[split] "Some people eat animals, some don't."

[outerheaven]

Honestly I think fasting out of respect for all other life forms would be a pretty fast and easy way to polarize positively and end your incarnation. As ridiculous as that might sound.

I think eating anything absolutely is a service to the self. It is the consumption of a life form, or potential life form, for the propagation of your own. (Not to say that you can't be energized by that STS act, to then turn around and do more good in the world by serving others.)

Remember that "Eating Tomatoes is STS" thread? Well, people laughed it off for being "absurd," but I laughed it off for another reason completely: of course eating tomatoes is a STS!

I realize every time I eat, I am making a conscious decision to continue my incarnation at the expense of other life forms. That's why blessing and thanking my food is important to me.

I think the most important thing is that people have given their thoughts and feelings on diet/health/etc adequate examination. The most important thing, IMO, is that your diet is in harmony with your thoughts.

I eat very little meat because of my perspective -- only fish I catch (and I throw back nearly all of them, so that's very rare) and wild deer/turkey/geese when they're in season, occasionally chicken when my friend gives me some of his. I don't buy meat because I eat so little of it and the meat industry scares the heck out of me.

I don't really care if people eat meat, personally. Certainly I wish we had more of a connection with nature, to understand that meat is not just a food item, and thus have more respect/reverence for the life form from which it came ... but ... ya know. This just isn't a battle of mine. I'm working with what I've got and I've already got a plate full of distortions and hang-ups in other areas of life.