Vatican animal projections light up St Peter's Basilica - BBC 8 December 2015
The Vatican has thrown its weight behind an environmental cause, to coincide with the final days of the climate negotiations in Paris. It allowed St. Peter's Basilica to be turned into a huge backdrop for an art show about nature, with images of various animals being projected on to the building.
See the beautiful 1 min. video and read more...
May all beings be happy and well!
Friday, December 11, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Metta
May all beings be happy and peaceful
May all beings feel safe and protected
May all beings be healthy and strong
May all beings be free of suffering
And may they live with ease.
May all beings feel safe and protected
May all beings be healthy and strong
May all beings be free of suffering
And may they live with ease.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Racing Extinction
Mass animal extinction. Global climate change. Illegal wildlife traffic. The problems are overwhelming. The scale enormous. But the solutions can start with you.
It starts with one thing. One thing that changes the way you live, eat, act, drive, work. One thing that changes your everyday. One thing that changes your corner of the world. One thing that leads to another and another and another. Learn here what you can do and then share your one thing.
May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
It starts with one thing. One thing that changes the way you live, eat, act, drive, work. One thing that changes your everyday. One thing that changes your corner of the world. One thing that leads to another and another and another. Learn here what you can do and then share your one thing.
May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Hear Koko
Koko the gorilla speaks for Nature. Her face and eyes speak volumes.
Watch the 1:14 video...
May all beings be well and free from suffering.
Watch the 1:14 video...
May all beings be well and free from suffering.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Beyond Words
Many make the case that people are more likely to refrain from eating animals when presented with the health benefits or the impact of industrial animal agriculture on climate change.
My observation is that people who experiment with vegetarianism because of some hoped-for health benefits just as readily go back to eating animals when someone tells them they "need to eat meat" for their health. And, those who take up the "ism" based upon some ideal, like helping the environment, don't always stick with it; they may decide the issues are too large or they may decide to focus their attention on other forms of advocacy and abandon their vegetarianism for something more momentarily interesting.
My observation is that people who experiment with vegetarianism because of some hoped-for health benefits just as readily go back to eating animals when someone tells them they "need to eat meat" for their health. And, those who take up the "ism" based upon some ideal, like helping the environment, don't always stick with it; they may decide the issues are too large or they may decide to focus their attention on other forms of advocacy and abandon their vegetarianism for something more momentarily interesting.
My own decision to go veg in the early '90s resulted from a deep and clear sense of identity of myself as an animal and of all other animals as my direct relations.
Since that moment, I have not eaten my friends, of any species, and I will never again.
That experience was well beyond words. The agent of change was awareness itself, awareness of my relationship with all beings on Earth, and the loving and compassionate feelings I have for them, and - as I continue to discover - share with them.
Beyond Words is a book that may effect others similarly poised to give up eating animals. Here are some reviews that echo my own experience and writings about animals and their feelings and intelligence.
"Beyond Words will have a deep impact on many readers, for it elevates our relationships with animals to a higher plane....Along with Darwin's Origin and Richard Dawkins's Selfish Gene, BEYOND WORDS marks a major milestone in our evolving understanding of our place in nature. Indeed it has the potential to change our relationship with the natural world." -- Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books
“Captivating...A profound, scientifically based appeal for recognition of the kinship of all living things.” ―Kirkus, starred review
“Carl Safina shows there is indeed intelligent life in the universe, and it's all around us. At once moving and surprising, Beyond Words asks us to reexamine our relationship to other species-and to ourselves.” ―Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction
Read more and buy....
May all beings be well and happy, free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Read more and buy....
May all beings be well and happy, free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Compassion and B12
"To be truly healthful, a diet must be best not just for individuals in isolation but must allow all six billion people to thrive and achieve a sustainable coexistence with the many other species that form the 'living earth.'
"From this standpoint the natural adaptation for most (possibly all) humans in the modern world is a vegan diet. There is nothing natural about the abomination of modern factory farming and its attempt to reduce living, feeling beings to machines.
"In choosing to use fortified foods or B12 supplements, vegans are taking their B12 from the same source as every other animal on the planet – micro-organisms – without causing suffering to any sentient being or causing environmental damage."
May all beings be free of suffering.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Giving Tuesday
December 1st is Giving Tuesday. Please give generously to organizations that benefit animals in need, such as mercyforanimals.org.
May all beings be well and happy!
The Heart Is Noble
I want to again encourage you to obtain and read The Heart is Noble - Changing the World From the Inside Out by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
Consider this recommendation my holiday gift to you! This beautiful book could serve as a wonderful gift for your spiritually inclined loved ones, as well.
http://www.shambhala.com/the-heart-is-noble.html
May all beings be well and happy!
Consider this recommendation my holiday gift to you! This beautiful book could serve as a wonderful gift for your spiritually inclined loved ones, as well.
http://www.shambhala.com/the-heart-is-noble.html
May all beings be well and happy!
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Change Your Diet, Change the Climate!
