posted August 21, 2009 07:23 PM         

The aphorist, La Rochefoucauld, observed, "Our minds are lazier than our bodies," and, for the vast majority of us, this is devastatingly true. When it comes to performing the "duties" which our culture has prescribed for us, most of us can rouse ourselves to action. But, when it comes to thinking outside the cultural box into which we've been born, most of us can't find the will. We will proudly defend and enact the values which have been impressed upon us by the culture, but questioning and examining these values, and intellectually working to create an individual conception of values is something very few of us have any real energy for. Sure, we all question and conceive of values somewhat differently, but the vast majority of us remain relatively close to the values our parents and societies passed on to us. Even in instances where we disagree with a fundamental conception, most of us will still promote its observance in the everyday world, without giving much, if any, thought to the contradiction. Again, La Rochefoucauld, who made a thorough study of lazy thinking, offers the poignant insight here, when he writes, "We generally praise and disparage things because it is the accepted thing to do." Despite our being fundamentally opposed to what certain viewpoints stand for, we support them because it is acceptable to do so, and/or because we are, all too often, unconscious of the discrepancy. Never having commmitted to a serious investigation into the viewpoints acquired in our more impressionable years, we remain largely unaware of the contradictions we profess. For instance, we will say that "might does not make right", and then proceed to argue that its okay to kill animals on the grounds that we're stronger than animals, and "therefore" have a right to subjugate them. Inconsistencies like this are commonplace, and if we are intellectually honest with ourselves, we must admit that, at bottom, we are all terrible hypocrites.

posted September 01, 2009 11:37 AM         

quote:

---

What's this publication, can I (we) read it?

---

posted September 01, 2009 11:45 AM         

maybe not hypocracy as you say. maybe it is.

but we don't know where others are on thier path now do we...?

it's like this, people just learning to add can not yet do advanced math...

or washing the dishes prior to cleaning the sink out, your dishes won't be really clean unless you clean the sink prior to washing them....

or putting new wine in an old wine skin with holes, first you must fix the holes, or the wine will pour out and be wasted.

maybe we should be college graduates by now, but still on second grade work, but yet again, maybe, just maybe doing it right and doing it quick are two different things.

the work is on the inside first, then the outside.
who cares what anyone else thinks.

man looks on outward appearances, god looks on the heart.

welcome back s. i am so glad you are ok.

posted September 01, 2009 12:10 PM         

Thanks, cpn.
Nice to see you thinking.
Use it or lose it, right?

you're right,
some folks are still
doing basic math.
We should be patient
with them, but let them know
that they're doing basic math.
Maybe show them some algebra,
in case they're up to it.

i wrote something last night
that you made me think of:

Wisdom in one sphere is folly in another. Who learns how to climb, forgets how to swim. The solution to one problem raises the mystery of another. The heart of the world is mysterious, and every question of ultimate meaning must humble itself to this heart. Every answer is smug. Every philosophy is simultaneously a stepping stone and a stumbling block.

posted September 01, 2009 12:26 PM         

anyway, better to know you are on second grade math, than to skip the class...

hence us finding each other on here, most of the poeple i know in real life not only don't or couldn't understand my path, but would never choose it, as ME ME ME and instant gratification is worth more than spiritual growth. we choose the classroom and whether or not to participate in the lessons at hand.

at least i can meet you where we are, you can learn from me, i can learn form you and together we can grow...much better than not caring at all my friend..like so many i know...on thier own little path that leads nowhere really...

the road to nowhere...leads to me....

posted September 01, 2009 12:32 PM         

had a great doctor once, she used to say, doctor doesn't necessarily know the answers, she just knows which questions to ask! and "the patient is the best doctor"...

posted September 02, 2009 01:47 AM         

Some people do think about it and others just go with what they know, a leaf in the wind. Other meat eaters are more lucid than that.

Same for many vegans and the like. Plenty of them are arrogant in the same way, unthinking, judgmental, sure of their own rightness & righteousness.

Quick example:

VEGAN: Milk is bad especially chocolate.

