To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/12/01 05:24
Subject: Re: [K-list] carnivor vs herbivor
From: Paul
On 1999/12/01 05:24, Paul posted thus to the K-list:
Hi folks,
I've been watching the great debate about which parts of creation are
not intended for consumption, and don't really have much to say about
it myself but thought I'd at least offer up my position.
I have in mind the buddhist view of things, that you see the temporary
nature of something in order to realise that it is more than that. ie,
you look at an apple and see that its colour is impermanent so it isnt
a colour, and its form changes so it isnt a form, and so on. In a
similar way I'm wondering how much of a `rule' is needed to restrain
us from consuming meat, and to what extent we equate supermarket
products with coming from animals. When is a burger not a burger? How
much intellectual activity does it require to connect a Sunday roast
to a once active animal?
Currently I eat some foods which are made mostly or almost completely
of meat. It certainly isn't my whole diet but in the course of a week
I will have pork sausages and fishcakes and fishfingers and maybe
chicken nuggets and a small tin or two of minced beef to go with some
nice pasta. Occasionally I'll sneak one of my mother's chicken grill
things under the grill to accompany something else, but I don't have
the chicken on a Sunday that used to be somewhat traditional. I eat
other things too, a tomatoe and cucumber sandwich between crusty fresh
white bread goes down nicely, and I may have a couple of slices of
cold beef with that too. I'm not saying this to rub anything in, this
is just my inventory of meat consumption at this time. I'm not evil
and the human race is a collective being for whom the only route to a
purer way is collective responsibility.
I can respect the choice of anyone who decides not to eat something
that is made of meat, or meat directly. That's enough isn't it? Some
terrible conflicts arise when things start to become labelled as for
or against, so I don't call myself a meat-eater any more than I call
someone who doesn't eat meat a vegetarian. So often the word or label
gets to be bigger than what's being labelled and that's so
unfortunate. Even less containing is my view of the holisticity of
things, by which you can't just scaplet out of your psychological body
a big chunk that you label as one thing without appreciating how it
affects other aspects. Like, if we could suddenly make all the guns in
the world disappear would people be ready to deal with life? From my
point of view it's all a gradual process and I am perfectly fine being
and doing who and what I do now. The show isn't over yet, so why spoil
the performance halfway through? Perhaps I won't eat meats for very
much longer but condemnation for doing so only adds to the violence in
the world especially when those condemned don't choose to alter their
being and don't have to.
12:23pm and all is well :-)
We need to work on our spirituality as a team.
Regards,
Shri rhubarb,
--
Paul.
IRC: irc.superlink.net #bridge, ircnet #amiga
WWW: http://www.stationone.demon.co.uk
E-M: paulATnospamstationone.demon.co.uk
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