In regards to eating meat

[Diana]

Yes, this makes total sense! See... but we need to work at the level of craving. At a fundamental level, people crave meat because there is something essential that the meat provides to the body. This seems to go beyond the issue of protein, but is still kind of elusive.

Perhaps it's because we are living in bodies that evolved from the time when "fight or flight" was necessary. We still have reptilian brains (limbic), which react continually to "danger" requiring aggression and violence or flight ability. We don't need those attributes anymore--the limbic brain needs to evolve. Stress is keeping us in fight or flight now and causing hormonal imbalances because--we don't fight or run when stressed, but all the same chemicals get released.

Cravings for meat could have something to do with that: an obsolete need.

Or it could just be plain old addiction. I have struggled with trying to keep sugar out of my diet so I understand it.

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Because you're OK with killing plants to eat them but you think compassion for animals requires not killing them.

I know this isn't directed at me, but...

Having compassion for an entity requires not killing it, because then there would be no entity to have compassion towards. "Compassionately killing" is like "fear based love". The love and compassion is there, but not in its full potential, being largely blocked/distorted.

Would this apply to all entities, even down to the level of microbes?

Intention is key. I have found that I hold or embody certain intentions, and then certain things seem to happen or not happen accordingly.

For instance, I live in a rural area. There is a lot of wildlife around. Rabbits especially are continually darting across the road. People hit them all the time, but every time I come close (and of course I drive slowly where I know they are--but they still dart out unexpectedly) I never hit them; they seem to magically make it across.

In this way, one does the best one can. I can't see microbes, so because my intention is to do no harm, I have faith that no harm will follow.