The Serene Way

“Societal choices, more often than not, are the result of expediency, statistical fallacy, sentiment, political or media pressure, or personal prejudice and vested interest.”

David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.

Power vs. Force

I received a comment after posting a blog titled ‘Acceptance, Compassion & Tolerance Out of Anger & Resentment”, which was the catalyst for this entry.

“I (Also) Noticed On The Front Page Of Your Website That You Are Selling SHEEP SKIN Mats! That Is Not AHIMSA And It Certainly Is Not Peaceful And Serene For The Sweet Innocent Slaughtered SHEEP! :/ ~::~”

Why use meditation mats that are made from sweet innocent loving slaughtered sheep??? That is bloody bad karma and just mean. It is ahimsa for me to point this out to you. Why seek to make money from industries of horrid cruelty?You are a spiritually intelligent being. You seek to embody goodness and loving-kindness towards all beings…I believe. To do so we must wake up from participating in cruelty towards other beings… right? We must have an empathetic loving awakened conscience of loving-kindness towards ALL Life as Divine Spirit.

In order to fully discuss this position, let’s look at a definition of ahimsa. Wikipedia describes ahimsa as follows: “the principle of non-violence can or should be applied to different life forms…”

This resource (Wikipedia) continues, “Jains go out of their way so as not to hurt even small insects and other minuscule animals and make considerable efforts not to injure plants in everyday life as far as possible. In accordance to this policy, eating of some foods, whose cultivation harms small insects and worms, as well as agriculture itself, is to be abstained from.”

Research and information gathered from texts such as ‘The Gospel According to Rama Krishna’, books by Swami Vivekananda, and other volumes of spiritual writings state that ahimsa—a yama of Yoga— is the practice of non-violence or harmlessness in action, word, thought, deed or emotion. All we do creates a karmic affect, no matter its desired intention.

It is evident that this ‘practice’ has different meanings and applications depending on the environmental/cultural experience and religious belief of the individual. There are levels of adherence to this practice. This is true for all ideologies; it is the depth of conviction to the belief, whether individual or group, that plays a fundamental role in their actions and reactions. We need look no further than organized religion to see how extremes in the attachment to dogma have created tension and segregation, leading to struggle, suppression and war.

Traditionally, meditation was performed on natural animal skin such as tiger or deer, as I have seen in pictures of gurus and swamis. This provided a softer cushion for a more comfortable way to maintain a meditative posture; it also created a synergy with the meditative process by providing a deeper, natural connection to earth energies, thereby intensifying the benefits of meditation. I have not read that these pelts materialized out of cosmic energy; the animals’ lives did end in some manner.

Historically speaking and according to evolutionary theory, man was a hunter-gatherer. Being of aboriginal heritage—Native Canadian M’ic M’aq—my family’s heritage and culture dictated that whenever an animal is taken for food, all parts of that animal are used in order to honour a manifestation of gratitude for that which the earth provides. As a child, I remember that after the moose hunt (which my extended family continues) the meat was canned or frozen, the antlers were used for the handles of eating utensils, and the hide for leather garments, snowshoes and various ties and bindings. All was treated as a gift from Mother Earth and what She provided for our sustenance.

The sheep in question are from my brother’s farm. He has a small flock, and his intention is to use the entire animal, in keeping with his cultural heritage, in order to provide for his family. The sheep run free in the pastures on 108 acres, eating grass and natural feed. They are tended with love and kindness. They are protected from coyotes by dogs, donkeys and a llama provided by my brother and his family. His wife is the ‘at home’ veterinarian who provides the occasional antibiotic to ensure the sheep’s health, and is doula or mid-wife during lambing season. In the winter, lambs that are born too small or too many at a time for a single ewe to care for are taken into the house, dried with towels, and bottle-fed—one of the great experiences I have had the pleasure to participate in.

Indeed, I take issue with commercial farming and the poor treatment of livestock for the gathering of wealth for the few. The treatment of animals on commercial farms is in truth a manifested aspect of profit and greed. I also take issue with the reckless harvest of animals of the sea for a singular use, such as longline net capture of sharks for the sole purpose of obtaining their fins, which some claim are an aphrodisiac. This materialistic approach has caused many problems. Commercial farms have created the need to regulate society’s food channels. Yet, with a single bacterial outbreak in an industrial processing plant, an entire food network delivers health hazards. Recently, an outbreak of listeriosis in a packaging plant in Canada played havoc on the food channel, resulting in a recall of processed, packaged meat. This past summer tomatoes had to be removed from the shelves due to problems at a processing plant in the United States. Both of these incidents also affected fast food outlets, including the corporate giant MacDonald’s.

I often think that we have formulated a hierarchy based on what we perceive as sentient beings. It is only our current perception that dictates these ideas; they continue to change and develop based on scientific research, which increases our understanding. There are many ‘seekers’ who have taken leave of society to live in renunciation in the wilderness. There, they develop the ability to listen to the wisdom of the tree and the messages upon the wind. There is even mention of those who can live on air alone; they receive sustenance from the energy inherent in everything that is, so highly developed is their connection to the divine source.

A tree is alive—it has a series of capillaries that carry nutrients throughout its body, similar in function and design to the human lymph and digestive systems. Firstly, in terms of the lymph system, it has circulatory vessels without a central pump which regulate defense mechanisms. Secondly, like the digestive system, fluid is moved by a process of contraction called peristalsis. A tree has life, it exists, it is energy. The same can be said of all plants. They react to external stimuli: lower vibrations limit growth, whereas higher energies accelerate it. If you sing to a plant it will respond positively with growth; if you yell at it, so too will it wilt.

