Life in general

847: 

If we are going to respect animals, we must also respect life in general; surely the very life force should be respected and marvelled at, if only because Nature is probably the most beautiful thing we know. And yet, as staggeringly beautiful and inspiring as it is, we uglify our environment. Humans are lucky, to be enjoying all that beauty, supplemented by man-made miracles such as the music of Bach and the words of Shakespeare and other great human forces. As difficult as life is for the human, we’ve had our burden lightened. Human achievements, and the ideas springing from them, have eased our suffering and given us some sort of protection. We’ve sure needed it against the Exploitative Humans (for the sake of argument, let’s say they represent one per cent of any population). The 99% suffer, but what do we humans know of suffering? The real suffering is experienced by our caged slaves, the angels in sheep’s clothing.

            It’s always far, far worse, for farm animals. And they are twice our number (perhaps sitting, two-angels-per-person, one on each shoulder!) For the fourteen billion animals awaiting execution, there are no ‘easing forces’ to help them, only routine holocaust. The numbers are so great and their violation so coldly inflicted, that that’s where one’s attention should be focussed. Here is the greatest need for ‘protection’ and safety, for the billions of sentient (farm) animals presently languishing in gaol, at our behest.

            If we can take on this protection-agency, we’ll be restoring the balance of Nature, no less. And if it needs repair then it’s down to us to do it. [The cows didn’t try to wreck the planet, so they and their fellow ‘food’- animals, don’t deserve to be punished.]

            Eating animals doesn’t make any sense on any level. The cruelty they undergo is one thing, another is the stupidity of ignoring science. We learnt about the quality of nutrition in foods of plant origin some sixty years ago, and still we won’t put our knowledge into action. People prefer to continue a grotesque, life-destroying, abattoir-mentality.

What am I saying here? Am I talking about damage done to our own species? Well, if so, so what? Now we have reason to tune into our inner ‘repairing-spirit’. We don’t need to do much else. We humans are garage mechanics, here to repair things when they don’t work any longer. In this time of ‘sensitive intelligence’, our present brains are over-written with the moral codes of the past, and all the stronger we are for that, but now there’s a quicker and more thorough intelligence around. Maybe kinder hearts? We are well prepared for the Revolution ahead.

We have one chance - boycotting. In boycotting animal-based commodities we are doing a lot to save these very animals from the worst type of human predation. For all of us it’s an atonement and a very practical way of developing a repairing attitude. The starting line is food, because it’s an everyday occurrence, universally carried out everywhere. It’s our main energy source, but unfortunately so much of it is depleting our best energy because it’s tainted food. The food we eat is like a dance we dance all day, everyday, with everyone, everywhere (and that includes clothing and a move towards non-animal-based fabrics). It’s food and clothing that we must find cruelty-free alternatives to, but mostly it’s about seeking forgiveness and developing empathy.

In a circus, the trained seal finds it difficult to jump through a hoop of fire. Similarly, it’s hard for  trained humans to jump through the hoop of symbiotic relationships, in terms of equality and altruism. But, it happens anyway, when we behave magnificently when around children at home. Generous, kind, selfless, intelligent, etc. So why not apply that same approach, that same empathic closeness, to other sentient life-forms?

Since the nineteen fifties, nutrition-science has been discovering how humans can feed themselves - maximising energy but minimising harm. And that in turn has freed some of us to be partners not deadly enemies of animals. If we can tap into our compassionate side, we can walk more gently on the Earth. But when will all this start?

Perhaps we aren’t quite ready to start. As ‘garage mechanics’, repair depends on practising what we preach. We can’t ‘be something’ if we’re not. Take vegans, ‘peace-lovers’, who are not the hard/cold/separate types; these vegans have the opposite intention. But that’s not to say that we too don’t  still have a lot to learn about ourselves. But the omnivore and the carnivores at the extreme, who are a long way from animal liberation. They hold all of us back. So, you get the picture! The human race might have a way to go yet!

So,

In the meantime,

What should a vegan be focussing on? Springing animals from jail? But doesn’t that depend on us persuading the consumer to boycott? And to get there, we need to show animals as benign beings with souls worthy of saving, and then to show them set against a backdrop of the worst extremes of factory farming.