In the Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Sir Andrew says “I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit”. Sir Toby answers back saying “No question that it does”.
How has the eating of meat effected us as a species?
The idea that meat is a superior source of fuel is ridiculous.
Cultures who eat fewer animal products are healthier. Saturated fats and cholesterol only found in meat clogs our arteries, smothers our organs, and prevents normal cell functioning.
Our stomach acids are not designed to digest meat nor able to deal with the pathogens contained in meat.
Acidic animal protein is hard to break down and absorb.
Animal products increases your risk of many chronic conditions such as arteriosclerosis, heart disease and stroke.
Eating animals is simply not compatible with human biology.
The notion that meat made the brain grow big and made us human is also crazy.
Glucose makes up 60% of the brain. It is a simple form of sugar that serves as fuel for the body and is produced when carbohydrates are broken down in the digestive system. Glucose is the primary source of fuel not only for the brain but for muscles.
Fruit is a great source of glucose.
Our earliest ancestors lived in tropical and sub tropical climatic conditions which was prevalent throughout the world.
This is the ideal condition for the earth plane to give forth in abundance.
Humans ate mostly fruit year round while animals ate more plants.
This defined how we perceived reality because it developed the neo cortex which is the executive layer of the brain.
Fruit is a very concentrated cocktail of healthy chemicals. That is because fruit is the reproductive mechanism of many plant species. The plant hormones contained therein triggers hormonal switches in our DNA causing our DNA to be read differently.
So how did we get to where we’re at now?
Myth and religion agree not only that the earliest humans were herbivores living in a land of plenty but also that a great cataclysm or a series of worldwide cataclysmic events changed the environment.
Fruit bearing plants and trees became scarce. There was also a lack of edible vegetables. Humans and animals changed their diet. Animals having a proficiency for adaptation were able to actually change their physical make-up.
Many switched their diet to grass while others became scavengers.
As a result approximately 30% of animals became reliant on flesh and switched to being carnivores or more precisely omnivores.
Human anatomy did not change.
Even though we resorted to eating meat because of the unavailability or lack of our true food sources we still remained herbivores.
We did not develop claws or fangs.
Carnivores can see at night and capture their prey with their hands and teeth.
Carnivores have short intestines and can digest raw meat safely.
We had to use complex tools to capture and kill.
So our intellect came before our practice of eating meat.
In other words our brains were already developed before we resorted to eating meat.
As the years went by different cultures and religions developed their own philosophies about which animals are OK to eat.
Some groups such as Buddhists and Tibetans excluded animals in their diet altogether.
Some such as the Eskimos relied totally on meat. Eskimos have a very short life span.
What effect has a flesh eating diet had on our brains?
The corpus callosum is the part of the brain that joins the two hemispheres allowing for connections.
Psilocybin mushrooms for instance will light up dormant circuitry that isn’t normally lit up.
The subjective experience is more empathy, more creativity and self awareness.
In effect people can expand their consciousness by their diet.
People who switch to a vegan diet report they have more mental clarity and feel more connected to the Earth.
They say they feel better, look better and have more energy.
And they describe how their circle of compassion has grown.
So we are what we eat!
But there is so much resistance to switching to a plant based diet.
Cognitive dissonance sets in.
And people don’t like to be reminded that it’s animals they are eating.
The brain has devolved to the point where accurate emotional acuity about stuff it hasn’t seen for itself is not processed.
So when you eat a steak you don’t feel anything for the victim and your web of acuity falls woefully short.
Indeed if slaughterhouses did have glass walls the vast majority of us would be vegan.
As the consuming of flesh has increased the more disconnected the brain circuitry has become.
Society is now inundated with dishonesty.
Integrity is rare.
Ambivalence toward others is common.
A lot of our behaviors are quite threatening.
The connections allowing for empathy, creativity and self awareness is dormant and not lit up.
As a result our brains have actually shrunk.
Taste is a good indicator of our body rewarding us and telling us what it needs.
Natural foods such as fruit are very sweet.
Salt tastes good because of the minerals we need.
But meat has no taste at all.
We have to cook it, season it with spices, salt it, cover it with herbs and oils and consume it with vegetables.
All because meat is very bland.
And cooking meat produces harmful trans fats and carcinogens.
