How many kilos of grain does it take to produce one fat, delicious cow?

I happened upon a fascinating book about the major world religions’ perspectives on what is proper diet (Diet for Transcendence, S. Rosen). Using quotes from scriptures and other texts, the author makes a clear case for vegetarianism. Teachings from all the major religions agree that universal compassion toward all creatures and non-killing are essential elements for the spiritual path. This strikes me as basically intuitive.

But what really shocked me was the simple revelation I happened upon in the introduction: the eating of meat is directly related to world hunger! ??

So the title is an actual question: How many kilos is it? Thousands? And how many children are starving all over the world? And how many children do 1,000 kilos of grain feed, anyway? And then it dawns on me: it's chicken karma.

I first became a vegetarian as a young girl at the behest of my dear mother, who, it should be known, is a vastly wise woman of great power and beauty. I was quite content to adopt the lifestyle and always just told others I didn’t eat meat because "the animals are my friends." Or, for the less flexible: "It’s for health." But I never really felt the need to consider it much.

Then, the chicken thing happened in Nepal, and something about it was so very wrong...but what? If it’s a common and accepted practice around the world and I had so many well-reasoned explanations for why it was justified, why was it so difficult to carry out? Why did my body shake and my voice quaver for nearly an hour after the fact?

Because killing is against the law of God, pure and simple. The fact that it is a "normal" occurrence around the world does not, at least for me, make it one bit less brutal and violent. I understand now that meat-eating limits me in my spiritual progress, directly deprives others of food, and makes animals afraid of me. In other words, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation.

After maybe fifteen years of unquestioned vegetarianism, I recently relaxed my standards enough that it is now possible for me to eat meat at regular intervals. But the purpose of the chicken incident is becoming clear; I need more awareness about and commitment to being vegetarian because the consequences of meat-eating are so devastating to humanity. Imagine how many more people could eat if we simply gave up our thirst for blood?

In other news...

..this morning I went to a nearby building where I heard there was an NGO operating from the second floor. Indeed there it was, and several of the women seemed very pleased to have me wander in from the street. It seemed a charmed moment as they talked about the mission of the organization: to educate inner-city youth and encourage them to become socially active.

I had already personally arrived at the conclusion that if we care about the future and want to affect anything in this world of ours, it starts right now with proper education of our youth. So I was quite pleased to hear about the workshops and projects about big ideas, like global development, organized for high school and college students here in Delhi. Tomorrow I will participate in my first one!

In the meantime I have already begun editing a few manuscripts for publication. The all-Indian staff is warm and welcoming and seems excited to have me there, so it seems natural to be volunteering there while I wait for the visa people to consider replacing my visa. It’s an exciting development, though risky because if I wasn’t waiting for a visa I would never consider settling myself into New Delhi! Aaaaakkkkk! Why me? Why Delhi? Why, why, why???

And the adventure continues…goodbye disco-dancing Muslim boys, hello Indian social workers!

Until next time,
Love and light to all,
LMA

PS I have some awareness about some fires in So Cal: is anyone in real danger??!