Extended Family - The Other Animals


The animals of the world exist for their own reasons.
They were not made for humans
any more than black people were made for whites
or women for men.
--Alice Walker




Growing Awareness

It has been my experience thus far in life that the more self aware we become, the more aware we are of impact on others. An unconscious person steps on your toes and doesn't notice...an aware person picks up the slightest expression that crosses your face.

Becoming conscious of others aids us in creating a life where we are more understanding and thoughtful of others, thus increasing the overall experience of pleasure and joy in life.
And sooner or later, we realize that our increased sensitivity and compassion towards others, also includes those "others" outside of our own species.

"We must expand the circle of our compassion to encompass all creatures."
- Albert Einstein




Taking a Look at our Self Serving Belief Systems

We share this planet with countless other species. Of all the species on earth today, we are among the youngest. In fact, we could be thought of as the adolescents of the planet, self centered and arrogant, unaware of what has gone before, and shortsightedly trashing our home, imagining that the world revolves around our momentary desires.

We are currently the self-proclaimed dominant species on dry land. Do we treat others, be they human or not, with love and respect, or do we disregard their needs in favor of our own?

Humans have the potential of conscience and empathy -- something seemingly not highly developed in most other species. It would not serve the lion's best interest to feel bad about killing a baby deer for dinner. Yet evolution (or consciousness, or spirit) has seen fit to empower this quality in us. Why?

Empathy Exercise

A powerful alien species arrives on earth, and without even considering communicating with us begins rounding up humans for eating, and for hideous, painful experiments.

We try to communicate our terror and pain to them, but they consider us lowly creatures, beneath compassion, and the majority of them believe that communication with us is impossible.
Their religion states that their God created them in His image, and that the rest of us have no other reason for being - except for their use.

Not only do they consume the bodies of our dead, they use us for medical tests, and also for agonizing and lethal tests for their caustic cleansers and cosmetics. Our young are born in sorrow and roughly taken away to be tested on, or eaten, too. All are slain.

The aliens develop a taste for human mother's milk. Women are imprisoned, impregnated against their will and their infants taken at birth - to be served on countless tables for the alien's dining pleasure.
Women are hooked to machines and milked, pumped full of hormones to product more milk, and given enormous amounts of antibiotics to combat their increasing infections. They are impregnated regularly to keep the flow of milk coming.

When their bodies give out, they are killed, cut up, and packaged as food.

These aliens also have taken a liking to our homes. One by one they move in, and we, in fear of our lives, must try to live elsewhere.

Soon there are no more places for us, and the aliens consider us a "nuisance" species, because we often steal onto what was once our home to obtain food. They set traps and poison us, and encourage the most brutish of their kind to hunt us for sport.

Perhaps they discover that our skin makes nice shoes and handbags. They begin to breed our men to be large and fat...for food, and use their skin to make fashionable clothing. Perhaps they decorate their homes with the preserved heads of our dead, hung upon the wall.



Before you email me that I am anthropomorphizing human feelings onto other species, understand that I do not state that these other species experience life exactly in the same way as we do. Our cerebral cortex, (although built upon a DNA that is 98% identical to a chimpanzee,) does appear to allow us to experience ourselves somewhat differently that many other species. Yet, a mammal is a mammal when it comes to feelings of love, sadness and pain, and fear of death. All of life is connected, and all of life is sacred.

"All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?" --Buddha

Would your logic say that torturing mentally challanged people is acceptable, because they aren't as "intelligent" as an average person? And it was not so long ago in America that non-whites were considered by whites to have "no souls" therefore,exploitation was permissible. Women were also declared "soulless" by the early christian church.



Vegetarianism

As increasing numbers of people have access (via the internet) to shocking photographs and information about the unbelievable cruelty of barbaric corporate factory farms, it comes as no shock to discover that large numbers of people are becoming vegan or vegetarian. By now, most of us realize that a vegetarian diet is not only healthier, but more compassionate, and far more ecologically sound.

