If you want to get just about anyone riled up, just bring up the topic of not eating meat. People don’t like thinking about this touchy subject. Dealing with old habits is difficult to do. In my quest to find spiritual enlightenment, I have come face to face with many of my own shortcomings and am attempting to deal with them. Every time that I think I have them under control, I have a bad day and find myself going back to these bad habits. I am vigorously trying to overcome my lower nature everyday, but it’s not easy.
I have been a vegetarian for 23 years now. It was something that a friend of mine turned me onto and it really stuck. I had always had an affection for animals and been a bit of a non-conformist. It just felt right. Now, as I look toward enlightenment everyday, it has become an even more important part of my life. The Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect (see link to earlier blog: The Seven Hermetic Principles states that everything that we do has an effect on something else in the world. This is true for all things, including the food choices that we make. If we choose to consume meat, we have contributed to the taking of another life. Despite the fact that the end user was not the one that took the life, they are still participating in the suffering. As one becomes more awakened, the understanding of the interconnectedness of life becomes more apparent and it’s easy to see how this is a problem. This is not to say that all suffering can be ceased in the world if we were all to stop eating meat. There are many other issues that would not be rectified with this change. However, it sure is a step in the right direction.
The greatest problem with the meat industry is that of the factory farm. The demand for meat in the American diet is extremely high, so it takes mass manufacturing to keep up with the demand. These factory farms are horrifying for all involved. The animals are abused and neglected. The resources used for the production are immense and the waste produced is even greater. The destruction of the land that is inhabited by these farms is catastrophic. They account for a large portion of the meat that America consumes. We are under the impression that all of these animals live on rural farms and are treated humanely. That simply isn’t the case. These factories produce the majority of the meat consumed. Not the free range farms.
The reality is grim, indeed. There is no such thing as humane slaughter. All of this suffering and death is present in the astral plane and is effecting us daily. This concept is covered extensively by famous Freemason and Theosophist, C.W. Leadbeater, in his essay “Vegetarianism and Occultism”.
Changing a lifestyle is a challenging demand, but well worth the effort. As we advance on our journey to light, we must make challenging steps to conquer our demons. Let’s work toward a better world with less suffering. We can make a huge impact on our future and the way that the law of “cause and effect” effects the outcome. This is within our grasp, we just have to go within ourselves and remind ourselves that these animals at our brothers and sisters. They deserve to live without suffering too.
The Point of a Sharp Instrument 