What loving the self, could look like.

 It's common that many spiritual teachers, praise the idea of 'loving the self'.  Of course there are many benefits to this sort of phenomena, for example self confidence and perhaps even happiness in ones own skin.

It is definitely one of the most interesting things of the human experience.  Although, despite people's attempts to love themselves, it becomes more a badgering than actually a self discipline.  "I need to love myself, why don't I love myself? Why is it so easy for others to love themselves? What is wrong with me? Something is wrong with me? I am pathetic, I am useless, it's hopeless, I am hopeless"  It turns into a self sabotaging mission at best, in some cases, which is quite ironic and contradictory to begin with.

It might be that 'self love' is something that perhaps we are conditioned to do as children, how we perceive others' relationships to themselves, and how we often mimic that.

 The past 6 months have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me in terms of a mix between my personal life and just essentially non-stop to-dos and work for school.  And sometimes the focus on math and science, is a little hard, for the self-identified artist within me. The colorful adventurer, humanist and empath.  I'm getting through it, and it's definitely a learning experience, but it doesn't mean that there are always no rocks to stumble over on the way.

Two days ago I decided to start a gratitude journal -- I feel like its one of those things you know is always a good thing to do, but for whatever reason, its not done,  not sure what  shifted this time, but I finally committed to it.  And, surprisingly I can see already such a big shift in the way I view my current reality.

My gratitude journal was started by watching this video  http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work?language=en

I committed to writing for 21 days, 3 new things to be grateful each day, and 1 journal entry about a happy event that happened in the day.  I noticed that I had fallen into this thought trap -- "Once I'm done with school I can start my life, and then I can be happy."  -- although I have done that my whole life, ... "Once I start school I will be happy, or once I do this or that then I will be.... "

Yesterday a realization suddenly hit,  "what am I doing?"  Big things, can never actually make us happy.  They are merely the (thought/ephemeral) container(s) for the experiences we have on a day to day basis.  It's the small things on a day to day basis that make us happy.  A realization, an interaction with a sweet animal, a smile from a stranger, a clean home, fresh food to eat.   It struck me, that I've been living in this world of --- 'If only I was this way,' or 'if only I could do what I wanted' or' go where I wanted' or start 'this' or that.'

Yet, even when all those things are in order (if ever)... I'll still have a daily schedule... I'll still have to dos,  I'll still have mornings and evenings... and shared moments and alone moments.. nothing really changes.

The present is the only thing that we can base our truth and happiness after. Everything else is just a thought. Even the 'self' to some extent is a seemingly temporary structure that seems to have varying degrees of boundaries, identifications, expansiveness and contractedness -- all of which seem to almost be haphazard, as to how we feel and what we have energy to learn and do and create. I'm coming to think its also just a container for the truth -- which is actually only the present moment. 

War torn.

  For the most part, I feel so numb when I hear about war.  It's always on the news, always in the paper.  Yet, it seldom strikes a chord. Maybe because it feels so out of reach, surreal, and renders me completely helpless in what I can do to help. And sometimes, something shifts, and a chord is hit. Sometimes a single picture is enough to penetrate the emotional callouses I've developed over the years, and I feel something, I feel heavy.  I've somehow been given a life, where bombs and physical devastation, aren't a part of my day to day reality.  For so many beings, this isn't the case.  I wish there was something I could do.  Right now.  Sometimes I wish there was just some button that could be pressed... to pause life, just long enough, to set it all straight.  What are we doing? Why are we living like this?  Why do we care more about our iphones and tvs shows than we do our fellow companions on planet earth?  When did humanity become so separate from each other? How did we grow so much hatred in our hearts?  I do believe that we have such capacity to love, and such capacity to forgive.. can't we just turn it on... can't we just get over ourselves and our opinions.. and maybe stop the destruction? Or even better lend a helping hand.  Isn't that what being human is all about-- our capacity for intelligence and caring... and if it's not, can it be changed? Can we change? Praying for peace.

