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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 28 2012 : 11:36:46 PM
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I'd been a vegetarian most of my life, since about age 12. In the last 15 years or so, I've eaten organic meats from time to time, until I learned in 2009 that contrary to what I had thought, the organically raised animals go to the same horrible slaughterhouses as the factory-farmed ones! So I decided to go back to strictly veggie, from the standpoint of ahimsa. I mean, animals do eat other animals, it's Nature; also you could look at it as, all beings arise from the same One consciousness and therefore who is eating whom?! But my objection is that the modern meat industry causes unnecessary suffering.
Anyway - I am also going through perimenopause and having heavy, erratic menses. Recently I began physically craving meat, which I struggled to ignore. Dad invited us over to his house for barbecue; he was very excited about his new grill/smoker and had cooked some ribs and chicken. I ate a little bit, originally for the sake of not hurting his feelings, and it tasted really GOOD and I ate more than I had intended, although I felt emotionally and physically "heavy" afterwards and it interfered with my meditation that night.
So then at Thanksgiving, (coincident with heavy menses) we had dinner with various people throughout the 4-day weekend and there was meat everywhere and I ate it like a starving person! It was definitely "grounding" and I was unable to experience the subtler levels in my practice, but felt physically much better and stronger.
Interestingly, while critics of left-hand tantra often claim that meat increases libido/ sexual desire, I have found just the opposite; it seems to dull my perception of everything including sex.
In any event, I have reconciled myself to the possibility that my body might need meat on a monthly basis for a while. AYP does not impose "food rules," and I have always considered myself somewhat "left hand," so it is not really an issue. However, what IS really interesting is upon self-inquiry I realized that I felt like a big hypocrite and that I had put a lot of PRIDE into my vegetarian lifestyle, i.e., there was an undercurrent of "holier than thou" which I had not previously been aware of! It is quite humbling, and has been a very interesting experience.  |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Nov 29 2012 : 02:41:41 AM
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nice frank post...as usual dear Radharani
oh yes we are definitely a bit left hand path |
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k123
118 Posts |
Posted - Nov 29 2012 : 07:20:42 AM
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Hi Radharani
Interesting post, especially the last bit about pride. I have noticed that to be the case with myself in certain situations, although not in a dietary context. I have always found it a bit of a shock and slightly humbling when I see my own hypocrisy in those kinds of situations . I also know that I have found certain really strict vegans give can radiate an aura of judgement!
I spent a while as a vegetarian and my acupuncturist persuaded me back onto meat and fish. I must say I felt better for it. I wonder if certain people are more evolved to be vegetarian, ie in areas of India where there is a long history of vegetarianism. I read a very interesting book about blood types and diet a while back, which went heavily into the evolution and migrations of different peoples and their resulting diets. In Chinese Medicine meat is considered necessary for balance and good functioning in general, an not sure what Ayurveda says about meat.
Like you, I think that the modern meat industry causes unecessary suffering, but generally maybe animals are better cared for than in the past, when there was less understanding and less regulation.
I try to eat organic meat, sourced from small farms, but sometimes it is hard and I never usually think about the slaughterhouses  there is a disconnect here, as I hate to think of animals suffering, but like to eat meat.