Originally no food was cooked at all.
When starches are fried, baked or toasted the compound acrylamide is formed due to a chemical reaction between the amino acid asparagine and certain sugars.
Then in the body acrylamide is converted into glycidamide which combines to the DNA and creates mutations.
Today in our meat eating society many people struggle with obesity.
And many have to be treated for depression.
The adrenaline hormone is secreted by the animal at time of it’s death because of the great pain and agony it goes through.
This hormone is incorporated into our bodies when we eat their bodies.
Certain people view the killing and eating of people as no different from the killing and eating of animals.
Cannibalism is alive and well and is not restricted to isolated tribal communities.
The elite segment in our society actually drinks the blood and eats the flesh of young people at their rituals and parties.
Creativity has declined.
Outstanding artistic achievements are few and far between.
Masterpieces now a days have devolved into splattering paint on a canvass.
Our inventions have made an apocalyptic world ending event just a matter of time.
That is not progress.
Our perceptions dictate where we go as a species.
Benevolent pictures in our minds are becoming evanescent. Fading fast.
The mental state that is underwriting our course and direction has left the future of humanity hanging by threads.
Eating meat was for survival.
We cannot love another being and eat it at the same time.
Humans have disconnected themselves from other species allowing us not to even consider what a slaughterhouse is all about.
We shut ourselves off from the bigger picture.
The meat, dairy and egg industries capitalize on our ignorance.
They treat humans as respectfully as they do pigs, chickens, cows and sheep.
Selling us murdered animals.
Sealing our doom.
A psychopath is defined as someone who does not have the ability to care.
Our society commits violent acts of indifference towards other beings who suffer terribly as a result.
From the moment they are ruthlessly taken away from their mothers until the time their throats are cut open or whatever fate happens to befall them.
Society has hijacked our conscience.
And makes us behave in a way that goes against our true nature.
This feeling of ambivalence is superimposed upon us and our destruction is monetized.
We are in a dysfunctional relationship with meat.
Reclaim sovereignty of your right and wrong.
If your heart tells you it is wrong but the connection is not made because you never see heads, hooves or tails at the supermarket then your actions are not aligned with your morals.
If your brain and heart are telling you two different things then one of them is wrong.
If knowing who you were eating or how the animal was killed would prevent you from eating it then that is an extraordinary admission of idiocy.
It is so wrong to chose to turn a blind eye.
Culture deliberately prevents us from our natural empathy we feel towards animals.
We love our pets and think they’re so cute.
But the meat dairy and egg industries provide us with products that don’t look like animals.
And these neatly wrapped packages on the supermarket shelf completely belie the bloody murder from whence they came.
Would you be able to wield the knife in the slaughterhouse?
If not then you should not pay someone else to.
The lies that we need to eat animals for our protein or calcium capitalizes on our primitive instinct of fear.
So most of us operate on survival mode at the expense of our empathy, self awareness and creativity.
At the same time we are told we are evolving.
But when the brain doesn’t get the fuel it needs it will steward the resources it does have to those areas that are absolutely crucial for survival.
What we need is a high carbohydrate, low protein and low fat diet.
More and more doctors are getting on board with this.
When you go vegan your taste preference will change quickly.
You will become more aware of what you are putting into your body.
You will realize how destructive animal products are and that people who still use them appear to be in the grip of some kind of delusion.
Align your mind, spirit and your ethics.
You can exercise the muscle of empathy towards a voiceless group every time you sit down to eat a meal.
And thus you will force yourself to look at the bigger picture.
And as more people wake up to this bigger picture society is changed.
And as the wider world emerges you will see that this is something worth your attention.
Because when you reach out and embrace the rights of animals that is when you have the highest quantity of love.
And when you love all of God’s creatures that is when you have the highest degree of love!
Thank you ~ Bennett ! Your well-written article proves your point. Eating a vegan diet is the only ethical choice.
As your friend ~ I know you are extremely devoted to animal welfare and animal rights.
Once again ~ I am proud of your compassion and intellect. Thank you for this illuminating article.
You must be one of the best spokespeople for the Vegan cause.
Thank you for all the time, effort and devotion you give this very worthwhile cause.
It is a higher way of living. It is the way it was. And the way we were meant to be!