New blog

I have a new blog dedicated to vegan rebuttals.  I found myself often getting into conversations, where I would say the same thing basically over and over and over.

I continuously adding to this, and continuously adding more categories, it's such a nice thing though to have them all just in one go to place.

A lot of the questions actually have come from Facebook.  So if some of them seem like I am responding to a very specific question, it's because I am :)

Anyway, but my latest post was on protein, and meat substitutes, it has a ton of links to youtube videos :)

http://veganrebuttals.wordpress.com/

And I also have a blog dedicated to what I eat on a regular basis -- lately it's been really quick meals, because I'm always on the go --

Hopefully soon I will have more time for cooking and more involved creations :)

http://theveganfooddiary.blogspot.com/

Interesting discussion thread

http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?5614-quot-We-have-great-respect-for-the-animals-we-kill-quot

I retrieved the following off a discussion board, someone had asked about the connection Native Americans had to the land, and how they killed animals-- and whether that was hypocritical even though they seemed to connected.  The following was a response.  I've also read, if you google native american and vegan -- you'll see articles on how actually many tribes were mainly vegetarian.  

 Atticus

The person brought up native Americans and how connected and grateful they were to the earth and all its creatures, yet they ate meat and hunted for their various needs.

If I would kill and eat you, do you think anyone who would say that I were connected and grateful to you/respected you? The Native Americans had a lot of rituals and ceremonies claiming that they had respect for other creatures, but unlike some Eastern ethnic groups/religions, who actually practiced what they preached, and did not kill animals for food, many of the Native Americans said one thing but lived in a way that clearly showed that they did not respect other living beings' right to live. The way Native Americans treated animals (and in many cases, humans) were more barbarian than lots of other ethnic groups we know of. Ie. they didn't just kill their enemies, they chopped their heads off afterwards and put it on exhibition, so to speak.

To write, say or sing that you you respect another being's right to live doesn't mean that you actually do it. If I respect you, I simply don't kill and eat you. If I kill you, I don't respect that you, and not I, should decide wether you should die or not. If you have decided that you want to live, and I kill you, I don't respect you, neither am I deeply connected to you, because if I were, I wouldn't end your life. 

All the Western cultures that has attacked, killed and exploited so called primitive cultures in other parts of the world throughout history has done it in the name of God their own religion/God. Prayers and religious ceremonies are often used in association with wars/killing of others, in all cultures, and Native Americans are no exception. 

I have the feeling that some brutal warrior tribes - in all cultures - 'insert' some rituals and ceremonies into their brutal actions, only as an attempt to try to hide how brutal their actions are, because deep down they know that what they do are against their own ethics. Maybe they're only trying to fool themselves, but manage to fool others as well. 

If you see a person or animal and kill him to satisfy your need for food or other products, you look at this creature as a 'product', just like factory farmers look at 'their' animals. Or - you look at it as a living creature and respect it until you are hungry or want it's body parts for other purposes, then that creature is just a 'product'. 

If a potential murderer see a rich man and kill him because he needs his money, he wouldn't get a way with explaining that the guy he killed didn't grow up in a 'human factory', or by telling the court that he lived a free life until he was shot. When it comes to humans, we know that killing is killing, and no person, Native American or not, would get away with theories about respecting the person, being connected with him or which rituals he had performed before he shot him. IMO, it's only habitual thinking that causes some humans to think that an Native American who kills an animal for food is doing something less unethical than a murderer who kills another human being for money, food or other selfish reasons.

New favorite website

What a wealth of information, holy crap, I've been so enjoying reading every single word on this site!!! I love it so much. I've seriously been thinking so much about how people tend to react to animal rights issues.  It's soooo much more than animal rights, it's EARTHLING rights.  It's about how to abolish ALL violence in this world-- it makes no difference if that violence is directed at animals or people BOTH ARE COMPLETELY EQUAL in every way.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from this website:
http://quotesonslavery.org/about/

quotes without an author name are ones by randy sandberg, and perhaps edited by me in some cases.

