In regards to eating meat

[Pablísimo]

How does that Q'uote not resonate with you? To me, it seems like Q'uo is saying "One option is this:" That's like opening a door of possibility within the mind of the listener. It's like offering a gift. I don't see any free will infringement there.

I can't speak for Monica, but in the Quo'te that Meerie provided, I find that I only resonate with the first line. The rest of it, not at all because it implies (to me) that all 3 options listed are equally valid when pursuing the STO path, where I feel that 1 is clearly superior, 1 somewhat helpful, and the other not at all. One of the things I appreciate about Qu'o, and all the L/L contacts, are the constant reminder to the seeker to take what resonates and discard the rest. That is excellent advice. And in the spirit of that advice, please consider the following:

I think we need to keep in mind the potential for distortion in consciously channeled messages. Unlike in the Ra contact, Qu'o is channeled with full waking consciousness and thus, in my view, there is far more potential for distortion due to bias of the group.

We may never settle the veg vs animal flesh issue in the context of the spiritual life on this thread. It is not a simple matter. However, what I believe is undeniable is that this topic arouses fierce passions in people. Discussing the consumption of animal flesh, especially in a spiritual context, causes intense reactions in many of us, on both sides of the issue. There is an ardor, a passion, an almost uncontrollable urge to speak one's mind and perspective on the issue that the topic provokes. It's all too easy to dismiss a vegetarian stating their cause as deluded and self-righteous...the same as one could dismiss one who chooses to eat animals as just guilty and deluded. I hope we can be more mature than that, but with this post I'm not stating a position. What I AM trying to establish most of all is that this topic is one that is hard to have an ambiguous view on -- the vast majority of us tend to have a strong bias one way or the other.

So it would seem to me that any area where passions are this strong would be a prime candidate for distortion in conscious channeling. How could the channel and the group NOT have a strong opinion on something like this? This de-tuning due to bias would degrade the quality of the channeled information. Let's examine the next part of that quote in this context:

....One is to seek out a kosher store [2] which sells meat, knowing that the priests of that religion have treated animals well and have slaughtered them in a sacred ritual which is taken most seriously by those priests....."

This is simply not true. Jewish rabbis generally do not raise these animals and so one cannot say that they "have treated animals well", nor do they normally slaughter them directly so one also cannot say it is done in "a sacred ritual which is taken most seriously by those priests". Kosher rules refer to how an animal is slaughtered and how the flesh is handled afterwards. There is no guarantee that an animal was treated well during their LIFETIME, any more than an organic label necessarily means that an animal was treated well. There are many common misconceptions about this topic, but the slaughter does not have to be done by a rabbi, it can be (and usually is) done by an agent that they approve of. There is no sacred blessing that goes on during the ceremony. The ritual is basically that a sharp knife is used to cut the throat of the animal and it is allowed to bleed to death through the neck. The animal is not stunned beforehand.

So you can raise an animal in typical, terrible, agri-business factory farm conditions, and as long as an approved agent slashes their neck with a sharp knife and allows the animal to bleed to death, it's Kosher. Of course, there are also post-slaughter handling rules that are very strict involving inspection of the carcass and sanitation, but in no way does purchasing Kosher meat tell the seeker anything about how the animal was treated.

And in regards to the slaughter method, proponents of this approach maintain that it is a more humane way to kill the animal, that they lose consciousness within a few seconds. There is a fierce debate on this topic as opponents of the practice say that stunning the animal first would be more humane and that animals killed in the Kosher fashion often survive for several minutes in agony. It's far from settled, but you can read more about Kosher topics and watch graphic videos of this method of slaughter here:

http://www.peta.org/features/kosher-vegetarian.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HZnQmc3U9I

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Of course Qu'o would know all of this about animal flesh killed in the Kosher fashion, and I'm sure Carla didn't make up the channeled message. What I'd like to offer for consideration is that perhaps because of her own personal bias that eating animal flesh is acceptable, and her own personal beliefs that Kosher or "biodynamic" animal flesh is more acceptable, that some de-tuning occurred in this contact. That's the only explanation I have for why something so factually inaccurate would have made it into a Qu'o transcript. It's also why I suspect the topic was not explored in any depth in the Ra material. Strong bias detunes contact.

That said, let's not judge the channel, nor anyone else as we debate this topic further, respectfully and with care. We all have our own biases, myself included, and we are all struggling to find balance and do what's right in the confusing phase of existence we find ourselves in. None of us has all the answers and should remember to be humble and kind to our other-selves as we discuss this issue. However, I think we owe it to ourselves to use our own discernment when evaluating channeled information, even when the source is well known and with established purity. Discernment.

Love to all