Such a peaceful way to go in a real Sim

Lately I find myself  - strangely content. It is an interesting state - as there really is nothing to do or nowhere to go, yet I find myself doing what I am doing etc.

In any case - that is basically so.

This evening I also am happy to hear someone else seems to be happy in the marriage she went into. There might have been some rocky phases, but, adjustments appear to have happened and things are going well, so the news are. This is good.

And I am wondering what it must be like to love and be loved like that - and live a life that is like that. Being nothing like that kind of attractive woman, in fact, not at all, or wanting to do what she does - the chances of that experience are slim, to say the least. My mission might be very different, anyway, all is well.

4 1/2 days still to go.

The other day, one of my first flock hens died, Faye. She was five. She was a mama once. She got sick almost 2 years ago but then was well till a couple of months ago, when it caught up with her. This time, I was ready for her to go.

She still went out with the flock that morning, the day she died, moving slowly, pecking at the food bucket contents. Some time in the afternoon, she was ready to go "in". The last 2 days I had lifted her in and out of the brooder box, which she chose to be in. After all, that is where she was as a baby chick when she got here. That afternoon, when I lifted her into the brooder box, she went to the back, didn't eat or drink, only to later sit in a way that would be facing me. And she just stayed there, sitting perfectly balanced, head centered and appearing comfortable. That late afternoon,  I spent some timeless time sitting with her as she sat there -  in and with the dying process. She seemed so inner focused, so "collected" for lack of a better word. Once she opened her eyes. Sometimes a slight trembling of the wings. The breathing already was changing, deep and regular, then shallow as if not breathing. The peace and silence of that space...in the midst of the rest of the world, the sounds familiar to her, was amazing. Such a beautiful peaceful way to go.  Days before, when she still had been up on a roost, I had drained some fluid again from her abdomen as she appeared to have some slight trouble breathing. It helped, she didn't have any sign of breathing trouble again. I don't know if at any time she was in pain.

So - knowing how she left this world, no 'humane" killing seems a better choice to me. This reminds me of my 80 year old aunt, who died a couple of years ago of cancer (colon, surgery, chemo, chemo..later metastases in the lung). She got weaker and weaker, had to be helped, go so weak and thin, never any pain at all. And that is what I think can happen to birds too. Just like that. You make adjustments to help them, make sure they are safe...but killing them is an excuse in that case...it is for our selves, not their benefit.

There were others, each case is different. But this one went beautifully as far as I can tell. And I thanked and thanked the guides and universe for it.
Death by predator is not better than this, at least, it does not appear to me that it is preferable, from what I have seen and found.

Thinking of all this world as a SIM. Well, that is another story. Her animation slowed and then stopped. Spirit withdrawing the animation force....but then, it might have been written like that from the start. The spirit that moves through all things....what about dead "things"?

But does it really matter if it is a Sim or "real"?  It is a real Sim.
There is gratitude for this one.

The compassionate non-vegetarian?

Since I can remember, I have always loved animals, even though the only ones we ever had at home were a couple of parakeets, and my sister had a hamster. Once we found an injured wild baby rabbit which we nursed back to health and then set free. We explored the world of frogs and tadpoles. We delighted in the sighting of any wildlife on walks. I played with and eventually fed a neighbor's collie, who started to stay in the back of our house at night. He was eventually given to a farm by it's owners. Still,even though I never had any of my own,  I loved animals. Wherever we moved, there were always bird songs in the spring and songbirds to observe raising their young. We did get to watch all animal shows on TV and back then in Germany, they were good documentaries on all kinds of wildlife and their habitats, animal's lives and plight. My favorite animals were dolphins, then dogs (German Shepherds and Collies especially), horses, songbirds, wild cats, rabbits, cows, deer, foxes, birds of prey, wolves, and you name it. Once my dad told us about having to kill a mouse - and how  that is when it's just there, still, looking at you with these big brown eye's asking: why are you doing this? And I understood it then, and even more so now.
We also often got game from farmers during hunting season, parts of a deer, rabbits, occasionally wild boar. I learned to skin and gut rabbits. We also, already way back then, tried to get eggs from free ranging chickens and beef from a cow that had been allowed the life of a cow on a pasture.This was after it became known how the animals were kept.
I have eaten meat most of my life,  once or twice a week, and in recent years only chicken from free range organic farms.
And then Skye came into my life, this majestic German shepherd husky and because of wanting to do the best for her, I looked up a lot of dog related stuff online and inevitably came across all the horrific accounts and images of abused dogs, neglected dogs and the whole domain of the plight of dogs in shelters and their killing and for the first time in my life, I could imagine being an activist - in fact, in my own way, I became one.  Sensitized, I also watched the Video: Glass Walls, below. And even though I had sort of known for a long time, this time it hit home in a different way. You could say: I feelingly awakened to a new level.


