In regards to eating meat

[Monica]

the ending, is traumatic and contradictory to what had happened before. imagine you were cared by your mother all your life, then suddenly your mother throws you outside one day. even this, is rather a smoothened and politically correct example.

basically you have given +1, then suddenly you have given -1. had you kept on without doing that last act, there would be still, +1 in the relationship. of course, this example is also rather simple, and the numbers are rather irrelevant.

let me put it in a bare emotional context :

im a kid. someone cares for me my entire life, i trust that person with everything, i am happy, then that someone comes and slaughters me to eat me.

What I'm about to say isn't directed at anyone personally. I'm particularly sensitive to abridgetoofar because of his current situation - please know that I'm speaking in generalities here. You already know that I consider us on the same team, so to speak, in the grand scheme of things. But unity100 has brought up a very important point that I hadn't thought of before, and it triggered an 'Aha!' moment for me, so I think it's worth exploring.

I don't think a goat has any more inherent value than an aphid, in the Creator's eyes. I have commented before that I think the 2D entity's level of awareness does come into play - not as far as the Creator is concerned, but as far as we are concerned, for the simple reason that, until we are able to sustain ourselves on Sunlight alone, we must establish some sort of guidelines that make sense on a practical level.

We don't really know what an aphid thinks or feels. I have made the argument previously that insects and plants aren't likely to be self-aware, because of their short lifespans and because higher entities don't tend to draw them out. Exceptions may include ancient trees, sacred sites, and maybe even houseplants. But humans tend to think of their vegetable garden as a whole, and aren't likely to single out individual tomato plants and develop a relationship with them, or at least not to the degree that the tomato plants develops sentience. Surely there are exceptions, but I am speaking generally.

This alone doesn't make it 'ok' to kill the tomato plants, or the aphids on the tomato plants. But, in order to make sense of this, we need to think about what is actually happening, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually, when we kill anything, whether it's an animal, plant or insect.

What happens when an aphid dies? Is it a catastrophic event? Not likely. 2D entities aren't individually aware yet, but they do retain awareness of being One with the Creator. This leads me to conclude that physical death isn't such a big deal to them.

Many psychics who claim to communicate with plant devas and insect kingdoms, have stated that the plants are far, far more concerned about something much less tangible than physical death: humans' relationshpi with them and with the Earth.

Please understand that I'm not in any way suggesting any sort of justification for killing bugs and plants indiscriminately! Quite the contrary! To do so would show extreme disregard for life.

Rather, I am simply reporting back what these 'green witches' have claimed, and what I've accepted as likely true, because it makes sense to me: Lower 2D entities (most plants and insects) seem to have a consciousness that's an extension of Mother Earth, much like the hairs on our heads, rather than as individual entities.

Again, this doesn't make it ok to kill them indiscriminately. But, in comparison to the killing of later 2D entities - cows, chickens, goats - I see a clear distinction.

This distinction has to do with relationship.

What is relationship? Why do we have relationships?

Relationships provide catalyst. We experience catalyst from our interactions with other-selves.

Do aphids experience catalyst? Maybe simple catalyst, like when it rains very hard and they get washed away. But that's not a personal catalyst. To the aphid, that rain is just a force of nature, most likely.

Does the aphid know that humans exist? On an individual level, not likely. So, when the human kills a colony of aphids to protect his tomato plants, those aphids aren't likely to take it personally. That human is, to the aphid, like an earthquake is to us: a force of Nature.

Impersonal.

The aphids roll with it. They move on. Death and rebirth are cyclical, to an entity who has not yet become self-aware. There is no attachment to physical life.

Now let's contrast that with the goat.

Whereas an aphid has no awareness of humans, the same cannot be said of a goat, cow or chicken, especially one who has been cared for lovingly. That goat has a relationship with his human caretaker.

That goat might even have developed affectionate feelings towards his human caretaker, much as a horse, dog or cat would.

Ask any 4H student and he will tell you that his cows, goats and pigs are all very smart, and make great pets! Until the time comes to slaughter them, when the child cries upon learning of the harsh reality of 4H clubs, and on that day becomes hardened, in order to make a better rancher.

That goat most surely is capable of feeling affection, even love. I know beyond any doubt that my dogs and cats love me. I've never had a pet goat, but I see no reason to think that a goat is any different from a cat or dog. Yet, most humans would cringe at the thought of raising their cats and dogs, hugging them and loving them, and then killing them. Such a thought would be viewed as reprehensible.

Why, then, is it any different with a farmer/rancher killing his goats?

While I do appreciate that many farmers and ranchers are seeking to improve conditions for 'meat' animals, it seems to me that they have inadvertently traded one atrocity for anther, by introducing another element into the mix: betrayal.

A factory farm animal's life is torture, and more torture, and it ends in torture.

An animal raised on an 'organic' or 'biodynamic' farm does have it better without a doubt, while alive. But is the death any better?

Maybe it is better physically. Maybe the death is more 'humane' by being more swift. But let's examine the emotional aspects.

The factory farm animal is killed by heartless workers, for the most part. A life of torture ends in torture.

But the animal on the 'humane' farm has been raised to expect...kindness..nurturing...warmth...comfort...perhaps even love.

As unity100 has pointed out, to be killed by the human caretaker is incongruent. It is as if a mother murders her child. It seems reasonable to conclude that a child murdered by the person s/he loved and trusted, might be even more traumatized, than a child murdered by someone s/he knew was cruel.

This is a disturbing conclusion, I realize.

What will the entity imprint on its consciousness, as it evolves towards 3D? What kind of 3D entity will it be, because of the circumstances in which it awakened to self-awareness?

Much as a child can be influenced by his/her parents...the perennial question of nature vs nurture...we surely do influence our younger 2D brethren. We may dramatically affect what sort of humans they will be someday...maybe even whether their 3D reality will be as barbaric as ours...or will it be something better.

Let's consider the repercussions of these actions, in these different scenarios:

An early 2D entity (plants, insects) that was killed by a human has no clue what killed it. To that 2D entity, death was triggered by a force of Nature. No emotional attachment. No long-lasting emotional issues. Just physical death.

A factory-farm raised animal will conclude that life is barbaric and painful, and that it's normal to dominate, torture and kill others. Such an animal will likely be a violent human when he graduates to 3D.

A 'humanely' raised animal will likely conclude that life might be good for awhile, but then, suddenly when you least expect, those whom you loved and trusted, betray you. Such an entity will likely have serious psychological issues when s/he becomes human. S/he may have trust issues...difficulty in forming attachments...difficulty in developing relationships.

Take any random colony of 100 aphids. Whether they die in a rainstorm, or at the hands of the gardener, it matters not to them. They have no awareness of the gardener. The gardener is a force of Nature, just like the rainstorm.

But a goat who was lovingly cared for, then killed by his caretaker, will have a different imprint on his consciousness, than a goat who died of natural causes.

As I stated previously, I do see the value in more humane conditions for farm animals, as a step in the continuum towards less cruelty to animals. In the big picture, such farms do help raise awareness about the atrocities of factory farming.

But, it's sort of a double-edged sword. Such 'humane' farms might actually backfire, in a sense, by providing a sense of appeasement to those who eat animals. "I only eat humanely raised beef, so I have no guilt." Such thinking may neutralize any efforts towards eliminating meat entirely.

Add to this, the realization that was just prompted by unity100's post:

While factory farmed animals have less physical pain during their lives, the 'humanely' raised animals might have more emotional pain, and an equally strong imprint on their psyche, which then carries over to 3D.