In regards to eating meat

[Ankh]

the material for your understanding is the self: the mind/body/spirit complex.

I could easily counter with countless quotes about service to others. Serving others requires reaching out beyond just self.

In fact, it's so important to serve others, that it's even the criteria for graduation!

Monica, what you said is that the arguments in this thread have mostly been about the self, so I was tryng to share my personal view of why it is, with a quote instead of using too many words. This quote is taken from the session 15:14, where Don asks Ra about what they've meant when they said that the harvest is now and that Ra encourage to seek the heart of the self. So Ra said that the material of our understanding is the self. And then: "The understanding, experiencing, accepting, and merging of self with self and other-self, and finally with the Creator, is the path to the heart of self."

Yes, but the greater understanding about the scope of Spanish comes from the act of teaching, because the Spanish speaker must delve more deeply into their own knowledge in order to teach it to another person.

It doesn't come from the student of Spanish. Therefore, the student of Spanish cannot teach Spanish.

Therefore, they are learning/teaching different things to the other.

As I see it, no one speaks more "Spanish" on this board than the other one. Comparing it to Ra, a sixth density entity, is also irrelevant, as all of us here are third density human beings. Therefore, in this situation specifically, on this board, we all teach/learn and learn/teach equally much about compassion.

This entire thread has been full of justifications from the meat-eaters about why it's "ok" for them to eat animals.

Justification is something that's done by someone who is defensive.

If someone feels totally good about their choice, there's no reason to be defensive.

To say that the vegetarians are the ones being defensive? LOL!

I don't quite see it like that. I see that this thread has been full of people struggling with their own lessons, and trying to learn/teach and teach/learn. This is a group dynamic and no one is more defensive/attacking than the other one. Because if "meat-eater side" has been defensive, then the "non-meat-eater side" must have been attacking, right? *This is a group dynamic*. And seeing that one side did this and the other one did that, is just, in my eyes, creating more separation.

And yet, each is still attempting to find solutions to the suffering rather than finding space and time within to allow each portion of experience, including suffering, to have a hospitable room to dwell in while it visits you.

I needed to hear those things again, but especially the above.

An assumption seems to be made that vegetarians are trying to end suffering instead of going within. That may be true in some cases, but not in the case of the vegetarians participating in this thread. We work outwardly in addition to working inwardly. Both are important.

Secondly, my opinion is that this Q'uote has been misapplied. Context must be taken into consideration, to understand what Q'uo meant. Q'uo was speaking of one's own suffering, not serving others who are suffering.

STO = Service to Others. It's a minor little concept sprinkled liberally throughout the Law of One.

Yes, Monica. Tenet Nosce made a beautiful post, and I needed to hear those things again. And especially the part that I quoted. In regards to suffering, he said another thing, among many others, in his post which I found beautiful, and that is:

I don't perceive the value in causing myself to suffer over the perceived suffering of others. That sounds to me like adding more suffering to the world, not taking away from it.

I totally agree with this view. Instead of feeling this suffering, and therefore add more suffering to the world, why not seek that suffering within the self, and heal it? And then open up to love/light of our One Infinite Creator, and radiate it? Suffering blocks that radiating, in my opinion, and so are feelings of being personally right. And in regards to the personal rightness, the quote of Ra which I provided to the post of 3DMonkey is quite applicable to this thread in my view:

34.9 Questioner: Thank you. Can you give me the same type of information about the self in relation to the societal self?

Ra: I am Ra. The unmanifested self may find its lessons those which develop any of the energy influx centers of the mind/body/spirit complex. The societal and self interactions most often concentrate upon the second and third energy centers. Thus those most active in attempting to remake or alter the society are those working from feelings of being correct personally or of having answers which will put power in a more correct configuration. This may be seen to be of a full travel from negative to positive in orientation. Either will activate these energy ray centers.

There are some few whose desires to aid society are of a green ray nature or above. These entities, however, are few due to the understanding, may we say, of fourth ray that universal love freely given is more to be desired than principalities or even the rearrangement of peoples or political structures.

I interpret this quote as: to attempting to remake or alter the society from the feelings of being personally correct or having answers, will activate orange and/or yellow centers. And few they are who are of fourth universal love ray, who desire to aid society by sharing freely given universal love instead of having principalities or rearrangements of people or political structures.

I do find it ironic that it is the meat-eaters who are having trouble "loving unconditionally" the vegetarians. So much so that the conversation keeps shifting to a critique of the vegetarians, instead of the actual topic.

I believe that both so called "sides" struggle with lessons of unconditional, universal love. Those who have learned these lessons do not participate in this thread, as they see only love, and hence have nothing to say.