Animal food in diet

[IndigoSalvia]

What happens to this conversation when we view ourselves (everything 1D-3D that we can perceive as we gaze around us which reside on this marvelous Earth) as One, infinitely-faceted being?

Our seeming (illusory) distinctions fall away. Then, we see that one part of Ourself eats (uses or consumes in some way) another part of Ourself? We all do this because our 3D bodies would cease to exist otherwise.

We are both the consumers and the consumed; we are both the life-giving properties and the life-taking properties. Thich Nhat Hanh shares this notion much more beautifully than I can in his poem, "Please Call Me By My True Names" (see below).

How do we walk through this 3D incarnation as both the illusory, distinct individuals that we are, as well as the One that We are (as the veil slowly starts to evaporate and we continue to transition to 4D)? How do we reconcile our seeming differences?

I propose that there is much common ground here, if for no other reason: We are One.

Here is another patch of common ground: when we look deeper, we may see that both ourselves and others care about ourselves very much; thus, we want to take the best care of our physical bodies, so we may thrive. The specifics of how we "take care of ourselves" may be different, but the love is common. 

This is one of my favorite poems. To listen to Thay read it himself: https://plumvillage.org/articles/please-...song-poem/

Please Call Me by My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh

Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.