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Question: What is the difference between vegan and vegetarian?

Answer: A vegan does not consume or wear or use any animal products. A vegetarian exploits animals.
~ Gary L. Francione (October 2, 2013)

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"When I was a non vegan, I was not arrogant, I was ignorant. I was ignorant of the fact that I was living in a totally speciesist way. I was unaware of the fact that I was contributing to an extreme form of violence by eating, wearing, and using animals for my own and my family’s entertainment. I was ignorant of the fact that, as I was lovingly settling my own babies to bed at night, nonhuman mothers were grieving for theirs, their babies who had been stolen from them by humans like me. When the reality of what I was doing hit home, I chose to answer the call and modify my way of living. I chose to begin to live in such a way that I would stop causing harm, wilfully and needlessly, to any other living beings, regardless of their specific characteristics. I became vegan. I believe the arrogance sets in when you are being informed of the needless suffering and deaths you are causing by not embracing a vegan way of living, and choose to continue being a part of the problem. You so affirm that your own pleasurable interests are more important than those of innocent creatures and that makes one an arrogant and self-centered human being.
~ Diane Dion (October 1, 2013)

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Criticizing discrimination and exploitation, while discriminating and exploiting, doesn’t make much sense at all.

My liberal, progressive, socialist, and anarchist friends—please go vegan and make some sense.
~ John Tallent (September 27, 2013)

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You either support slavery or you don’t—which type of animal is being used, human or otherwise, is irrelevant.

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***You are personally responsible for harming animals for unnecessary reasons unless you are vegan.***

Humans do *not* need to eat, wear, be entertained by, or otherwise use animals. Opt out of the horrific violence today by going vegan today. (The hard part isn’t going vegan; the hard part is declaring who you are in a world that values conformity.)
~ Sarah K. Woodcock (February 8, 2013)

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Veganism, whereby we stand up for the rights of others not to be exploited, extends beyond non-human animals. That is, veganism means standing up against the exploitation of ALL animals including humans. And thus, as a vegan, I stand up against the Israeli occupying forces of Palestine and look forward to the day when the rest of the world does the same.

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To religious people, I’d say treat nonhuman animals the way you would like to be treated by your god or supernatural power, which, for virtually everyone if they’re honest, entails veganism.

To nonbelievers who aren’t vegans, I’d say give your claims to secular morality more thought and importance in your life, because unless you’re vegan, your claim to scientifically-informed, rational, secular morality has a blatant and indefensible absurdity to contend with. The only reason you get away with non-veganism culturally is because you live in a very prejudiced (read: irrational) society when it comes to the moral status of nonhuman animals.

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I became vegan the day I realized standing up for the rights of others was more important to me than any perceived benefits I would gain from their exploitation.

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We must stand up to hypocracy in all of its forms to the best of our ability

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Michael Vick may enjoy watching dogs fight; someone else may find that repulsive but see nothing wrong with eating an animal who has had a life as full of pain and suffering as the lives of the fighting dogs. It’s strange that we regard the latter as morally different from, and superior to, the former. How removed from the screaming crowd around the dog pit is the laughing group around the summer steak barbecue?
~ Gary L. Francione (August 2, 2007)

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Since becoming a Vegan, I have come to realize this. The wider you open your eyes, the darker the world becomes. No matter how hard you try, you can never close them tight enough. The truth sears an everlasting image of the suffering into your retina. From then on, you’ll eternally understand that ignoring the pain of others is truly the cruelest action we can do as conscious beings. Inaction is the plague of the world.
~ Bianca Nicole Valle (December 24, 2012)

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I am a “vegan zealot” in as much as I am an “anti-racist zealot,” an “anti-sexist zealot,” and an “anti-heterosexist zealot.”
~ John Tallent (November 29, 2012)