[Excerpt]: "When the international climate negotiators assembling in Paris next week sit down for dinner, they might reflect on the climate impact of their meal.
May all beings be happy and well.
"Indeed, in the midst of a growing - and very encouraging - global conversation on how to address the common threat of climate change, far too little attention has been paid at the highest levels to the impact of our diets and farming practices on planet-warming emissions.
"To put it another way: if we are serious about changing the climate, we need to get serious about changing agriculture."
May all beings be happy and well.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Benefits
Aside from the physical benefits I have enjoyed since becoming vegan (described below under "Vegan Health"), I am discovering surprising benefits, emotional, spiritual and mental.
Emotional and spiritual, because my emotions are more centered around compassion, which is the natural orientation of the spirit. I feel greater harmony between the two. No surprise here. I expected that.
What I find surprising are the mental benefits rising in the form of greater clarity, ease and efficiency of thinking, particularly with synthesizing and connecting ideas and thoughts and following lines of reasoning.
And here's why.
While I was vegetarian, I operated in ethical denial to the extent that my motivation in being vegetarian was feeling the suffering of animals and wanting to bring relief to them. At the same time, I knew that animals producing diary products within our industrial animal operations were also experiencing great suffering from their involuntary servitude.
I was operating with some level of denial. Going vegan was the only way out of this dilemma, at least for me.
What I can see now is that thoughts and ideas were routinely short-circuited then, because those lines of thought would run up against impenetrable obstacles created and necessitated by that denial. I would be thwarted in trying to think an ethical problem through, because I would run up against my own ethical contradictions, and so that line of thought would self-destruct right then and there. There were places in my mind and conclusions I might reach that I did not want to look at. End of exploration.
By contrast, I am now discovering a surprisingly greater level of mental continuity. I am much more easily able to connect the dots and understand what used to seem like conflicting or contradictory ideas, as well as what felt like intellectual dead-ends. Finding that one thought more easily leads to another, I am more able to synthesize otherwise apparently disparate thoughts into a more cohesive whole.
The extent to which this may increase my capacity to be of benefit - which is the only important matter - may be revealed over time.
May all beings be well and happy!
Emotional and spiritual, because my emotions are more centered around compassion, which is the natural orientation of the spirit. I feel greater harmony between the two. No surprise here. I expected that.
What I find surprising are the mental benefits rising in the form of greater clarity, ease and efficiency of thinking, particularly with synthesizing and connecting ideas and thoughts and following lines of reasoning.
And here's why.
While I was vegetarian, I operated in ethical denial to the extent that my motivation in being vegetarian was feeling the suffering of animals and wanting to bring relief to them. At the same time, I knew that animals producing diary products within our industrial animal operations were also experiencing great suffering from their involuntary servitude.
I was operating with some level of denial. Going vegan was the only way out of this dilemma, at least for me.
What I can see now is that thoughts and ideas were routinely short-circuited then, because those lines of thought would run up against impenetrable obstacles created and necessitated by that denial. I would be thwarted in trying to think an ethical problem through, because I would run up against my own ethical contradictions, and so that line of thought would self-destruct right then and there. There were places in my mind and conclusions I might reach that I did not want to look at. End of exploration.
By contrast, I am now discovering a surprisingly greater level of mental continuity. I am much more easily able to connect the dots and understand what used to seem like conflicting or contradictory ideas, as well as what felt like intellectual dead-ends. Finding that one thought more easily leads to another, I am more able to synthesize otherwise apparently disparate thoughts into a more cohesive whole.
The extent to which this may increase my capacity to be of benefit - which is the only important matter - may be revealed over time.
May all beings be well and happy!
Please Sign to Help Elephants
Wild elephants are disappearing right before eyes. Every single day, poachers kill 96 elephants and steal their tusks worth thousands as part of the $10 billion wildlife trafficking industry that goes into the pockets of some of the most violent terrorist militias in Africa.This translates to an elephant dying every 15 minutes. At this rate, none will be left roaming in 2025.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving from Best Friends!
From the staff and animals of the Best Friends Sanctuary and their adoption centers in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, thanks for providing a lifesaving second chance to homeless pets around the country.
May all beings be happy and free!
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Vegan for Health?
My decision to go vegan had nothing to do with health. Well, not my health, but the health of my animal sisters and brothers. I continue to try to align my behavior with my prayers that all beings may be well, free and happy. The dietary change marked a natural - and somewhat overdue - extension of my 20+ years as an "ethical vegetarian." I simply reached the point where giving up all animal foods was no longer optional. Responding to clear inner guidance, it became mandatory for me to live in an ethically consistent way, at least with regard to my dietary choices.
I feel this is necessary so long as animals are mistreated and while it is not in any way necessary that I eat them. I have no judgment of others around the killing and eating of animals who are revered, respected, and where it is strictly necessary for survival.
Giving up meat in the early '90s was no sacrifice at all; I love - and increasingly revere - living animals and lost all desire to eat them. I have never once missed the taste of meat and have instead only felt grateful for the many alternatives available, especially the wide range of Asian foods.