I became a vegetarian, and it has been easy.

Compare this to a dog in a shelter

I have friends who also became vegetarians, and I have friends who point out the detrimental effects of grains on human digestive systems, and the benefit of an all meat diet. There is the right diet for your blood type theory. There are camps pro and con vegetarian, meat eating, and the health benefits of each. Even Buddhists don't forbid the eating of meat.
To summarize what the suttas tell us: it appears that one may, with a clear conscience, receive, cook, and eat meat that either was freely offered by someone else, or that came from an animal who died of natural causes. But as to purchasing meat, I am just not sure. There are no clear-cut answers here.
We are all guilty of complicity, in one way or another and to varying degrees, in the harming and death of other creatures. Whether we are carnivore, vegan, or something in between, no matter how carefully we choose our food, somewhere back along the long chain of food production and preparation, killing took place. No matter how carefully we trod, with every step countless insects, mites, and other creatures inadvertently perish under our feet. This is just the nature of our world. 
from "Frequently Asked Questions About Buddhism", edited by John T. Bullitt. Access to Insight, 18 March 2011, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bullitt/bfaq.html.

I also am not sure that my body does not need meat to do better, my own sense is that is does. Maybe I'll see an specially trained doctor for guidance on the matter.
So the dilemma is there, how can I possibly eat meat again, even if my body needs it? I am not in principle and under all circumstances opposed to meat-eating for everyone. I oppose and object to the mal-treatment of animals and the misuse of the earth's resources in order to "raise meat" commercially the way we do, no matter which or where. But could I kill them? In a survival class with Tom Brown Junior, the Tracker, the groups were each given a white rabbit which we were to kill for food and usage of the fur. This did not go without the teaching of the sanctity of it's life and the way to kill with a sudden blow. So, you get the gist - there are many different kinds of ways to look at the entire issue of food, including meat. Someone once said, as the topic came up and we were munching on carrots and other vegetables: ask them what THEY have to say about that - as if they did not have to give their life to become food, and I can tell you - if you do it with enough sensitivity, pulling out weeds or harvesting gorgeous lettuce hurts too.

Then there is the issue of: if we can eat cows and pigs and chicken, why not horses, and dogs and cats and monkeys and goats and sheep...and the list goes on, whatever happens you are able to find.
Yet, they are all these beautiful sentient beings with feelings and their life's purpose.
Recently I have come across lots of outrage of the Chinese eating dogs and their general disrespect in how those dogs get treated, with lots of comments calling the Chinese barbaric. But I ask you, watch the video below and then tell me: how are we less barbaric in this country? How can anyone not think this is atrocious and monstrous? Just saying, it is not a Chinese characteristic. In fact, we as a society may be more barbaric - they simply use dogs as food culturally, not having lived with dogs at the same level of companions as we in the West have been relating to dogs.Of course they skin them alive...I don't know how they can do it....




This one is about eating meat or not. Are we human designed or meant to eat meat? Are we supposed to "outgrow" our need for meat as we ascend the evolutionary ladder to a more awake and enlightened species? Does it depend on your genetics?
It is also about how we go about caring for the animals we breed as life-stock and giving them a life in the process as well as honoring and thanking them for giving their life for us.
It is also about how we choose which animal is ok to eat and the cultural differences and traditions.
It is about the life on this beautiful planet and how to honor all sentient beings, about giving and taking and sharing and sacrifices and the deep respect for other forms of life.
Can there be a compassionate non-vegetarian?


In looking for some images, I came across this blog - this is what happened to me too: the images - and once you really know, you cannot "unknow"
the-face-on-your-plate