Really informative article, thanks Monica. So great that the journalist is now going to law school and will be able to contribute to real changes in factory farming.
He is a lightworker, experiencing suffering in the world and empowering his compassion to uplift all of us
ill drink to that one brother. if u have any feelings at all this planet becomes harder and harder to live on. if u stop for a second u can hear the cries of the animals, of the children, of the families who have been bombed like its some kind of freaking video game, of the planet , crying, crying crying out . saying WHY WHY WHY. i want to suck all the suffering of this planet into my body and end it all and explode into a trillion pieces. it is just SO painful here . and i look around me on the news and see articles about lindsay lohan and donald trump an all this crap as though that is really important and i say to myself when are we going to wake up and just say no. just drive all our cars onto the bridges abandon them and REFUSE to work anymore and to perpetuate this system. and i realize to most i am a nut job but i want to be a nut job i DONT WANT to fit in to this insanity anymore.
In 1854, the "Great White Chief" in Washington made an offer for a large area of Indian land and promised a `reservation' for the Indian people. Chief Seattle's reply, reproduced here in full, has been described as the most beautiful and profound statement on the environment ever made.
Chief Seattle's reply:
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.
The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man.
We are part of the earth and it is part of us.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers.
The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man--all belong to the same family.
So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves.
He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy our land.
But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us.
This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors.
If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people.
The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs.
The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on.
He leaves his father's graves behind, and he does not care.
He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care.
His father's grave, and his children's birthright, are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads.
His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
I do not know. Our ways are different from your ways.
The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.
There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect's wings.
But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand.
The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand.
The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with the pinion pine.
The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath--the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath.
The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes.
Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.
But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh.
And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.
So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition: The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.
I am a savage and I do not understand any other way.
I've seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train.
I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.
For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin.
Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know: The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know.
All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny.
We may be brothers after all.
We shall see.
One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover, our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white.
This earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.
The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.
That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the thicket? Gone.
Where is the eagle? Gone.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
I keep hitting the like button but it only works once.
thanks Diana that was incredible !!
I feel the need to offer help to 2D.
Ra felt the need to offer help to 3D.
It seems to me that all densities above 3D find it normal to help the densities below, but when a 3D individual does this it is activism and zealotry.
Hmm, one of the definitions used to describe evolution is activate.
13.21 Questioner: Then how does the second density progress to the third?
Ra: I am Ra. The second density strives towards the third density which is the density of self-consciousness or self-awareness. The striving takes place through the higher second-density forms who are invested by third-density beings with an identity to the extent that they become self-aware mind/body complexes, thus becoming mind/body/spirit complexes and entering third density, the first density of consciousness of spirit.
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19.5 Questioner: When the first second-density entities became third-density on this planet, was this with the help of the transfer of beings from Mars, or were there second-density beings who transferred into third density with no outside influence?
Ra: I am Ra. There were some second-density entities which made the graduation into third density with no outside stimulus but only the efficient use of experience.
Others of your planetary second density joined the third-density cycle due to harvesting efforts by the same sort of sending of vibratory aid as those of the Confederation send you now. This communication was, however, telepathic rather than telepathic/vocal or telepathic/written due to the nature of second-density beings.
-------------------
14.1 Questioner: After going over this morning’s work, I thought it might be helpful to fill in a few things. You said that the second density strives towards the third density which is the density of self-consciousness, or self-awareness. The striving takes place through higher second-density forms being invested by third-density beings. Could you explain what you mean by this?
Ra: I am Ra. Much as you would put on a vestment, so do your third-density beings invest or clothe some second-density beings with self-awareness. This is often done through the opportunity of what you call pets. It has also been done by various other means of investiture. These include many so-called religious practice complexes which personify and send love to various natural second-density beings in their group form.
----------------
77.24 Questioner: Now, there are several general concepts that I would like to be sure that we have clear before going into this process and I will certainly adhere to the requests that you have just stated.
When our Logos designed this particular evolution of experience It decided to use a system of which we spoke allowing for polarization through total free will. How is this different from the Logos that does not do this? I see the Logos creating the possibility of increase in vibration through the densities. How are the densities provided for and set by the Logos, if you can answer this?
Ra: I am Ra. This shall be the last full query of this working. The psychic attack upon this instrument has, shall we say, left scars which must be tended, in our own opinion, in order to maintain the instrument.
