For the vegan and veggie curious…
How do you feel spiritually when you eat a meal that contains meat?
You’ve probably never given it any thought, or maybe minimal thought?.. but that may be because ‘spiritually’ you feel nothing after eating a meal of meat and maybe the only feelings are feeling tired and sluggish.
A diet of meat makes our bodies less functional, and yes we think of nourishing our bodies in terms of our organs and blood, but we don’t often think about how what we eat can impact the most important organ in our body, the brain.
When you eat a vegetarian or vegan diet, you begin to feel physically lighter and fit. Many have stated after becoming vegan that they gained more clarity, felt lighter.
When your body is fit, your mind is also lightened.
Most cultures that focus more on spirituality and enlightenment are also vegetarian or vegan cultures.
From the beginning of recorded history, we can see that vegetables have been the natural food of human beings. Early Greek and Hebrew myths all spoke of people originally eating fruit. Ancient Egyptian priests never ate meat. Many great Greek philosophers such as Plato, Diogenes, and Socrates all advocated vegetarianism. Don’t you think that’s food for thought in itself? In fact, that saying is quite spiritual I think, food for thought. Isn’t it important how we feed our brain, our thoughts? It sure is!
In India, Shakyamuni Buddha emphasised the importance of Ahimsa, the principle of not harming any living things. He warned his disciples not to eat meat, or else other living beings would become frightened of them.
Buddha made the following observations:
“Meat eating is just an acquired habit. In the beginning we were not born with a desire for it.”
“Flesh eating people cut off their inner seed of Great Mercy.”
“Flesh eating people kill each other and eat each other … this life I eat you, and next life you eat me … and it always continues in this way. How can they ever get out of the Three Realms (of illusion)?”
Quite powerful words and thoughts I think, don’t you?
These are cultures that are considered more enlightened and focused more on spirituality and equality, kindness and compassion, than is Western culture.
If we are to evolve into more spiritual beings, then we must begin to manage our physical lives in a way that will enhance our spirituality, and this means taking the path of vegetarianism or veganism as a path to enlightenment.
We can all start in a small way if we feel overwhelmed. Just swap out some meals to begin with and see how you feel. Try it and I am sure you will feel better physically and your mind and heart will feel lighter.