I have noticed this disconnect a lot, both in myself and generally in life. People love sweet little lambs and then happily eat them. I have been feeding an abandoned duck outside my home, but I am very partial to a nice confit of duck too. I try not to give myself too hard a time about it by looking at the fact that, as you say, animals do eat animals. As you say, it is an interesting experience seeing oneself like that! |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2012 : 09:13:01 AM
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I have also swung several times in the past 40 years between veggie and non-veggie lifestyles, and have dealt with the roller-coaster feelings of hypocrisy and virtue that inevitably arise from the transitions! All traps, btw... I am now able to eat what is comfortable and what feels right that minute/hour/day/week/month/year, without analyzing or attaching values or feelings to my choices. This was a very gradual adjustment, however. As for your feelings that meat would be more acceptable IF ONLY the raising and preparation of said meats were in a more conscious and humane environment, I went through a similar phase myself, and found a pretty good compromise. IF there are any farms nearby, there will likely be a 4H chapter. The kids involved in 4H raise animals for competition and then will often sell those animals for meat at some point. Our 4H chapter used a local (and, coincidentally) kosher butcher to slaughter and package the final product. At one point, I had them raise a lamb for me, then had it koshered, packaged and frozen--the entire lamb. Yes, I know--poor little lamb, BUT, remember out physiology--we DO possess the correct kinds of teeth and organs to properly eat meat! We ARE, strictly speaking, omnivores. So, I negotiated a price per pound for the entire lamb, and picked up a HUGE box of frozen lamb, wrapped and labeled, for about $2.75/lb. I gotta tell ya--this was the yummiest lamb I EVER ate, no apologies whatsoever here! Lasted for a year. People have also bought half-cows and pigs (can't kosher them, however!) through 4H, although I never did that. Harder to find is poultry... I also have found that a once or twice a month meat meal is necessary to ground my practices and keep me from becoming anemic. I totally understand the disconnect you feel about this. A Buddhist teacher I once worked with finally gave me this piece of calming advice--eat what is appropriate to your climate, geography, tradition and culture. In parts of Tibet, he said, it is too cold, dry and rocky to grow rice, but our monks there can graze sheep, and so, because that is what is a staple native food source, that is what we gladly accept from the earth to nourish us from that location. This made perfect sense to me, and helped me accept my choice to eat meat when I felt that to be appropriate or necessary. If you "feel it is necessary", then go ahead--eat the best, most consciously-raised and processed meats you can find, but don't feel like that makes you a bad person. In fact, please enjoy!
Namaste,
Michael |
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2012 : 5:19:56 PM
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Sigh..
It is always around this time of the year that I begin feeling the collective pain of the scores of birds and animals that are slaughtered so humans can feast. So many issues around this obviously..
Ethically, brings up the question of ahimsa/non-violence. But then, what is ahimsa really? Is it ok to not kill overtly but do so in other ways, say in thought/speech? I'm mostly vegan, but sometimes "catch" myself speaking my mind and then fret whether it was too harsh - trying to find the optimal balance between satya (truthfulness) and ahimsa.. Are all vegans non-violent, especially if there is a holier than thou attitude toward meat-eaters?
For most of my life I have been a vegetarian. For short stints, I did try meat, but it never felt right, so I quit once and for all about 15 years ago. At least that conflict was resolved. But I was still consuming dairy and eggs. Naively, I thought eggs were the non-fertilized kind.. Until I accompanied my pre-schooler on a school trip to a farm, and was shocked to discover that pretty much all eggs in the U.S. are fertilized. I went home, researched it, and couldn't sleep for many weeks after watching videos of the fate of male chicks at egg farms - they are ground alive and processed into various meats. I couldn't imagine such cruelty.. So, of course, I stopped eating eggs.. Shortly thereafter, I read a book describing the fate of cows.. Tears as I write this.. Coming from a tradition where cows are worshipped and revered, it was just too much to see that dairy cows are mechanically impregnated, spend their lives in a box, are violently beaten and ill-treated by workers.. New-born calves are forcefully separated and sent to slaughter all the while crying out in distress, prized as veal. The veal industry is a by-product of the dairy industry. Having kids of my own, this pain is unbearable to me. What the mother cow must go through, what she must endure is beyond what I can comprehend. Can I be that different in my sensibilities compared to non-human mothers? I still consume dairy occasionally, when traveling, etc but it always results in conflict in my mind..
Whether one is a meat-eater or a raw vegan, each will tend to find one or more justifications for it. If we look hard enough, there is a diet book out there. The meat-eater will argue that our teeth and digestive systems have evolved for this purpose. Vegans will present plenty of data to suggest the exact opposite. More and more data are being published about the benefits of a plant-based diet for serious and chronic ailments from heart disease and cancer to diminished libido. Thus far, the only diet to demonstrate a reversal of atherosclerosis is a low fat plant-based one.
There is also plenty of talk about ancient meat-eating practices of this or that culture (yet another justification). However, the primary focus of those cultures (such as the Native Americans) was to maintain balance in nature. There was a deep reverence and gratitude for those that gave their lives so someone else could live. That ecosystem is mostly non-existent. Raising scores of animals for food, ill-treating them, and mindlessly slaughtering them is no comparison to so-and-so eating meat at such-and-such time.
