In regards to eating meat

[Monica]

For example, at first glance the Essene work that Monica linked to made a lot of sense to me. But then when I backed up and looked at it from a big picture view, I see so much absolutism and dualistic thinking that it tends to make me reject the whole thing.

It's interesting how we can read the same thing and perceive it differently. The Essene Gospel has a lot of antiquated, Christian terminology like satan, demons, etc. but I overlooked all that when I read it, because of the concepts presented.

The internal yardstick that I use for this is that, while reading if I start to notice myself having restrictive feelings (fear, shame, guilt) then that tells me not to trust the material at hand. True spiritual works cause one to feel expansive feelings (peace, love and joy).

What you are describing is resonance! If we resonate with something, we feel expansive. If we don't, we can feel fear, shame, guilt, confusion, etc.

Whenever I've read diet books full of rules, like for example the Eat Right for Your Type book, I have felt confusion, apprehension and guilt, because the rules all seem so arbitrary. Type O must eat meat, Type A cannot eat wheat, but can eat corn, or whatever. That all seemed so arbitrary to me. Why wheat but not corn? Why are bananas ok but not tomatoes?

In contrast, the Essene Gospel seemed to present very simple concepts that resonated deeply with me. I didn't feel restricted at all. I didn't feel any shame or guilt at all, even though I was eating meat at the time.

There weren't any rules about this or that food, other than the admonition against meat, which made sense to me. I really loved the idea that we have a 'spiritual father' and a 'physical mother' with Mother Earth being the nurturer, suckling her children with abundant plant life.

I loved the idea of sunlight and water being angels, who infused life-force into the life-giving foods laid out on the Mother's table. As Cayce said, life begets life. Having just read Cayce, it made sense to me that eating dead things would beget disease and death, and eating live things would beget health and life.

It made sense to me that the optimal way to eat would be in harmony with the seasons and our own locale. Eat more fruits in summer when they are ripe...store root vegetables and nuts in the fall and winter since they store well. Tropical climates have more fruits year-round because there is a higher need for high-water, cooling fruits, whereas those living in colder climates would probably do better with more 'warming' root vegetables and nuts.

Did Jesus address the Eskimos who don't have access at all to fresh produce? No. But he wasn't talking to them. He was talking to the Essenes. Contrary to what fundamentalist Christians believe, I don't consider the words of Jesus to necessarily be intended for every person on the planet, in every circumstance. He was speaking to a specific group of people who were, presumably, aspiring to higher ideals.

I found the concepts presented to be very idealistic and yet attainable. I instantly resonated with it and have been reaching for those ideals ever since. Have I succeeded? Only partially, but I still hold those ideals as dear. They still resonate with me.

It's curious how that same book might have felt restrictive to you, yet expansive to me. This just shows what Ra and Q'uo are referring to when they say to utilize what resonates.

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Now- supposing that is part of the mission of many wanderers (or whatever you want to call them) is it a service or a disservice to choose a vegetarian lifestyle purely out of a noble, but rather unattainable, ideal? Couldn't that derail the mission?

Are you referring to vegetarians being vegetarians themselves, or are you referring to vegetarians trying to convince others to be vegetarians?

I'm confused by the question, because I don't consider it unattainable. My experience speaks otherwise. I've been a vegetarian for 40 of my 51 years. My 23-yo son has never had a bite of meat in his life and he's very healthy and strong.

If you are correct that being a vegetarian is unattainable for a small segment of the population, that has no bearing on my interest in sharing info with those who do find it attainable. So I don't see how it could be a disservice in any way.

On the contrary, I think it would be a disservice to not speak up...to both the animals and to the vast majority of the population who can benefit by transitioning to a plant-based diet, or, at the very least, decreasing their meat consumption.