The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony
From All Creatures Book and Video Review Guide

Author: Will Tuttle, Ph.D.

Reviewed by Mary T. Hoffman

r-worldpeacediet

Published by:

Lantern Books
One Union Square West,
Suite 201
New York, NY 10003
Copyright Will Tuttle, 2005
Cover painting by Madeleine W. Tuttle
Cover design by Josh Hooten
www.lanternbooks.com 
www.lanternmedia.net
www.willtuttle.com 
www.circleofcompassion.org
318 Pages
ISBN 1-59056-083-3
$20 U.S. / $24 CAN

Review:

Last year at the North American Vegetarian Society’s annual “Summerfest” in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, we met Will Tuttle in person. Previously, we had only known him through his excellent “Food for Thought” articles published in VegNews and through our association with Prayer Circle for Animals. Not only did we get to meet him, we got to hear him play his own wonderful piano compositions on the stage of the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center!

Now I want to tell you that his book, The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony, is a “must read” for anyone who is searching for an honest account of what we know deep down inside is the truth. And I say this as a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth is universal and has no boundaries. Anyone, of any faith (or no faith), who reads this book will understand what I mean, if they have what Christians call “a teachable spirit”.

There are ever so many passages from this book that stand out, and that I’d like to quote. Here are just a very few:

This first quotation from The World Peace Diet has special meaning for me (For why, see paragraph 5 and photo at http://all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060217.html ):

“Of all the mammals, it is the cow whose maternal instinct has been perhaps the most obvious and celebrated: her gentle and patient eyes, her natural mothering way with her calf, licking and feeding and watching over her baby, and her loud lamenting when her calf is taken from her. She cannot fight the hands that steal her offspring away, or speak to us in human words, telling us how deeply it hurts her. But it is obvious to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. For us to ignore her suffering, and the suffering of her calf – hundreds, thousands, millions of times over – is to ignore and deny our own decency.” (Page 115) [Emphasis mine]

“Compassion is ethical intelligence: it is the capacity to make connections and the consequent urge to act to relieve the suffering of others. Like cognitive intelligence, it is suppressed by the practice of eating animals. The ability to disconnect, practiced at every mealtime, is seen in perhaps more chilling guise in the modern scientist slowly freezing dogs to death to learn about human physiology, in modern soldiers looking straight into the eyes of helpless civilians and killing them, in hunters deceiving and chasing defenseless animals and killing them for sport, and in countless other legal and approved cultural activities.” (Page 11)

“It would be difficult to conceive of a more wasteful, toxic, inhumane, disease-promoting, and destructive food production system than our farmed animal industry." (Page 183)

“Our theories about animals will be seen in the future as quaint balderdash, as we now view the medieval theories of healing through bleeding and leeches and of an earth-centered solar system.” (Page 201)

In The World Peace Diet, Will Tuttle puts into words what we recognize as the truth, whether we admit it or not. As he brings together the whole picture, I think that you will say, “Yes!” in recognition of this, as I did.

From the book:

What is so simple as eating an apple? And yet, what could be more sacred or profound? Food is our most intimate and telling connection both with the natural order and with our cultural heritage. But it is increasingly clear that the choices we make about food today are leading to environmental degradation, enormous human health problems, and unimaginable cruelty toward our fellow creatures.

The World Peace Diet presents the outlines of a more empowering understanding of our world, based on comprehending the far-reaching implications of our food choices. Incorporating systems theory, teachings from mythology and religion, and the human sciences, Will Tuttle offers a set of universal principles for all people of conscience, from any religious tradition, that show how we as a species can move our consciousness forward – allowing us to become more free, more intelligent, more loving, and happier in the choices we make.

About the author:

Will Tuttle has a master’s degree in humanities from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in the philosophy of education from the University of California, Berkeley. A professional pianist, composer, and teacher, he has for the last fifteen years presented at progressive churches, vegetarian and human potential conferences, and intentional communities throughout the country. He trained in Korea as a Zen Buddhist monk and has worked extensively in Tai Chi, yoga, meditation, intuition development, and spiritual healing. Co-founder of Karuna Music & Art and the Prayer Circle for Animals, he lives in Healdsburg, California.


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