Ultimately, it comes down to following our dharma. A lioness doesn't wake up in the morning and wonder if killing is right or wrong. Only humans are blessed with a discriminating intellect and the ability to choose. It is for each of us to know what feels right and go with it. Not that one is better than the other, but about what doesn't cause conflict within oneself. Of course, from another perspective, all of this is maya, nothing really exists or is happening.. But that does not absolve us from living/eating, or responsibility for ourselves and others  .
Love,
kami |
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Parallax
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2012 : 10:43:08 PM
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Great viewpoints all...amazing how far we can take it in todays society...the leather belt or shoes that you wear, or the leather seats in your car, or the impact on the environment of the oil/gas that you put in your car, or the coal that is burned by the utility to provide electricity to light or heat your house ( or charge the iPad i'm using to type this), the trees that are cut down to make the paper that we write or print on (also toilet paper...oy!) and don't get me started on the poor carrots and asparagus that i had as part of dinner tonight, that were cut down in their prime to provide me nourishment...
I'm not trying to be a total jacka**, but these are all things I've thought about/ judged myself about in the past, and i've found that it can drive you a bit batty...where does it end? As Kami implies, follow your heart and what feels right to you
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2012 : 11:46:21 PM
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Wow, I've just had a similar experience. Started trying the vegetarian diet recently (for about 4 months) but decided to eat some meat at Thanksgiving, and in some sense, I felt a litte bit more energized. There must be a transition period that I've not passed through. Either that, or my stomach is like a volcano that will just digest anything, burning up the karma associated with whatever it is. I don't know...I still have a craving response when I see certain meats and desserts...but definitely less so than ever before. Thankfully, I've quit all alcohol, drugs, coffee, and any consciousness-altering substances. Food is the last frontier of ingested products for me to master.
I think, on a biological, evolutionary level, that humans are moving towards a new species that will not eat at all. I think we'll just subsist off light and prana. Some people are already achieving it. |
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Swan
India
256 Posts |
Posted - Dec 01 2012 : 05:32:13 AM
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I was shifting towards vegetarian diet to practice ahimsa, when I was teen. But I returned hurt 
Because vegetarian people highly depend on milk or dairy product here, but milk did not seem to be a non-violently sourced food to me. First of all, the cow is tied and tortured daily for the milking process, and I believe without permission from the cow, and I dont think she will like to give it to us willingly, because the milk is produced for the cub and it flows only when the cub is near the cow. When I saw that they keep the cub tied and shouting at the sight of the cow, but not near enough so that the cub can not reach the breast, so that the milk flows and people can collect - I could not bear the sight for the first time, and milk totally disqualified as a non violent food (not talking from a veg/non veg point of view, but ahimsa point of view). This is a regular torture to both the cow and the cub, and depriving the little cub from its share of food forcibly - so where is the ahimsa? (Sounds crazy, but egg is more veg for me than milk for this reason)
Then for things like honey - We need to break the bee-hive and kill all the babies, and again I start missing ahimsa...
So after spiraling in such thoughts, like parallax mentioned earlier, I am back to non-veg again. I concluded that there is no place for ahimsa in the food chain at least, because the plants also have life, can also feel the pain. Name any food, and it has come from killing something (whether it can scream or not).
So ahimsa for me now means killing ONLY for food and self-defence, and not to enjoy the killing (as in hunting for pleasure or fur or horn, torturing unnecessarily)
PS: I eat nonveg; and I eat milk/dairy product too, but can not allow myself have the relief that I am practicing ahimsa while having dairy product. |
Edited by - Swan on Dec 01 2012 05:35:32 AM |
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HathaTeacher
Sweden
382 Posts |
Posted - Dec 02 2012 : 3:50:42 PM
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No big deal with ups and downs in (self) practice.
But, if you do lot of Asana, it's wise for long-term health (joints, muscles, mucous membranes) to stay away from meat (most importantly, from meat-factory meat and poultry). This is pretty pronounced in yoga schools/traditions that emphasize daily physical practice. The reasons are similar to those in the coffee thread here
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....12169#104930 .
In teaching, to practice what you preach (Ahimsa) is part of staying authentic: of course it's up to you to consistently omit the yamas & niyamas from classes, but once you choose to include this stuff in teaching, why not go for it in life too... ;-) If you're in teaching to boost your own practices as well, then this makes a golden chance really. Arjuna in the Gita was advised to fight and kill because he had chosen to become a warrior. Had he become a yoga teacher, then he would be advised not to shrug from the consequences either.