Let us observe your second density. Many come more rapidly to third density than others not because of an innate efficiency of catalysis but because of unusual opportunities for investment. In just such a way those of fourth density may invest third, those of fifth density may invest fourth. When fifth density has been obtained the process takes upon itself a momentum based upon the characteristics of wisdom when applied to circumstance. The Logos Itself, then, in these instances provides investment opportunities, if you wish to use that term. May we enquire if there are any brief queries at this space/time?
Since the meat thread I have been contemplating the concept of activism. My recent conclusion is that it really has its place (like everything else) but that it's simply not for me.
Those feeling the pull for activism should not be ashamed of it. Be who you are! This is how we honor the Creator, by being more and more the part of the One that we are here to play.
(07-12-2012, 09:11 AM)Pickle Wrote: [ -> ]I feel the need to offer help to 2D.
Ra felt the need to offer help to 3D.
It seems to me that all densities above 3D find it normal to help the densities below, but when a 3D individual does this it is activism and zealotry.
WOW I never really thought of it that way, but WOW you are right!!! For the entire meat discussion, a core question was always whether animals are "evolved enough" or "sentient enough" to justify us having compassion for them. And yet, look, Ra had compassion for US!
Let's examine how we'd feel if Ra told us "Well we are too busy helping those in the higher densities...you aren't evolved enough to be concerned about." or if the greys starting carving up human steaks.
Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it.
Act on what you think is right in the moment and the imprint you leave will matter to you.
Act in extremity and your imprint will bother many and mean little to most because all they will remember is the extremity.
(07-12-2012, 07:11 PM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]Act in extremity and your imprint will bother many and mean little to most because all they will remember is the extremity.
Can you please explain what you mean by
extremity?
(07-12-2012, 07:11 PM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]Act in extremity and your imprint will bother many and mean little to most because all they will remember is the extremity.
I, too, would like to hear what you mean by this. Thank you in advance.
(07-12-2012, 06:27 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]WOW I never really thought of it that way, but WOW you are right!!! For the entire meat discussion, a core question was always whether animals are "evolved enough" or "sentient enough" to justify us having compassion for them. And yet, look, Ra had compassion for US!
I tried to say this, but I have no idea where.
The point was that Ra was answering our call, as we are answering to 2D animals' calls.
Maybe he means that catalyst bothers many.
(07-12-2012, 07:56 PM)Diana Wrote: [ -> ]I tried to say this, but I have no idea where.
The point was that Ra was answering our call, as we are answering to 2D animals' calls.
You're right; you did say that. I forgot.
I think what struck me this time was that it's not only acceptable, but maybe even an honor/responsibility.
(07-12-2012, 08:21 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]You're right; you did say that. I forgot.
No prob--I did not intend admonishment.
(07-12-2012, 08:21 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]I think what struck me this time was that it's not only acceptable, but maybe even an honor/responsibility.
It is an honor, and I certainly see it as responsibility, just as parents feel responsible to protect their children. However, I am not very evolved, and I have a difficult time not feeling devastated because of their suffering, rather than the service simply being an honor.
Catalyst?
It's funny how we take certain aspects of existence and use them to excuse everything that we want to either ignore, tolerate or gratify.
Yup, EVERYTHING is now just a 'catalyst' for something better. It's great to have such back up ain't it.
Let's say we are walking down the road and suddenly we see a little boy playing with his cat in the middle of the street and there is a large truck bearing down on them.
Is there any doubt which one you would try to pull out of the way if you only had enough time to save one?
This whole discussion about priority, honor and compassion is multifaceted and cannot be laid out so simply. Are we really going to let the child be run down and killed and excuse our ignorance by suggesting that the truck was the catalyst toward a learning lesson of some sort?
It has been made perfectly clear that compassion is a wonderful attribute.
It has also been made perfectly clear that we cannot expect the entire human race to tow one line with regard to what is considered moral and compassionate. Life is too complex and humanity too varied.
All we can do is what we think is the right thing to do in the moment. If one feels that ordering the steak on the menu is not in keeping with their ideas of compassion toward 2D beings, then please do not order the steak. But to try to burn the restaurant down because they have steak on the menu will not serve to benefit your ideal, it will only serve to enrage the innocent people that you have abused by acting in extremity. Your cause will not be what is made known, and instead the fame will be in that you would be branded as an extremist and a danger to human life.