However, I continued to feel reluctant to give up cheese, butter, ghee, ice-cream and eggs and could hardly imagine how I could, given my love for these foods and also their ubiquity in my regular diet.
I am now learning one very physical meaning of "renunciation." Giving up these delicious treats is proving a genuine practice, one that feels so good to undertake and also challenging. Just negotiating how to eat with the family at holidays requires careful attention.
But, along with this change has come some unexpected and really delightful surprises for my physical health - icing on the cake over the more important benefits of being vegan.
I regularly give blood. One of the benefits I derive from giving blood is the health reporting that follows each donation.
Several months ago - while still eating dairy - I was kicked off of the donor roles because of a low blood iron reading; I would not be able to donate for 6 months.
In the interim, I happened to give up dairy and eggs and wondered how that might affect my iron and general blood chemistry. Along with low hemoglobin, my cholesterol had plateaued at the threshold of danger, remaining there for about a year after gradual, steady increases over the past three years. Additionally, my weight had increased over the past 10 years or so, something I had never experienced at any time in my life before that period!
Two months into being vegan, with great interest I accepted the invitation to again give blood, especially looking forward to the lab results I would obtain. When the phlebotomist took my iron sample and found it over 15, he remarked, "Wow! What accounts for your excellent iron reading? Do you take supplements?" No. I'm vegan, so maybe I eat more leafy greens.
A week later, I received my cholesterol report: it had plummeted from 240 to below 215, back in the healthy range and below any previous reading! And, since then, I have returned to my normal body weight - and with no additional exercise!
Overall, I feel much stronger and healthier, with very few digestive issues and almost no headaches, where those had become almost chronic concerns.
I take these health improvements as one example of how acting for the benefit and happiness of others (in this case, animals) also brings many benefits to our own lives.
May all beings be well and happy!
I feel this is necessary so long as animals are mistreated and while it is not in any way necessary that I eat them. I have no judgment of others around the killing and eating of animals who are revered, respected, and where it is strictly necessary for survival.
Giving up meat in the early '90s was no sacrifice at all; I love - and increasingly revere - living animals and lost all desire to eat them. I have never once missed the taste of meat and have instead only felt grateful for the many alternatives available, especially the wide range of Asian foods.
However, I continued to feel reluctant to give up cheese, butter, ghee, ice-cream and eggs and could hardly imagine how I could, given my love for these foods and also their ubiquity in my regular diet.
I am now learning one very physical meaning of "renunciation." Giving up these delicious treats is proving a genuine practice, one that feels so good to undertake and also challenging. Just negotiating how to eat with the family at holidays requires careful attention.
But, along with this change has come some unexpected and really delightful surprises for my physical health - icing on the cake over the more important benefits of being vegan.
I regularly give blood. One of the benefits I derive from giving blood is the health reporting that follows each donation.
Several months ago - while still eating dairy - I was kicked off of the donor roles because of a low blood iron reading; I would not be able to donate for 6 months.
In the interim, I happened to give up dairy and eggs and wondered how that might affect my iron and general blood chemistry. Along with low hemoglobin, my cholesterol had plateaued at the threshold of danger, remaining there for about a year after gradual, steady increases over the past three years. Additionally, my weight had increased over the past 10 years or so, something I had never experienced at any time in my life before that period!
Two months into being vegan, with great interest I accepted the invitation to again give blood, especially looking forward to the lab results I would obtain. When the phlebotomist took my iron sample and found it over 15, he remarked, "Wow! What accounts for your excellent iron reading? Do you take supplements?" No. I'm vegan, so maybe I eat more leafy greens.
A week later, I received my cholesterol report: it had plummeted from 240 to below 215, back in the healthy range and below any previous reading! And, since then, I have returned to my normal body weight - and with no additional exercise!
Overall, I feel much stronger and healthier, with very few digestive issues and almost no headaches, where those had become almost chronic concerns.
I take these health improvements as one example of how acting for the benefit and happiness of others (in this case, animals) also brings many benefits to our own lives.
May all beings be well and happy!
News Report: Pigeons Spot Cancer
From the BBC: Pigeons identify breast cancer 'as well as humans'
Pigeons, with training, did just as well as humans in a study testing their ability to distinguish cancerous from healthy breast tissue samples. The pigeons were able to generalize what they learned, correctly spotting tumors in unseen microscope images.
"Pigeons can distinguish identities and emotional expressions on human faces, letters of the alphabet, misshapen pharmaceutical capsules, and even paintings by Monet vs Picasso."
Read more....
May all beings be well and happy!
Pigeons, with training, did just as well as humans in a study testing their ability to distinguish cancerous from healthy breast tissue samples. The pigeons were able to generalize what they learned, correctly spotting tumors in unseen microscope images.
"Pigeons can distinguish identities and emotional expressions on human faces, letters of the alphabet, misshapen pharmaceutical capsules, and even paintings by Monet vs Picasso."
Read more....
May all beings be well and happy!
