumption while the rest of the world is starving. We are literally poisoning ourselves and our children nowadays while poisoning Earth as well. We have never seen such a vast array of vitamins and food supplements than today. This should'nt be necessary at all would our diets come from nature as it is with little meddling from human manipulation . We must realize that the industrialization of raising cattle, poultry and fish for mass production does'nt go without an impact on the environment that is deteriorating it as ourselves. As Burgundia mentions it a thorough visit to a slaughter house would cut the appetite of many instantly and probably stop them from eating further meat at all. I haven't been visiting one myself but have seen documentaries on these places and found them so sad and cruel that as for many others I just could'nt leave my eyes open . I understand some may need animal protein but I believe nowadays with the life we live in cities and the lack of exercice many of our jobs demand we consume much more meat than is really necessary for our organisms. So much food goes down the waste bin from restaurants alone that this could'nt possibly be right. As for plants I know they are sentient but fruits trees for example are offering themselves for consumption . By eathing them we are not taking the life of a tree away and so it is with many plants we are only consuming the leaves from allowing them to grow again. Many vegetables we eat nowadays have been cross bred in laboratories and don't spontaneously grow in nature. We can feed on what nature gives while remaining strong and healthy without damaging the environment. We are endowed with amazing organisms which once tuned in with Mother find there all they need to survive in good shape . And then there are also emerging breatharians on our Earth demonstrating that eating is an option not a necessity and that prana alone coupled with the according level of consciousness can keep our organisms alive and in good health. I think life has become so artificial and separate from nature on this planet that the whole subject of feeding ourselves as a whole has gone unwise. I think that if we want balance to be restored on this plane we will need a holistic approach to tackle with our environment.
I have been a vegetarian since 1987 and never looked back. What I have found over the years is that although many people I have known ate meat , they ate less when around me but not that I ever asked them to..It was all quite natural. They seemed to enjoy it.
People will do what they want. Karma (or 'action' from the Sanskrit)
On a personal note I dont see the need for us to eat meat and partake in the wilful suffering of sentient beings for our dietary satisfaction.
burgundia wrote:So what about grass for example? you cut it and it keeps growing even stronger, it doesn't die...
Maybe all we sentient beings in every Kingdom learn the same basic lesson re survival...."What doesn't kill us makes us stronger". No matter the Kingdom, when we get 'cut down' and survive it, we learn to adapt, toughen up and perservere to continue our quest to expand, learn and grow. Who knows? Maybe the plant kingdom 'dreams' of having legs, wings or fins one day to assist their kin to spread their seeds further and thrive as a group ie roam further afield. "If you can't beat them, join them" and do it better. Maybe those in the animal kingdom 'dream' of having more intelligence so as to be able to manipulate weapons etc like humans do so as to help protect their kind and their kind's food source, also in having the ability to roam further afield. Same thing, if you can't beat them, join them and do it better.
Further, at these instinctive levels, we all abet our Kingdom's continued survival in the same way too....procreation.
Another thought. Mother Nature has her ways of keeping the balance so all live together in harmony. As Mudra says, a holistic approach. And all lifeforms have predators to keep numbers in check and keep the strengthening lessons coming. And lo and behold, so does humanity now that we've become too greedy again and upset the balance. Our predators are from space, an expanded field of awareness to us, which also happens to offer a greater ability to serve those below us. If only we had the ability to move between dimensions, their technology and knowledge. Imagine what we could do. Maybe they are part of Mother Nature's way of keeping us in check. Maybe Gaia let them in.
So the positive and negative choices come in for us too. Do we follow the 'negative' old ways to contain what we have now by fighting our own particular predators or do we seek the 'positive' way of evolving into fields of greater awareness and ability like the ETs have to help protect our own as well? And 'do it better' than the predators who threaten us by aiming also to aid those in our Kingdom and below. And that means evolving into 4 and 5D awareness.
Bottom line to me, life in this reality is essentially a parasitical and symbiotic environment that teaches all the value of evolving into ever greater powers of movement, awareness and expansion using that essential lesson....what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally. From there, we can evolve into learning that working together to aid each other strengthens us moreso. I'm sure along the way we also learn that protecting the Kingdoms below us that feed us is to the benefit of all.
And that's where, to my mind, humanity got it wrong. We've become a cancer on this planet, regardless of which lower sentient life form we eat. We can either be 'culled' by the predators or we can evolve and do it better from a 'higher' expanded level of awareness, just like those in the Kingdoms below us supposedly do. And, glory be, not have to 'feed' on any of them physically any more.
burgundia wrote:I wish there was a solution...even if we stop, our pets won't.
pets can be fed with ghee which replaces meat for meat-eaters even better.
Our feelings sometimes are just sentiments and we act on it as we develop sentiments without reason. Cheaters push their agenda. Mind and feelings are triggered. Dogs do not sit and think about why they live and how they live. They are honest with nature they do not lie, when they smell they run towards, they just use their senses to satisfy their senses. Humans have ability to think and realize the truth, however we are using our senses to satisfy our senses including feelings which is material thing.
To realize the matter and then actions in the matter it is very very hard it is like:
-My dear fish, do you know what is water? -No, can you show me, where, how it looks, how it tastes? end etc.
To pull out of the matter is not easy. Practice, knowledge, realization...
God has senses also, his senses are powerful and so amazing and (lovable). There are no limits, no time no space, so it is now... hahaha (not only on sunday or church)
Last edited by devakas on Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:54 pm; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : grammar :))
Rules: This is a very specific contest. Don’t tell us why you like meat, why organic trumps local or why your food is yours to choose. Just tell us why it’s ethical to eat meat.
[55%] 
). However there is something strange about my cat. he has problems with regular bowel movement so I also give him dry food containing more fiber. Who knows, maybe switching to some vegetarian dry food would be beneficial for him.
