So recently I became a vegetarian... again. This time I am leaning more towards becoming a vegan but I plan on working my way into that part. One of the reasons I chose to become a vegetarian I can only describe as being for religious beliefs, even though I don't really have a religion or claim to be any type of a religious person. For some reason one day I was just thinking about my diet and this thought popped into my head that I would not be able to grow spiritually unless I gave up eating animals and eventually anything that comes from animals. It came across my mind that I want to be beautiful inside and out and that I would not be able to do so if I kept putting rotting flesh inside my body. Really it all just came from no where and now I can't stop thinking about it. Anyone else ever have that kind of thought?
Yeah definitely. When I became vegetarian this time it was just because I got really weirded out that people eat dead animals and thought about it too much and just couldn't do it. I believe that it is putting negative energy in your body if its from factory farms where animals suffer... its just impure energy ya know. I don't want to eat dead things... I feel ya
Yeah, exactly. I posted that type of thought a bit ago, I think we were in agreement then too. I do feel that it's a negative energy, like hate, fear, greif, etc. And stemmed from factory farms, slaughter houses and so on. Really I'm with you about thinking about it so much that it became disgusting for myself to do. And then one day, like I said, the thought popped into my head that I would not be able to grow spiritually if I kept doing it. After my Grandpa died I had a dream about him. In the dream he told me the secret of religion, life, etc. And of course when I woke up I couldn't remember what that secret was... but it stuck with me that he said that I needed to find SOMETHING to believe in. Maybe this is part of my something.
That's largely how I feel, and what led me down the veg path to begin with. Though in my case it was coupled with a more pointed compassion toward animals. Here is a very good video of Buddhist Reverend Heng Sure speaking about compassion and the spiritual effects of an animal-based diet: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7621151971682965667
Yeah, compassion for animals and also not liking the taste/texture of meat are big points for me too, and the list goes on and on... That was an interesting video. Thanks!
The way I became veg. was similar. I tried to make the change when I was younger (I'd say around 11-12 years old), but I didn't last very long. My parents were more unaccepting of it then, and I also was not aware of what I now know. Then two years ago, I was thinking one night about how disgusting it really is and how immoral I felt and was discussing it with one of my good friends. It just hit me out of nowhere, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. My friend and I both went veg. the following Monday, and he and I never went back . I couldn't even entertain the thought of eating meat now.