Saturday, November 21, 2015
More Vegan Humor and Our Vegan Agenda
Today, I told my brother we had gone vegan, and he told me this joke:
Q: How can you tell if someone is vegan?
A: You don't have to. They will tell you.
It's good to be able to laugh at ourselves! My life partner and I regularly and unashamedly joke about our "vegan agenda."
One way it plays is revealed in how we now approach dining out: rather than simply going to restaurants we know have lots of vegan options already, we stop in to other dining establishments, explain that we are vegan and ask what they can serve us.
Most restaurateurs kindly try to help by taking us on a tour of their menus, suggesting variations to the non-vegan or vegetarian selections. As the vegan diet is becoming more popular, we delight to discover more and more options are available to us.
When we found an online list of vegan fast food, I was happy to see that Taco Bell - for all of its many other shortcomings - does not use lard in their beans or tortillas, and many of their menu items can be made vegan.
That is, if the one taking the order understands what "vegan" means.
At my latest visit to the drive-through, I explained I wanted a "vegetarian Cantina Burrito made vegan" and began to list the things they would hold. "So, that means, no sour cream..."
The cashier interjected: "Do you want cheese?"
We have a long way to go as a culture at so many levels.
Q: How can you tell if someone is vegan?
A: You don't have to. They will tell you.
It's good to be able to laugh at ourselves! My life partner and I regularly and unashamedly joke about our "vegan agenda."
One way it plays is revealed in how we now approach dining out: rather than simply going to restaurants we know have lots of vegan options already, we stop in to other dining establishments, explain that we are vegan and ask what they can serve us.
Most restaurateurs kindly try to help by taking us on a tour of their menus, suggesting variations to the non-vegan or vegetarian selections. As the vegan diet is becoming more popular, we delight to discover more and more options are available to us.
When we found an online list of vegan fast food, I was happy to see that Taco Bell - for all of its many other shortcomings - does not use lard in their beans or tortillas, and many of their menu items can be made vegan.
That is, if the one taking the order understands what "vegan" means.
At my latest visit to the drive-through, I explained I wanted a "vegetarian Cantina Burrito made vegan" and began to list the things they would hold. "So, that means, no sour cream..."
The cashier interjected: "Do you want cheese?"
We have a long way to go as a culture at so many levels.
Some Really Good News!
On Nov. 16, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that the agency will end the last vestiges of federally supported chimpanzee experimentation.
May all beings be happy and free!
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Looking Down at Animals
Any who carefully look can see that it is our anthropocentric tendency that allows us to regard humans as fully "superior" to other lifeforms on Earth, especially despite the fact that it is only we who are now threatening all living beings on our planet in addition to the many whole species our activities are already wiping out each day.
If we do want to see ourselves as positively different, then we might look toward our humanity - our capacity for genuinely humane behavior - to distinguish us from the rest of our animal sisters and brothers, whether or not that behavior is actually exclusive to human consciousness.
If we feel that our humanity is what makes us better, then along with this capacity, we are responsible for actualizing humane behavior, having the opportunity to express our humanity as compassion toward other living beings.
Whether or not a lioness may feel compassion, she must - in following the laws of her own body and ecosystem - kill and eat other living beings.
But, we do not. We might also distinguish ourselves in our ability to give birth to technologies and means by which we no longer need to kill animals to live healthy lives.
Modern, affluent humans have not only the technology to provide for bodily sustenance with an increasingly vast array of food choices, we also have the responsibility to make ethical decisions about what we eat, based upon our humane compassion.
If we wish to shore up our sense of place and purpose on Earth by placing ourselves at the top of some hierarchy of lifeforms, then might we do better by demonstrating that superiority, acting from that position, by behaving more ethically and refraining from any unnecessary enslavement and death of animals to satisfy our baser desires?
The actuality of our own humanity may depend upon it.
May all beings be happy and well.
If we do want to see ourselves as positively different, then we might look toward our humanity - our capacity for genuinely humane behavior - to distinguish us from the rest of our animal sisters and brothers, whether or not that behavior is actually exclusive to human consciousness.
If we feel that our humanity is what makes us better, then along with this capacity, we are responsible for actualizing humane behavior, having the opportunity to express our humanity as compassion toward other living beings.
Whether or not a lioness may feel compassion, she must - in following the laws of her own body and ecosystem - kill and eat other living beings.
But, we do not. We might also distinguish ourselves in our ability to give birth to technologies and means by which we no longer need to kill animals to live healthy lives.
Modern, affluent humans have not only the technology to provide for bodily sustenance with an increasingly vast array of food choices, we also have the responsibility to make ethical decisions about what we eat, based upon our humane compassion.
If we wish to shore up our sense of place and purpose on Earth by placing ourselves at the top of some hierarchy of lifeforms, then might we do better by demonstrating that superiority, acting from that position, by behaving more ethically and refraining from any unnecessary enslavement and death of animals to satisfy our baser desires?
The actuality of our own humanity may depend upon it.
May all beings be happy and well.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Got Milk? No Thanks!