Sure one can picket the store. One can hand out pamphlets. One can do exposes on animal cruelty, and all of these things might have some affect for the betterment of 2D beings. But if we act without consideration of compromise, and do not consider how our consequences are going to affect others, whether they might seem void of compassion toward the animals they eat or not, we do not act in the best interest of our humanity. If we choose 2d over 3d to be our only focus, and excuse that as an honor and responsibility, we are simply slapping the food out of the mouths of our neighbors simply because we choose to believe that we are somehow better than they. They may be ignorant, and desensitized, but they have as much right to choose their path as we do, and to walk that path just as we walk ours, free from persecution because others might not agree with our ways and choices.
Act on your compassion, act on your compulsion, but never act in extremity without concern for humanity.
One might consider 2D to be as important as 3D, and that there should not be any priority. But we all know that one would rush to grab the little boy first and worry about the cat later.
Our lesson in this density is that we must bring harmony to humanity, and in order to accomplish that we must consider compromise for the sake of all.
Compromise directly imposes priorities and choices that must be made in order to achieve the higher goals.
The fact that extremism refuses to compromise is the planet's greatest disease.
If one has a desire to make an aspect of this world better, and chooses to embark upon activism to achieve that honorable goal, then do so with the readiness that compromise will have to be made on certain levels, or one steps from activist into the path of extremism and fundamentalism which leads to uncompromising disharmony.
Fight your battles, but choose them wisely, and always with your humanity and it's complexity in mind.
compassion and kindness are the key. the ability to feel what the other person is feeling is crucial me thinks. and we all can work on that one for sure.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]But to try to burn the restaurant down because they have steak on the menu will not serve to benefit your ideal, it will only serve to enrage the innocent people that you have abused by acting in extremity. Your cause will not be what is made known, and instead the fame will be in that you would be branded as an extremist and a danger to human life.
I'm puzzled why you even bring that up. In over 3 years of discussing the subject of eating animals, no one ever suggested such a thing, and in fact all the vegetarians were unanimous that they'd never do such a thing.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]If we choose 2d over 3d to be our only focus,
No one ever suggested that either, and in fact repeatedly stated that there was no reason to 'choose' but if faced with your 'child, dog and truck' scenario would obviously save the child first. So I don't understand your point here. I'm also wondering whether you even read the article?
Quote:Let's say we are walking down the road and suddenly we see a little boy playing with his cat in the middle of the street and there is a large truck bearing down on them.
Is there any doubt which one you would try to pull out of the way if you only had enough time to save one?
This whole discussion about priority, honor and compassion is multifaceted and cannot be laid out so simply. Are we really going to let the child be run down and killed and excuse our ignorance by suggesting that the truck was the catalyst toward a learning lesson of some sort?
A good friend of mine died when he saved his puppy from getting hit by a train. The guy was always smiling and always the optimist. Thinking back on that, I feel honored to have been his friend. It also just created a huge pressure in my chest thinking about this.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]Let's say we are walking down the road and suddenly we see a little boy playing with his cat in the middle of the street and there is a large truck bearing down on them.
Is there any doubt which one you would try to pull out of the way if you only had enough time to save one?
I have always liked Captain Kirk's take on the Kobayashi Maru test: he cheated because he did not believe in a no-win scenario. I do not think there is only one possibility for the outcome of the above scenario (save one or the other). I would save both.
You are right in one sense. Humans are of a kind, and we have something called solidarity. Because of this, a human will save the human first. This is not, however, proof that humans are more valued in this universe.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]All we can do is what we think is the right thing to do in the moment.
I agree.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]But to try to burn the restaurant down because they have steak on the menu will not serve to benefit your ideal, it will only serve to enrage the innocent people that you have abused by acting in extremity. Your cause will not be what is made known, and instead the fame will be in that you would be branded as an extremist and a danger to human life.
This is a bizarre statement. You have apparently misread, misinterpreted, and misaligned those who care for animals and the vegetarian members here at B4.
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]If we choose 2d over 3d to be our only focus, and excuse that as an honor and responsibility, we are simply slapping the food out of the mouths of our neighbors simply because we choose to believe that we are somehow better than they.
Choosing 2D over 3D? Where did that come from? I think all life is sacred, all things important; humans are not the most important (to me). Are you saying that it is more important for humans to enjoy the taste of meat than it is to consider the lives of 2D animals being tortured and terrified? It has been pointed out many times that the world would be better off not eating animals; that human starvation is linked to animal farming.
