“I believe that you have a right to your beliefs and choices regarding your dietary decisions. Likewise, I have the same right, along with others who choose to include meat in their diet.” (actual comment on a published article) For those of us who give voice to the plight of animals used for food, this is a very familiar response. We hear it all the time. Awakening people to animal exploitation and violence often triggers within them a respectful reply that what they eat is a personal choice. At first glance, this appears rational. Freedom is one of our most sacred gifts. I want to be free to make my own choices and to plot the course of my own life. I don’t want others to interfere with my life and tell me what I can and cannot do. I want to be the captain of my own ship. But is this really a personal choice? To test your mind a little bit, how do you feel about these statements? Slave owner: “I believe you have a right to your beliefs and choices regarding business practices. Likewise, I have the same right, along with others who choose to use slaves in their business.” Rapist: “I believe you have a right to your choices regarding your sexual practices. Likewise, I have the same right along with others who choose to rape women as their sexual practice.” Terrorist: “I believe you have a right to your choices regarding how and where you drive your car. Likewise, I have the same right to choose to drive my car into a crowd of people.” These statements hold no ethical merit among normal people in a civilized society. In fact, they are ludicrous because they mask the fact that there is a victim – someone who physically suffers at the hands of a perpetrator. In a civilized society, this deep innate desire for freedom can only be exercised in a moral sense if our choices don’t impair the freedom of another. You can’t ethically mask torturing people as some kind of right you have to choose how you conduct business. Nor can you ethically mask rape or killing as some kind of personal right or choice. We simply are not free to make any choice we want when it involves the life of someone else. When it hurts another, it is no longer just personal. No one would condone torturing, raping and killing as personal choices in the above scenarios. But we do we condone torturing, raping and killing animals (all of which are standard practices used to turn animal bodies into ‘meat’) as acceptable personal dietary choices. Why is that? The question becomes even more absurd because we know that an abundance of healthy, less harmful and less violent food options are readily available to us. And we know that the era of needing animal skins and flesh for our survival has long passed. It comes down to this: We don’t consider animals to be worthy of our consideration. What have animals done to deserve virtually no legal or moral consideration? Absolutely nothing. They are innocent. Animals have been declared sentient in 2500 scientific studies, which means they have the capacity to feel, perceive, and have personal experiences. Like us, they suffer and have complex emotional lives that include happiness, sadness, care and empathy. Like us, they have families and fight for their lives when facing death. We know all this! Yet we still think they are merely things for us to use for our own desires. We have placed them outside our circle of ‘us.’ They are a ‘them.’ A frightened cow gets a last glimpse of the outside world before entering the slaughterhouse. Photo credit Hannah Elizabeth, Sympathy at Slaughter Throughout history, there have been many ‘thems’ considered unworthy of consideration and cast outside the circle of ‘us.’ Among them are poor people, diseased people, women, children, indigenous peoples and slaves. These groups were all relegated to ‘them’ status and any actions against ‘them’ were considered morally acceptable. Thank God human consciousness is capable of evolving and we have the power to change our minds and habits. And thank God we have continually been hard at work erasing these ridiculous arbitrary boundaries over the past few centuries. It is now time to consider the existence of another age-old arbitrary boundary – the one between humans and animals. Eating meat is not merely a personal dietary choice because it involves the life of someone else. Our humanity calls us higher. The animals deserve our consideration now. Let there be Peace on earth and let it begin with me. We are ALL One. "Kindness and compassion towards all living things is the mark of a civilized society." Cesar Chavez
© carol saunders 2017
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If you are on the spiritual path, you know it is not an easy path. The spiritual path takes you into your dark corners. It demands that you give up being a victim and take responsibility for your life. It calls you to live in integrity and forgiveness. It challenges you to love outrageously, live fearlessly and trust radically. It is the path of the peaceful warrior, the road less traveled. Most people don’t choose this path, preferring instead to live in victimhood or domination. Certainly, not all vegans are on this path! But all of us who are on the spiritual path – if we are truly on it – are destined to choose veganism at some point, just as we have chosen the paths of civil rights and gay rights. You can fight it, but it is just a matter of time until you encounter the place in your psyche where you can no longer ignore your inner conflicts. Inner Conflict by Christine Ogden Veganism is a spiritual practice. Plain and simple. It puts into practice everything that the spiritual journeyer believes and professes. It is living what we already believe. We believe in Oneness. We believe that everything is interconnected and of God. All living beings have a spark of the divine within! This compels us to not draw boundaries between others and ourselves and to not bring unnecessary harm to any being. It calls us to live the golden rule and honor and respect all of Creation. We do our best to do unto others as we would have them to unto us, because we know that what we do to another, we do to ourselves. That is because we are One. We value Compassion and Kindness. We spiritual journeyers are people who strive to be loving, compassionate and kind. We do not want to bring harm to others, particularly the young and innocent. We tend to be passionate about social issues where oppression and exploitation are rampant, desiring instead freedom and respect for all. Our hearts are open, especially to those who need our mercy, care and compassion. We are continually called to be Love. The love that we are called to express is Universal, not specific to those who are close to us or to those we choose to love. Jesus commanded us to “love God with all your heart and to love one another.” He stretched us to “love your enemy” and “love your neighbor.” Loving in greater and greater ways was at the root of his teaching. Buddha’s eight-fold path is grounded in Universal Love and compassion for all living beings (right conduct and right living). The first two statements in the Tibetan Buddhist Four Immeasurables are: May all sentient beings have happiness and may all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. As spiritual journeyers, we are continually challenged to expand ourselves as Love to include more. We accept everyone for who they are, especially those who have been ostracized, minimized, objectified, exploited or maligned by our society. Real Love knows no boundaries! It is unconditional and infinite! We understand the Law of Giving and Receiving. We normally apply this spiritual law to our finances. When we give of our supply, we open ourselves to receiving Good back. When we withhold our giving, we withhold our ability to receive. We can also apply this law to Life itself. When we give life – through our support and stewardship of and care for it, we open ourselves to receiving Life. When we take life away – for personal wants or whims, not needs or defense – we withhold our ability to receive Life. So we naturally want to not only do no harm to our fellow beings; we