In regards to eating meat

[Monica]

Either/or statements don't allow for shades of gray. Many people feel compassion for their own pets, but not for other animals. Some people feel compassion for cows, but not sardines. A few people feel compassion for both cows and sardines. Hardly anybody (that I know of) feels compassion for cockroaches.

That's right. So I hope my explanation clarified what I was trying to say.

I believe we are capable of infinite compassion.

Just like we're "capable" of being aware of our Oneness at all times?

If it were so simple, we'd be having a lot bigger harvest.

As near as I can tell, feeling compassion comes quite naturally to most humans.

Are we living on the same planet?

Even if you're referring only to compassion for other humans, I'd say it comes easily only if the other person isn't too 'different.'

Much more challenging if the person has a different ethnicity, religion, ideology, etc. Hence all the wars.

Do you think, for example, compassion for a Muslim comes "quite naturally" to an evangelical Christian? Does compassion towards a "bleeding hear liberal" come "quite naturally" to a diehard Republican conservative? Does compassion to a woman about to abort her baby come "quite naturally" to a pro-life activist? How about compassion towards a "vegan zealot" from a meat-eater? Or, conversely, to a butcher, from a vegetarian animal rights activist?

Even here, on this thread, in a supposedly spiritually oriented community, how many of the meat-eaters answered my question about whether they had increased their compassion towards vegetarians?

And that's just talking about other humans.

I have seen very little compassion towards animals expressed by the meat-eaters, here on this thread. Not even towards other humans with different views!!! Much less so to the animals.

So I'd say I emphatically disagree with you that compassion "comes quite naturally."

If that were so, we wouldn't have so many wars, we wouldn't have had so much discord on this thread, and we'd have a lot bigger harvest.

and then doing the best we can

I find no sooner do I attain a personal best, then a new one appears on the horizon. Thus, I am perpetually falling short of what I perceive to be best. Thus, rather than striving for an unattainable ideal of "best", I strive for "improving".

OK. We're saying the same thing here. I would define 'personal best' as doing the best we can in that moment; ie., improving.

Yikes! Another one of those either/or statements. I will stick with "improving".

Either we're improving, or we aren't. It's a binary choice.