After returning to my native North East of England after
many years away, I was filled with some trepidation as to what changes
had occurred since my departure. The reasons one leaves your birthplace
are many, and I wondered whether the fabric of society had changed for
the better, or for the worst. Sometimes we forget the real reasons why
we leave. For me it was kind of pre-ordained as I was very different
from other people and these differences became more and more apparent as
time went on. Great prophets have echoed the message "In order to give
new insights to a society, it is necessary to leave it, then return".
If only things had not changed would I feel more
optimistic about this. Whilst there were many unemployed and the region
was poor, the attitudes and treatment towards women, children and
animals whilst being brutally harsh, was often a result of environmental
conditions. Violence and social problems were there, but there was still
a sense of "right and wrong". Sadly things have got much worse. The
community hardly exists anymore, violent crime and social problems like
drugs are the accepted norm. That's the really sad bit -- they believe
this IS the norm. The generations that are now in place are the result
of what has gone before.
I consider now, that whilst you can draw the link
between dysfunctional fighting parents and this reflection in their
offspring, and hence contributing to a successive moral degradation of
the human spirit, they are in fact no way to blame for their behavior.
They are merely puppets dancing to the tune of a discordant world.
Products of centuries of wars, killing, diseases, drinking, viciousness
-- everything negative and nasty that can be thought up. If they and
their forebears had been nurtured in an environment more akin to the
original, the Garden of Eden, they would have reflected a similar
peaceful nature and tranquility. For cause and effect applies to
everything and the effect is in no way to blame -- only the cause, for
effect is the unavoidable sequence. Plant a perfect potato in poor,
disease-ridden soil and it will produce a grub-eaten unhealthy tuber.
Now plant this tuber to produce again in the same poor soil and its
tuber will be even worse. The result is still a potato, true to it's
species, but both environmental circumstances and heredity have had a
combined detrimental effect, and it is now a sorry specimen of the
original. Until both these conditions are changed, improvement is just
wishful thinking.
Exactly the same rule applies to humans, for the law of
cause and effect exists in all creation, from the lowest form of life to
the highest, the simplest to the most complex. Man's mind has become,
through generations of wrong eating habits leading to wrong thinking,
his own biggest enemy. Within the cage of his head, constant thoughts of
fear, frustration, aggression, depression and negative reactions to
outside influences revolve until he dies; a bundle of self-imposed
complexes all built up from a misguided but habitual way of life.
There is no doubt that different foods dictate the
behavior of the eater. Compare the nature of the carnivore with that of
the herbivore. The former is aggressive, the latter peaceful. Watch the
predatory animal go in for the kill. It builds up a frenzy of hate to
achieve its purpose. Is it not logical to infer that this basic
aggression must also be smoldering in the flesh-eating human? Although
we pride ourselves on being civilized and humane by dispatching our
victims instantly, the primordial and barbaric instinct to kill remains.
There is no other explanation for the viciousness prevalent today. Faith
in deities and religion may suppress this evil in man, but only a
reformed diet will eradicate it. There are universal laws to which we
must adhere, for the basis of all being is to ride on a wave of harmony
which transmits and receives in a vast cosmic circle. If we bring our
lives as far as possible in line with this harmony, we are bound to
benefit. If we create discord by killing for meat and inflict suffering
by eating dairy produce, then we are bound to suffer in return, for the
original code of Eden has been broken. The basic cause of adverse
conditions, both in the spiritual and physical life, is a direct result
of the wrong food on our table. For how can we hope to advance in
harmony and peace, yet continue to be predatory animals at the same
time?
(acknowledgments to Wilfred Crone)
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