ARROGANT MEATARIAN: I'm not listening to that crap. My daddy ate meat and I eat it and we're just fine. There is nothing wrong in it, NOTHING. Go back to your cult and leave me alone, moonbat!

THINKING MEATARIAN: Hmmm...well there ARE abuses that go on of course, just like everywhere. But in general there are very strict guidelines set up and enforced.

ARROGANT VEGAN: What about all the drugs and hormones put into them? What affect does that have?

THINKING MEATARIAN: Cows who are sick or medicated on anything that can be passed into the milk are separated from the rest, and any milk gathered disposed of, with the tank sterilized after. Besides, even in the case of mistakes, it gets pasteurized anyway.

THINKING VEGAN: Given the numbers of cows, I'd think the blood and pus...

THINKING MEATARIAN: Pus? Huh?

THINKING VEGAN: The somatic cell count found in milk.

THINKING MEATARIAN. Oh. Ok. Yeah, that's not pus, that's a normal process of lactation, including in humans. It shouldn't be confused with infected sores.

ARROGANT VEGAN: You think it's ok to drink cows blood, eat them, enslave them, and don't care that you sell their milk tainted with pus! If it's all pus-filled, then why not sell human lactation to Ben & Jerry's instead?

THINKING VEGAN: Hmm, that was never mentioned. I think it's time for a trip to the library to find out how much I learned is true and how much is the usual hysteria. But even if what you say is completely true, I know I've never felt better in my life since giving up meat. It's very healthy, and more ethical.

THINKING MEATARIAN: Agree to disagree. I tried going vegan once to lose weight and I just found myself tired all the time, and getting sick more than I should. I guess I just burn up too much carbs and protein for it. And most other vegetarians, let alone vegans, look unhealthy to me.

THINKING VEGAN: It takes time to adapt to a new diet, but like getting off heroin, it's worth it in the long run, but change is hard on the mind and the body. Let me give you a book that shows how to give your body what it needs on a vegan diet and how to shift to such a diet, and maybe you can try it again?

ARROGANT MEATARIAN: Don't do it! Unhealthy, brainwashed cultists who let their own babies starve in insane adherence to their beliefs!

ARROGANT VEGAN: Don't mess with the carnivores, they're unhealthy with clogged arteries, pus & infected blood! And evil, brainwashed sociopaths!

THINKING MEATARIAN: You know, I found it interesting talking with you, Thinking Vegan, but your friend is is "special" isn't she?

THINKING VEGAN: No more than your friend is "special."

THINKING MEATARIAN & VEGAN laugh

posted September 02, 2009 06:56 AM         

I am mad about it BECAUSE::
in the last two years i have taken care of

nina - pit bull - 1 year - owner couldn't he was incarcerated, chewed up my new sectional sofa

2 cats - college girl 3 months not pets allowed, would you take care of them, ****** all over my basement

butch - short little bugg eyed dog - owner couldnt keep for 3 months, butch was blind and didnt cause problems

roscoe - black lab - owner needed help as couldnt take his dog, again 3-4 months, roscoe was timid and missed his owner

capone - another pit bull whose owner needed time, couldnt keep him for a couple of weeks, down on luck

dottie - owner doesnt make arrangements for care, and guess who gets dottie, or **** pot dot as i call her? english bulldog

suzie - brown lab - same situation, only suzie isn't a trouble maker

thats 8 flipping animals I get stuck taking care of, getting fixed, getting thier shots and inside totally ****** at thier irresponsible owners. i dont even own a animal,,,why? i dont want to be tied to taking care of one. i KNOW what it requires. irresponsible animal owners **** me off. and to be judged as a animal cruelty person for eating meat is wrong. i know of two more dogs right now whose owners left out of town and no one is caring for thier dogs, for a whole week while they are gone! that is animal cruelty, that is my pet peeve. if i didnt give a crap about animals i wouldn't run a animal shelter without a flipping sign or donations. oh yeah, and when these animals need food, and their owners dont show up with any, guess who goes get food...??ME...

before we go slamming people who eat meat and labelling them as cruel and arrogant, maybe lets get the people that have PETS and dont take care of them properly. that is cruel and neglectful and a dam shame.