A growing body of research has found that, for grown-ups, consuming too much dairy can actually be harmful. Read more...
May all beings be well, happy and free.
May all beings be well, happy and free.
Do You Know the Biggest Global Challenge?
Please watch this quick, 1.5 minute video to learn what the most pressing challenges our bio-sphere (that's you and me and all living beings) faces today.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be well.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Honoring Dogs as Sacred - Kukur Tihar
In Nepal at Tihar (equivalent of Hindu Diwali "festival of Light"), the second of three days is devoted to honoring dogs as the sacred beings and friends they are. Dogs are given sweet treats and decorated with kum-kum and flower garlands. (Day one honors crows, and day three, cows.) This amusing video explains!
Fortunately, many of us honor our dogs everyday of the year!
May all beings be happy!
All good blessings for Kukur Tihar ("Dog Diwali")!
Fortunately, many of us honor our dogs everyday of the year!
May all beings be happy!
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Your Support
Recognizing the sacredness, the preciousness and the importance of each and every being, taking action following our aspirations and prayers that all beings may be happy and free, please do what you can to help our animal friends, such as contributing to the Humane Society as part of their endcrueltynow.org campaign, or to the very effective bestfriends.org, founded by "spiritual seekers" who saw that their dharma was to help alleviate the suffering of animals and raise awareness of their awareness.
Thank you.
May all beings be happy and free.
Thank you.
May all beings be happy and free.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
A Billion Buddhists
Senior Buddhists including His Holiness the Dalai Lama have called on world leaders to agree to a new climate change agreement at the COP21 conference in Paris.
Their statement from the leaders of over a billion Buddhists worldwide says that the causes of the environmental crisis are the use of fossil fuels, unsustainable consumption patterns, lack of awareness and lack of concern about the consequences of our actions.
"Everyday life can easily lead us to forget that we are inextricably linked to the natural world through every breath we take, the water we drink and the food we eat," said Lama Lobzang, secretary of the International Buddhist Confederation.
"Humanity must act on the root causes of this crisis, which is driven by greed, thoughtlessness and a lack of concern about the consequences of our actions."
Read more...
May all beings be well and happy.
Their statement from the leaders of over a billion Buddhists worldwide says that the causes of the environmental crisis are the use of fossil fuels, unsustainable consumption patterns, lack of awareness and lack of concern about the consequences of our actions.
"Everyday life can easily lead us to forget that we are inextricably linked to the natural world through every breath we take, the water we drink and the food we eat," said Lama Lobzang, secretary of the International Buddhist Confederation.
"Humanity must act on the root causes of this crisis, which is driven by greed, thoughtlessness and a lack of concern about the consequences of our actions."
Read more...
May all beings be well and happy.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Boost to Farm Sanctuary Movement!
Farm Sanctuary Gets Lift from Celebrity Couple Jon and Tracey Stewart
Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his wife, advocate and former veterinary technician Tracey, announced this weekend that their property in Middletown, New Jersey, will be the fourth outpost of the nation's largest and most effective farm rescue and protection organization.
And, Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur discusses his new book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer and Feeling Better Every Day.
Read more....
May all beings be well and happy.
Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his wife, advocate and former veterinary technician Tracey, announced this weekend that their property in Middletown, New Jersey, will be the fourth outpost of the nation's largest and most effective farm rescue and protection organization.
And, Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur discusses his new book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer and Feeling Better Every Day.
Read more....
May all beings be well and happy.
Albert Schweitzer's "Reverence for Life"
Albert Schweitzer's "Reverence for Life" is identical to the attitude expressed when the new word "biovinty" is understood.
"As far back as I can remember I was saddened by the amount of misery I saw in the world around me. Youth's unqualified joie de vivre I never really knew.... One thing especially saddened me was that the unfortunate animals had to suffer so much pain and misery.... It was quite incomprehensible to me - this was before I began going to school - why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. So when my mother had prayed with me and had kissed me good-night, I used to add silently a prayer that I composed myself for all living creatures. It ran thus: "O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath, guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace...."
"...this sport [fishing] was soon made impossible for me by the treatment of the worms that were put on the hook...and the wrenching of the mouths of the fishes that were caught. I gave it up.... From experiences like these, which moved my heart...there slowly grew up in me an unshakable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, and that we ought all of us to feel what a horrible thing it is to cause suffering and death..."
"Standing, as all living beings are, before this dilemma of the will to live, a person is constantly forced to preserve his own life and life in general only at the cost of other life. If he has been touched by the ethic of reverence for life, he injures and destroys life only under a necessity he cannot avoid, and never from thoughtlessness."
- Albert Schweitzer
"Reverence for Life says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass - and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves."
- James Brabazon (Author of the Biography of Albert Schweitzer)
"As far back as I can remember I was saddened by the amount of misery I saw in the world around me. Youth's unqualified joie de vivre I never really knew.... One thing especially saddened me was that the unfortunate animals had to suffer so much pain and misery.... It was quite incomprehensible to me - this was before I began going to school - why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. So when my mother had prayed with me and had kissed me good-night, I used to add silently a prayer that I composed myself for all living creatures. It ran thus: "O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath, guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace...."
