A positive rant about love. How and why.

Love isn't easy. There's been times where I've questioned if love was even real at all. In a dog eat dog world of survival of the fittest, its hard to see where love fits in. I used to see how violent things were and see how we have to kill plants and animals every day to sustain ourselves so I had a problem seeing how love could be something real and not a lie. Then, I had an awakening to what was literally, "the bigger picutre".

Its okay. Everything really is fine. Sure animals die so I can live, but its still okay because the Earth keeps on living. That was my awakening. What I learned was that for me to find love, I have to live the truth that, "It's not all about me". There's absolutely no other way to love, other than to squash the ego. That has to come first.

Why love? Because if you keep looking at yourself and looking at others, looking for yourself, you'll miss out on a lot of information. Love frees your mind so that it can see the world with clarity.

It doesn't matter that pigs die so that I can eat bacon, and it doesn't matter if I die either. It doesn't matter because regardless of my death, the world will keep on going. If it doesn't matter if I die, then why do I need to put up defensive walls? I don't. So I won't. Now that my walls are down, I can see what has been on the other side of the walls that I have, for so long, chosen to neglect. There is a glorious diversity of forms out there that have been here all along, and we never take the time to appreciate them. Most of us are disgusted by them. Not me. Why would I be disgusted with my home and the things in it? It baffles me how there is so much activity going on in nature yet we fail to see past our flat screen t.v.s. We're still looking at ourselves. That is primitive. I believe we'll communicate with every living creature here one day. After millions of years of living with them, I don't see why we wouldn't. I would be surprised if we went through the entire history of the planet without knowing them. In order to get to know them, we'll have to be curious about how they see the world. This is where I believe love will take us. We are human, but we are also the universe. Love is the effort of the individual to meet its greater self.

reply to post by smithjustinb

I found it a very nice and hopeful post.

However I'm a bit confused about the animals.
For example, you mention pigs, many of whom are kept in factory farms.
Apart from the karmic blow-back of diseases that could spread to humans by keeping animals in those conditions, or clearing vast tracts of lands to feed animals for a small amount of meat, what will happen when we communicate with animals?

What do you think pigs in factory farms would say to us?
Do you think they would tell us how much they love us?
Do you think they'd buy the argument that their suffering and death for bacon doesn't matter, because "the earth will keep moving"?
I don't think so.
They'd tell you how much they hate your guts for what is being done to them.

Originally posted by halfoldman
reply to post by smithjustinb

 

I found it a very nice and hopeful post.

However I'm a bit confused about the animals.
For example, you mention pigs, many of whom are kept in factory farms.
Apart from the karmic blow-back of diseases that could spread to humans by keeping animals in those conditions, or clearing vast tracts of lands to feed animals for a small amount of meat, what will happen when we communicate with animals?

What do you think pigs in factory farms would say to us?
Do you think they would tell us how much they love us?
Do you think they'd buy the argument that their suffering and death for bacon doesn't matter, because "the earth will keep moving"?
I don't think so.
They'd tell you how much they hate your guts for what is being done to them.

edit on 20-9-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

By the time we learn to communicate with animals, we will have likely ceased caging them. There's no doubt that for everyone to get on board, major changes will likely have to take place. But they don't have to take place first. We can begin now. Then we will ask for a different way of life because we will have a different set of values. But for now, we shouldn't have hate towards the way things are. Hate only disempowers us.

Truthfully, we already communicate with animals. We are just unaware of it because we don't want to know what they think of us. You have to be willing to see their pain. That is compassion, which is an aspect of love. That is what they think of you and that is what they are communicating. You are also communicating to them. Do you know what you are telling them? Are they as blind to us as we are to them? I think, yes. So there is communication, but both parties are unaware of the dialogue. Love is the first step towards recognizing the dialogue.

reply to post by smithjustinb


Great post. It's great to come across such a mindset; there's very little of that around these days.

reply to post by smithjustinb


Your outlook is way ahead of 90% of people on this planet. A bloated ego makes us live our lifes in narrow corridors. The pictures on the corridor window gradually become more and more unhappy as we walk down the corridor. So why the hell walk down the corridor, find a open field and enjoy the views.

Originally posted by smithjustinb
"It's not all about me". There's absolutely no other way to love, other than to squash the ego.

Honestly, the most important words ever spoken.
If we ever collectively and individually ever actually REAL-ize this, then we will finally be on our way to earning our freedom.