“The eating of flesh extinguishes the seed of great compassion.”
~Mahaparinirvana Buddhism

The simple truth is that as we develop greater empathy, compassion and love toward all life, and as we realize that everything is ONE at the most fundamental level of reality, becoming a vegetarian or vegan is something that comes almost naturally. It takes a truly hardened heart to remain a carnivore in the face of the facts. People who wish to keep consuming the bodies of our fellow beings must ignore the evidence, or adopt an extremely small consciousness about their food and its impact upon the animals, other people and our planet.

(For some of the health and ecological statistics presented in a clear format, check out "How to Win an Argument with a Meat Eater", also available as a poster.)


Even discounting the incredible amount of resources wasted and pollution generated by the "meat" industries, and even ignoring the vast litany of *diseases such as cholesterol, heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and osteoporosis caused by regular meat consumption, the moral or intellectual issue would seem to be:

Why would anyone want to devour the tortured, dead body of a fellow being? What sane or even slightly caring person would consciously decide to take the life of another, especially in these times of ample non-flesh food choices?

Here in the states, we are surrounded by fresh fruits and vegetables, and an increasingly wide variety of other healthy non-flesh foods. We no longer must kill out of the desperation of famine or hunger -- the horrible truth is that we now kill out of habit and simple taste preferences. Simple Food Lust has made us heartless and cruel consumers of death.

We have allowed our lust for flavor to lead us to participate in the largest, cruelest torture industry the planet has ever known.

Food triggers deep emotions within us. Most of us eat the way we did as children, and habits die hard. Most of us were educated with the mythical "food charts" provided to schools by the meat and dairy industries. Most of us dislike change.

Who, once they know about the horrors of the factory farm, would want to help perpetuate the misery of the lives and deaths of animals who will never know freedom, kindness, or comfort? Even animals raised on so-called humane farms wind up at terrified and helpless at the slaughterhouse.

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
~ Sir Paul McCartney

To learn, some of the shocking truths about factory farming, Please Visit Humane Farming Association. For details about factory farming practices, especially recommended is "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Eisnitz. If you think you're doing your family a favor by feeding them meat, please read this book!

Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine is a great medical and ethical vegetarian resources and actions site. Compassion in action is a powerful force!

“ If you wish to know why there are disasters of armies and weapons in the world, listen to the piteous cries from the slaughter house at midnight.”
~Ancient Chinese verse

 





Animal Testing

Thousands of years ago, Pythagorus bluntly stated,

“As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower livings beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”

Today, our society is much more complicated than the one in which Pythagorus lived, and we often might perpetuate and support cruel and destructive businesses without even knowing it.

Weeding through misleading information or hidden corporate connections can be exceptionally difficult! What was an ethical company today could be purchased by some corporate monster tomorrow. Luckily, there are many groups online that track such things, and a simple search can yield the latest info.

Also, P.E.T.A.'s lists of companies that test on animals, as well as those companies with more enlightened policies, who do NOT test on animals is updated frequently and is available online. By printing out and taking these lists with you when you shop, you'll find that the dollars you "speak with" are really adding up. And your heart seems to grow larger with each compassionate shopping decision you make. One Person Does Make a Difference!


Does the manufacturer of my shampoo force feed their products to dogs and cats until it kills them to determine "toxicity?" (If you're using something by Proctor and Gamble or Schick the answer is Yes!)

Does my razor blade/body care company burn the eyes and skin of rabbits repeatedly with lethal concentrations of its products? If your product is manufactured by Clarol, Coty, or Gillette....the answer is Yes!)

Does my tax dollar support a huge vivisection industry, which needlessly tortures dogs, cats, rabbits, and primates by the hundreds of thousands? (If you live in the United States, the answer is Yes!)

So many "testing labs" workers have been caught on tape sadistically torturing terrified animals that increasingly these "labs" are fined and the "technicians" are prosecuted by courts of law. But sadly, many of these sadists go unpunished.

Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of her (or his) own conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life. ~Norman Cousins

We must do our best to withhold every penny we can from their funding. Sadists belong in jail, not handling helpless beings.
"If other species had a religion, humans would be their devil."

Citizens, Consumers and Stockholders are not powerless, and our choices do effect the way business is conducted. All that is needed is information, and to expose the corporate and government secrets to the light of day. In this information age, there are some very good online resources:
PETA.
The Animal Rights Resource Site.

Search Charities -find out in seconds which still support vivisection and which are more progressive

“How can I teach your children gentleness and mercy to the weak, and reverence for life ... when by your laws, your actions and your speech, you contradict the very things I teach?”
~Henry W. Longfellow



The Link Between Violence against Animals and Violence Against People

In addition to these issues, many psychological studies support the understanding that our treatment of species weaker or less "intelligent" than we are is reflected in the limited compassion of our society at large.

Did you know that in homes where children are physically abused, over 80% of those homes also abuse "pets"?

Did you know that in every single incidence of school shootings over recent years, the boys responsible were "into" hunting, torturing, and killing small animals?

"Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity." --Rachel Carson
In order for our society to reach a higher collective consciousness, we must do everything we can to encourage compassion and wisdom - beginning with ourselves and our own children. P.S.Y.E.T.A. (Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has information, a video, and research on the link between treatment of animals and violence in our society. Especially important for parents, this information helps us to understand the importance of extending our "circle of compassion."



Habitat and Resources

We are one among many species. We are unusually successful, and currently have managed to populate the earth and use the resources to such an extent that it is taking vital habitat away from our other family members. Conscience may be dulled by repeating religious blarmy ("be fruitful and multiply" "animals were created by a God just for the use of humans") arrogence, or sheer ignorance. But the fact remains that at the time of this writing, 6 species of animal, plant, or insect is being lost every hour. Extinct may not be forever, but it is truly a long time.

Here in the states we have exterminated "nuisance" animals (ie ones that threaten profits by beef and dairy interests), and all over the world we have polluted the homes of all of our relations. We have dammed and fenced and poisened, spilled oil and blown off mountaintops, destroyed rivers and wetlands, tested, hunted, poisened and gassed -and some of us are finally taking steps to restore that which our species has despoiled.

I was visiting some friends who live in a newly developed rural area. The land had once been forested, and teeming with wildlife, but was developing rapidly into a fenced and paved suburb. What was wildland was now being heavily logged.

One of them mentioned that she couldn't understand why some of the neighbors fed the deer who wandered into their newly built neighborhood looking for what used to be their feeding grounds. Saying that they'd "gotten along fine" before the humans arrival missed the point:

When the habitat disappears, either the animals must learn to coexist with humans, or die.

In this case, there simply isn't enough open grazing land left to support the dwindling wildlife population in that area. The kindness of humans who have built their towns in the animals natural habitat may be their only hope.

Of course, it would have been nice to leave some land for the other species, but the towns are built and the people are there. At least the animals have a chance to form a relationship with compassionate humans.

This isn't always the case: when logging or over-development totally trash the habitat, the species that can't adapt must move on or die. We are currently in the midst of an uprecedented world-wide species extinction event.

You can help!!! There are countless groups helping in a variety of ways, from challanging development on legal grounds to civil disobedience to working to get better representatives elected to political office, to animal rescue and rehabilitation. Do a search and help those that resonate with youl

There are some wonderful groups that are buying land to preserve it from development, logging and industry. These groups purchase land all over the world, preserving habitat for endangered species. Several of them have websites where you can generate donations from sponsers by simply clicking a mouse, below:




And, you can click even more free donations for protecting vital habitat here:
Ecology Fund
paw prints of our family members-animal rights and habitat preservation




Conscious Evolution

I am well aware that the minds of human beings are always looking to justify our cruelties. We casually put the beings whose tortured bodies we consume out of our minds. We use words like "dumb animals", or "god's will" in an effort to excuse the suffering we cause. Yet, all mammals share the same type of nervous system. We all feel pain, joy, sorrow, affection.

