My Journey to Now
My name is Carol. I'm a mom, a friend, a daughter, a wife, a sister, a twice ordained minister, a writer, a lover of life and a thought leader. From my earliest memories I felt empathy for all life forms. At the age of 15, I announced to my parents that I was going vegetarian. It was 1973. I knew no one in my life with similar inclinations. But what I did know is animals had feelings and they wanted to live. And I didn't want any part in harming or killing them. To the best of my ability, I wanted to live in alignment with my values.
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Through my 20's and 30's I was focused on my career and raising my young family. You could say that I had lost my way regarding the animals. I was still vegetarian, but I wasn't much of an advocate. While I didn't eat meat myself, I cooked it for my family. And I still consumed eggs and dairy. It seemed like I had learned to isolate my actions from my beliefs, but I was actually just uninformed, living in ignorance.
I stumbled upon the book, Dominion: The Power of Man and the Suffering of Animals by Matthew Scully in 2003. This book changed my life and got me back on track. I awakened and saw what was actually happening in our world. There is no turning back once you awaken. |
From Dominion, I learned about the gruesome dark side of the egg and dairy business. I learned about large scale industrial farming. I watched videos that laid bare the abuse and confinement endured daily by sentient, intelligent creatures - the ones we consider to be 'food animals.' I even watched horrific videos of slaughterhouses. I did this because I felt that I needed to bear witness to the suffering and sorrows of the unseen and innocent animals whom I had not let enter my consciousness for so many years. They deserved at least that. I also learned about farm sanctuaries and the beautiful human souls who cared for the lucky animals who escaped the violence, and now had a chance to live naturally, freely and fully.
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I was grateful for this work and inspired to become a long term financial donor to the cause. I was also envious of the paths those sanctuary people had taken and wondered why I had chosen such a different path. But I wasn't ignorant anymore. I changed my ways. I became vegan. It felt so freeing because I was consciously choosing a less violent life and I was much less conflicted at the soul level.
I started a second career in 2010 as a minister. I founded a spiritual community in Deerfield, Illinois and have led it for the past eight years. I love ministry because I have the opportunity to awaken people to their divine potential and truly support those who are ready to dramatically and positively change their lives. I teach that Love, Peace, Harmony and Understanding are among many of our Divine gifts, and that there is nothing we need outside of ourselves. I teach that we are masters of our own lives and have the power to create the world we live in. I teach the spiritual Truth that there is only One enduring power and presence, and it is Love and Life and we are all a part of it. We are ALL One. And I am perplexed that so many who are on this spiritual path say they believe all these things AND are also completely blind to the ways they are not living it. They are often the ones who most passionately promote peace and live on the forefront of breaking down barriers between genders, races and sexual orientations. Yet they are quite unaware of the violence they participate in every day, and the boundaries they draw between themselves and the non-human animals with whom we share the planet.
But I was ignorant once too. So I understand. I also know that it's time to awaken.
How can we ever hope to manifest Peace in the world if we are engaged in violence in our every day lives? We can't. To have Peace, we must BE Peace. We must widen our circle of Compassion to include all sentient beings. It is the next moral frontier.
This is why I am here. To be a voice for the voiceless and a light for those who are awakening to their desire to live in alignment with their deeply held values of Love and Peace; to be an advocate for Oneness.
I started a second career in 2010 as a minister. I founded a spiritual community in Deerfield, Illinois and have led it for the past eight years. I love ministry because I have the opportunity to awaken people to their divine potential and truly support those who are ready to dramatically and positively change their lives. I teach that Love, Peace, Harmony and Understanding are among many of our Divine gifts, and that there is nothing we need outside of ourselves. I teach that we are masters of our own lives and have the power to create the world we live in. I teach the spiritual Truth that there is only One enduring power and presence, and it is Love and Life and we are all a part of it. We are ALL One. And I am perplexed that so many who are on this spiritual path say they believe all these things AND are also completely blind to the ways they are not living it. They are often the ones who most passionately promote peace and live on the forefront of breaking down barriers between genders, races and sexual orientations. Yet they are quite unaware of the violence they participate in every day, and the boundaries they draw between themselves and the non-human animals with whom we share the planet.
But I was ignorant once too. So I understand. I also know that it's time to awaken.
How can we ever hope to manifest Peace in the world if we are engaged in violence in our every day lives? We can't. To have Peace, we must BE Peace. We must widen our circle of Compassion to include all sentient beings. It is the next moral frontier.
This is why I am here. To be a voice for the voiceless and a light for those who are awakening to their desire to live in alignment with their deeply held values of Love and Peace; to be an advocate for Oneness.