Most crops grown to feed meat animals - highly inefficient - we could end starvation by feeding people instead of farm animals, + kill fewer plants too!
post: #2026
You Tube video: 87% of all agricultural land in the US is used to feed farm animals; plus success at raw vegan clinic with major illnesses
post #237
If every American gave up meat for 1 day a week . . . quirky facts
post: #253
(07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]If one has a desire to make an aspect of this world better, and chooses to embark upon activism to achieve that honorable goal, then do so with the readiness that compromise will have to be made on certain levels, or one steps from activist into the path of extremism and fundamentalism which leads to uncompromising disharmony.
But this only works with issues and entities outside of humanity? If children were being tortured and slaughtered, would you compromise?
My dear Shin'Ar, I see the fundamental difference between your point of view and mine as what we deem important. I cannot single out humanity as being "the most important." An example would be the planet Earth, our home. Without her, Our Great Mother, we would not even exist (physically), so how can we humans be more important than her?
(07-13-2012, 11:02 AM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ] (07-13-2012, 08:38 AM)ShinAr Wrote: [ -> ]But to try to burn the restaurant down because they have steak on the menu will not serve to benefit your ideal, it will only serve to enrage the innocent people that you have abused by acting in extremity. Your cause will not be what is made known, and instead the fame will be in that you would be branded as an extremist and a danger to human life.
I'm puzzled why you even bring that up. In over 3 years of discussing the subject of eating animals, no one ever suggested such a thing, and in fact all the vegetarians were unanimous that they'd never do such a thing.
Kind of out in left field isn't he? I can play that too LoL!
So, a truck is barreling down on a kid in the street that is immersed in the joy of stomping on a cat and torturing it. Do you risk your life to save this kid even though he is training to be an abuser? Or do you make a judgement call?
How did extremism come up? I never see it come up in the religious threads.
(07-13-2012, 01:17 PM)Diana Wrote: [ -> ]I have always liked Captain Kirk's take on the Kobayashi Maru test: he cheated because he did not believe in a no-win scenario. I do not think there is only one possibility for the outcome of the above scenario (save one or the other). I would save both.
Whenever this hypothetical scenario comes up, I always answer "well of course I'd save the child first" mainly to reassure them that I'm not one of those "animal rights zealots" who puts animals in front of humans. This seems to be a recurring concern, and yet,
why is it even a question?
I don't put animals in front of humans, because in everyday life, it's never even an issue. The idea of having to choose between my cat and my neighbor's 6-year-old daughter is absurd, because it never comes up. It just doesn't. And I doubt it comes up very often for other people either.
And if it did, I agree, Diana, that there is almost always a win-win-win solution. We just have to be willing to open our minds and our hearts to that possibility, and it will manifest.
In most cases, we shouldn't have to choose, just as it's exceedingly rare to have to choose one human over another. We often hear stories of firefighters rescuing puppies or kittens. No one ever asks them if they made sure all the humans were out of the building first! So why are the vegetarians so frequently asked this question?
In a real situation, we all do what we can do. We don't over-analyze. When confronted with a puppy who needs saving, we don't look around first to see if there are any humans in the proximity before we save that puppy. We just save it...because
it's the thing to do.
These hypothetical scenarios rarely happen in real life. Their only purpose is to give solace to the prevailing attitude of speciesism. I wonder: When blacks were just beginning to get recognized as having equal rights, did whites ask other whites if they'd save the white child first before saving the black child?
Quote: did whites ask other whites if they'd save the white child first before saving the black child?
No. It was taken for granted the white children were more important. It is good that there were activists to bring about change for black rights. Yeah it was uncomfortable for everyone, but it happened.
(07-08-2012, 08:10 AM)norral Wrote: [ -> ]ill drink to that one brother. if u have any feelings at all this planet becomes harder and harder to live on. if u stop for a second u can hear the cries of the animals, of the children, of the families who have been bombed like its some kind of freaking video game, of the planet , crying, crying crying out . saying WHY WHY WHY. i want to suck all the suffering of this planet into my body and end it all and explode into a trillion pieces. it is just SO painful here . and i look around me on the news and see articles about lindsay lohan and donald trump an all this crap as though that is really important and i say to myself when are we going to wake up and just say no. just drive all our cars onto the bridges abandon them and REFUSE to work anymore and to perpetuate this system. and i realize to most i am a nut job but i want to be a nut job i DONT WANT to fit in to this insanity anymore.
Superb post,
norral. You're not alone in those feelings...you are a sensitive soul and I've known a few like you. Bless you, dear one - you are loved and understood.
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