"...this sport [fishing] was soon made impossible for me by the treatment of the worms that were put on the hook...and the wrenching of the mouths of the fishes that were caught. I gave it up.... From experiences like these, which moved my heart...there slowly grew up in me an unshakable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, and that we ought all of us to feel what a horrible thing it is to cause suffering and death..."
"Standing, as all living beings are, before this dilemma of the will to live, a person is constantly forced to preserve his own life and life in general only at the cost of other life. If he has been touched by the ethic of reverence for life, he injures and destroys life only under a necessity he cannot avoid, and never from thoughtlessness."
- Albert Schweitzer
"Reverence for Life says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass - and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves."
- James Brabazon (Author of the Biography of Albert Schweitzer)
Monday, October 26, 2015
More Cause to Go Veg
BBC Health Report 10.26.15
Processed meats - such as bacon, sausages and ham - do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Its report said 50g of processed meat a day - less than two slices of bacon - increased the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18%.
Meanwhile, it said red meats were "probably carcinogenic" but there was limited evidence.
Read more...
And, in a 2013 report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators used data spanning the decade between 1998 and 2008 to report estimates for annual US food-borne illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths attributable to each of 17 food categories. The following were among their findings:
Processed meats - such as bacon, sausages and ham - do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Its report said 50g of processed meat a day - less than two slices of bacon - increased the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18%.
Meanwhile, it said red meats were "probably carcinogenic" but there was limited evidence.
Read more...
And, in a 2013 report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators used data spanning the decade between 1998 and 2008 to report estimates for annual US food-borne illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths attributable to each of 17 food categories. The following were among their findings:
- Poultry was the most common cause of death from food poisoning (19%), with Listeria and Salmonella species being the main infectious organisms.
- Dairy items were the second most frequent causes of food-borne illnesses (14%) and deaths (10%), with the main factors being contamination by Norovirus from food handlers and improper pasteurization resulting in contamination with Campylobacter species.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
The Wish-Fulfilling Cow
In the tradition of sanaatana dharma, which most of us refer to as "Hinduism," we find among the pantheon of icons representing the One All-Pervading Reality, the image of kamadhenu ( कामधेनु ), "the Wish-fulfilling Cow."
It is natural to recognize in the history of so many cultures why the cow has come to be seen as a kind of mother: she provides essential sustenance as well as fertilization of our soils and fuel for cooking our food. (During my last visit to India, I noted that a single cow is at the center of a cup of chai: she provides the milk, the fertilizer to grow the tea leaves and her own grass food, and the dung that makes the fire that heats the tea!)
Kamadhenu is a manifest form of Divine Mother, and at the same time She represents actual cows, individually and collectively regarded within Her culture as Mother-in-the-flesh. More than that, She represents all animals, the entire Queendom of living beings.
Here we have a potent image that can and should serve both as comfort and as warning to us living in these times of dramatic changes on Earth, because this manifestation of Divine Mother is not eternal in the sense that the other divinities are.
We see the other goddesses and gods depicted within Her body, so we can see that the manner in which we regard this Sacred Cow may reveal our actual attitude toward the Divine. If we revere Her, we feel proper reverence for all that has been born from Her womb, all of Life.
At the same time, we also see in Her reflection how we treat the goddesses' manifestations - our actual, physical cows -, and this reveals a disconnect: though we may wish to think of Nature as "divine," how we treat the natural world so often does not reflect how we treat whatever else we regard as sacred, as holy. Sadly, much to the contrary. And, it seems that the more we have allowed ourselves to lose our felt connection with our own nature-bodies, the more latitude we have taken for violence against Nature and Her animals.
Similarly, when viewed in this way we can readily see that the mistreatment of women is not unlike the mistreatment of cows.
Our relationship with the Holy Cow is not guaranteed; our hopes for the granting of wishes sought from Kamadhenu depend reciprocally upon how we treat Her. As much a part of Nature as of the Divine, She is de facto not an inexhaustible resource. We cannot expect to receive what is best for us from what we treat so poorly. We can also see in the ever-arising, human-caused Earth changes that this is true of our relationship with all of Nature.
Those who understand Khamadenu, the Sacred Cow, understand that every living being is sacred and worthy of our reverence and care, and that our own happiness is directly dependent upon theirs.
May all beings be happy and well.
It is natural to recognize in the history of so many cultures why the cow has come to be seen as a kind of mother: she provides essential sustenance as well as fertilization of our soils and fuel for cooking our food. (During my last visit to India, I noted that a single cow is at the center of a cup of chai: she provides the milk, the fertilizer to grow the tea leaves and her own grass food, and the dung that makes the fire that heats the tea!)
Kamadhenu is a manifest form of Divine Mother, and at the same time She represents actual cows, individually and collectively regarded within Her culture as Mother-in-the-flesh. More than that, She represents all animals, the entire Queendom of living beings.