In tantra, choosing meat can make ejac control unnecessarily difficult to learn because of the excess low-quality protein and the residual substances like natural animal stress hormones, artificial medicines and color additives, etc., in the corpse.
My USD 0.02 
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Edited by - HathaTeacher on Dec 02 2012 3:52:28 PM |
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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
Posted - Dec 06 2012 : 7:26:35 PM
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Thank you, EVERYONE, for your thoughtful replies! As always, this is such a great sangha and I really appreciate your input and knowing that I am not alone in going through such things on our journey.
Like I said, I have been a vegetarian most of my life, since age 12 and I will be 50 next year, and am well aware of the various arguments on both sides, both from a biological and a spiritual standpoint. In my youth I was 100% "meat is murder!" and all that (and VERY self-righteous about it). In more recent years since I've been experimenting with organic meat off and on, I've still felt spiritually bad about it due to the ethical concerns (ahimsa), which is why I swore it off in 2009, I thought permanently, and especially in light of my role as a yoga teacher.
Interestingly, w/ regard to teaching yoga and as a holistic wellness counselor, I have actually found my strict vegetarianism and insistence that "meat is not necessary for health" (which I have claimed my entire life up until now) has been a stumbling block to most of my students. I live in a very meat-oriented culture where people find it "extreme" even to abstain from red meat in favor of poultry or fish (and many people here who eat fish call themselves "vegetarians"!). Most of my students have found the vegetarian recommendation absurd and/or unattainable and therefore feel that they are "unspiritual" if they don't follow the diet. Meanwhile, here I am the hypocrite: so anemic that I am weak, and actually chilled during heavy menses, and my hair falling out in clumps to the point where I have to wear a wig!
So, here is where I find life is not black & white, and the ideal sometimes conflicts with the real: My spiritual "ideal" says meat is bad and unhealthy; meanwhile I've been walking around physically craving meat (which is a new and bizarre experience for me!), trying to deny the craving, substituting faux meat soy products which I believe, have added to my health problems (BTW, soy is bad both for health of person and the environment), and overeating in an unsuccessful attempt to satisfy the craving. I tried to tell myself it was all in my head, maybe just past karma burning off and/or a "spiritual test" of some kind. When I finally gave in to the craving recently and ate some meat I felt like a person who has been STARVING. Also, the other day I cooked an organic chicken which came with the gizzards in it which you remove before cooking, and as I was holding the liver in my hand, I felt a specific desire to eat it (?!) which is again, bizarre, because I have always found organ meats revolting. I could literally feel my body screaming for protein, iron and B12. (No, I did not eat the liver, but I did eat the normal chicken parts.)
So I decided to listen to my body, which is what my teacher says to do, EXCEPT he also says not to eat animals. Then again, he also promotes the pseudo-advaita doctrine "there is nothing to do and nobody to do it; you are fine just the way you are!" while in the next breath he insists, "Do your yoga practice daily!" etc. Fortunately I am at a point in my life where I feel truly free regardless of what anybody says.
With regard to the spiritual aspects, I had commented above that after eating meat I felt heavy/ grounded and less able to sense the subtle realms. This might not be a bad thing, because lately I've been feeling so transparent that I might leave my body at any time and it would be ok. But interestingly, I suspect the inability to feel the subtle realm may be a psychic defense mechanism, because when I really made the effort to feel the subtle realm, I could feel the screams/suffering of the animals (organically free-range raised, but normally slaughtered). I allowed myself to experience this, which soon led into the awareness of all the suffering in the world, the dark side of Ma Kali, where Life consumes itself, and it is just the way things are on this plane - Nature. At the same time, I don't wish to contribute to the suffering.
Quite the opposite happened one night after we ate meat from a deer which my husband's friend had killed himself; the deer had lived a happy life in the forest and our friend shot it and it died quickly. When I tuned into the energy of the deer, all I felt was sunshine and grass and breeze and maybe just a hint of surprise, like "huh?" and then just peace. Radiant energy flowed through me and my meditation and tantra that night was great. It also dawned on me that the deer was eventually going to die anyway - had it not been shot, it could have lived to an old age where it would get arthritis, etc., and would eventually be eaten by a predator, which I assume is a quite unpleasant death (based on watching my cats kill and eat a bird or mouse).
