Why be vegetarian?

[InfinitePotential]

For the vast majority of people, imo, their consciousness would raise from incorporating the single most nutritious food group, organ meats, into their diet. And getting rid of suspect foods like wheat, corn, soy, dairy, chemicals etc. Just adding liver and egg yolk can clear up sooo many nutrient deficincies that so many of us have (hopefully from the most humanely raised animals as possible). Making you healthier and happier. Additionally, we are (pretending to be) animals and require proteins for structure, the proteins from animals more closely match what we need in terms of their amino acid profile. The whole animal, not just muscle meat. 

As for enlightened folk or breatharians or people who feel great without animal foods, more power to them. But if your health is lacking in almost any way, eating organs, collagen, marrow, broth etc from healthy animals can go such a long way in helping you. 

And of course, be thankful and try not to support factory farming and needless suffering. Do your research and buy from legitimate family farms who are doing it right... Giving say a chicken a good, relatively safe life and plenty of space and sunshine and fresh air and chicken friends, and a quick, painless death that goes towards sustaining humans... Not that bad of a life for a bird imo.

*this is written at my current level of consciousness, state of mind, and understanding, and is subject to change  

[sgn]

@isabel Hi  Are you vegetarian because of morality? If so, why did you stop there?

[isabel]

12 minutes ago, sgn said:

Hi  Are you vegetarian because of morality? If so, why did you stop there?

Hi, yes mostly because I love animals and I didn't stop there I've always tried to be my idea of a good person, is that what you meant?

 

[sgn]

@isabel I just mean if you have considered veganism?

[isabel]

8 minutes ago, sgn said:

@isabel I just mean if you have considered veganism?

oh right lol! I did it for a while but got too hungry, so I reincluded most dairy except for eggs...

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Apparently, people criticize Mooji for eating meat.

Yeah, eating humans tends to raise some eyebrows

[Leo Gura]

5 hours ago, isabel said:

Are you saying that consciousness wants to express itself as compassion more than it wants to express itself as violence? 

Consciousness is INFINITELY EVERYTHING!

But as you become more conscious of that you will have less need or desire for violence.

[Arman]

3 hours ago, robdl said:

Chogyam Trungpa ate meat, smoked cigarettes, and drank like a fish. 

don't forget the cocaine

[Joseph Maynor]

3 hours ago, robdl said:

Chogyam Trungpa ate meat, smoked cigarettes, and drank like a fish. 

Sounds like most people I know haha. 

[Prabhaker]

3 hours ago, robdl said:

Chogyam Trungpa ate meat, smoked cigarettes, and drank like a fish. 

It's like a man who climbs the mountain and all the time brings a lot of stones. Perhaps even carrying the stones, you can reach the top of the mountain, but it creates unnecessary complexity. You could throw the stones, you could relieve yourself and your ascent could become easier, more pleasant. A reasonable person does not incur the stones up the hill, not suffer anything unnecessary. And the higher it will climb, the easier and easier it will become.

[sgn]

1 hour ago, isabel said:

oh right lol! I did it for a while but got too hungry, so I reincluded most dairy except for eggs...

Lol ok. There is no need to go around hungry just because you're vegan. Diary industry is cruel as hell.
So much suffering and they get killed too.

Edited July 25, 2018 by sgn

[tsuki]

8 hours ago, isabel said:

can the one consciousness have an experience that it doesn't want?

@isabel What do you mean by 'wanting'?
There is no external consciousness you are supposed to arrive at which is different from what you experience now.
You are not supposed to become something that you are not right now and arrive at consciousness.
You are supposed to understand what exactly are you (as you are yourself here and now) and within that understanding recognize the teachings of various non-dual schools (some of which talk about consciousness).

Any desire (wanting) and any suffering (rejecting) is within your experience because you project it upon other human and non-human beings.
Even the suffering of animals is what you experience as you talk about butchering them inhumanely, because you understand yourself in a way that relates butchering with suffering.
There is only one 'person' in existence, playing various roles by blinding itself to itself.
As I write this post to you, I miss the fact that you are my understanding of your post. Therefore I'm answering myself.
The more and more universal this 'person' becomes, the less and less qualities it has. The limit being consciousness itself.

So, can consciousness have an experience that it doesn't want, or not?
Consciousness is inconceivable. Asking and answering questions about it bears no usable knowledge.
It is impossible to answer this question in any meaningful way.

[Solace]

http://theascensiontimes.com/peace-meatless-diet/

[isabel]

@tsuki Thank you. (wow)

There is no external consciousness and there is only one person.

I am supposed to understand exactly what I am here and now, am I everything?

What is nondual? 

There is only one person playing various roles by blinding itself. Yes! I actually got that one day and I cried and laughed because I thought it was so funny that we all believe that we're different people, but sometimes we hurt each other but sometimes that's what starts you towards waking up, so that's why I'm wondering what is suffering? And why would it then be bad to cause suffering and it is even possible to cause suffering?