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Today is my first vegan Thanksgiving. One year ago, I had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. I didn’t know being vegan was a viable option. Today, I am grateful for nagging feelings, veganism, and the hope that comes from the combination of creative non-violent unequivocal vegan education and our ability to embody radical change.
~ Sarah K. Woodcock (November 22, 2012)

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Slavery was legally abolished in most countries, however it is more prevalent than ever in history. There are well over 200,000 human slaves right now, and billions of nonhuman slaves. We need to abolish slavery, not only legally, but in reality. We need to raise our consciousness en mass so that no sentient individual is oppressed, enslaved and violently assaulted.
~ Marcia “Butterflies” Katz (November 6, 2012)

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Becoming vegan is a courageous act. All of us at one point in our lives had an awakening. We realized that animals were being confined, tortured and murdered for our pleasure, convenience and tastes. We had to either ignore our complicity or own up to it and change our behaviors and way of life. Rather than run away from this knowledge, we made a conscious choice to remove ourselves from the cycle of violence, no matter the consequence to our personal or professional lives. Never doubt your decision to choose justice, ethics and fairness over violence.
~ Gary Smith (November 2, 2012)

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Contrary to what I thought before I became vegan, being vegan does not take willpower. It has nothing to do with resisting cravings, giving up things, or missing out on things. As soon as one decides, in her heart, she wants nothing to do with the exploitation of anyone especially those with less power (animals), it is easy.
~ Sarah K. Woodcock (November 1, 2012)

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I often get asked, “at what point do you draw the line? At what point do you stop caring? Are you a BACTERIA Activist? Surely not.”

Well, as far as I’ve read, there would be absolutely no life on Earth at ALL if it weren’t for bacteria, so, yeah. Since I see life as a good thing. Shelley Williams the Bacteria Activist reporting for duty! :-)
~ Shelley Williams (August 10, 2012)

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The three most difficult things about being vegan are: (1) being asked by people who consume rotting flesh and mucous whether my diet is healthy; (2) meeting an astounding number of people who are obsessed with the issue of plants feeling pain; and (3) being told by people that it must be difficult to be vegan.
~ Gary L. Francione (August 6, 2012)

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If intelligence mattered in regards to who should and shouldn’t be used for food then there’d be a whole lot of humans on dinner plates tonight. But, luckily for them it does not. The only thing that matters is the form of species a being comes to earth in. I pray for the day, where we value sentient beings more than our arbitrary list of species (or sub groups of species) that are somehow deemed morally acceptable to use and abuse.

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One of the statements that depresses me most is when vegans who were long-time vegetarians say, “I just didn’t know.” As animal liberationists, it is our duty to make sure people know. It is our duty to speak the truth, confront injustice, [and] creatively work together to end the animal holocaust. Let’s bring the focus back to where it needs to be, on the animals.
~ Gary Smith (June 23, 2012)

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I always wonder where the myth that vegans don’t like food comes from. All day long I see vegans posting pictures of rich, complex and delicious looking meals on their FB walls. Get two or more vegans into a room and the conversation quickly turns to food. Trust me, we like food. We don’t like oppression, exploitation and violence.

~ Gary Smith (June 14, 2012)

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A staggering 46% of Americans believe that god created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years, according to a USA Today/Gallup survey conducted this year from May 10th to the 13th. Not only has that number not changed much in the past 30 years since Gallup first asked the question on Creationism vs Evolution, it’s actually gone up 2%, from 44% in 1982 to 46% in 2012!

Gallup’s Frank Newport told CNN, “Despite the many changes that have taken place in American society and culture over the past 30 years, including new discoveries in biological and social science, there has been virtually no sustained change in Americans’ views of the origins of the human species since 1982. All in all, there’s no evidence in this trend of a substantial movement toward a secular viewpoint on human origins.”

So, why do I care what people believe? Why won’t I just let them have their fun?

Because such dogma can directly affect how non-humans are treated.

