the use and abuse of substance

[hermeneut]

...and "substance addiction" is the name for the Western anima complex, the suppression and repression of the unconscious. Moreover, process is still a substance, still something represented

Comments

[tecknovore]

You've commented on this subject very eloquently. I've struggled to explain this to various vegetarians/vegans with mixed success. I draw no distinction, or stratification, between the various living beings that surround us. I hold mosquitoes in a similar reverence as puppies, and coprophagous fungus on the level as a canary, and so on. To pretend that by arbitrarily switching the position of yourself on the food chain, somehow absolves them of some self imposed guilt over their desecration through ignorance of the animals which lives and bodies sustain them is misguided. The point is to treat anything which goes into your body as a sacrament, as an ingestion of the body of the 'holy', regardless of its classification. I wonder if vegans/vegetarians thank the many varied types of 'plant/fungal' life which are required to sustain them, or just easily ignore those animas because they're not all cute and snuggly. Either way I may link to this post of yours if the discussion comes up again soon, as another coherent argument for how

[hermeneut]

Thank you. I thought you summed it up wonderfully, saying "The point is to treat anything which goes into your body as a sacrament, as an ingestion of the body of the 'holy', regardless of its classification." Native American tribes are some of the best representatives of this holy sense of eating the meat given by the Great Spirit, whether that meat is animal meat, vegetable meat, aquatic meat, etc. The vegan/vegetarian movements seem quite divided on their understanding of eating. Even just between Hindus and Buddhists, who generally regard all food as holy, there is much disagreement as to what is a proper or improper diet. What I'm surprised at, is how people will avoid eating animal products or by-products, but then they will use fossil fuels or oil-based plastics without any consideration of the ecological impact of such actions. Even worse, people will avoid animal products and by-products but they will still give money to corporations that support the industrial degradation of the environment and the myriad beings

[tecknovore]

In regards to diet, are you familiar with a paleodiet? I've found that style to be the most satisfying logically and spiritually. The basic premise is to only consume that which can be acquired in the complete absence of technology or naked with a sharp stick. That would be the style of diet that we had for the vast majority of the time we were evolving. That means no grains, no legumes, no soy, no dairy, and some other categories now considered 'food'. Look into it @ http://www.paleodiet.com/... )

[hermeneut]

I had not heard of paleodiet, but it sounds very interesting. It's another sign of an archaic revival, which I support whole-heartedly. I'll definitely keep looking around paleodiet.com, it seems like a great source for information

[norepentance]

I became a vegetarian for disciplinary reasons and I agree that since all things are living, anything you eat is a sacrifice.

[norepentance]

I saw a disturbing documentary on factory farms which depicted the life of a newborn chicken through adulthood. It was much more brutal than any airport luggage transport system and it disgusted me thoroughly. I haven't cut meat out of my diet just yet, I don't think that it would do much good for one person to do anything that doesn't effect the overall social pattern. But this got me thinking that it's not that we shouldn't be eating animals, but animals that are raised in this factory farm fashion. To ingest the energy of a cow that has spent it's whole life waiting in line, literally, like at sixflags, waiting to die, is to become that energy. There's no reason to limit this view to animals, agriculture is the same. To hunt and gather wild food sources seems to be the only justifiable way to do things. Live and let live, until you kill or are killed. But I don't see a change coming any time soon.

[norepentance]

Ive seen alot of those documentaries and after watching them you do not want to injest anything that comes out of such negative places.

[hermeneut]

I love those documentaries. They're very inspired by a sort of Marxist reading of the web weaved by capitalist productivity. I very much appreciate placing restrictions on our diets. In fact, eating well is probably one of the most important challenges facing people today, especially for those of us living in places where foods contaminated with violent karma are sold far more frequently than foods that support healthy karma