An attempt to discount the pain of another species simply because they do not write books or speak as humans do - is becoming transparent as we learn more about ourselves and our world.

As we learn more about our common heritage, we find that the old justifications simply do not work -- I believe this is because our consciousness is evolving...as more and more of us feel our awareness and sensitivity increase. Our intelligence has begun to stop fighting our conscience.

The human species is finally beginning to grow up. The staggering increase in new vegetarians and vegans is a reason to celebrate, and to hope. And there is much to do, to stop the cruelty and right the wrongs. We -- each of us-- can begin today. Each caring act empowers us, each compassionate gesture makes us stronger, each moment of empathy helps us to see.

And the world we begin to see is alive with our relations.

©Scarlet Jinn, 1997; all rights reserved

Please feel free to reprint this article in its entirety as long as you include the above copyright notice and a link to http://www.DigitalGoddess.org

Did you know that digitalgoddess.org author Scarlet Jinn is the lyricist/vocalist for Rock Scarlet? Visit her blog at ScarletJinn.com for tidbits on lyrics and the journey of being a visionary rock performer. Fellow vegetarians and vegans, come visit Scarlet's page at VegHaven - (sort of a conscious version of myspace) consider joining, it's free!



Back to Conscious Evolution Home Page

FAVOURITE VEGETARIAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS QUOTES This is wonderful - two large pages full of animal kindness quotes... Bookmark this one!

W.W.F. (World Wildlife Fund) provides news on some of the "private sector's" global conservation activities, which are so much more effective than expensive and compromised government attempts. (World Wildlife Fund's dedicated people sometimes work in concert with governmental agencies and actually gets results!)

Headwater's Earth First site provides news on the vanishing Northern California redwoods. They also offer some good related links with beautiful photos of the redwood forest.

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*Animal Products Produce Deadly Disease In Human Beings

The consumption of animal products has been conclusively linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and a host of other chronic and deadly diseases.

Animal Products Lead to Heart Disease
Heart disease is the number one health problem in the United States, accounting for more than a million heart attacks and half a million deaths every year. Researchers have found that cholesterol (found only in animal products) and animal fat clog arteries, which leads to heart attacks and strokes.
One of the largest studies on lifestyle and health found that heart disease mortality rates for vegetarian males was only one-third that of meat-eating men. The British Medical Journal published findings from a study concluding that lifelong vegans have a 57 percent reduced risk of death from heart disease.

Cancer’s Connection to Animal Products
Studies have shown that vegetarians are between 25 and 50 percent less likely to suffer from many types of cancer, including prostate, stomach, esophagus, pancreas and lymphatic cancers. The number one recommendation in the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Guidelines on Nutrition for Cancer Prevention is to eat a diet “with an emphasis on plant sources.”

Sources:

Heart Attack and Angina Statistics
American Heart Association, “Heart Attack and Angina Statistics,” 3 Oct. 2003

Coronary Heart Disease Mortality...
R.L. Phillips et al., “Coronary Heart Disease Mortality Among Seventh-Day Adventists With Differing Dietary Habits: A Preliminary Report,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31 (1978): S191-8

...Groups With Different Dietary Practices Within Britain
M. Thorogood et al., “Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins in Groups With Different Dietary Practices Within Britain,” British Medical Journal 295 (1987): 351-3.

Mortality Pattern of German Vegetarians...
J. Chang-Claude et al., “Mortality Pattern of German Vegetarians After 11 Years of Follow-Up,” Epidemiology 3 (1992): 389-91.


Find a Sanctuary in your area at greenpeople.org

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And, you can click even more free donations for protecting vital habitat here:
Ecology Fund
paw prints of our family members-animal rights and habitat preservation