The literal belief that humans have some kind of god-given authority over every other species of animal bestows undeserved power into unreliable hands. Creationist claptrap that favors one species over another perpetuates speciesist doctrine devised to demean and control our fellow animals in the same way that notions of racial superiority were used against our fellow humans.
~ Jim Robertson (June 3, 2012)

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I feel everyone has the right to do whatever it is they wish to do in life AS LONG AS what they choose to do doesn’t step on someone else’s rights. This is the core reason I am vegan.

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Being vegan is a matter of nonviolence. Being vegan is your statement that you reject violence to other sentient beings, to yourself, and to the environment, on which all sentient beings depend.
~ Gary L. Francione (May 13, 2012)

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All living beings are prisoners in the type body we reside in. We are actually held captive, and are at the mercy of the nature of the body we occupy. I am no different. I didn’t ask to be put inside the body of a flea, just as you didn’t ask to be put inside the body of a human being. Why are you defining me by my body, and then punishing me for it?
~ Marvin Lasco (May 16, 2012)

Black churches also embrace a literal reading of the scripture because of its unique history, says Blum, author of “W.E.B. DuBois, American Prophet.”

During slavery and segregation, many blacks saw the Bible as the one document they could trust. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, state and local laws—all found some way to ignore their humanity, Blum says.

The Bible, though, was one book that told them that they weren’t slaves or three-fifths of a person, Blum says.

It said they were children of God.

“Throughout the 18th and 19th century, what document could they trust?” Blum says. “When the Bible says it’s so, it’s something that black people believed they could trust.”

Their enemies, though, used that same veneration of the Bible against them. Slaveholders had a simple but powerful argument when critics challenged them: Trust the Bible.

They cited scriptures such as Ephesians 6:5. (“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling. …”) And they said Jesus preached against many sins, but never against slavery.

Since the Bible is infallible, and scripture sanctions slavery, it must be part of God’s order, slaveholders concluded.

“Slavery is everywhere in the Bible,” Blum says. “When Americans who were in favor of slavery defended it with the Bible, they had a treasure trove of clear biblical passages that accepted enslavement.”

Blum says abolitionists found it difficult to mount an effective counterargument. They couldn’t just say trust the Bible. They preached another approach to scriptures.

They said you couldn’t enslave people based on the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. (Obama cited the Golden Rule and his Christian faith in supporting same-sex marriage).

“The abolitionist turned to the ethics and spirit of the Bible,” Blum says. “They were theological modernists before modernism.”
~ John Blake (May 12, 2012)

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In the spirit of July 4th----

I believe it’s a bit more complex than belief in talking snakes, though that was pretty funny. We all know the story about the Puritans and how they came here looking for religious freedom. Do a little digging and you’ll see that’s just as big a myth as the one about the English bringing all the food to the first Thanksgiving feast as depicted in the famous painting At any rate, from what I’ve been able to discern, there’s a inextricable link between religious faith and the notion of “manifest destiny” in this country. The conquest and slaughter of Native Americans was justified by religion. The enslavement of my ancestors was justified by religion. The notion of inherent white superiority is partially rooted in a belief that God and Jesus are white like the paintings we all see every Sunday (i.e. “created in His own image”). Religion justifies and underpins everything people claim as being inherently American. The Ku Klux Klan proports itself to be a “Christian” organization. Racial segregation was partially, if not fully, based on the Bible passage in Genesis that talks about “each after his own kind”. It’s “God’s will” for the US to be a great country. “God shed His grace on thee…” You see, without religion and it’s subsequent perversions, the US wouldn’t be the country that it is. I’d venture to say that those in power early in this country’s history understood the power of religion as being a “force multiplier”. If you look back, you’ll notice a heavy dose of “righteousness” and “God” in government propaganda through the years. Over the past eight years, you’ve seen the near ultimate manifestation of this notion in how Bush used religion to push this country to the brink of disaster. There were ministers, men of God, advocating for war in their churches on Sundays prior to the Iraq invasion when “war” is the complete antithesis of what Jesus stood for. They were no better than bin Laden issuing his “fatwas”. The ultimate manifestation will be when the US president orders a nuclear strike because he/she believes it’s God’s will, especially when her home church believes her home state will be a refuge during the “End Times”.
~ Ho Chi Daddy (September 29, 2008)

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Isn’t it strange that we can see beef every single day, and yet it’s often situations like this, that allow us to connect our food with being an actual painful DEATH for someone.