i dont have animals becasue i dont want to be tied down, what a flipping joke, i run home every night to feed and care for other peoples animals becasue they dont give a crap, meanwhile they destroy my stuff and of course their owners don't replace my stuff, i do. wanna hear something funny, one of them is a vegetarian.

you are right valus - arrogance - judging - seems like it is pretty thick against meat eaters....

don't judge me.

you almost had me feeling guilty, until i woke up and took two dogs out and decided to be mad.

you are in no way more evolved spiritually for not eating meat. shove your arrogant judgemental posts up your ash. i am ticked that i even felt guilty or less spiritual or got down on myself yesterday, which was your intent, to make others feel less evolved, cruel, mean insensitive hypocrital blind evildoers for eating meat.

and if anybody gets on me for saying how i feel because he is sick, fuuuggget it, he was well enough to write this stuff and put it out there. and the intent to belittle animal eaters is clear to me now.

ARROGANCE indeed.

posted September 02, 2009 08:13 AM         

I hear you on the looking after animals thing. My sister ought to have thought more about calling me a "selfish b1tch" when I have been looking after her ******* rabbit for 6 weeks straight while she swans off doing her, whatever it is she does. Yeah, no more of that. And my other sister palms off a sick Spaniel to my mother knowing he will keep the vet in business and now I see on her Facebook she wants a puppy? In a rental where she can't have pets? And already has a cat and kittens? Jesus.

posted September 03, 2009 01:40 AM         

Because I have been very interested in the transneptunian object, Sedna which is named after an Inuit Sea Goddess, I want to share some things about the Inuit people.

First of all, they were in arctic regions of Canada,Greenland,and Alaska long before anybody else. It was their land,and it was stolen from them. The foods that the Inuits eat have been part of their culture for a very long time, and the foods are looked down upon by many people that don't live their culture. This includes the meat of seal,walrus,whale,and polar bear. Why should they stop eating their foods because of certain people that don't want them to eat because of their beliefs of what is ethical and right? That's what many people have been campaigning against. They are trying to force their views,beliefs,and practices on people that don't share them. I don't believe that's fair to the Inuits.

Inuit elders eating Maktaaq.

Inuit consume a diet of foods that are hunted, fished, and gathered locally. This may include walrus, ringed seal, bearded seal, beluga whale, polar bear, berries, and fireweed.[1][2] According to Edmund Searles in his article “Food and the Making of Modern Inuit Identities,” they consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is “effective in keeping the body warm, making the body strong, keeping the body fit, and even making that body healthy”.[1]

Animals

[edit] Seal
An Inuit hunter skinning a ringed seal.

Seal meat is the most important aspect of an Inuit diet and is often the largest part of an Inuit hunter’s diet.[1] Depending on the season, Inuit hunt for different types of seal: harp seal, harbor seal, and bearded seal. Ringed seals are hunted all year, while harp seals are only available during the summer.[2]

Because air-breathing seals need to break through the ice to reach air, they form breathing holes with their claws. Through these, Inuit hunters are able to capture seals.[2] When a hunter arrives at these holes, they set up a seal indicator that alerts the hunter when a seal is coming up for a breath of air. When the seal comes up, the hunter notices movement in the indicator and uses his harpoon to capture the seal in the water.[2]

Seals, as saltwater animals, are always considered to be thirsty and therefore are offered a drink of fresh water right after slaughter. This is shown as a sign of respect and gratitude toward the seal and its sacrifice.[2]

Walrus

Walrus are often hunted during the winter and spring since hunting them in summer is much more dangerous.[2] A walrus is too large to be controlled by one man, so it cannot be hunted alone.[2]

In Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut, an Inuit elder describes the hunt of a walrus in these words: “When a walrus was sighted, the two hunters would run to get close to it and at a short distance it is necessary to stop when the walrus’s head was submerged…the walrus would hear you approach. [They] then tried to get in front of the walrus and it was harpooned while its head was submerged. In the meantime, the other person would drive the harpoon into the ice through the harpoon loop to secure it.”[2]

