Lifestyle of a Vegan?

[Tobi]

This is exactly why I mentioned that in another thread (around somewhere), Gem!
Because I know that there are some people who honestly believe that those who are vegan for compassionate reasons are doing it for some "spiritual karma kicks"....or to be "holier than thou" !

We might be accused of being a whole troop of sentimental boogers too. That's not what it's about. I really really LIKE the taste of fish, but just can't do it any more, can't bear to see them gasping like they do when they are caught (and not dispatched quickly) It hurts.

I saw a cow walking into the milking shed on a farm not far away. Not only she, but a number of her sisters too, could not walk properly because their udders were too massively huge....and all chafed raw red. She looked extremely uncomfortable but sadly resigned to the way life is for her.
Just because we have to have milk in our tea/coffee/cereal.
Sentimental? I don't know....maybe. But it's where my heart is at.

Not about being "holier than anyone" just following my feelings. If I speak up now and again, forgive me. It truly isn't for karma points!

[Uma]

It's tough to be vegan when you're shopping and cooking all the time for a couple of carnivores.

[Tobi]

Oops! Lots of saucepans, and different things cooking on a hob all timed at different times! I know. I used to cook meat for a visiting friend, and my own dinner all at once.
Plus they (the ones you cook for) probably don't understand and wonder why you don't just let it all go and pitch into the steak/roast chicken dinner?
If they are kind, they stare at your food and worry you might not be getting enough protein.... if they are not, they just think you're on a wacky 'diet' fad.

[Uma]

Once when I was pregnant after 20 years of being vegetarian, I had this crazy craving for bratwurst. I was curious so I cooked one but when I bit into it, it sickened me. The memory of eating it was what I craved not the food.

[mogenblue]

I remember eating bratwurst on a daymarket many years ago. I remember going to that market specifically to eat that because I sensed that it would be the last time I would ever do that. That's about 15 years ago. After that I moved to another home in the city so it would not be so easy anymore to visit that market stand.

So whenever I feel the crave for bratwurst I think back of the time when I ate it that time at the daymarket. I enjoyed it very consciously so I can think back very good how it tasted and how I enjoyed it. That's what helps me through when I feel the urge.
It works. So far.

I read that masters of light are all vegetarian or vegan. Up in the spheres of light people/spirits live in harmony with all life around them. That harmony makes it unable to see the other (animal) life of God as food.
They do eat, but that is all vegetable.

Food in the Afterlife

[Uma]

Originally Posted by mogenblue

I read that masters of light are all vegetarian or vegan. Up in the spheres of light people/spirits live in harmony with all life around them. That harmony makes it unable to see the other (animal) life of God as food.
They do eat, but that is all vegetable.

I think that's often the case too, however in Canada the Inuit people live near the North Pole. For centuries they have eaten meat because plant food just doesn't happen in the dead of winter. And their spirituality is deep and profound so they would have had meat eating masters.

I just find that because it passes through the body so lightly and quickly, vegetarianism is a tool to help us as spiritual seekers not identify with the body. Also when more spiritual energy goes to the head chakras there is not so much interest in the food cravings of the body, or even capacity to eat. There are yogis who live on prana (life force energy) only, forsaking food or even water. But then there are masters, more evolved than these yogis who can eat nails or whatever they get and it has no impact on their spiritual development because they already live in a high state of consciousness.

[mogenblue]

Spirituality and your diet are two separate things.
People can be very spiritual and still eat meat, poultry, whatever.

I quote mainly from the books of Jozef Rulof. Rulof himself was a regular meat eater, if he could afford it (because he wrote some of his books during WW2), and he even smoked cigarettes. Those habits didn't stop him from being an excellent instrument to the masters of light.

I experience personally that I feel better without meat or other animal food. I don't know if it positively affects my sensitivity on the spiritual level. When I still ate meat I was about as sensitive as I am now.
But I do feel much better, lighter. I do have a sense that I am on the right path now. I don't know if that as anything to do with spirituality at all.

I don't want to condemn the Inuit people or whoever. I have understood that for every phase in someones evolution on earth God provides that being with proper food. And that includes animal food as well. So I think there is a time for every type of food. Except nails, wood and wheel tyres...

But I do think that meat tasted much better in the past. Cows had a much better life say 20 or 30 years ago. Pigs too of course, and the like. I think that's why meat tasted much better in the past. Because the animals themselves had a much better life.

I think cultures like those of the Inuit should be respected. But overhere in the West I think most people would be better off with less animal based food. I suppose everybody heard about the recent report by the WHO about processed meat. Which is a health reason for less meat, not an ethical reason. But if people eat less meat then the animals profit from that too. And if people experience a better health by less meat maybe they will decide to eat even less meat. Stranger things have happened....

[knightofalbion]

'Two separate things'? Not at all. Abstinence from eating flesh has been part of the ascetic lifestyle for thousands of years.

Similarly so, it is part of the 'spiritual life' in the context of living compassionately being an expression of love.

As Gandhi said 'My life is my message'. How 'you' live is your message.
An earthly embodiment of one's faith and beliefs, and the strength thereof.

When you learn that animals have souls, are on their own evolutionary path and are animated by the same spirit of God, it's a game-changer.
Reinforced by the reporting of 'dead' pets in NDEs ( Lets face it, who doesn't hope to find their beloved pets there waiting for them on the Other Side when their 'time' comes.)

[mogenblue]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

Similarly so, it is part of the 'spiritual life' in the context of living compassionately being an expression of love.

That is true. When I learned that masters of light are all vegan/vegetarian that became the clearance for me to stop eating meat. It made me understand that vegetarianism and veganism are natural steps in the evolution of people. You either reach it here on earth or later on in the spiritual world.

For reasons of health it would be good for a lot of people, like myself, to stop eating meat here on earth.

Love is a difficult thing for many people.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

'Two separate things'? Not at all. Abstinence from eating flesh has been part of the ascetic lifestyle for thousands of years.

Similarly so, it is part of the 'spiritual life' in the context of living compassionately being an expression of love.

As Gandhi said 'My life is my message'. How 'you' live is your message.
An earthly embodiment of one's faith and beliefs, and the strength thereof.

When you learn that animals have souls, are on their own evolutionary path and are animated by the same spirit of God, it's a game-changer.
Reinforced by the reporting of 'dead' pets in NDEs ( Lets face it, who doesn't hope to find their beloved pets there waiting for them on the Other Side when their 'time' comes.)

So many true things there Knight.

About three and a half years ago there were some profound and beautiful experiences I had which showed me that an animal is a Soul equal to myself. Yes....different intelligence, different intellectual abilities, different world view and concepts, and even different in the afterlife to many Souls who have inhabited human bodies. But on Soul level -equal, and worthy of my deepest respect, and dearest Love. Some have even more capacity for unconditional Love than some humans.
It was that living knowledge through this world and the worlds of Spirit that made me become vegan.