If you wouldn’t want to walk up to this corpse and take a bite, then ask yourself, why do you order it at restaurants?

It may not seem like the same thing to you, but to the animal, it sure as hell is.
~ Shelley Williams (May 1, 2012)

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Atheists do not believe in supreme beings commonly referred to as gods.Vegans do not believe other-than-human animals exist merely to serve human needs. That is, vegans believe nonhuman animals exist for the same reasons we do—their own.

Is there a common bond between atheism and veganism? I believe so and I suggest it is doubt. That is, in a society such as here in the USA where “more than 9 in 10 Americans continue to believe in God“, doubt is at the heart of what helps turn a believer or likely believer into a non-believer.

From my perspective, the same goes for veganism. In a world where other-than-humans are routinely thought of as things to be bought, sold, used, and possibly even killed for mostly trivial human needs, folks who think differently are a rarity. Once again, doubt, I believe, is key to acquiring this currently uncommon worldview.

So, doubt or skepticism, to me, is at the very core of most atheists, vegans, and other such freethinking individuals. Thus, if this is true, it is my prediction that as time goes by and we move further away from the age of faith and into the age of doubt—where challenging the status quo is seen as a noble act rather than an act of heresy—we will see a significant rise in the numbers of atheists and vegans alike.      

The way I see it, being vegan simply means not thinking of others as commodities that can be bought or sold. That is, being vegan means saying No to slavery.

The sooner we realise we are just another animal on this planet—a very violent and destructive animal and not “the crown of creation” we have deceived ourselves into believing—then the sooner we can start to address this violence and the way to do this is for our species to become vegan. Many other problems will be addressed when veganism takes hold.
~ Trisha Roberts (January 4, 2012)

Check out the website above for more :):)

 :-)

Beings are not, and never will be objects

Non-human beings are not objects.

They are conscious sentient entities,
just as humans are.

They were not born so that we could pick and choose what their body parts could be used for by us.

They do not have scales so that they can be ripped off and used in our 'medicines'.

They were not born with muscles for the mere reason that humans could eat.

 No, they were born with skin, just as we were born with skin.  To protect their organs and allow them to safely interact with their surroundings.

They were born with muscles, just as we were born with muscles--to move freely, experience life through movement-- allowing them to run, walk, fly, swim, find food, find water and play.

They were born with pumping hearts, as we were-- to keep the vital force of energy pumping through their bodies and to feel their surroundings through more than just by touch, sight, smell and sound; but through love, fear, joy, sadness and ecstasy.  We are one.  Not separate.  We are among them, beings among beings. They feel fully, they seek life, they love fully, they connect to nature fully.  Just as we do or attempt to do.

To eat a chicken is no different than to eat a human.  To drink cows milk is no different than to impregnate a woman, take her child and demand that milk from that woman is yours.  Choosing to drink cows milk, is objectifying a living being.  A conscious human would never do that to a human, so why do we believe we have that right over animals?  We would never kidnap people with certain pigments or genes to freeze them, chop off their body parts and use them in medicine... why do we do it to non-human animals?  We would never cage humans, mutilate them with strange devices, inject them with cancers and other terrible diseases or toxic products to see how their vital organs react or how quickly they die, why do we do it to non-human animals?  I know we do a lot of terrible things to humans... but if humans were to be treated like animals ... literally... factory farmed legally, and eaten by the billionth every week --- oh wait.. that would never happen.. because the bulk of humanity could never fathom to treat a human like an animal -- of course there are people who do treat humans as we treat animals today, and in no way do I support any human or animal being treated in a way that is harmful to them.