Bowhead whale

As one of the largest animals in the world, the bowhead whale is able to feed an entire community for nearly a year from its meat, blubber, and skin.[2] Inuit hunters most often hunt juvenile whales which, compared to adults, are safer to hunt and have tastier skin.[2] Similar to walrus, bowhead whales are captured by harpoon. The hunters use active pursuit to harpoon the whale and follow it during attack. At times, Inuit were known for using a more passive approach when hunting whales.[2] According to John Bennett and Susan Rowley, they would harpoon the whale and instead of pursuing it, would “wait patiently for the winds, currents, and spirits to aid him in bringing the whale to shore.”[2]

[edit] Caribou

During the majority of the year caribou roam the tundra in small herds, but twice a year large herds of caribou cross the inland regions.[2] Caribou have excellent senses of smell and hearing so that the hunters must be very careful when in pursuit. Often, Inuit hunters set up camp miles away from the caribou crossing and wait until they are in full view to attack.[2]

There are many ways in which the caribou can be captured, including spearing, forcing caribou into the river, using blinders, scaring the caribou, and stalking the caribou.[2] When spearing caribou, hunters put the string of the spear in their mouths and the other end they use to gently spear the animal.[2]

[edit] Fish

Among the fish that Inuit consume are sculpin, arctic cod, and other saltwater fish. They capture these types of fish by jigging.[2] The hunter cuts a square hole in the ice on the lake and fishes using a fish lure and spear. Instead of using a hook on a line, Inuit use a fake fish attached to the line. They lower it into the water and move it around as if it is real. When the live fish approach it, they spear the fish before it has a chance to eat the fake fish.[2]

[edit] Decline in hunting

The decline of hunting is partially due to the fact that young people lack the skills to survive off the land.[3] They are no longer skilled in hunting like their ancestors and are growing more accustomed to the Qallunaat (“White people”) food that they receive from the south.[3] The high costs of hunting equipment—snowmobiles, rifles, sleds, camping gear, gasoline, and oil—is also causing a decline in families who hunt for their meals.[3]

[edit] Perceived benefits of the diet

The Inuit believe that their diet has many benefits over the western "Qallunaat" food. They are adamant about proving that their diet will make one stronger, warmer, and full of energy.

One example is the drinking of seal blood. When interviewing an Inuit elder, Searles was told that “Inuit food generates a strong flow of blood, a condition considered to be healthy and indicative of a strong body.”[1] After the consumption of seal blood and meat, one could look at their veins in the wrist for proof of the strength that Inuit food provides.[1] The veins would expand and darken and, as Kristen Borré observed, “the person's blood becomes fortified and improves in color and thickness.”[4] Borré states that “seal blood is seen as fortifying human blood by replacing depleted nutrients and rejuvenating the blood supply, it is considered a necessary part of the Inuit diet.”[4]

Inuit also believe that their meat-rich diet keeps them warmer. They say that in comparison to store-bought food, Inuit food takes effects on one’s body when eaten consistently.[1] One Inuk, Oleetoa, who ate a combination of "Qallunaat" and Inuit food, told of a story of his cousin Joanasee who ate a diet consisting of mostly Inuit food. The two compared their strengths, warmth, and energy and found that Joanasee benefited most based on his diet.[1]

[edit] Eating habits and food preparation

Searles defines Inuit food as mostly “eaten frozen, raw, or boiled, with very little mixture of ingredients and with very few spices added.”[1] Inuit only eat two main meals a day, but it is common to eat many snacks every hour.[5] Customs among the Inuit when eating and preparing food are very strict and may seem odd for people of different cultures.[5]

One common way to eat the meat hunted is frozen. Many hunters will eat the food that they hunt on location where they found it. This keeps their blood flowing and their bodies warm. One peculiar custom of eating meat at the hunting site pertains to fish.[5] In Overland to Starvation Cove: A History, Heinrich Klutschak explains the custom: “...no fish could be eaten in a cooked state on the spot where caught but could only be enjoyed raw; only when one is a day’s march away from the fishing site is it permitted to cook the fish over the flame of a blubber lamp.”[5]

