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In my personal point of view, any kind of rigid fanaticism is negative.
I guess that there is no possible doubt that it is not kind to make other beings suffer.
I am not sure about words as "right" or "moral", as they assume different meanings in different times and cultures.
I would better talk of consciousness.
You would not eat your hand if you are hungry. Because your hand is part of you.
If we can understand that we are part of a bigger body, and that what we do to others we are doing it to us, we would not make other suffer anymore.
I am quite sure that this is the real meaning of what Jesus meant when he said to not do to others what you would not like to be done to you.
But even here there are possibilities of different behaviours. Some ones would not even kill a ant (buddists). Some others, enlightened spiritual master too, would easily kill insects without any doubt.
Consciiusness... Good and evil, right ant wrong, are words which are meaningless outside the dualistic world.
And no matter how you try to avoid it, you will reach a point where life need life to survive.
Vegetables are living beings. They die too.
Some studies show that if not all at least some plants have a response to pain.
Some spiritual schools teach that even unorganic life is actually alive.
So, sooner or later, we will destroy some form of life.
just even bacterias...
Even in eating bread we are burning alive many many bacterias.
Even by eating soy yogurt we kill living beings (the most of them die in gastric acids)...
I myself make tofu. We have a little fabbric. To sterilize the laboratory we have to kill bacterias. And many insects. And sometimes even rats...
What is my point?
That the best way to transmits our point to the others is by avoiding fanaticisms. Or they will just close their ears.
For example, there is no need to completely renounce to eggs and milk and milk derivates.
If we would learn to take what we need from less sensitive forms of life (has vegetables, who suffer but not like animals), there will not be a massive ask for animal derivated food like eggs and milk and milk derivates. And more respectful ways of producing these foods would be possible, ways where both parts would gain something, not only humans...
I personally know various places here where I live, where farmers use the Biodinamic method of Steiner, and they live in respect and armony not only with animals, but also with plants and the subtle (invisible) world.
Chikens live free, they eat corn, they produce eggs as much as they want only when thay want. And in some period of the years it is actually very difficult to find these eggs, because chickens do not make them, and farmers never force them.
It would be just enough to make this a bit better, by not killing the chickens (or the cows) when they no more give us eggs or milk.
And the reasons to not eat meat, actually, are much much much more (quantitative speaking) than to not make animals suffer.
What meat makes to us is actually enough. Explaining this well to others would help to convince them to be a bit more vegetarian. And working from both sides, human healt and earthlings right to not suffer, the best result would be reached.
I also guess that in North pole it would be difficult to grow tomatoes... People must eat meat, and drink their blood. Even Milarepa, a great tibetan buddist saint, eated dried meat when he needed strenght after many months of intense meditation.
Actually, animals themselves eat meat. And we are animals.
The real problem, in my point of view, is the complete lack of respect and love and kindness toward other beings. Some indigenus have rites before hunting, and they thanks the soul of the hunted animal which will feed them...
And as far as I see, the lack of love and respect is absolutely not only toward other species. Not even toward other races. Whites hate whites, blacks hate blacks, yellows hate yellows. As for hate, there is no racism in our spicie. Hate breacks all barriers...
I personally think (and practice) that there is no need to eat meat. I eated eggs and cheese till now. I am italian, and it is really very difficult for me to renounce to cheese over pasta (or maybee you say Spaguettis?), or in pizza. And Icecreem is the main component of my diet when I am sad.
But, all this, I am sure, is avoidable. And I wish to avoid them, after seeing this movie (I actually trow away 3/4 kg of icecream...). At least untill I will not be able to find someone who treat cows equally, so that their milk will not be fruit of suffering.
There is a moviment in italy, I am not sure if it is italian only or not. It is something as "equel and solidal commerce". I think it is a way of life, together with indian neww microcredit, and it wshould be expanded to the way we treat animals. This will not completely and fanatically exclude any possible use respectfull relationship between some animal sand humans, for example about eggs, and milk, etc...
About the concept of property, it is difficult to analize it well.
I personally feel that who like dogs should leave them free to come and go as they please, because otherwise they will be prisoners. But for example my parents say that when they did so with one dog, it died because of a car. And the others come back all the time with ingiuries and some kind of hillness (they often eat trash when they go out).
Some races of dogs would be quite completely if not completely unable to survive alone, by hunting.
This about pets.
I personally find absolutely negative aquariums and any kind of exotic pets.
i guess you may be catching my weltanstaung at this point, and I would be largely repetitive if I follow...
A bit more difficult is to analize the concept of property in cows and chickens, even if left out in the field eating grass and corn, and used only for eggs and milk, and never for meat not even when naturally dead.
But I guess that common sense would be an answer.
And a biunivoc respectfull and useful relationship would be a way...
Fishing, of course, has no reason. Bad thing.
About insects, I am not original in this, they suffer too. I personally see it well.
But would you really leave ants in your house? Because it is very difficult to convince them to go away with natural methods. And those other ones who I do not know the name in english, who transmits hillness as malaria?
And so on...
Well...
My contribute...
Peace,
Sergio
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