But when people claim that we do treat humans as we do animals (mostly used as a figure of speech) this is not the norm, and it's quite outside of popular opinion.  The majority of people are on the same page, as to what is considered good or bad way to treat a human.  (to make some broad generalizations) For example, It's generally considered good to treat other people with dignity and respect-- perhaps with the exception of people who have committed injustices (or have been believed to have).

There are some human rights issues, where there is no majority of people who have decided whether certain actions committed against other people are good or bad.  For example these include issues of prejudice, difference in opportunities among different people, slander.  On one hand, people want to maintain their freedom of free speech and control over qualities they see as harmful, on the other hand, those same qualities may be someone else's identity and perhaps reason for being alive. And for those people-- that may be a serious humans rights issue that others don't believe in who they are as a person and restrict them from certain aspects of culture because of it (for example gay marriage).

These types of intangible issues can take years, and lifetimes to reach a majority of people who believe certain actions are good or bad.  And in no way am I downplaying the seriousness of these kinds of issues, but notice how much harder these actions are in identifying the 'bad guy', as no direct violation to a physical body has been made, such as rape, murder, kidnap, or cannibalism.  Rape, murder, kidnap and cannibalism obviously bad across the board in public opinion, and any leader who disagrees with their 'badness' wouldn't be in office very long, if not arrested if any of these acts committed! Well, with one possible exception, war -- but again, this relates back to people believing that a wrongdoing had been done -- and popular opinion is all for revenge, and punishment for the most part.

There are many people passionately working on human rights issues, and mostly, these passions are met with amazing public support.

 In fact,  I challenge you to find someone, in a leadership position who believes that eating humans and using their body parts for furniture, decorations and jewelry is necessary and beneficial.  I challenge you to find someone in a leadership position who believes that eating non human beings and using their body parts for furniture, decorations and jewelry is necessary and beneficial.  Do you see the difference in the challenge.  Public opinion may justify not allotting animals rights, or paying attention to the injustices we commit to animals because we have not YET perfected our treatment of HUMAN beings publicly or privately.  The problem in waiting for a perfect world before allotting all beings decency and morality, is that, that day may never come.  However, we ALL have the opportunity to modify our behaviors to help non human animals who are completely objectified and have been for generations.  Who have been completely denied any and all rights to a full and sovereign life.

Now the majority of people do not believe that rape, murder, torture or mutilation are good things, and in fact believe them to be punishable by law.  Then why do the majority of people support industries, that rape, murder, torture and mutilate on a regular basis? The difference is, non human beings, are somehow viewed as objects.  Not intelligent, feeling, creatures, who have the same capacity if not more of a capacity to love and feel than humans.

And it's done, every single day, every single minute, every single choice, by the majority of human beings on planet earth, in the name of 'ignorance', 'god', 'tradition','custom', 'culture', 'protein', 'strength', 'health', 'comfort', 'greed', 'money', 'control', 'power', 'love', 'fun', 'taste' and perhaps most of all 'fear of change' and 'fear of what others might think or say'... and it's not okay.  If you encountered a whole society who devoured human beings and claimed that it was tradition, and there was no other way to get 'protein', plus they didn't think they could live without the taste, how would those responses make you feel?

 I encounter many people who find vegans or plant eaters extreme, defensive, rude, out of sorts -- well the moment that you understand how deeply animals feel, and the moment you connect with a cat, a dog, a monkey, a cow, a pig, a spider, as an equal.  That actually you have no memory of before you were in the body that you were.. and actually.. what difference does it make that only the body is different from that pig, from that dog, from that child.  You would probably be defensive too. I mean, maybe it is hard to imagine, but if you came across a society of people who loved to eat children and people were ridiculing you for not eating children -- it would be odd for there to be no emotional response.  Correct?  Most plant based eaters tend to go through phases, of acceptance of mainstream society, which supports the brutal treatment of our fellow earth companions, and complete distaste for it.  And that's okay because, I think all humans have experienced those feelings at one point or another in their lifetimes -- numbness to what hurts, and motivation to do something about it.  We tend to villianize those who seem passionate about things we don't understand.  But actually their passion didn't sprout from empty clouds -- but real real pain that they feel in their hearts.  And it has nothing to do with you.  It's grief and sadness that is pouring from them in desperation.  As I am certainly not immune from.  Watch a factory farm video, and I dare you to pretend that all the beings you see being abused are humans.  How do you feel?  It's gut wrenching. And it's okay to feel.  It needs to be felt.