When eating a meal, Inuit place slabs of large meat, blubber, and other parts of the animal on a piece of metal, plastic, or cardboard on the floor.[1] From here, anyone in the house is able to cut off a piece of meat. At these meals, no one is obliged to join in the meal; Inuit eat only when hungry.[1] Sometimes, though, meals are announced to the whole camp. A woman does this by the shout of “Ujuk!” which means “cooked meat”.[5]

After a hunt, the eating habits differ from normal meals.[4] When a seal is brought home, the hunters quickly gather around it to receive their pieces of meat first. This happens because the hunters are the coldest and hungriest among the camp and need the warm seal blood and meat to warm them.[4] The seal is cut in a specific way directly after a hunt. Borré explains the cutting of the seal is this way “one of the hunters slits the abdomen laterally, exposing the internal organs. Hunters first eat pieces of liver or they use a tea cup to gather some blood to drink.”[4] At this time, hunters may also chop up pieces of fat and the brain to mix together and eat with meat.[4] Women and children are accustomed to eating different parts of the seal because they wait until the hunters are done eating. Intestines are the first thing to be chosen and then any leftover pieces of the liver are consumed.[4] Finally, ribs and backbone are eaten and any remaining meat is distributed among the camp.[4]

Food sharing

[edit] Origin

Inuit are known for their practice of food sharing, a form of food distribution where one person catches the food and shares with the entire community. Food sharing was first documented among the Inuit in 1910 when a little girl decided to take a platter around to four neighboring families who had no food of their own.[6]
Sharing of frozen, aged walrus meat among Inuit families.

[edit] Food sharing today

In Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut, it is said that “food sharing was necessary for the physical and social welfare of the entire group.”[2] Younger couples would give food from their hunt to the elders, most often their parents, as a sign of respect. Food sharing was not only a tradition, but also a way for families to make bonds with one another. Once you shared food with someone, you were in a “lifelong partnership” with them.[2] Inuit often are relentless in making known that they are not like Qallunaat in the sense that they do not eat the same food and they are communal with their food.[1] Qallunaat believe that the person who purchases the food is the owner of the food and is free to decide what happens to the food.[1] Searles describes the Inuit perspective on food by saying that “in the Inuit world of goods, foods as well as other objects associated with hunting, fishing, and gathering are more or less communal property, belonging not to individuals but to a larger group, which can include multiple households.”[1] Food in an Inuit household is not meant to be saved for the family who has hunted, fished, gathered, or purchased it, but instead for anyone who is in need of it. Searles and his wife were visiting a family in Iqaluit and he asked for permission to have a cup of orange juice. This small gesture of asking was taken as offensive because Inuit do not consider food belonging to one person.[1]

[edit] Beliefs in diet

Inuit choose their diet based on four concepts, according to Borré: “the relationship between animals and humans, the relationship between the body and soul and life and health, the relationship between seal blood and Inuit blood, and diet choice.”[4] Inuit are especially spiritual when it comes to the customs of hunting, cooking, and eating. The Inuit belief is that the combination of animal and human blood in one’s bloodstream creates a healthy human body and soul.[4]

[edit] Hunting beliefs

One particular belief that Inuit strongly believe in is the relationship between seal and Inuit. According to Inuit hunters and elders, hunters and seals have an agreement that allows the hunter to capture and feed from the seal if only for the hunger of the hunter’s family.[4] Borré explains that through this alliance “both hunter and seal are believed to benefit: the hunter is able to sustain the life of his people by having a reliable source of food, and the seal, through its sacrifice, agrees to become part of the body of the Inuit.”[4]

Inuit are under the belief that if they do not follow the alliances that their ancestors have laid out, the animals will disappear because they have been offended and will cease to reproduce.[4]

[edit] Healing beliefs

Borré tells of a time when she sees an Inuit woman fall ill and blames her sickness on her lack of seal in her diet. Once receiving seal meat, the woman feels better within hours and explains that her hasty recovery is due to the consumption of seal meat and blood.[4] Borré experiences this many times among many different members of the group and they all attribute their sickness to the lack of Inuit food.[4]

A commonality seen among hunters and young men is that they very rarely fall ill because of their high consumption of seal meat to maintain strength to hunt.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_diet

here are youtube videos about the Inuit culture and the food that's eaten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2J6mOQdQ9c

I am glad that a big transneptunian object got named Sedna,the Inuit Sea Goddess and Ruler of the Underworld. Inuits are people too,and their culture just as valid as ours. Michael Brown showed respect to the Inuits and their culture by naming the transneptunian after their mythological goddess.

the biggest problem on our planet is not meat eating. It's self righteousness and intolerance of diversity as in the "I am right and you're wrong", and that fits with Eris. Michael Brown pointed that out.

