In regards to eating meat

[Oldern]

@Everyone.
Everybody should do what everybody thinks best of course. But as far as I am concerned it's simple social dynamics. Interaction with otherselves. We tend to reap what we sow. It is my experience that most people are really open to experimenting with not eating meat provided there is clearly no intent to assimilate them into the vegetarian collective.

In general, if people are hostile to wonderfull ideals.. Perhaps one should stop pushing them down their throats..

I also can't have dinner with a group of people without the matter coming up for discussion. It is tricky business. As a vegetarian, one gets invited to climb upon a soap box by the person to ones left. Yet if one is too "righteous" about it. The person on ones right takes offense, and feels the need to make a comment for example: how much they enjoy their meat. It's all fishhook/pinball theory from there on really... It's social dynamics, there is no one to blame. Everyone takes part in escalating the issue.

As a vegetarian I bring my diet to the table, therefore I see it as my responsibility to defuse these situations, preferably before they arise. If I choose to take a stand, then *I* will be the one sitting at a table where the main dishes are hostility and agression. Not only is this futile. I have better things to do with my heart and want to get invited to dinner parties in the future.

And that's my two cents.

I agree with you fully. If one is a really "highly evolved spiritual being", then is should not matter how others react to his/her food preferences. Let that be a "frontal attack" or a simple sarcastic comment: if I am vegetarian, and I am comfortable with it, then there is no need to escalate things further in that imaginary dinner. One then just smiles, eats the food, and lets every comment pass through him/her without a reaction. Now that is a spiritual state of being that I want to strive for. I see a lot of analogies about this with EVERYTHING ELSE in life - religion, politics, hobbies, everything. *insert random Bashar quotes that perfectly explains the situation about mirrors, change, inner self and outer reflections*