posted March 30, 2009 12:22 PM           

I am making efforts to live in accordance with my highest visions,
but, just because I can see the truth, doesnt make me less human.

I stumble, and I openly admit to stumbling, and I dont let that stop me,
from speaking the truth and from trying my best to live in accordance with it.

I am not asking anyone to do more, or even as much, as I have done, there.
If you are willing to think about these things, and maybe even consider
eating meat one less night a week, I think that would be wonderful.

My highest moral vision is truly stark and uncompromising, yes,
but I also know how to make allowances for people's weaknesses.

For my own, for yours, and for everybody else's.
Maybe that seems hypocritical or paradoxical to you,
but it makes an awful lot of sense from where I am standing.

Albert Camus once wrote that it is silly for non-Christians
to demand that Christians live according to a higher ethics,
simply because their ethical vision is higher than most.
We are all equally subject to the same higher ethics,
whether or not we preach it, or deny it, or live it, or try to live it.

Schopenhauer was attacked in his day for his lofty teachings on ethics,
and his defense was to say that, a man can teach about a field of knowledge,
without being employed in that field; in other words, that a professor
who teaches archeology does not have to be an archeologist in order for his work
to contribute to the development of archeology and archeological research.

I think that words are actions, and that,
speaking the truth is next to living the truth.
Hardly anybody is capable of living the truth, but,
that should not prevent the truth from being spoken and heard.

I am well aware of my guilt and complicity in the animal holocaust.
I take full responsibility for that, and my words are a rebuke to myself,
just as they are a rebuke to all of us, caught up in this madness.
I confess, the best I can say is that I am not looking the other way,
and that I am making daily efforts to remove this vice from myself,
and from the world; for, to me, the world and myself are not so different.

I hope that clarifies my postion for you somewhat.

I am making a sincere effort to be mature and rational with every one of you here,
and I want to thank you for appreciating that and showing me the same respect.

posted March 30, 2009 05:42 PM         

HSC - well your thinking might be ahead of time concerning meat eating. I really don't know. However, remember at the end of the day, despite our laws, edifices, buildings and conscience, we are animals.

posted March 30, 2009 05:59 PM         

personally no, i do not eat meat to be cruel. i eat meat because as a LION in human clothing i function better when i have some. not much, just some.

i have tried most meatless diets. i find that in their own ways they are as debilitating as eating (too much) meat though as i said i do not eat much it makes a definite difference in my stamina, strength, and general energy.

posted March 30, 2009 07:17 PM         

After 2 years or so as a vegettarian, I began eating meat again to help supplement my poor diet. Terrible and unimaginative cook right here!!! Meat was a quick fix, as preparing a proper meal without meat was proving beyond my daily routine.

Then when I was about 23, I began the meat-free lifestyle again, although with a difference. I spent weeks researching human biology, the effects of food on the body etc. I was undergoing a vigorous physical training regime, and wanted a diet to maximise my energy levels. I stumbled upon something called 'The Alkaline Diet'. To my surprise, its the most prominent diet used by professional atheletes, strength and endurance. It had particularly merits for endurance atheletes.

The basic principle of the diet was to eat foods predominantly high in alkaline content. The human bodies natural PH level is slightly alkaline, and scientific research had shown that ingesting food substances that matched the bodies natural make-up significantly improved the immune system, allowed more prolonged highs in energy levels, and even increased brain activity. Acidic foods are the main cause for obesity, as a fatty cell is essentially a build up of excess acids. Meat is highly acidic. Acidic foods were also starting to emerge as contributers to the weakening of the immune system, as bacteria within the body is more likely to form from acidic-based foods.

So the decision was based on a more healthy lifestyle, in the hope that it would optimise my body and mind so I was able to feel more of the world around. It just so happened that it also benefitted my spiritual beliefs about animal slaughter too, so I was in a win/win situation. Rare for a Libra NN!!

I certainly dont hold any malice towards anyone who eats meat, nor do I judge. I think I'm the only non meat-eater in my circle of friends, and whenever they go to McDonalds, I always joke with them that they are not really eating meat anyway
I think meat-eating is a personal choice, some will feel they need it to sustain energy. My girlfriend always says she feels weak without her daily intake of meat!! And although I've tried telling her it maybe psychological, I thought it was better than she have some ham and be happy than wake in the night to see her silhoetted figure standing over me with a carving knife.

posted March 30, 2009 08:34 PM           

I hear what you are saying.

We are animals. Definitely.

But, just between you and me...

I think something is different about us.

posted March 30, 2009 09:38 PM         

I'm a vegan. I don't eats no animals.

Respect that. Respect me.

You are a carnivore. You eats many animals.

I may not respect that but I respect YOU.

posted March 30, 2009 09:43 PM         

Art thou a Vegetarian? Vegan?

posted March 30, 2009 09:55 PM         

Ok. I'm stopping today. NOT. lol.

"Dairy is responsible for 99% of cancers, all bowel disease, heart disease etc etc
oh and hormone problems."

99%, eh.