Suffering in MY experience, so who put it there? Me? And is that the same with animals? If I eat an animal then I am the animal being eaten so how could I do that to myself if I'm not okay with it?

Sorry lol, it's too many questions I know, and like you said some  of these probably don't have any answers...

 

 

[FeathersandPennies]

@InfinitePotential

I agree, since this is what I also experience. 

My dietary choices are based on my food being humanely and sustainably grown. This includes meat and non meat foods. And how the foods feel to my body/mind/spirit.

I'm a fan of eating a variety of colors, textures and flavors. I love to support my local economy and ecosystem first and foremost. I do like to splurge on avocados and coconut oil since these are nutrient dense foods but they don't grow in my area.

I don't think the intelligence and life of a plant is less valuable than that of an animal. I'm thankful for the nourishment they give me.

I make these choices because it feels good to me. ( I was vegetarian for 5 years before I knew about humanely raised animals and my body was not happy with a vegetarian diet).

Do what feels good to you!

[FeathersandPennies]

 

[sgn]

 

3 hours ago, FeathersandPennies said:

My dietary choices are based on my food being humanely and sustainably grown.

But are they humanely murdered too?

[FeathersandPennies]

@sgn 

Death is a part of life.  I accept that. I am thankful to the plants, animals and microbes that I eat.  My body will also be eaten one day.  

Just because you aren't eating meat, doesn't mean that there is no murder involved with what you are choosing to eat. 

Plants are alive and intelligent. 

I'll say it again, I choose to eat the way I do because I it feels good to me. I'm not saying that anyone else should eat the way I do.

Do what feels good to you. 

 

 

  

 

[tsuki]

11 hours ago, isabel said:

I am supposed to understand exactly what I am here and now, am I everything?

@isabel Yes. You know the teachings and your job is to 'look through your own eyes' and see how they are true.
Assume that the teachings are 100% true and try to 'squeeze' your understanding of your perception so that it fits into the theory.

11 hours ago, isabel said:

I'm wondering what is suffering?

Suffering is resistance to what is (isness/suchness/self-apparence/obviousness).
You avoid acknowledging what is happening and try to change it.
It is not that suffering is unpleasantness of something. Suffering can be very much co-existant within pleasure.

For example, you can suffer when you are having a pleasant evening.
Suffering is the context in which you anticipate the ending of this evening and thinking about your tomorrow's work.
You can also not suffer when you argue with your partner.
That happens when you actually focus on the negative emotions you experience and are honest to what you are doing.

Suffering is resistance to what is. Suffering is dishonesty towards your experience.
Suffering is an action, or an attitude towards whatever is happening.

11 hours ago, isabel said:

And why would it then be bad to cause suffering and it is even possible to cause suffering?

There are answers on many levels to this question.

At the basic level - you can cause suffering to others if you assume that they do not see the difference between suffering and pain.
At this level, you can cause pain to others and that makes them suffer.

At the higher level - you cannot cause suffering to others. If you know that experiencing and embracing pain makes the suffering go away, then your doings are not related to other people's suffering. For example, you can actually cause others to suffer by being nice to them if they start to worry about being rejected by you. That suffering is then related to their ignorance towards the nature of suffering. If they were present with your niceness, then they would not suffer and you cannot be held accountable for their response (neither to pain, nor to pleasure).

At yet higher level - you recognize that whatever you assume about other people will influence your perception of their suffering.
Not only that you have an intention of inflicting pain or pleasure to others, but you also are the one that reads their response to it.
Your understanding of their response is dependent on your assumptions about how advanced they are, so by influencing your own perception you can swap between the two levels I mentioned earlier. From this point of view you can neither cause, nor not cause suffering of others.
From this point of view, suffering is an incidental idea that you use to orient yourself in maya.

11 hours ago, isabel said:

Suffering in MY experience, so who put it there? Me? And is that the same with animals? If I eat an animal then I am the animal being eaten so how could I do that to myself if I'm not okay with it?

Empathy towards animals is what causes your suffering. You assume that they feel whatever you feel when you cut your finger with a kitchen knife.
You extrapolate that experience and imagine that dying is that experience multiplied by 1000 times.
That of course is an assumption, as it may very well be that an organism releases painkilling chemicals upon near death, so that it is anesthetized to pain. Nobody knows that though.

You empathize with animals out of your ignorance to what I already said.

11 hours ago, isabel said:

Sorry lol, it's too many questions I know, and like you said some  of these probably don't have any answers...

These answers are my personal answers, so they may not be applicable to you.

[isabel]

@tsuki Wow! Thank you so much tsuki, I hope I can be that clear one day.

I got a lot from all the answers on this thread, and from the whole forum really, an amazing group of people, I'm so glad I found this group.