In regards to eating meat

[Tenet Nosce]

Humanly produced foods of all kinds (including pet food) on this planet does occupy most awarenesses of all creatures on our planet as a whole. Whether this awareness invokes toil, puposfulness, pleasure, fun, escape or capture, aggression or compassion.... Most of our world's energy literally flows through human consumption acts as the motivating force.

I'm not sure if you meant "humanely" or "humanly" as written. I will respond to as written. Certainly human activity is largely responsible for whatever imbalance exists in the global energy flow. And definitely a large portion of this is resulting from our consumption of foodstuffs.

Certainly, there is a whole mishmash of distortion around this issue. Not the least of which is predicated on a single mistranslated word from the Bible- namely dominion. When I think about the average American's attitude toward food- that it doesn't at all matter what one eats and where it comes from- I think this is clearly an ignorant and harmful view.

As you, Oceania, and others have pointed out, a major key is awareness. Not only about where food comes from, but what kind of effects it has on the body. I see people all the time who, for example, haven't seemed to connect their feelings of lethargy with overconsumption of refined carbohydrates. They are just totally in a state of disconnect, and this view is reinforced by many of our cherished institutions, and to a certain degree by a few (not all) anti-meat activists who seem to think it is just fine for humans to consume all manner of processed and petroleum-derived foodstuffs just so long as it isn't meat. I'm sorry, but if we are going to talk about what is harming the planet and the animals, our petroleum-based agricultural system is the culprit. Cattle ranches are secondary.

According to my understanding, if we didn't subsidize petroleum products and farming of grains, most meat would be WAY too expensive for most people to be able to consume so wantonly. And then of course there are the 3.5 billion people on the planet who live on less than $2.50 a day. 1 billion of those people don't know if they are going to eat anything tomorrow, much less a hamburger. So this is why I raise questions about priorities when people start talking about creating a new world and such.

Now in order to become connected- one must look inside for guidance and answers. In my opinion, if a health guru is not pointing their subjects to their own inner wisdom, and instead just telling people what to eat and what not to eat, they are part of the problem rather than the solution.

With respect to dietary choices, the body communicates to us in the form of cravings. While a particular craving may not be healthy, there is always something about it which is serving a genuine purpose in the body.

Fifteen years ago- about the time I came across the Ra material- I realized that if I didn't start making changes to my diet I was setting myself up for some big problems. After a few failed attempts at banning or swearing off certain foods, I came up with a plan. That plan has been largely successful.

It was composed of two simple steps. Step 1 was to make sure I was putting in as wide a variety of foods as I could manage. Step 2 was to listen to my body's cravings. I mean really listen.

Over the years, this has resulted in many profound shifts in my eating behaviors- all without making anything "wrong" or having to feel guilty or down on myself for not living up to an unattainable ideal, etc. As regards meat, this has absolutely resulted in a drastic reduction of the meat I consume- and I am much more conscientious about where that meat comes from.

At this particular nexus the two of us go through about one pound of organically-raised lamb per week. We purchased the whole lamb- I don't like to buy parts and pieces. We also eat one organic free-range chicken per week.. about three pounds. Then usually some kind of sustainably caught fish or seafood... another pound.

My point is... all of this should be a "good" thing, no? But when somebody takes a really rigid stance- all meat-eating is wrong- I don't see how that is productive. It just alienates people by making them feel that dietary changes are an "all or nothing" matter. This is hardly a "balanced" approach.

If this proposed statement is largely factual, then food choices surely make or break harmonious existence upon our earth. For each improvement we make in diet and nutrition, we can ameliorate the balance.

I would say it is the potential to evolve beyond our dualistic mindset... right/wrong, good/bad, black/white, democrat/republican, my team/your team, (the list goes on forever) which is the fulcrum upon which our peaceful and harmonious coexistence rests. All else is downstream from that... yes that affects our dietary choices... however if we are changing our diet out of yet another authoritarian mandate ("Thou Shalt Not...") then we are right back where we started. We just substituted one distorted behavior for another.