I am NOT a Christian nor do I ever give the bible much in the way of props but Jesus (or the myth known as jesus) had it right on this one. So did John Lennon.

Love is truely all you need.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to love until you have KILLED that God DAMNED, God Forsaken entity known as the EGO!

It's not all about me indeed.
It is all about YOU!!
and you, and you, and you.

A great and well written insight has come upon you! I thank for you sharing this with us with a Zen Quote.

"Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."

We will look back on Jane Goodall as a pioneer and among the first scientists to look at animals as capable of depth of feeling like ourselves. I like what you have to say. We have operated from a position of arrogant superiority, and based on this assumption, we have been blind.

We are beginning to wake up, and look at animals, birds, reptiles and yes even insects in new ways. Native Americans believed these creatures were their brothers. The idea was to be in relationship. Did not mean some animals were not food, they were, but permission was asked first, and the animal chose to sacrifice themselves. Gratitude was expressed for this gift. Honor was given along with thanks. This is hard for some to wrap their heads around.

I ask the birds in my yard, to keep bugs away from my house. I ask a family of crows in my area to look out for me. In return I use no poisons or chemicals on my lawn. I ask spiders to leave if I see them, I give them time to do so, and if they do not, they die. lol. I welcome snakes that are nonpoisonous because they keep the poisonous ones away. I talk to the life around me, I tell it how beautiful it is, I bless it, I wish it the things that fulfill it. Healthy babies, play, love, plenty of food and fair weather. I warn it of coming storms, of men who are going on killing sprees, of possible dangers. I provide habitat spaces. I try to live in relationship, in respect. It is working for me.

Awesome POV! Usually I try and keep thoughts like this in my own mind all the time. Though the ego has a funny way of rising up without even you yourself noticing it haha!

reply to post by smithjustinb


You said that it is love because it doesn't matter if you die? Doesn't that mean apathy?

It doesn't matter if an animal is tortured and killed crying leaving its young helpless and it doesn't matter if it happens to you? And this is what you call love?

I would call this "reality", or "nature" but I certainly wouldn't call this "love". Love is compassion and if nature will just kill without caring about the other's feelings then that is a lack of compassion.

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by smithjustinb

 

You said that it is love because it doesn't matter if you die? Doesn't that mean apathy?

It doesn't matter if an animal is tortured and killed crying leaving its young helpless and it doesn't matter if it happens to you? And this is what you call love?

I would call this "reality", or "nature" but I certainly wouldn't call this "love". Love is compassion and if nature will just kill without caring about the other's feelings then that is a lack of compassion.

It's not apathy. It doesn't matter if I die, to me and it doesn't matter to me if you die. Not because there's nothing to hope for in the end, but mine and your death is insignificant against the bigger picture.. Everyone and everything dies, so no, it doesn't matter, to me. In that regard, I welcome it. We are all going to die. But that's okay. There will be others to replace us. The others will be greater than us. I'll die, so that the world will make room for improvements. Death is good.

I never said we shouldn't care about our meals. But that doesn't mean that we should regret eating them either. When a hunter kills a deer, that doesn't mean he hates the deer. I'm thankful for the deer and thankful that the deer died so that I can live. The whole world eats, but getting eaten doesn't make your species go extinct.

So it doesn't matter how you respond to my death, unless it matters how you respond to my death. It may matter to you. Death is not something to be feared unless it is something to be feared. It's up to you. Where there is fear, see fear and try to understand it. That is compassion. Feel however you want, but have compassion so you can see truth. To me, it doesn't matter. To you, it may.

reply to post by smithjustinb


Sure, death will happen and it is up to us to fear it or not, but how can you call it love for a hunter to go out and kill a deer and eat it - when there are other ways to eat that you don't have to inflict pain and suffering on another?

When a plant is killed for food - it is just cut off - instant - and it isn't even "aware" that something is out to get it. It is a plant with a simple consciousness - not the same can be said for an animal - the animal knows it may dies and tries to get away but the human still inflicts pain on it and eat it even when there are other ways to eat which causes less suffering...

I am not trying to tell everyone to be vegetarian either. I'm not even vegetarian , I still eat them knowing that it causes pain and suffering and knowing that there are other things to eat which causes less suffering - so no that is NOT love.

Now and animal eating another animal for SURVIVAL without a choice - that is just the reality that sometimes to survive another will be destroyed - but I still wouldn't call it love.

How on Earth is that compassionate/love at all?