What's Behind The Brie?

I started going back and forth in vegetarianism and veganism in 1980. For the most part, I spent my life as an omnivore. There is a blog on the internet about me choosing to go vegan years ago. In 2020, I went from pescatarian to vegan quickly. I've struggled with specific foods since then - bivalves and crawfish to be specific. I have compromised over and over again because of the desires of my stomach but now, NO MORE!

Roughly six weeks ago, I was saying a prayer "The Charge of the Goddess" by Doreen Valiente. I have been trying to memorize it. Mostly, I've done well. But as I came to one line "I am the mother of all living," it was as if the goddess herself pierced my heart. She is the mother of all living. Not all living humans. ALL LIVING. I had an experience that was akin to an out-of-body experience, where I was astral traveling and seeing my four-legged brethren. It was awesome and frightening, because it meant I could no longer allow myself to choose to just eat a little cheese or chicken or whatever. They are my brethren. We share a mother.

I'd struggled for awhile anyway. I know about the cruelty of factory farming. Mother cows are separated from their babies when their babies are hours old. The mother's cry for her babies. The babies cry for their mothers. But no one heeds their cry, all in the name of cheese and dollars.

Let's talk about pigs. Pigs are the fourth smartest animals. They have learned to play video games using their snout. Mother pigs sing in pig sounds to their offspring while they are nursing.

I gave up eating octopus after going to a octopus after going to a octopus farm in Hawaii which has since closed. They were studying octopi and I had the opportunity to go. Octupi use tools to get food, build dens and to use protective shields. They can complete puzzles, untie knots, etc. We have no idea how they procreate and how smart they are and yet we consider ourselves superior to them. How do we have any idea what they know or do? We don't. We just assume because we have language that we understand that we are superior. What if they have a language that we don't understand?

Animals are more complex than we know. Bonobos have sex for pleasure and power. Chimpanzees, dolphins, otters and crows can use tools. The list goes on. It's time to stop the carnage and realize we are no better than they. Gandhi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." He further said "I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man." We are to be their caretakers, protectors and brothers. Not their devourers.

Namaste.