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Chapter 3. Organic Veganism to Heal the Planet > Give Life to Save Life
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III. Give Life to Save Life
Before we expect the lion to lay down peacefully
with the lamb, we humans must do it first.
Meat Eating Kills Both Animals and Humans
Eating meat is the biggest cruelty one can ever commit even to ourselves. Even if we don’t kill the animals ourselves, we are still responsible for their deaths.
For meat we kill literally billions [of animals.] A staggering 55-billion animals, eight times the entire global human population are killed for human consumption each and every year.103 This is not even counting the several billion fish that perish, with a total loss that translates to more than 155-million beings killed every day.
Dairy is included together with meat because the cruelty and torture is the same, and the end result is a horrible death for the poor animals. There is no mercy in the dairy industry either.
Humans die, too, each year because of meat and fish, and anything related to animal consumption. Nearly 33-million people succumb to meat-related diseases annually through heart disease, cancer and other conditions that claim the lives of more than 90,000 persons each day.
And then there are those who cannot obtain food because the grains they need are used to feed animals that will be killed for meat. There are 25,000 people who die of hunger indirectly, also because of meat.104
We have hundreds of thousands of people die each year as the victims of meat-caused global warming. And we have tens of millions of others who are made homeless due to climate change. We call them climate refugees, if there is such a term; in fact, they have no status.
And this is not including the innocent wildlife and domestic animals who suffer because of meat-related problems.
Meat causes global warming and kills, and kills and kills. Therefore, MEAT is murder, a crime that must be stopped.
Animal Slaughter: a Crime of Global Proportions
There is no bigger moral crisis than the one that is created by the mass massacring of sweet, innocent living beings for our pleasure when we have other choices. Such mass murder is a crime of global proportions. And this killing energy in turn breeds and strengthens other negative energy, which is degrading our society and destroying our world.
We have produced a lot, a lot, and a lot of negative energy by killing billions and billions of innocent sentient lives, and killing millions of our fellow humans even, over millennia, directly or indirectly. Directly is through war. Indirectly is through disease that we made ourselves, like with the bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and now swine flu, bird flu, etc.
It is not a coincidence that the main cause of global warming is meat eating. And many of the leading health problems in our world are also derived from meat eating. So meat eating is cruelty to animals. Meat eating is cruelty to our well-being. Meat eating is cruelty to our children’s well¬being. Meat eating is cruelty to the planet. Be vegan, and we will never have to suffer many of these kinds of consequences ever, ever again.
We have to stop the killing of men or animals. We have to stop producing animal products. And we have to stop using it. Three stops: stop killing, stop producing, stop using. And stop eating it, of course, stop eating the meat.
When people understand the gruesome truth behind
animal farming and the innocence of all the animals
who sacrifice their lives, it is easy to see that eating
the dead flesh of another being is not only
unnecessary, it leaves us with a trail of bloody footprints.
Restore Harmony with Nature
We should all remember that we share this planetary abode, the water, the air, the resources, the food; all of nature, we share only. Be veg, go green and save their planet too, the planet of the animals. This is truly the best way to restore our environment and ensure the highest degree of peace.
“We are part of the Earth and she is a part of us. The
fragrant flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the
great eagle, are our brothers. What is man without the animals?”
“If all animals disappear, humankind would die of a great
spiritual loneliness. The rocky peaks, the humid
countryside furrows, the physical warmth between horse
and man—they all belong to the same family. Earth does
not belong to man; it is man who belongs to the Earth.”
—Chief Sealth, Duwamish Native American Chief,
after whom the city of Seattle in Washington State, U.S.A. is named
Imagine our planet without animals at all. All the dogs gone, cats gone, birds gone, fish gone, buffalos gone, elephants gone; imagine, none of the animals survive, how would we live? How would our life feel abundant? It would feel very dry and meaningless.
So, if we respect all life, then we also don’t take any life. The Earth provides in plenty for humans and for animals. We don’t need to take in a way that hurts or harms any other being. That means the animal-free diet, again and again and again.
If all humanity lives with the animal-free diet, and lives in respect for nature and other life, then we will have a Heaven on Earth. Everything will be forgiven. Everything will be well and good. The planet will be restored, the animals will be thankful, the humans will be healthy, and all will be happy and blessed. That’s all there is to do, be veg.
Animals Bring Love to the World
The animals really come to help mankind. Like the Bible said, “I make them to befriend you and be your helpers.” It’s truly like that. But not every human can avail of this help and that’s a pity. Instead, they kill them.
Anything God puts on Earth is for a purpose. We should not kill anything. We should not eat anything except a plant-based diet.
The animals come to this planet with a special role. Many of them are able to bring down divine power from Heaven, or love, just through their presence. Some, like horses and rabbits, can protect their human caregivers from negative influences, or boost them with good health, good luck, even material fortune, joy or spiritual upliftment. They watch out for us quietly, and humbly send blessings our way. Some of them are from higher levels of consciousness; they only came down in animal form to help humankind or other beings on Earth.
Animals also have very noble, vital roles in the physical realm. Some animals, like zebras, monkeys, and wild parrots help to disperse the seeds, while bees and other insects help to pollinate crops and other plants, and others maintain the health of the forests and oceans. Animals directly help humans as well.
I read in the newspapers, I heard on the radio, I saw on TV, so many noble animals that rescue people. They rescue their own kin at the expense of their own life. So we should learn from all these golden animals.
(Please see Appendix 10 for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s spiritual insights on the NQ or Noble Quality and LQ or Loving Quality of animals and humans.)
Create Eden on Earth
With the organic, vegan lifestyle as part of everyone’s heroic mission, our efforts together will surely bring a safe and saved world for both humans and our beloved animal co-inhabitants.
It will be like Eden on Earth where everyone has equal access to community services as well as community resources. And everything will be distributed evenly. And everyone will be respected and loved and taken care of exactly like the next one or the last one or the first one.
Dialogue between Master and Disciple:
Q: Master, Would you kindly explain as to how a loving
relationship between humans and animals would affect
our planet?
M: Well, that will be a big peace on Earth, I mean capital
PEACE.
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