 Humans = animals = beings = sentient = equal participants of planet earth worthy of dignity, respect and love.

If we truly are the 'higher' beings of planet Earth, we would wholeheartedly accept non human animals as our brothers and our sisters.  We would whole heartedly love the gifts they bring as they do when they are alive, happy and undisturbed by us.

Some people may say this goes against nature itself, because nature is destructive, brutal and competitive, and wild animals eat each other all of the time.

The difference between wild animals our humans, is that wild animals hunt other animals under fair terms.  Wild animals only have a catch rate of about 30%.  They typically will eat the entire animal, raw and even rotted.  Wild animals prey on the sick and the weak -- actually supporting the populations they take from.  They do not imprison their prey, genetically engineer their prey to better suit their needs, they do not kill their prey for one or two body parts they find 'useful', they do not rape their prey, they do not kidnap children of their prey so they can nurse their prey, they do not kill their prey with anything other than their own mouths and claws -- completely intertwined with the death and life of that animal.

Human beings have a catch rate of about 100%, not only that but any predator that dares take a non human animal that supposedly 'belongs' to (enslaved by) humans, will be rounded up and destroyed.  As well as their habitat.  There is absolutely no compassion in human blood consumption habits today.  Human beings are animals, however they are so disconnected from ecosystems, that the only way to restore integrity in the human heart is to eliminate animal products all together.

In addition to the fact that human beings don't even need animal products to be healthy.  It would be equivalent to a cow or an elephant -- who made the same statement -- but nature is violent-- therefore we need to be violent and only begin eating meat.  They are herbivores -- they don't have the evolutionary wiring to skillfully and sustainably live off of meat -- not for the environment, and certainly not inside of their gut.  Cows are often fed fish products and left over cow and chicken products.  These foods for a cow -- can keep the cow alive-- however they aren't healthy for the cow, the will have a weaker immune system, may get mad cow disease, and have much higher rates of ecoli and other harmful bacteria and viruses in it's gut.  It will probably experience a shortened life span and multiple heath issues.

This is the same with humans, humans are actually herbivores, despite what the media has told us, and despite what generations before us, have survived off of.  In fact animal products are to blame for heart disease,  high cholesterol, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and much of the cancers and obesity rates.  Don't believe me, try a raw plant based diet for yourself, or suggest it to a loved one with health dilemmas.  The transformation that follows these changes, do record, because they can be shocking, even for those who are very familiar with the health benefits of plant foods.

I pray to see the world, where all beings, recognize the unmistakable beautiful divine in all beings and non-beings, no exception, completely worthy of honor, acceptance and protection to be.  

Kombucha

Tonight my friend gifted me a kombucha mother.  I have never made kombucha before, so it's a whole new world!

I looked online for recipes, and this is what I ended up doing:

Step one.  Find 1/2 gallon jar. 

Step two. Boil 1/2 gallon worth of water

Step three.  Use 4 teabags or 4 tsp of loose tea and 1/2 cup of sugar (I used a mixture of herbs -- alfalfa, spearmint and calendula)

Step four. Let the tea dissolve the sugar and sit with the herbs until the water cools.

Step five.  Once the tea is cool pour into half gallon jar

Step six.  Add 1/2 cup of the kombucha liquid to the jar

Step seven.  Add the mother to the jar. 

Step eight.  Cover with a cloth and an elastic and let sit for two weeks

Step nine.  Try it :)

For more tips:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-173858