Man, in being a form of compressed energy, is in essence the same as a potato, a carrot, an apple or bacteria, only differing in the form of the expression of that energy. Anything we ingest is an aspect of energy, which is necessary for cellular metabolism and the continuance of a physical form. All life forms must absorb energy in order to sustain their life cycle. The process is consistent and paramount for all life—energy, in some form, is assimilated and then expunged to return into the fold of a universal balance.

Our current perspective deems an animal closer to our own existence. It is our own ego-centricity and the rationalization of projecting human characteristics onto other life forms that creates an imposed judgment. Pulling a carrot out of the ground ends the life cycle of that plant, the same as ending the life cycle of any other organism, whether or not we currently consider it to be sentient. If one is sacred, then all is sacred.

On a Path to Light, only when we accept all forms of energy as equal will we truly realize that all life is sacrosanct, and to be accepted as a blessing.

© T.S. (Tim) White, 2008

All rights reserved

www.TheSereneWay.com

To be continued…

With a further discussion of commercial farming and Ahimsa

“Only human beings can change their evil ways, their ups and downs, pitfalls, shortcomings, anger, pride—all their bad qualities. Then they can experience their own divine nature.”

Paramahamsa Hariharananda

In Tibetan Book of the Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche states, “Hatred and anger, when truly recognized, arise with diamond like clarity, free from grasping; this is the ‘mirror like wisdom.” Here is the wonderful imagery of the mirror, a reflection upon the surface. When we are not in front of the mirror there is only the reflective surface; it is only when we stand in front of it that we see a reflection of our physical self. There are many surfaces upon which there are reflections, whether a mirror, a conversation, or words upon a blank piece of paper. Each of these allows us the opportunity for realization and an unfolding of awareness of the self. To that end, when we fight or argue, we are arguing against and with ourselves; the mirror absent of the divine self.

Anger and resentment can manifest with righteous indignation. A recent posting, titled “The Secret & Law of Attraction as Fabrications of Greed”, elicited the following response:

“I read the article you posted and thoroughly agree with its central precepts. These are concepts that I have felt inwardly to be true for a long time.

However, the downfall of the materialism which you mentioned, that the Gnostics and Cathars considered to ruin the souls of men and lead them away from the path of light, can only be achieved by the demise of world Jewry and the final destruction of ‘man-centred’ Judaeo-Christian thinking everywhere.

The Jew is the archetype of capitalist man and only stands to gain from a sterile economic worldview. That is why you find them as the the spiritus rectus behind globalisation and the New World Order—the ferment of decomposition of peoples and nations.”

In this response we see a concept that singles out a cultural/religious group in order to place blame. To be true to the facts, this group was given, by another religious group, the fiduciary responsibility that these ‘Christians’ were unwilling to shoulder based on the dogma of their belief system. Even then, there was an occlusion from society for those that were given this usury provision. Historically speaking, there has always been a division based on class, economic background and heritage, whether the kings and queens of ancient Egypt, the caste system of India, or the hierarchy of any other society, old or new. The only concern involves the society that creates this segregation and separation and continues to maintain the illusion of elitism.

A ‘man-centred’ ideology is not limited to Judeo-Christian belief—it is a fact of the world around us, no matter the cultural or religious background. It is this ‘man-centred-ness’ that prohibits forward movement and progress. It matters little what we say ‘against’ current belief systems; it matters little that we ‘point fingers’ or argue and feel resentment towards any group. It is what we can do individually to change our self, our immediate circle of influence in terms of acceptance and tolerance offered with compassion, that is important.

The manifestation of anger can result from something as trivial as squeezing a tube of toothpaste from the top. Again, the egocentric person feels resentment when their preferences are seemingly disregarded. This resentment unleashes anger. The tube of toothpaste has no feeling whether it is squeezed from the top or bottom. It is within the self that these emotions are created with various ego-centred rationalizations. These too are illusions of the mind, the distorted reflections of the mind upon the mirror.

Anger and resentment are currently observed every day as ‘road rage’. There seems to be a sense of entitlement to space and an inability to have patience (i.e., tolerance, consideration and empathy). The space is not ours, as space itself is an illusion and we are merely here to ‘tend’ to this world and each other. We are integrally connected to all that is around us; cause and effect is a ‘two-way street’—that which is given out is returned.

I have seen cars weave in and out of traffic to get to the ‘head of the line’, speeding as if in a race. There is little difference in the minute or two gained, or reaching the next street light before someone else. If we are moving we will get to our destination. In the meantime, if we appreciate all that is around us, we realize acceptance and tolerance.

Many times I have been cut off while riding my bicycle in traffic. Luckily, on a bike you can stop pretty quickly, and being out in ‘space’ you are able to breathe. It is within this breathing that we are able to manifest tolerance and compassion, and experience the wonder of the world around us.

We can only change our self. We can alter how we react to the mirror in front of us. It is with awareness that we can transmute anger and resentment—whether they stem from economic or cultural factors, religious elitism, or simple daily stressors—into a realization of compassion, tolerance and acceptance on a Path to Light.

©T.S. (Tim) White, 2008

All rights reserved.

www.TheSereneWay.com

Tolerance, Acceptance & Understanding