(02-03-2018, 12:27 AM)Coordinate_Apotheosis Wrote: "Hi there, I don't eat animals, but see you do, nice to meet you! No pun intended, but seriously, hi."
"Oh yeah, I do wish you'd stop eating meat just to help alleviate suffering and for your longterm health but I accept your choices and hope you'll respect mine."
Just a thought that maybe something like the above coming from a carnivore or herbivore or omnivore would be more worthwhile than the herbivores calling the carnivores murderers and animal slaughterers and the carnivores calling the herbivores crazy for calling them murderers and animal slaughterers.
Just saying. All sides could use less judgment towards each other.
But isn't that the exact paradoxical situation we're in, here at the forum - that both are true? What Diana pointed to, I believe, is that people who haven't made the choice to be vegan feel like they are being accused, being called 'murderers' and 'animal slaughterers' without anyone having ever called them that, just by the nature of a vegan being present, or pointing out that animals have to be slaughtered in order to be eaten, and how this usually is being done. And then, this is a thread where the topic of animal consumption was for discussion, and in this context again, graphic images or descriptions of animal suffering create the same effect, without the one posting them necessarily intending to accuse someone, or to make someone feel guilty, but rather providing information and laying out their own point of view. Of course, in animal advocacy, the effect of non-vegans being awakened to the reality and effects of animal consumption is intended, and naturally, they would feel first shocked, then guilty after the realization of their participation in that practice, but I don't think that's the case here. Everyone has to make the choice for themselves, but to be able to make an informed choice, it is also necessary to be aware of the facts (metaphysically, we have to figure them out ourselves as there's obviously a lot of room for interpretation, and misinterpretation) of what animal consumption means and and causes for animals, humans and the planet, and to look at it without any initial defensiveness. Otherwise, it would not be an informed choice, but a choice for convenience, or plainly ignorance. (The same is true for every choice we make at every moment, particularly in regards to consumption where the effects of such choices might be well hidden.)
There is a series of images that have been circulated far and wide this week in the media. They didn't appeal to me, but maybe they explain why we vegans tend to get emotional when someone is talking about meat or 'the fruits of the Creator', while what see, and, more importantly, feel, is suffering, terror, torture, desperate cries of pain, ignored pleas for help, and denied will to live and self-actualization. We don't equalize 2D and 3D. We just know that animals are equally sentient, and feel pain and suffer at least equally, if not more, because they lack the possibility of consciously explaining pain and suffering, of actively reaching for aid and relief, and of doing inner work aiming at reaching equanimity with whatever arises, even pain. Just as a thought experiment, if anyone's interested.
-`ღ´-
Edit: I've added the relevant quotes from Morris' past life regression into a 4D environment in my previous post in this thread, in case anyone wants to read them up.