want to be supporters and nurturers of their lives in every way! We value non-violence and do not want to instigate or participate in violence (unless we need to defend ourselves). We know that violence causes great harm to others and impacts the collective consciousness. When we violently take the life of another who wants to live, we give life to the energies of anxiety and fear. Where does that energy go? It doesn’t just disappear. It comes back to us. We spiritual journeyers admire and seek to emulate the nonviolent approaches of Jesus, the Buddha and leaders such as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. They showed us the true spiritual power in choosing nonviolent options. We too are Peacemakers. Our interpretation of the Bible is spiritual, not literal. We don’t believe that Creation was made for humankind to control and dominate for our own purposes and desires. We believe the word dominion in the creation story refers to stewardship, or it metaphysically refers to our ability to have dominion over our thoughts and beliefs. All of Creation is animated by God and all creatures have their own purpose. Our greater complexity does not give us license to dominate, exploit or oppress others. Rather, it gives us the capacity to be caring, respectful, kind and in wonder of it all. In this way we love God. We know that with the power of our minds, we can change beliefs, thoughts, habits and patterns that no longer serve us. Spiritual journeyers are committed to transformation and evolution. We know we don’t have to stay stuck in beliefs and cultural structures that we inherited or made decisions about in the past. Whatever we learned from our past – especially beliefs and habits that limit us or cause suffering – can be changed. In fact, when we put our minds to it we can overcome anything! All of this is who we say we are or who we are on the path to becoming. So how is it that we find ourselves participating nearly every day in violence? We need look no further than our plate or shoes to be reminded that we do. Our food and clothing choices can cause enormous suffering to fellow beings who have personal interests and want to live. We confine and dominate them, cut their throats, eat their corpses and take their skins when there are many nonviolent alternatives readily available. We don’t want to look at this, but the hardcore truth is we oppress and kill others simply to satisfy our daily desires. It seems that we have succumbed to an unconscious habit that does not coincide with who we want to be. When we choose eggs, we choose gassing or grinding up baby male chicks alive. We can’t profess our beliefs in Universal Love and Oneness and sing, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,” while also exploiting and exterminating other beings without experiencing inner dissonance and discord. That is why it is just a matter of time before we make the choice to take up the spiritual practice of veganism. A colorful plant-based meal Veganism puts into practice everything that we spiritual journeyers already believe and value: Love, Peace and Harmony for all. It calls us to draw our circle of Oneness wider and withdraw our participation in systemic cruelty and exploitation. Simply put, it is the spiritual practice of minimizing harm and maximizing the expression of the heart. It is also perhaps the most significant action step we can take to bring Peace and Harmony to our world, because it is actually something we can do today. We don’t have to have to manipulate another person, group or government. We don’t have to wait for others to do it before we do. We have complete control over the decision to withdraw our consent to using animals, and we can save a life – many lives – today. For those who have ears to hear, today I invite you to awaken! Open yourself to a new perception and make the decision that you no longer want to participate in unnecessary violence. You don’t have to change overnight, although many do. Just as with the spiritual practices of prayer, forgiveness, gratitude and meditation, you can choose to take baby steps toward full engagement. You can start by living one day each week free of animal products and expand from there. There are many resources to support you.
A Peace that passes understanding awaits! We are ALL One! “We believe that all life is sacred and that man should not kill or be a party to the killing of animals for food; also that cruelty, war, and wanton destruction of human life will continue so long as men destroy animals.” Charles Fillmore © carol saunders 2017 Mother’s Day is a time when most of us do something to recognize our moms. It’s a big day for brunch, flowers and cards. But is it also an opportunity acknowledge and celebrate the power and wonder of mothering itself. Every one of us came into this world through a mother. The mere fact that we were each incubated and nurtured in the biological miracle of the womb is something to be completely in awe of. Birth - while the most common activity on the planet - is also the most spectacular. With each birth a new life of infinite potential emerges into our world. Mother’s Day is also a good time to honor the feminine and reflect on where our masculine and feminine energies are out of balance. Whether we are biologically male or female, each of us holds both masculine and feminine energies within. Clearly we live in a culture that rewards and encourages masculine energy. Our culture is all about being in action, having power and control, achieving goals and conquering new territory. As a woman who once strived for 20 years to be successful as a chemical engineer in the oil business, I have been fully immersed in this experience. It isn’t a bad thing. But there is room for balance. When we fully appreciate and integrate the feminine - as a society and as individuals - we will be on the path to authentic expression, unbridled creativity and inner peace. And as long as we undervalue or denigrate the feminine, our world will be out of balance – and in a very destructive way. The opportunity to establish balance is before us. And it goes much deeper than we think. Many of us consider ourselves feminists, or we support the feminist cause, and almost all of us deeply appreciate the role of mother. So there is some irony in the fact that most of us also - whether we are conscious or unconscious about it - participate nearly every day of our lives in the objectification, sexualization, confinement and exploitation of females. And the denigration of motherhood itself. You may wonder how this can be. We do it every day. It’s so prevalent and culturally accepted that it is invisible to us. Whenever we put milk in our coffee or cheese on our sandwich, we are a part of a process that egregiously denigrates mothering and the feminine. It’s hard to get this since we are conditioned to seeing milk being promoted to us like this: I used to believe in happy cows too. In fact I spent decades being completely unconscious to what dairy really was. When I woke up, I was shocked by the reality. And yet it was so obvious all along. All those products that I had trained my taste buds to love were derived from the milk of a mom. Not my mom, but a mom whose milk was intended for her baby. Like all of us, I had been brainwashed to believe that milk was good for me, even something that I needed for calcium and protein. Moreover, I thought that no one was hurt in the process. But the truth is, I don’t need milk. I only needed milk for a very short period of my life – when I was a baby myself. And the milk that I needed was from my own mom – not from a mom of another species. I had no idea how much I was hurting other moms and their babies with my simple glass of milk. When we wake up and see the truth, we come to the realization that a mama cow is able to produce milk only because she has a baby. The first step to producing milk is ensuring that she is pregnant. This rarely happens the old-fashioned way. On large-scale farms where 86% of our milk comes from, she is impregnated over and over like this: Female cows are inseminated by