I was cooking Tequila chicken and while peeling the skin from the flesh of those ten thighs, I realized, “Shit! That's a lot of chicken! In fact, that was five chickens that underwent life as food: born, raised, and fed just to be slaughtered in a chaotic, hateful environment where their care takers treated them like food or even less than that; simply objects with no regard to life what so ever. All so I could have chicken on my plate at the discount price of $1/ lb."
It was then that realized: I have not been true to myself these past few years. I have compromised my being and am not living impeccably. There was a time when I only shopped at organic food stores (in bulk when I could, in order to reuse my own containers) and only bought my meat from small farms that respected the life of the animals they were raising for food. There is something on a fundamental level that tells me: eating meat from a negative source is bad for you.
It's funny how the inner and outer rationalizations of life convinced me otherwise, made me forget this part of myself. I can pinpoint the course of action that allowed the rationalization to win. It was when I read that Bruce Ames (the Ames test) stated, "everything gives you cancer, the best thing you can do to prevent it: eat fruits and vegetables... it doesn't even matter if they are organic or not because the benefit that you receive from eating fruits and veggies out-weighs any negative aspect of the pesticides." (not a direct quote, just paraphrased from memory)
What happened then? How did that thought supersede my spiritual beliefs? It's because at this point in my rationalization, I only thought about me. I forgot that the reason for eating organic vegetables and meat (even though they are more expensive) was for the Earth, for the wellbeing of this planet that supports us and for all the creatures that sacrifice themselves like we also do, so that another being might live. We are all - every single living being on this planet is equal and we need each other to live. The cycle of life, the food web, the energy flow... call it what you will but that is the reason we eat organic food. It is our blatant selfishness that has made us forget this important aspect. Why are the bats all dying of this strange/ new fungus? Because we dumped pesticides into those regions to kill the mosquitoes that carried the West Nile virus and this pesticide has negative effects on the bats' hormones ( http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-community/white-nose-syndrome-z10m0rog.aspx ). How much do you want to bet that something similar is hurting the bees?
We need to stop fighting the planet and other living things. Killing and poisoning everything around us for our own convenience without respect or regard for life... this is what causes cancer. It is a disease that mirrors our own actions and attitude towards the Earth - our life, our body. The cancer kills its own environment and then dies along with it. Sure it may not happen in your lifetime but it is that attitude that starts the disease. Why don't you start being a cure instead of a symptom?