Raymond

------------------
“It is absolutely the perfect name,” Dr. Brown said, given the continuing discord among astronomers and the public over whether Pluto should have retained its planetary status.

In mythology, Eris ignited discord that led to the Trojan War.

posted September 03, 2009 02:30 AM         

Olivia Rosewood
....has authored several spiritually inspired children's books. Also authors books for all ages about yoga, meditation, and lasting happiness.

Yoga Levels: Meat Eaters are More Spiritual than Vegetarians

Let me preface what I am about to say with this: I am a vegetarian.

And let me continue by saying this: that doesn't make me better or more spiritual than meat eaters.

How can that be? As we all know (or ought to by now--it has been published repeatedly by physicists), everything is energy. Our world is made of atoms, electrons, and neutrons, and nothing else. These are merely different vibrations of pure energy. So how can it be better to eat one type of vibrating energy than to eat another type of vibrating energy? Our world is a constant re-cycling of energies into different forms. Grass grows. A cow eats it. A man named Edwin eats the cow. Edwin lives a full life, dies, and is buried in his local cemetery. His body deteriorates, and becomes part of the soil. Out of the soil grows grass. So what is the grass? Is it really a vegetable? Or is it Edwin in another form? If a cow eats it, is he eating Edwin in the form of grass, or is he eating grass? Is the cow then a vegetarian or not? The line between vegetable and animal begins to get blurry. For the grass to come to exist, it was first a cow, then a man, then soil, and eventually grass. On the energetic level, nothing is separate or isolated in its existence. We are all intertwined in this cosmic energetic soup.

To believe otherwise is materialistic. On a more materialistic level, it might seem more evolved not to eat meat. It is better for the environment. It is better for your health. It is better for the animals who must give up their lives to feed you.

But even that is debatable. As my Cherokee husband often tells me (he is also a vegetarian), many Native American tribes had deeply spiritual experiences as they hunted and ate what they killed. They not only honored their experience as hunters, but they honored the being they were hunting. It was a merging of spirit, they believed, to take an animal's body to feed the tribe. The animal's spirit merged with their own in a deep union of hunter and hunted. To them, the spirit never died, only the animal's flesh. To them, the animal was liberated from the limited life afforded on this plane, and set free into the limitless spirit world. Isn't this spiritual?

To me, it is more spiritual than raw vegans who have bumper stickers condemning most of the western world not only for eating meat, but for cooking food: "Cooked food is poison." In this little bumper sticker is another message: "I'm better than you." Is that spiritual?

Of course, Native Americans who hunted in a traditional way in a wilder world were of a different time, and those animals were not factory farmed. They lived a free life in pristine natural environments.

But what about the lion? Is the lion "bad" for eating meat? What about your cat or dog? They seem to follow their intuitions guiltlessly. As do the spiritual teachers Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama, neither of whom are vegetarians.

And it is that freedom from guilt that is a most important piece in spirituality. Obviously, it is the strongest shackle in religion. And guilt is what differentiates the two.

Is a vegetarian "better" for eating vegetables? How do we know that vegetables aren't just as sentient -- if not more -- than deer or sheep? Did you know that when a tree is sick, it is able to send a message to trees in nearby forests, who then are able to protect themselves from that very sickness? (http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/762.html). In this way of communicating, they are more intelligent than humans. Can we be certain that the plant world doesn't feel as strongly as any other being?

It is the "better-ness" and the "guilt" that strike the cord of not-the-way-to-go-ness to me. Neither of those qualities evoke spirituality. In fact, the opposite is true. "Better-ness" and "guilt" are deeply materialistic, sticky, and pain-provoking.