restraining her on what is called a 'rape rack' while a human arm is placed in her anus and 'insemination gun' is placed in her vagina to inject bull sperm into her uterus. If she were a human, we would call this rape. Once pregnant, the gestation period for her calf is about nine months, just like us humans. Like most moms, our cow mama is wired to nurture her baby when he or she is born. This extraordinary animal instinct - mothering energy - is perhaps the most remarkable and important activity that exists, because it determines the health and wellbeing of us as individuals, as families, and on a macro level, our entire planet. It is an animal instinct. And it is beautiful. When I gave birth to my firstborn, I remember being overcome with the feeling that I would do anything to ensure her survival. Anything. I didn’t know a single thing about who she was or what she might become. But I could feel that the life force within me was wired to keep her safe, and I knew that I would throw myself in front of a truck to save her if I had to. She was just hours old and this was the clearest feeling I think I have ever had in my life. It was that way with each one of my babies. Our mama cow is no different. But since we humans want to consume her baby’s milk, her baby is taken from her typically within hours after his birth. The separation is traumatic. Devastating. Mama will get aggressive. She will wail and cry, as she yearns to be united with her baby. I would get aggressive and wail and cry too (at a minimum!) if someone took my baby from me. If her baby is a boy he will soon show up on someone’s plate as cheap beef or veal after a miserable short life of extreme confinement. If she’s a girl, she will likely be put in a very small lonely hutch, fed milk replacement and raised to grow up to be just like her mom. At the age of 13 months she will enter into the cycle of forced impregnation (can we say rape?), pregnancy, birth, and then have her babies torn from her, as she produces milk for humans. Milk that we have no biological need for. This calf who was recently separated from her mom, will live the next few months in a small hutch shown in the background. Can this story get any worse? Unfortunately it does. The conditions these moms live in on the factory farm are unnatural with 90% of them being confined primarily to indoor operations and 60% being tethered by the neck. Practices such as tail docking and the use of growth hormones to induce greater milk yields (four times more than in 1950) are common. But it gets worse, because this mama, in just five short years of life gave virtually everything that there was for her to give. Everything. And when her udders are spent and she no longer produces milk at the level that is economical to keep her alive, she is rewarded with an early and violent death. She would normally live to around 20 years old. Goodbye sweet one. About 10% of dairy cows sent to slaughter are too weak to stand. When we choose milk, we are part of a machine that devalues, dominates and abuses the feminine and mothering in the most atrocious way. We may excuse our behavior by saying, “It’s just a cow.” But the cow is a she. And just like us she has her own interests and desires to live and create family. It would be just as easy for someone to say, “It’s just a woman,” or “It’s just a girl” to us humans. And we know the devastation that can bring. This is the way we give ourselves license to do whatever pleases us with another. It is time to stop. It is time to stop putting arms in anuses and insemination guns in vaginas for our own wants. It is time to stop confining moms and robbing them of their own children. It is time to stop declaring that a life holds no value because she no longer produces what is useful to us. It is time to start living in alignment with our values of Love and Kindness, and our desire for Peace for all Beings. We are all God's creatures. Today, let us rise up and make a pledge to honor the feminine, not just those of our own species but of all species. Celebrate motherhood in the myriad ways it shows up. Today let us lift up all mothers, all ladies and all girls and free those we are able to free. And let us honor and revere the power and wonder of the feminine on this Mother’s Day. © carol saunders 2017 There are so many good options to replace dairy these days. Here are a few resources to guide you in your transition:
http://freefromharm.org/food-products/your-guide-to-going-dairy-free/ http://www.vegan.com/dairy-free/ https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-22767/thinking-of-going-dairy-free-here-are-my-go-to-alternatives.html For a comprehensive look at the dairy industry you can learn more here: http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-the-welfare-of-cows-in-the-dairy-industry.pdf Mother-Father of Creation
I am filled with gratefulness As I awaken to the wonder of all that is Animated into being by your breath Sustained by your will Nurtured by your heart The glory and majesty Of all that I see before me Is revealed The vibration of Life is in everything The stone The water The tree and its leaves Every blade of grass Every ant and caterpillar In the song of the birds And the silence of dusk The living world breaks into a chorus! I feel blessed to be in its midst And intricately connected To all that is Life's vibration beats in me too Animated into being by Divine breath Sustained by Divine will Nurtured by Divine heart Yet pain lies hidden In the shadows Wanting to be seen I pause…and hear Beneath the vibrant sounds of life The tormented cries of those We mistakenly believe to be ours The four-legged The water born The winged ones My heart breaks Each is breathed into being by the One As are we They are one with the One As are we And we are one with them Human friends, I implore you! Be bold Peer deeply into the eyes of these Sisters and brothers of ours Dare to feel the desires of their hearts Listen and you will hear Their yearning to be free Free to move and turn about at will Free of mutilation And the smell of death Free of prodding, genetic manipulation And forced insemination Free from cages, pens And crowded transport trucks Free to play in the mud Breathe fresh air Feel wind on their faces And the heat of the sun Free to be with chosen companions And live a long life Are they not like us? As we come to the table tonight Let us remember the hearts Of our animal friends When we choose what we shall Eat and drink And wear on our bodies And let us remember That they were created for Creation Itself Not for us The Life force dwells within all beings The sound of freedom rings Kindness and Compassion urges us To live as One And so it is It was a huge celebration for me when an article that I had written, “A Call to Awakening,” was finally published in the Unity Leaders Journal, an online magazine. The Unity audience is comprised of spiritually minded people who already value Love, Peace & Harmony. On top of that, its co-founders, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, were ethical vegetarians at the turn of the twentieth century. They believed there was a connection between how we treat animals and our ability to achieve peace and harmony in the world. Getting published there should have been easy. But it ended up being a long, long journey. Over 18 months, I persevered and eventually succeeded in putting my ideas before this audience. For me this was a monumental personal accomplishment! It also demanded patience and turned out to be a journey of personal inquiry and spiritual growth. The first article I submitted was deemed to be too judgmental and was consequently rejected. I had a hard time seeing this for myself. From my perspective, I had turned myself inside out to drain it completely free of judgment. I even asked several people to read it just to make sure it had the right tone before I sent it in. The rejection email I received was accompanied by commentary that they “would be able to run with it if it were written more from the personal perspective of your own practice and why you do what you do ...and open up