So, this brings us back to what Mikkiji said about 4H and local/humane slaughter. I really think that is the way to go if I am going to do it. We actually have deer slaughter places nearby. In fact (and I hope you guys won't think I am a horrible person for saying this) my husband and I have discussed what are we going to do when our aging Arabian horse eventually dies. He is quite healthy now but also getting old and it's inevitable at some point he will leave this plane. When a horse dies, normally its body is hauled away to a dump or to a dogfood factory. We feel it would be more honorable when he dies, to get one of the deer slaughter guys to prepare the body and then we would eat him. (anybody read Stranger in a Strange Land?)...
My plan at the moment is to continue the feeding frenzy of meat over the holidays, where it will be abundant everywhere we go, including Dad's for Christmas dinner, and then do my usual fast/detox on New Year's, get my system totally cleaned out, and see what happens after that. I will listen honestly to my body and if I crave meat, especially during heavy menses, I will eat it, rather than resisting until the point of making myself sick.
My husband has been very supportive through all this although he is a Native American and has no personal conflict about eating animals. He has been mostly vegetarian to make me happy but he is thrilled to have the opportunity to grill again. BTW, eating meat seems to have no adverse impact on his tantric skills.
Just to clear up a couple of technical concerns: Eggs are not fertile unless the hen has been with a rooster. Our chickens laid eggs for years without any rooster and I promise you, they would never hatch. So the eggs you buy in stores are NOT fertile. The problem is at the chicken farms where they have hens and roosters and intentionally produce fertile eggs which they hatch in order to produce laying hens and yes, the male chicks are killed because they don't want more roosters. As for milk, a cow will continue to produce milk with or without the calf being there, so long as she gets good food and somebody keeps milking her. My husband's family had a cow growing up and he milked her and she seemed quite content. I have heard the same thing from other people who had their own cows. The problem is with the factory-farm industry where the cows are treated terribly and yes, the calves are slaughtered for veal. Again, I am completely opposed to that industry and the cruelty involved. |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Dec 07 2012 : 02:22:10 AM
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quote:
Most of my students have found the vegetarian recommendation absurd and/or unattainable and therefore feel that they are "unspiritual" if they don't follow the diet. Meanwhile, here I am the hypocrite: so anemic that I am weak, and actually chilled during heavy menses, and my hair falling out in clumps to the point where I have to wear a wig!
many students ask me if they have to be vegetarian to do yoga.I can feel that they are not ready/willing to give up meat,so i tell them no it is not necessary to be vegeterian in order to do yoga...i also tell them that maybe (or maybe not) with time they will be spontenously less inclined to eat meat....they will see for themselves
over here i am eating a little bit of meat now...a little bit means a small piece ...once i eat it i feel grounded (i need this grounding lately)...this daily little intake of meat is perfetcly doing its job...for now i dont need to eat more than that daily to feel grounded..noting that if i start eating another piece of meat i still feel disgusted about this meat...
to sum up over here i dont have any problem in eating a bit of meat (i now even tell the strict vegeterians that they need to understand that clinging to vegeterianism is also another mind play where the mind is creating the identity: oh i am better than you...i am vegeterian...so the strict vegeterian should stop judging other,and keep themselves open to the possibility that sometimes meat is necessary and that there is no duality of good/bad in the Absolute...things are just happening)
as for health concerns,personally every year i do a blood test to make sure that my iron and vitamins etc....are good
all these years of being vegetrerian i never had any deffiency in anything
but in case i do and there is no alternative but to eat meat...well then i will meat
bottom line there are no rules....just adapt to events
much Love
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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2012 : 01:27:41 AM
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| Maha, thanks and I agree with you entirely! Since eating meat my hair is starting to grow back and I definitely feel stronger. I still feel like a mean bad person for eating the poor innocent animals but I guess I can live with that. |
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GroundedGal
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2012 : 7:36:38 PM
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quote:
I'm not trying to be a total jacka**, but these are all things I've thought about/ judged myself about in the past, and i've found that it can drive you a bit batty...where does it end?