For many people who have wanted to become vegetarians for a long time, but were unable to give up their guilty pleasure of meat eating, it was their guilt binding them to their behavior. If you can let go of the guilt, you might have a better time making an objective decision about what to eat. But as long as vegetarians enforce that guilt with their better-ness, there is a remarkably un-spiritual superficiality preventing change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivia-rosewood/yoga-levels-meat-eaters-a_b_244106.html[/UR L]

I met quite a few self righteous vegetarians,vegans in my life. I felt that they were quite the hypocrites. I also want to point out that many meat eaters give vegetarians/vegans a hard time too. It's been going both ways. Being a vegetarian/vegan is not necessarily being more spiritual nor is meat eating necessarily more spiritual.

Look at India. In that country, the caste system has been a big problem. Hindu is the official religion of India,and so most Indians are vegetarians. All the castes were vegetarians. The outcastes called the untouchables aka dalits are treating like crap in India. Many of the untouchables eat meat too,and they get shunned for it. Eating meat can make you an untouchable too. There is even a Dalit Freedom Network formed to help the untouchables. India is mainly a vegetarian country, but does the spirituality of that country stop the mistreatment of the untouchables. No...it doesn't.

Here is stuff about untouchability and eating beef. This is written by an untouchable.

Untouchability, The Dead Cow And The Brahmin
http://www.outlookindia.com/specialfeaturem.asp?fodname=20021022&fname=ambedkar&sid=2

Dalit food: How it became a means of oppression http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2945790,prtpage-1.cms

Holy Cow: Yet another school textbook controversy
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/003484.html

Intolerance of food habits
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/09/16/stories/13160467.htm

many religions are full of self righteous hypocrites.

There is too much "You are right,and I am wrong....What I believe is true,and what you believe is false", and that's the main problem that the dwarf planet, Eris seems to rule. Even Eris' co-discoverer,Michael Brown said that the mythological Eris led men to fight by making them thinking their opinions are right and others are wrong. That's the biggest problem on our planet. There is so much intolerance of diversity and other's divergent views,beliefs,and practices. You see it with religions,politics,the food that we eat,herbs,and heck...even Astrology. Pretty much everything.

My best friend,Steve who is a shaman and half Native American talks about his practice of blessing the meat that he eats. He told me that's what a lot of Native Americans do. I read about those practices too. He doesn't believe meat eating makes anybody less spiritual. He believes that its important to eat meat because of the proteins that it provides that vegetable foods don't have.

I take fish/cod liver oil for my Omega 3 fatty acid DHA,EPA intake. Fish truly is brain food. Omega 3 fatty acids are important for brain functiong. 60 percent of the brain is composed of fat. Most of the fat is DHA which is also in the eyes. DHA is important for eye functioning. Studies show that Omega 3 fatty acid deficiencies are connected to neurodivergent conditions like Dyslexia,Dyspraxia,ADHD. I read about this in the book,LCP Solution too. I take cod liver oil/fish oil to help with my own Dyslexia,Dyspraxia,and ADHD. One of the things that I noticed about taking the fish,cod liver oil is that it makes me less sensitive,emotional to the point that I am not easily overly stimulated by my environment. When I am overly stimulated, I get stressed and confused,and I can't think straight. Omega 3 fatty acids help prevent mental decline too. During my neuropsychological testing in 2006, I had 29 out of 30 on the MMSE (mini mental status exam) which is a test that is used to test cognition in alzheimers/dementia sufferers. That showed that I have very good cognition,and I didn't suffer any mental decline. I owe that to the fish/cod liver oil.

I just have to say
to each, his own

beliefs,views,practices of what is moral and ethical is relative

that's why we have so many religions,spiritual beliefs on this planet.

the views of what food is ethical and moral is definitely strongly connected to religion,spiritual views. I have already pointed that out. Of course, cultural variation factor into our views of what's moral,ethical to eat.

Raymond

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“It is absolutely the perfect name,” Dr. Brown said, given the continuing discord among astronomers and the public over whether Pluto should have retained its planetary status.

In mythology, Eris ignited discord that led to the Trojan War.

posted September 03, 2009 06:52 AM         

quote:

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live and let live.

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