the possibilities of others to adopt what they feel resonates for them to consider without judgment.” Hmmm. That would be difficult, maybe impossible. How could I stay “open to the possibilities of others to adopt what they feel resonates for them” when those possibilities included killing my friends? I felt frustrated, hurt, and I wanted to walk away - not just from the article, but also from the organization that had been a foundational inspiration in my life. After dwelling in this hole for a while, I raised myself up and decided to look at my article again. I did the usual ego-protection move of showing it to friends and family to seek validation of my position. I simply could not see judgment in it and neither could they. I finally came to the realization that what I saw held absolutely no relevance if I was unable to successfully convey it. The only thing that mattered was being heard. Not exactly sure of my next move, I went within and asked, "Is this mine to do?" My answer was a very clear yes. This is my calling. This is my audience. Keep at it. But I would need to find a way to be heard while also staying true to myself and true to the plight of my animal friends. I took another look at the article I had written. I clearly posed a challenge to my potential readers. That seemed fair and authentic because that is who I am. I am a person who empowers and challenges people to live in spiritual alignment and to be their best selves. I couldn't wimp out on that. I had to stay true to who I am. But did the tone in my challenge hold a tinge of sarcasm? Or did I sound like I was exposing hypocrisy? It was possible. If I wanted to be heard, I would have to do my best to make sure there was none of that. Maybe there was room to reframe my message in kinder ways. After all, I wanted the world to be kinder. Ultimately, everything begins with me. With this thought under my belt, I mustered up the energy to do a rewrite. I rewrote, and rewrote and rewrote. I would leave my writing alone for long periods of time, then come back to tweak it a little here or there, then leave it alone again. After many months, I felt that it was in really good form. It touched on all the essential information while also being gentle. It was clear and revealing while also being understanding. I surrendered very little content, but compromised on approach. I resubmitted it under a different title and with a different slant and perhaps a softer tone. I had done my work. It was Spirit’s job to take the final step. Thirteen months after my initial submission, I received the good news that my article would be published the following spring. I am writing about this because it is just one small example of how those of us with the passion to free our non-human brothers and sisters from a culture that normalizes their killing must persevere in finding ways to successfully be heard. And we must adapt to our audience because the best ways to be heard may be quite different from our normal methods of persuasion. If we are honest about it, our message hits our fellow humans so deeply that it is nearly impossible to get traction right off the bat. Our audience will swiftly defend, rationalize and deflect. They will bring up every argument possible to support their personal choice to kill animals for food when it is simply not necessary. We have heard them all. Most people have great difficulty fathoming that something so deeply ingrained in our culture and everyday lives can be morally and spiritually questioned. What would that mean about them? At some unconscious level, I believe that people experience shame when they get a true glimpse of the conditions and violence that farm animals endure as they are made into food and clothing. Not wanting to deal with this feeling of shame, it is projected onto the messenger - in essence, blaming us for shaming them. All listening is off when shame takes hold. From our perspective all we are doing is desperately trying to give attention to a very important issue, because we are acutely aware that what our culture is blindly participating in is horrific, unspeakable violence. So many innocent, sentient beings are suffering every moment of every day at our expense and for our desires. We want to see drastic change, and we want to see it now. But change happens in the heart. To have any chance at affecting change, we have to find ways to be heard by the heart. And we must never give up. From start to finish, it took 18 months for my article to be published in the Unity Leaders Journal. There were so many times I could have given up and walked away. I certainly thought about it. But something deep within called me to persevere, be patient and grow myself.
In the end, an article was published, and hopefully it will serve to inspire those who are moved by it to dig deeper, do some self-inquiry and possibly shift to plant-based living. For many others it might just be one seed among hundreds that will eventually serve to awaken them. And others will defend, rationalize and deflect. But as it turns out, the journey was less about getting my article published and more about my own evolution as a messenger. Through it all, something shifted within me. Having surrendered to the process of discerning how to best be heard, I find myself now strengthened and emboldened, but also humbled. My voice feels stronger. I am more aligned with my true Self. And I am open to continually evolving so that my message rings with increasing clarity and lands deftly in the hearts of those who are ready to hear... ...all in service to my animal friends and an emerging world of Kindness, Compassion and Peace. We are ALL One. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4:9 I recently read the book, Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas which catalogues the remarkable life of William Wilberforce. I was inspired to write something about him and his life's work because he led an incredibly profound shift in human consciousness, and he led it with dignity and truly amazing grace. My writing here may read more like an essay than a blog post, but I wanted to capture this important history and relate it to the choices we make today. In 18th century England, a battle for the conscience of the nation was brewing. For 300 years, England along with most European countries had been deeply involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The triangular commercial sea journey began in West Africa where supplies such as copper, guns and ammunition were sold and traded to elite African kings and merchants in exchange for human slaves. On the second leg, the slaves were transported across the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Middle Passage, to the New World (North and South Americas and Caribbean islands). Brutal ship captains and reluctant-but-obedient seamen subjugated them to abhorrent, crowded and inhumane conditions during the 2-½ month sea journey. In the New World they were sold to merchants and then to plantation owners who exploited them for a lifetime of grueling hard labor. On the third leg, goods produced by slave labor such as cotton, sugar and tobacco were shipped to European nations like England, Spain, France, Portugal and the Netherlands and sold to the consuming public. British politicians and business owners propped this system up for centuries. During the 300-year transatlantic slave trade, it is estimated that over 12 million human beings were torn from their homes and sold into slavery with 1.4 million dying on the treacherous Middle Passage. That’s a staggering 40,000 people a year. Diagram of 'living conditions' on a slave transport ship. In the ship's hold, African slaves were shackled ankle to wrist with barely any opportunity to move. Europe and the Americas were not the only ones involved in a slave trade. Arab and Asian nations also had their own slave trade in central and West Africa and for much longer - at least 10 centuries - and there was a slave market within Africa itself. While it is nearly impossible to conceive of a commercial slave trade business existing in our world today, in the 18th century no one alive would have remembered a time when slavery didn’t exist. Human beings were treated like objects – not beings with personal interests – but it had been a way of life since Biblical times, and was so ingrained in the world’s cultural fabric that it seemed to be indelibly woven into humanity itself. The prevailing cultural view was ‘slaves are property and meant for us to use.’ Who would question it? We think quite differently now. Why is that? We think differently because we have evolved in our consciousness. We have evolved because visionaries existed who saw something that the culture which produced them could not see – that slavery itself was morally wrong and in serious opposition to any teachings of Love and value for Life. They had learned this from their Christian faith. In their view all attempts to justify slavery had no moral ground. In the midst of a culture that saw nothing was wrong, these visionaries focused their efforts on changing the culture. It takes heroic effort for a small band of people to commit their lives to persuading the rest of the world to awaken, see the truth, and act with love, respect and compassion. Their vision was freedom for all, not just for those who were like them. In spite of the seemingly colossal and immovable force holding up the institution of slavery, consciousness was on the cusp of shifting. William Wilberforce, an English politician and philanthropist, was the man who rose to the cause at this crucial moment in history to be the political leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. From the young age of 21, he was an esteemed, independent member of Parliament, and was universally considered to be a brilliant orator. As a newly devout Christian, he believed his work to end the slave trade was a Divine calling. Wilberforce was joined by many like-minded souls who worked tirelessly for the abolition cause. After several years of gathering evidence and making preparatory motions, Wilberforce presented the first parliamentary bill to abolish the slave trade in 1791. In his heart he believed that once people understood the horrors of the slave trade they would do the right thing and abolish its practice. A painting depicting William Wilberforce making an impassioned speech in Parliament He was utterly wrong. The bill was easily defeated 163 votes to 88. A very long and grueling battle lay ahead. The abolitionists turned their attention to the general public – the people who consumed every day products made from slave labor like sugar, cotton and tobacco. They were participants after all. Using leaflets and town meetings, the abolitionists shared eyewitness accounts of how egregiously slaves were treated during their forced journey across the Atlantic and during their lives as forced laborers the plantations. Their hope was to persuade the public to support the cause of freedom. Campaign logo made by Josiah Wedgewood and used widely by the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade As with most causes, there were some people who heard the truth and were moved to sign petitions and change their lifestyles, withdrawing any semblance of their participation in the slave trade business. Some became activists. But there were many others who heard it all and remained bystanders. And there were many more who simply could not or did not allow themselves to hear. The spectrum of society at this pivotal time in history (as at any time when new consciousness is emerging) included proverbial heroes, villains and bystanders.
These are the basic roles that people take in life, especially when confronted with a cause, a risk or an unconventional idea. If you lived during this time, what role do you think you would have played? Who do you admire? Who do you admonish? Copyright: 123rf krasimiranevenova' It would take another 16 years before political winds would shift in favor of abolition. Parliamentary bills to abolish England’s participation in the Atlantic slave trade were presented over and over by Wilberforce during this period until it finally passed in the House of Commons in 1807 with 283 votes to 16. Consciousness had shifted. By 1807 there were enough people on the planet capable of seeing the immorality of oppressing another human. Their understanding tipped the scales of history. Over the next several years, most European nations followed suit and abolished their participation in the transatlantic slave trade. It was a huge victory for humanity and freedom, but it was just the beginning. Unfortunately freedom manifests slowly. The abolition of the practice of slavery itself took another half century in the western world and considerably longer in the Islamic world (with the last Muslim nation making slavery illegal in 1981). The slaves who had been ‘freed’ in America were exploited and denied rights for decades. Their arduous fight for civil rights and desegregation still lay ahead. Memphis sanitation worker march led by Dr. Martin Luther King on March 28, 1968. There is always another mountain to climb and another circle to widen. Some 300 years later, another shift in consciousness is now on the cusp of emerging. But the line between who is included and who is not included, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, is drawn in a different place. And almost no one can see it. Thank God we no longer capture, transport, objectify and enslave 40,000 human beings every year and use and abuse their bodies for the personal and collective desires of any group of people. Female dairy cows are artificially inseminated so they will get pregnant , give birth, and keep producing milk for human (not their baby's) consumption. This is commonly referred to as the "rape rack." Pigs naturally select their companions and play and root in the ground. These are their conditions in crate-free factory farms. Egg laying hens are forced to live in extremely cramped conditions, producing eggs for human consumption until they are physically spent. They are then sent to slaughter at a young age. Fish are naturally designed to navigate vast oceans. The conditions of modern fish farms are enormously stressful causing death and insanity. Well, some of us would, and some of us do. There are visionaries among us who can see something that the culture which produced us cannot see. We see the use of sentient animals for our personal wants to simply be cruel, blatantly violent and in serious opposition to what we have learned about practicing Love and valuing Life. Among us are heroes who work tirelessly undercover to expose to the world the horrendous and inhumane practices that innocent animals are forced to endure. Some of us speak about it with our friends and family, attempting to awaken them to the plight of animals on the planet. Some of us rally, write our representatives and petition governments and corporations. Some of us run sanctuaries so that animals rescued from the animal-using business can live out their lives in peace and harmony. Some of us educate and support people as they move to a plant-based lifestyle. Snapshot from a Mercy for Animals undercover investigative video One of many advocacy campaigns to raise awareness Animal advocate Anita Kranjc is facing up to six months in jail and up to $5,000 in fines for mercifully giving water to the pigs inside a transportation truck on their way to slaughter. Everything that we do, we do in the face of resistance, blank stares, ridicule, condemnation and/or marginalization by the vast majority, including those who consider themselves champions of oppression in other areas. Like Wilberforce and his band of visionaries, we do this in hopes of eventually winning the battle for the conscience of the masses and dramatically changing the course of history toward freedom for all. Protestors against North Carolina Ag Gag bill that criminalizes the taking of photographs in animal agriculture facilities. If everything was okay, why would it be a crime to take a photo? On the other side there are the Big Ag corporations, factory farm owners/operators, slaughterhouses, transporters, merchants, grocery corporations, cosmetic corporations, household product corporations, entertainment corporations, clothing corporations, furriers and restaurants, who capitalize on and benefit from the animal-using business. There are politicians and lobbyists who vehemently fight against any legislation that would promote alternatives or provide better welfare and transparency. There are cultural and religious institutions with beliefs that condone humankind’s exploitation of animals. And there are hundreds of millions of indifferent bystanders and conscious or unconscious consumers who simply don't see anything wrong or don't want to think about it.. In spite of the seemingly colossal and immovable force holding up the institution of animal exploitation, consciousness is on the cusp of shifting. It will take time, but freedom will come for all. The question is, what role will you play? Hero, villain or bystander? May the WilberForce be with us. © carol saunders 2017 Notes from the author:
In addition to the abolition of the slave trade, William Wilberforce championed many causes including the creation of a colony of freed slaves in Sierra Leone and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Throughout his career, he was brilliant in his oratory arguments and unlike most of today’s political leaders he always refrained from making people on the opposing side wrong. This was perhaps his most extraordinary quality. He was vocal about his faith and believed he was doing God’s work in seeking freedom for all, even though religious enthusiasm was considered a social transgression during his lifetime. To any social justice warrior who seeks to free the innocent, I recommend learning about this man. Furthermore, for those who might be offended by any inferred comparison of human slavery to the human use of animals in this post, I offer this. I am not equating the human being used as a slave with the animal used for food, clothing or experimentation. What I do equate is the fact that they are both sentient – both have personal interests and both want to live, be free and avoid suffering. Objectification and exploitation of sentient beings in any way is the darkest side of humanity. How we treat any being is a reflection of who we are as individuals and as a species. It is shocking to learn that ownership of human slaves is still going on today in places such as Mauritania, despite it being against the law. Unfortunately most of us have no control over such egregious practices in faraway countries. But we do have control over our own behaviors in our everyday lives. When we embrace Universal Love and Kindness, we will cease using the body of anyone for our own personal wants. I apply the spiritual laws “thou shalt not kill” and “love one another” universally. One last thing, if you still find your thoughts dominated by the notion that there are more important human issues to face, please read this blog. If you are so moved here is a comprehensive resource to support your transition to a plant-based diet,: http://7dayvegan.com/guide/ To learn more about the sentience and individual nature of animals (some one, not something): https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/the-someone-project/ I remember my childhood vividly. I grew up in northern California and had the good fortune of being able to play outside nearly every day. My childhood took place back the 60’s, way before parents were concerned about their kids being gone all day playing. So that’s what we did. We played in the hills and creeks and rode bikes everywhere…all day. How far back can you remember? As young children, we were so vulnerable. We were all born into a world that we knew nothing about. Our lives were a constant experiment, with our carefree natures often being shut down, reframed or fit into a world that already existed. That's the nature of socialization. When things happened that hurt our hearts or didn’t make sense, we would hear someone bigger, older or wiser tell us things like: “The world is a tough place,” “You have to be strong,” “Life is hard,” “That’s the way it's always been,” or “That’s just what we do.” Can you remember having innocent thoughts and feelings – thoughts untainted by someone else’s view or perspective? Can you remember that first feeling of loss when your own thought or feeling was in contradiction with that of a group or the adults in charge? I remember as a young child barely being able to breathe when I found out that our next-door neighbors (parents) were shooting blue jays with BB guns from their back porch. I couldn’t fathom why they would do such a thing. It seemed so deliberately hurtful. What could those birds have possibly done to them? I felt deeply distressed and looked for ways to stand up to the big grownups. Needless to say, I failed. Despite my best small child efforts (which were actually pretty substantial for a kid and possibly a topic for another blog) there was an adult explanation: the blue jays were eating the robins’ eggs and the robins were a preferred species. I was heartbroken. But the case was closed. What power did I have against adult reasoning...or preferences? Pretty much everything we have learned about life came from the adults in our world. We looked up to them. Or we were afraid of them. Either way, they taught us how to live - the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. © Jasmin Merdan 123rf.com When my first daughter was just two or three years old, I’ll never forget witnessing one of those indoctrinating moments. Sitting in her high chair, her grandmother placed a plate in front of her and said, “Here’s your fish, honey.” My young daughter immediately looked behind her where an aquarium stood - the aquarium that she loved to watch as she pointed and named the fish. The mental connection going on in her brain was transparent on her face. If there is such a thing as toddler confusion, that's what it was. To her young mind, she could see that there were “fish” swimming in the fish tank. She always loved watching those fish. Now “fish” was being introduced to her as something she was supposed to eat. How does that compute to a young and fragile mind? None of us come into the world as violent beings. We are wide-eyed and eager to take in all of life. As children we reach for life. We want to touch it and feel it and get close to it. Killing in any form is not natural for a child. So never in a million years would my young daughter have reached into the fish tank and grabbed a living fish to satisfy her hunger. Nor would she have taken a knife to the throat of a pig or chicken or cow. The adult world had established this for her. We eat animals, period. We always have. It’s what we do. We kill for our food or pay someone to do it for us. She had no real choice in the matter. None of us did really. Most of us had no clue that what we were eating was once a live animal who was killed against his or her will - the same kinds of animals we loved in storybooks. When we did learn this, it had already become an established pattern in our own lives. Over time we hardened ourselves and simply accepted the violence of life. And we lost our innocence. Going forward, the easy path is to just keep doing what we’ve always done - accept the way of living that we were indoctrinated into. Don’t dig deeper. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t question. Don’t think too much. By all means don’t look back. Rationalize and defend. Marginalize those who think or act differently. Buy into all of it and pass it on to the next generation telling them, “That’s just what we do.” When we accept “that’s just what we do” we accept human nature to be what it is, not what it could be. To be what it could be, we would have to take the much more difficult path of the spiritual journeyer and reclaim the parts of us that we lost along the way. Deep inside us - maybe deeper than we can fathom - there is a piece of our innocence that was chipped away, but not destroyed. It is held in the heart of our inner child, who generally prefers to be in hiding and may even be afraid of being remembered. The inner child knows it is not safe to be so vulnerable. The outer world seems much too harsh to survive out in the open. So she (or he) stays in the dark. There may be momentary glimpses of her, when a flicker of light betrays her clever hiding spot in the form of a distant and vague memory or fleeting feeling. But the child remains hidden, safely in the depth of the soul. Discovering and integrating our inner child into active adult living is a key to transforming human nature and consequently our world. When we bring our innocence to the light - truly love it, accept it and integrate it into our entire being - we will become much more whole. We will love ourselves more. We will be less serious and judgmental, and more open and kind. We will reignite our wonder for life and once again want to reach for it, touch it, feel it and bring it closer to us. We will choose ways to live without hurting and killing This is what Jesus spoke of when he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) The kingdom of heaven is not some faraway place where we go after we die. It is a place in consciousness where Peace, Love and Harmony are fully expressed and Oneness is truly experienced. It can only be fully entered into with the innocence of our inner child because without it, we are less than whole. This is deeply important spiritual work – to question our inherited beliefs and reclaim our innocence. It is also an ongoing process. Thankfully there are some enlightened children on the planet right now who, at a very young age, are standing up to patterns/habits handed to them by their parents which run counter to their hearts (see their videos below). But for the rest of us, until we engage in that same process of questioning and do the work to reclaim our innocent natures, we will continue to cause needless suffering for hundreds of billions of our fellow beings on the planet and not realize genuine Peace within us or in the world. I am not a psychologist, but I am happy to support anyone who is interested in doing this important spiritual work. And I bless your journey to authentic integration. “The wolf and the lamb will live together… and a little child will lead them.” Isaiah 11:6 © carol saunders 2017 Please watch these sweet souls and let them inspire you..There are other videos of similarly hearted children which are far more heart-wrenching. I am choosing not to display them here. When Valentine’s Day comes around it can prompt us to pause. Even though it has become a commercial holiday that unashamedly sells millions of cards, flowers and expensive dinners, there is value in reflecting on the love in our lives. And most of us - even if just for a moment - stop and reflect on who we love, who has loved us and who loves us now. We may also choose to venture into pondering Universal Love, the unconditional Love of Spirit that is under all of Creation. “God is Love,” penned the author of 1 John. The Beatles said it another way: “Love is all you need." But sometimes we don’t feel the love, do we? Sometimes we feel lonely, abandoned, neglected, abused, betrayed or hurt. That can be universal too, a part of the human condition. Or more broadly, it is part of the sentient condition since all beings with sentience have the capacity to suffer and feel pain. We human beings are uniquely gifted with the ability to change our world. We can raise (or lower) the consciousness of the planet simply by the choices we make, the thoughts we hold, the amount of kindness and love we are willing to give. We are that powerful. We all want a better world. We all want Love. We all want to experience Kindness, Understanding and Compassion. We all want to feel connected. In spite of our different ideas and solutions to the world’s challenges, and in spite of what appears to be a divisive political and social climate, these are universal Truths. The first thing we need to get through our hearts and heads is, in reality, we simply cannot control anyone ‘out there.’ We can make our desires known. We can complain. We can make requests or even protest. But we can’t make any ‘thems’ or ‘theys’ do or be what we want them to do or be. When we try to, we are looking for ways to make our world better in the completely wrong places. The world will change when our hearts change. So we simply must turn within. We simply must love more. Especially if we want more love in our lives. It’s simple. A simple Love. Be Love. Give Love. Accept Love. Expand as Love. I invite you to ponder these questions:
Most of us can grasp the idealization of loving others when it comes to people who are like us. (“Love your neighbor.”) Some of us expand our love to include people who are marginalized by others, but we withhold our love from those we see as marginalizers. Some of us are remarkably able to move beyond that and grasp the idea that we must include every person in our circle of compassion, even those we dislike or who act against us. (“Love your enemy.”) But as we grow in consciousness and widen our circle of compassion to include more and more, we almost always stay within the confines of the human family. Why do we stop there? Why do we draw a boundary between us and the other sentient beings with whom we share the planet? Like us, they also can feel lonely, abandoned, neglected, abused, betrayed or hurt. Why do we choose to use their bodies for our food and clothing and be the cause of their constant suffering, when we no longer need to do so for our health or survival? They have done nothing to harm us. They only yearn for our care and protection. Can we stretch ourselves and love them too? The Buddha said, “Radiate boundless love toward the entire world!” Just exclaiming that makes me feel lighter. Joyous. Bouyant. Try it. The truth is, we are radiant beings capable of radiating boundless love. It is the limited ego that draws lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and gives us permission to inflict harm on 'them.' But there are no lines with real Love. Real Love is truly without bounds. Again, our work is to turn within and simply love more. Be Love. Give Love. Accept Love. Expand as Love. Love yourself. Love your neighbor. Love your enemy. Love all beings. Do this and you will find that your personal world will blossom as Love and an abundance of Love will come back to you. And the world will become a better place. During this Valentine’s Day week, I celebrate along with musician, songwriter and activist Moby, the love for all animals and our inner desire to protect and care for them. Watch and enjoy his new video “A Simple Love” featuring some amazing Love beings and footage from Farm Sanctuary, an animal rescue, education and advocacy organization that I fervently support. "Just give me kindness. Just give me hope. A simple Love." Moby © carol saunders 2017 There are so many issues and concerns plaguing our world today. There’s the Syrian refugee crisis, the rise of ISIS, the pervasiveness of opiates in our nation, election fallout, human trafficking, abortion, nuclear testing by North Korea, the national debt and on and on. Given all that is going on in the world, why do I bring attention to the plight of animals? I am not going to argue here that animals are more important than any of the above issues. It’s not about what you feel is the single most important issue to you, but what is the single most important issue before you – one that has great impact and one you can actually take action on today. No other issue offers the same opportunity for you to concretely take positive personal action on today (except possibly abortion, but only if you happen to be pregnant today). You can sit around and talk about the issues of the world with your friends, relatives and co-workers and think you are solving them. But you’re not necessarily solving anything because you don’t have that much control. You can staunchly hold your political viewpoint, support your candidates and vote when the opportunity presents itself. You can also decide to be more active and sign petitions, attend activist marches, call your representative or send money to