what do you eat?

[mon9999]

why is it that most spiritual and metaphysical people always advice to be a vegetarian and avoid meat. do we really have to be a vegetarian in order to achieve spiritual well being? what's wrong with meat?

[NoY]

maybe they are just trying to avoid the blood debt 


:NoY:

[Xanth]

There's nothing wrong with it.
It's, yet another, personal choice one can make and it's no more or less spiritual than anything else.

[personalreality]

I work with a bunch of new age hippies (who drive me crazy).  Most of them are vegetarians.

The other day I told the astrologer I work with (the most militant vegetarian of all of them) that I like the hot bar at Whole Foods better than the hot bar at the local market up the street (basically just a smaller version of Whole Foods).  She glared at me and said, "carnivore".  I said "excuse me?" to which she replied, "you like whole foods better because you're a carnivore and they support meat eaters, [other store] doesn't".  That kind of ticked me off because first of all it's not true.  The local market serves meat and whole foods serves much more in vegetarian fare than meat.  But how dare she condescend me for eating meat.  So I went on to explain to her why she is still murdering life to feed herself and I was better than her for it because I'm not in denial about it.  Animals and plants are both living creatures.  You kill both of them to eat them.  For someone who constantly complains about why we keep pets but eat other animals (like pigs, because she has a pet pig) and preaches the equality of all animals, she certainly carries a double standard for plants.  Apparently their form of life isn't as good as that of animals.  Bull$hit. 

I have no problem with vegetarians.  In fact, I am in the process of switching to a vegetarian diet because my body wants balance (i eat too much meat, which i'll still eat sparingly).  But if you are a vegetarian, don't think you're better than a carnivore because you don't kill animals.  You kill plants and don't even thank them for it.  You don't even think they need to be thanked.

[Lexy]

Frank was a vegetarian & so am I.    Not that that matters. I think it being considered more spiritual is because some religions suggest it for peace.

   
    * Buddhism
    * Hinduism
    * ISKCON (the Hare Krishnas)
    * Jainism
    * Sikhism
    * Seventh Day Adventists
    * The Society of Friends (Quakers)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_and_religion

 

 


 

[cyborg]

what's wrong with meat?

Maybe it is like a more powerful alien saying "what wrong with eating humans?".

[kurtykurt42]

[Lexy]

I don't see why someones diet is such a big deal to other people. What someone chooses to eat should make no difference to anyone unless they are cannibals.
Its funny that people have often confessed to me that they wish they could give
up meat but at the same time they feel the need to put down vegetarians. 

[personalreality]

\o/ Kurt!

I really couldn't care less how people choose to eat.  I think it's ridiculous to claim that vegetarianism is more peaceful (less violent) than eating meat.  Just because an animal bleeds like a human doesn't mean that plants are of less value.  They bleed their own blood just like everyone and everything else.  Another example of someone's dogma run away like a freight train.  Most vegetarian religions come from the east, which to me shows more of a cultural concern than a religious one.  It probably just got somehow tacked on to the religion at some point.  Nevertheless, it's just plain dumb to criticize anyone for their dietary choices.  Maybe it's the people I hang out with, but I find that vegetarians are a lot more conceited about their diets than meat eaters.  Who really cares?  If you have a spiritual urge to eat a particular diet (which i fully understand), that's great, but it doesn't mean my diet makes me unclean.  Same old story.

[Lexy]

Its a lot more about how animals are being treated than the death of them. If you did research on the terrible conditions and tortue animals go through for mass production, then you would understand the peace aspect of it. I admire how native tribes hunt & respect their food. I cant say I admire what goes on in slaughter houses. There is a belief that when you consume flesh, you also consume the energy of what it experienced.

[Stillwater]

I think it is necessary to twist a lot of the facts in a grievously biased way, however, to say that it is the same to eat plants and animals, and that the treatment each receive are equivalent. As has been mentioned, animals kept on most farms are more or less in constant torture. And people do differentiate between how they treat lifeforms of different kinds of development, based on their perceived mental experiences; case in point- most people don't feel bad about stepping on an ant, but would think twice about crushing a dog under a giant dumpster.

There are economic arguments to make as well. Consider all the bio-matter that must be cultivated, transported, and distributed in order to feed and raise an animal to kill. The cost of all the produce it eats is hundreds of times the nutritional value of its meat. If we put the same resources we put toward raising livestock into producing vegetables and grain, we could feed the entire world many times over, rather than just barely, and having many in constant starvation. There are also massive quantities of energy consumed and pollution resulting from keeping the volume of livestock we do. It has been said that given a choice between getting rid of every motor vehicle in the country, and getting rid of the livestock industry, the latter choice would be vastly more beneficial in terms of energy and pollution.

It is indeed a lifestyle choice, but I think it is a vast misrepresenttion of reality to say it does not matter which you choose, and that there are no other consequences for the world.

[personalreality]

Its a lot more about how animals are being treated than the death of them. If you did research on the terrible conditions and tortue animals go through for mass production, then you would understand the peace aspect of it. I admire how native tribes hunt & respect their food. I cant say I admire what goes on in slaughter houses. There is a belief that when you consume flesh, you also consume the energy of what it experienced.

I agree 100%, especially about the emotion you absorb when you eat that flesh.  I just assumed we were all aware of that aspect of the argument.  The treatment of animals in mass slaughter is horrendous.

[CFTraveler]

I switch between vegetarianism and omnivorous.  I love meat but don't like how the industry treat animals for slaughter.  So I do veg. for some time, until I can't help myself, and go back and forth.

[kurtykurt42]

\o/ Kurt!

I really couldn't care less how people choose to eat.  I think it's ridiculous to claim that vegetarianism is more peaceful (less violent) than eating meat.  Just because an animal bleeds like a human doesn't mean that plants are of less value.  They bleed their own blood just like everyone and everything else.  Another example of someone's dogma run away like a freight train.  Most vegetarian religions come from the east, which to me shows more of a cultural concern than a religious one.  It probably just got somehow tacked on to the religion at some point.  Nevertheless, it's just plain dumb to criticize anyone for their dietary choices.  Maybe it's the people I hang out with, but I find that vegetarians are a lot more conceited about their diets than meat eaters.  Who really cares?  If you have a spiritual urge to eat a particular diet (which i fully understand), that's great, but it doesn't mean my diet makes me unclean.  Same old story.

The only good reason to not eat meat is if you didn't like the taste of it. Fortunately, I love meat, especially with plenty of spices and hot sauces and I could care less what they do to fish, chickens, cows, pigs, and turkeys.

[Stillwater]

The only good reason to not eat meat is if you didn't like the taste of it

Again, a significantly biased claim. It is okay to say it is a manner of opinion and choice, and that there is debate involved, since it is not a black and white issue; but to flat out say that there are no reasons of any kind to support a decision otherwise, and to say that the other side of the discussion has made no counterpoints is not only willful ignorance of rational arguments, it is also lying to yourself and lying to others.