Here we have a potent image that can and should serve both as comfort and as warning to us living in these times of dramatic changes on Earth, because this manifestation of Divine Mother is not eternal in the sense that the other divinities are.
We see the other goddesses and gods depicted within Her body, so we can see that the manner in which we regard this Sacred Cow may reveal our actual attitude toward the Divine. If we revere Her, we feel proper reverence for all that has been born from Her womb, all of Life.
At the same time, we also see in Her reflection how we treat the goddesses' manifestations - our actual, physical cows -, and this reveals a disconnect: though we may wish to think of Nature as "divine," how we treat the natural world so often does not reflect how we treat whatever else we regard as sacred, as holy. Sadly, much to the contrary. And, it seems that the more we have allowed ourselves to lose our felt connection with our own nature-bodies, the more latitude we have taken for violence against Nature and Her animals.
Similarly, when viewed in this way we can readily see that the mistreatment of women is not unlike the mistreatment of cows.
Our relationship with the Holy Cow is not guaranteed; our hopes for the granting of wishes sought from Kamadhenu depend reciprocally upon how we treat Her. As much a part of Nature as of the Divine, She is de facto not an inexhaustible resource. We cannot expect to receive what is best for us from what we treat so poorly. We can also see in the ever-arising, human-caused Earth changes that this is true of our relationship with all of Nature.
Those who understand Khamadenu, the Sacred Cow, understand that every living being is sacred and worthy of our reverence and care, and that our own happiness is directly dependent upon theirs.
May all beings be happy and well.
Dancing with Nature
Continuing the exploration of Murshid Saadi's penetrating piece, "Dances of Innocence,"* I cannot help but read through the lenses I am now wearing, lenses that focus my attention upon my own and our collective relationship with Nature, with the natural world, and particularly with our animal siblings: the winged ones, the two- and four-leggeds, our scaly and more hairy brothers and sisters.
We know well Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's revolutionary and also transparent assertion that "there is one holy book, the sacred manuscript of Nature..."
Murshid Saadi writes: "When a person has the courage to ask, 'use us for the purpose that Thy wisdom chooses,' this necessarily includes the willingness to face what might arise within oneself from the reflection of that part of humanity in the soul’s mirror."
The majority of our Dances, at least in my experience, deal with the world's spiritual and faith traditions and religions. Without question, our responses to our impressions of these traditions, both known to us and those we are learning, are subjects of our "soul's mirror." Yet, as Inayat Khan guides us toward Nature as the one and the supreme holy book, so then gazing into the mirror of Nature may even more powerfully evoke our responses, what we resonate with and what we resist. Whether or not this may have always been the case (and I suspect it has been), now the more fertile soil for those courageous enough to work the inner earth of the heart (the hearth wherein the fire of our life burns) is Nature Itself and our relationship with and responsibilities toward Her. For this, we might take up the difficult and critical work of gazing into the Eye of Nature, most literally into the eyes of our animal friends, into the eyes of the sacred and actual Cow.
"It is much easier to sing a pleasant English song that appeals to the emotions, for instance, than look Hathor in the eye. One can find oneself needing to literally 'heal' an archetype before it is redeemed and shared."
One archetype most in need of healing at this time is our own humanity, our very humane-ness. We see the destruction our way of life is having on the natural world, from which all archetypes arise. Those who attended the Parliament of the World's Religions heard the many voices of indigenous peoples - those most connected with Nature where they live - one after another pleading for changes in the way the "rest of us" live, because we are melting the ice the seals and polar bears call home, we are changing the migration routes of elk and caribou; we are threatening not only their lives, but the lives of those who depend upon them. These voices emphatically demand that we change our hearts so that we can change the way we are living, and now.
"Can we begin to contemplate something like ‘secular spirituality’ in any sense of real depth rather than intellectual lip service? Without being a caricature, what would a secular spiritual Dance look (sound or feel) like?"
I would also ask to what extent we might contemplate a more genuine Nature Spirituality, one that arises out of our bodies when those bodies feel themselves a part of Nature, rather than apart from nature? To whatever extent we remain disconnected from the natural world, to that same extent we remain disconnected from that which is natural within us. By whatever measures we oppress, however consciously or otherwise, the fellow living beings of our natural world - treating them as "less-thans" - in that same measure we rob ourselves of our own humanity.
This is where most of us would find ourselves were we to look deeply and long into the mirror of Nature and into the eyes of Her animals. We will be struck with the awareness that "what we do to the least of these," we do to ourselves. The healing we need here will call upon our greatest courage and will require great strength and great tenderness. Fortunately, this Path we share gives us all of the tools we need. With those, and with our own initiative and courage, we can more effectively till the soil of our hearts and awaken the life of our authentic humanity, regaining our most natural and proper position as stewards and caretakers of the earth, weeding out the dead matter that is the many destructive paradigms of dominance and power-over that continue to threaten not only the well-being of all the inhabitants of Earth, but the well-being of our very soul. When we step into our inner-garden, we may find vestiges of those paradigms, and some of those may yet be living.
