Joseph

Thinking meat is "wrong" is strickly a personal choice. Ecologically speaking, each animal is there to further its own genetic line, while struggling to survive in its environent, which is doing the same thing. It is a constant back and fourth relationship.

The proper human diet consists of a plethora of food, including meat, veggies fruits, tubors, nuts and fungi. We are omnivores whos "natural" diet is dependent on your environment. Generally speaking, peoples who live in tropical climate eat more fruits then meat, because there are more fruits available, and people who live further north eat more meat, because there is more meat then plants available. There is no real "proper" diet for us, other then eating a variety of foods, which we do not do at all. These days, even vegans only eat maybe a dozen plants, where as hunter gatherers (most of our history) we would eat HUNDREDS of species of plants and many kinds of meat.

Now, once we get to the spiritual aspect of things it can get a bit misconstrued. Spiritual reasons are no more then PERSONAL OPINION. East indians dont eat cattle because cows are sacred, yet many will still eat chicken and fish, or at least milk and cheese.

Now heres the real kicker. There has been no evidence to suggest animals "love" like humans. Yes, there is LOTS of evidence that animals feel loss (ever see a crow hover over its partners body for days?), or a dogs sadness and lonelyness when its owner is not around. They also would know pain, because pain is an adaptatation for survival. Animals seem to understand companionship to a point as well, but that does not mean they love unfortunately.

We have a bad, bad habit of anthropimorphizing animal and the natural world. We put our faces on everything because many cannot begin to understand the natural world (or choose not to). Too many times ive had a vegetarian/vegan state something a long the lines of "plants are sentient, they have no soul so its ok to eat them and not animals". There are way too many things wrong with this thought process that ill only name a few:

Plants are alive and do EVERYTHING animals do in their own way. They are alive and it is unfair to think of them as other wise. If more people understood botany then I think we may not so hap hazardly destroy forests and natural ecosystems. Trees communicate, reproduce sexually, move, adapt evolve (and co evolve with other species of plant and animals) they react to their surroundings. Sure, we cant see them communicating, or defending themselves but that does not mean they arent alive, or should be on the same level as animals. Life is life, be that plant, squirrel or elephant, to the "lowly" soil mite to the majestic sequoia. If you believe in souls, or that animals have souls, then plants should be thought of having souls as well. They are just as alive as us, even though "they dont have brains" (which is an ignorant thought, they arent animals and shouldnt be wholey be treated as such, other then the fact that life is life).

Back in our hunter gatherer days, hunting, while essential for our evolution, was an extremely sacred act. Hunting was done with great remorse and respect for the animal that died. They did not waste anything, they didnt take more then was needed, and many of those peoples actually ADVANCED ecosystems by encouraging certain animals and plants (north american natives are thought to have spread squirrels and turkeys so that nut trees like white oak, pecan hickory and others would be planted without work. They let the turkeys and squirrels plant the nuts, and also hunted the squirrles and turkeys understanding that they needed them in order to perpetuate the forest.

Animals act on instinct, so do plants and despite out ability to choose, those choices are still dictated by instinct as well. Predator species in their natural environment do not take more then i needed and are in a general "ebb and flow" battle with other species in the environment. Even an invasive species will eventually come into equilibrium with its new environment, or get wiped out (apple trees, dispite out best efforts are afflicted with dozens of fungal diseases and viruses. If they were just left alone, many species of not all of our agricultural species will be wiped out, or revert to a more "wild" type.)

Predator and prey relationships are what keep ecosystems in check. Humans are indeed a top predator in 90% of the ecosystems we inhabit and ecologically speaking, an invasive species that has no more real natural predators.

Sorry if this is a bit of a tangent, but the situation is way more complex then most people understand. It is anything but simple in regards to spiritual reasoning.