I would like to think it doesn't always have to drive us batty. There is conflict, sure. But I'd like to think complicating it til we're batty is a choice:) Of course, I'm still figuring it out as I go along.... Thanks for all the beautiful sharings, everyone. |
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GroundedGal
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2012 : 7:40:37 PM
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quote:
I think, on a biological, evolutionary level, that humans are moving towards a new species that will not eat at all. I think we'll just subsist off light and prana. Some people are already achieving it.
Yes, some have gone several months or longer without food. |
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ramandra
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2012 : 3:45:23 PM
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Moral considerations: as someone has pointed out, it is up to your dharma. But the dharma you choose is up to you. It has to be appropriate to the innermost you and also capable of applying to the outer. Accepting authority can take you so far, but on what are the rules (such as non-violence) based? Consider, for instance, that most Buddhists don't eat meat, but Tibetan Buddhists are not usually vegetarians. You may also find that meat eating and vegetarianism respectively can encourage certain personality traits.
Physical considerations: yes, if you remain motionless in asana for very long periods it can make a difference. During a prolonged asana (an hour or more) there is often a three-fold progression. At first you feel comfortable, then feelings of discomfort arise. Once this period has passed, there's neither a feeling of comfort or discomfort. But you have to be prepared for several minutes of discomfort as you untie your legs afterwards. It gave me reason to stop eating meat at one time in my life. Another person might simply want to overcome it. This is not really a moral consideration unless you consider it within the moral duty to yourself. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Jan 02 2013 : 12:18:11 PM
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quote:
there was meat everywhere and I ate it like a starving person! It was definitely "grounding" and I was unable to experience the subtler levels in my practice, but felt physically much better and stronger.
Nice! I've recently had almost the same experience! This body needed meet at the moment. I let it eat it! But I didn't loose any subtler levels. On the other hand - the overload symptoms disappeared so that I could practice again and reach those subtler levels and still be in balance! Jay!
For the hypocrisy part when it comes to diary products: at least in Sweden (and I suppose it looks pretty much the same in many countries) 90% of the meat we buy in stores comes from the milk industry. Only a small part comes from "meet cows" that are able to walk freely with their calves. So it's not only the calves, but the cows as well that becomes our meet. A cow is valid as a milk producer only around 4-5 years although a cow may become 25 years old otherwise, and each cow gives one calf/year. The fast development in breeding demands that short time of life, so many cows goes to slaughter very early in their lives. So veggies that uses dairy products supports the whole meet market anyway, I'm afraid. |
Edited by - emc on Jan 02 2013 12:19:53 PM |
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HathaTeacher
Sweden
382 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2013 : 09:43:13 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by emc
[So veggies that uses dairy products supports the whole meet market anyway, I'm afraid.
VERY indirectly - whereas meat eaters support it VERY directly. Plus most lacto-veggies use the dairy stuff with great moderation, and mostly from organic farming. That's the yamas part of it.
The ecology part of it is, IMNSHO, even more serious (as opposed to small-scale hunting or fishing in rural areas), plus this particular industry is VERY efficient in manipulating the public opinion to fit their line of business and prevent consumers from making healthier and eco-smarter decisions. |
Edited by - HathaTeacher on Jan 15 2013 11:46:03 AM |
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parvati9
USA
587 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2013 : 7:24:21 PM
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For 40 years I do not eat birds or mammals and most of my food is organic. If I were starving and had to eat something in order to survive, it is possible I could eat some birds. But I really would rather perish than eat a mammal.
What is best for us physically may not be best for us mentally, emotionally and spiritually. What one chooses for a diet will probably correlate with one's goals, desires, priorities, sensitivities, and level of compassion.
For the first 20 years, I didn't eat meat or fish and felt very self righteous about it. I used to think vegetarian diet makes a person's body more healthy. Now I no longer believe that is necessarily true. In fact, the opposite may be more true. I do think vegan, vegetarian, and mostly vegetarian helps to clear the mind and strengthen one's connection to the Divine. Therefore, regarding spiritual pursuits, I think the closer one can get to vegan is best.
It has always seemed rather unwise to intentionally cause a living animal to suffer, no matter how it is rationalized. And it seems even more unwise to eat the flesh of such an animal. Therefore I would think that if you must eat mammals and birds, it would be best to only eat the organic or wild ones.
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musing about meat