"...the next generation of Dances began to touch very human, everyday life experiences. Not the ‘peak’ experiences but the the ‘trough’ ones: grieving, feeling confused and acknowledging parts of one’s subconscious that had been neglected."
How then will we confront those parts of ourselves? The arising global awareness of what Nature Herself is now asking of us will help us along. What better time to acknowledge the neglected places in our subconscious than when faced with global urgencies, those that Nature Herself is increasingly calling us to acknowledge in the world around us?
"What about looking ahead a bit? How does the future call to us now? What challenges face us as we seek to keep the Dances living rather than as a parody of their past? ... All these current trends challenge our usual way of ‘doing’ the Dances of Universal Peace. What opportunities does the world today present?"
Looking into the mirror of Nature, an answer is also given in Murshid Saadi's text:
"...humanity’s nascent desire to feel globally, to recognize suffering on the other side of the world and to realize that we live in one, interconnected ecosystem called the earth."
And so, the following questions also arise from that Mirror:
"Are we prepared to be channels for Dances that redeem the inner ecology...? ... More importantly, what do we do, or more accurately, what is ours to do?"
For this, our motivation - if we feel it - can be readily found in the closing prayer we so often repeat. May we continue to invoke it sincerely and with increasing awareness of its reach into our inner heart and its scope in the world around us (italics mine):
"May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. Peace, peace, peace."
"May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. Peace, peace, peace."
With love,
Friday, October 23, 2015
Awakening True Identity
Rather than looking broadly and perhaps too vaguely at our responsibilities toward "the earth," we might specifically look at our relationship with animals (not only our pets) and recognize their essential equality with us, awakening our true identity with them, in our bodies, minds and hearts, as fellow "children of God."
My own impulse in this direction has been strengthened and affirmed not only by sessions at the 2015 Parliament concerning faith traditions and our relations with animals, but even more so by the dream I had about one week before the Parliament, where the word "biovinity" appeared and meant: We must awaken to a condition of reverence for all life - for every individual living being - not only in word, but in our daily deeds, in what we buy and what we eat and do not eat (those being the most direct actions which most of us have the great fortune and affluence to be able to most easily change).
At the Parliament, one speaker pointed out that to "love" our pets, yet fail to extend that same affectionate love toward ALL animals, reduces our "love" to mere sentimentality.
"Are we willing to, as Joe Miller used to say, really feel without sentimentality?" - Murshid Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz, "Dances of Innocence, Dances of Experience," October 2015
For me, this is about "reclaiming the heart of our humanity," the theme of the 2015 Parliament. With loving perspective, we gain strength and courage to become more able to recognize that for too long we have erred in thinking we have some "right" to oppress others. Only then can we intentionally begin the walk away from actions that oppress others (here, in addition to other races, creeds, genders, castes, etc., our animal siblings).
I feel inspired, and also duty-bound, to take up this concentration. May we all recognize this ground-swell of intention and take up our own parts in it.
May all beings be well, may all beings be happy.
May all beings be well, may all beings be happy.
Moving Beyond Consumerism
We know that our dollars represent powerful "votes" in the direction we wish to see change happen. How conscious are we about each dollar we spend, especially those that move the world in directions that are not in alignment with our aspirations for a more loving and gentle world?
At the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions, one simple message delivered by many speakers and re-stated as a sort of bottom-line summary, is the request that we simply consume less.
Naturally, because each dollar spent is a "vote," we can also make more conscious choices about what we consume, with the interest of bringing greater benefit to all beings.
Here are some inspiring messages and calls to action that correspond to understanding Biovinity:
http://worldconsciouspact.org/wcp-manifesto/
http://www.pachamama.org/
May all beings be well. May all beings be free!
At the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions, one simple message delivered by many speakers and re-stated as a sort of bottom-line summary, is the request that we simply consume less.
Naturally, because each dollar spent is a "vote," we can also make more conscious choices about what we consume, with the interest of bringing greater benefit to all beings.
Here are some inspiring messages and calls to action that correspond to understanding Biovinity:
http://worldconsciouspact.org/wcp-manifesto/
http://www.pachamama.org/
May all beings be well. May all beings be free!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Cowspiracy
The official Cowspiracy book is here! The book and film (now available on Netflix) present the compelling case that factory farming is not only cruel, unethical and unnecessary, it is the prime factor contributing to climate change and the destruction of our biosphere.
Biovinity at the 2015 Parliament
At the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, I attended the "first animal-related session in the history of the Parliament," Revisioning the Human-Animal Relationship, facilitated by Episcopal priest, Anne Benvenuti, author and scholar Paul Waldau, author and scholar Veena Howard, and head representative of the Yoruba tradition Wande Abimbola and his wife. The session focused on spiritual traditions' views and responsibilities related to our animal brothers and sisters and revolved around Thomas Berry's "communion of subjects...". I made the final comments, describing the origin and meaning of the "new word," biovinity.
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