support your causes. You can do all these things in hopes of - or with the expectation that - other people eventually will do what you want them to do to make the world a better place. But today, you can make the world a better place. You can make the choice to inflict less harm, be kinder, and save a life. You can do all of this by deciding what to eat and what not to eat. That choice is completely in your control and has a deep and broad impact on your life, your society and the world at large. In the United States alone, we kill animals for food at the rate of over a million an hour. I wish there was a way to make this humongous number sink in and have meaning. Let me try this: If we killed human beings at that rate, the people inhabiting the entire United States would all be dead in less than two weeks. If that’s still too abstract, how about this: At that rate of killing, if you live in the city of Chicago, you and your fellow Chicagoans would be dead in less than three hours. But it doesn't stop. Because every three hours another population the size of Chicago is mercilessly decimated. Does that give some perspective? I hope you can see that this level of violence is staggering. Think of the energy that goes into that much killing. Think of the immense level of unnecessary, unwarranted and traumatic suffering of animals, who fight for their lives because just like us, they experience emotion and want to be free to live. Think of the shameful hardening of all those human hearts that are paid to be the fastest killing machines on earth. Think of their families who surely feel the effect of all that killing, or at least the hardened heart. You have to wonder, where does all that energy go? It is a dark shadow looming over our lives. It is certainly not out there spreading good cheer in the world. Violence begets violence. And a good bit of it comes right back into our bodies when we eat the flesh of the beings who suffered and whose lives were blamelessly cut short. It is no wonder we are so anxious, hurtful to each other, and ill. All of this begs the questions: Are we really the kind and thoughtful people that we think we are? Who are we that we would willfully cause so much suffering and inflict so much violence toward sentient beings who have done nothing to harm us? Where is our mercy? Are we not image and likeness of God? Is God not the power of Love Itself? Isn’t Love our true nature? I believe that Love is our true nature. We learned this killing behavior from our parents. And they learned it from theirs, and so on. It is not natural behavior. No small child on her own would take a knife and slit the throat of a living animal standing before her. Rather, she would likely be curious, grin, and move closer to pet him. The innocence and curiosity of this child still lives within us and yearns to lead us to a more harmonious and light-filled life. When we let the inner child lead us, we can instead direct our energies toward something much more enlivening and empowering, like authentic Kindness and Compassion. Think of how different our world would be if we stopped all this violence and replaced it with authentic Kindness and Compassion. The kind of Kindness and Compassion that respects every living being’s right to be treated like a some-one, and not a body with which we can do whatever we want. Today you have an issue facing you that at first glance may not seem that important compared to all the other concerns of your day. But it is in fact the most important issue facing you today, because you have complete control to choose non-violence and make a difference now. When you choose Kindness and Compassion over killing, you bring greater peace to your life, to other beings, and to the planet. Keep animal flesh off your plate and out of your body. Eat healthy plant-based food. And who knows? Maybe if enough of us make the choice to be Kind and Compassionate – bringing about a radical reduction in today’s suffering and violence - we will as a species regain our sense of value toward Life Itself. And the other issues just might take care of themselves.
© carol saunders 2017 Every Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a tiny baby in Bethlehem. Babies are born all the time! But this one’s birth narrative has been told over and over again for hundreds, even thousands of years. Whether you accept the story as literal or symbolic, it holds deep meaning. A new vibration of Love came into this world in the form of a human being… and he was born among the animals. Art by Simon Mendez Where else would perfect Love be so welcomed? It’s an ideal setting for such a birth. Animals are real. They have no pretenses, no ulterior motives, no images to project and no hidden agendas. They don’t blame, shame, hate, envy, lie, cheat or express impatience, arrogance, self-loathing, selfishness or judgment. They don’t hold grudges, but quickly forgive, even the most egregious of offenses. They live in the present and handle their own emotions. By their nature, the animals - who lovingly surrounded the Christ baby - exemplified the very teachings that he was to grow up and convey to all of mankind - teachings of Peace, Universal Love, Forgiveness, being true to one’s authentic nature, and the nearness of God. Most of us completely ignore these teachings today. But the animals remember. Art by Simon Mendez In the Christmas story, the Christ child was laid in a manger – a feeding trough likely for cows or sheep. It is interesting to note that this young one grew up to be the man - thirty years later - who boldly challenged the commercial activities of the Temple and its animal-selling marketplace. He drove out the moneychangers and freed the sacrificial cows and sheep; innocent animals used to vicariously hold the sins of human beings before being slaughtered. These were animals just like the ones who surrounded him at his birth. It ultimately cost him his life. If we were to turn ourselves to our Light within, we too would free the animals - free them from our plates, our wardrobes, our product testing and our entertainment. Like the animals in the Temple, they are without blame, having done nothing to harm us. They are beings created by God with their own interests, not ours to do with whatever we want. “Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5: 7 & 9) My daughter Madeline and Dawn Cow at the Orland, CA Farm Sanctuary. This Christmas let us remember that the vibration of perfect Love, which came into our world over two thousand years ago, lives in us today. We hold within us all we need to create a world of Love, Peace, Compassion, Kindness and Mercy. We must start with ourselves and be what we want to see in the world. Let us also remember the gifts of the animals - their authenticity, quickness to forgive and simple being-ness. Perhaps we will be moved to bring ourselves closer to the Presence that they themselves reveal all the days of their lives. May the Love and Peace of Christmas bless you today. And may the animals also be so blessed by your own merciful hand. © carol saunders 2016 Art by Simon Mendez
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AuthorRev. Carol Saunders I am an ordained Unity and Interfaith minister, speaker, writer and lover of all life. In 2010 I founded a spiritual community in Deerfield, IL, a suburb of Chicago, and led it through mid-2021. In my current ministry I host a podcast called The Spiritual Forum and an annual Whole Planet Spirituality Retreat at Unity Village, Mo. Being a voice for the animals and a light for the spiritually-inclined who are willing to seriously examine the self and begin to awaken, are what Spirit has called me to be. I am here to support anyone who wants to move toward living in closer alignment with their deeply held spiritual values - i.e. sovereignty, freedom, love, peace and kindness. We have the power to change our world by changing ourselves. A first step is identifying and releasing all the cultural conditioning that normalizes cruelty and violence. Be Love. Be Peace. Be Kind. Today.
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