A Friendly Conversation: Exploring Omnivorous vs. Vegetarian Diet

[Monica]

I'd say that's a fair assessment! The core notion which I have taken issue with [generally speaking, not something you have personally promoted] is that food choices somehow drive spiritual growth.

I don't think food choices drive spiritual growth. I'd say they do have an effect, just as any other choice has an effect. Whether we choose to smile at the cashier...whether we choose to forgive someone...whether we choose food that caused suffering vs food that didn't...all choices contribute to the net result but no one single choice determines it.

Having said that, many people have experienced a lighter, more aware consciousness when they started eating more plant foods instead of animals. So I would say that our choice of foods most certainly does affect our consciousness. But junk foods can drag down the consciousness too, not just meat. And some people's consciousness is so high that they manage to escape those effects, just as some people smoke 2 packs of cigs a day and somehow avoid ever getting lung cancer. There are no absolutes, but only generalities.

In my opinion, there is a spiritual pitfall or trap which occurs when a person is just starting to awaken. All of a sudden they are inundated by all these "guides, gurus, lightworkers, etc." who are all too happy to start expounding all these "rules and regulations" that one must supposedly follow in order to spiritually grow. It's like- no sooner does a person get a taste of true freedom then all the vultures descend and start pecking out their eyes!

Very true!

Now I know that pitfalls are part of the journey. And they also create opportunities for others to come in and offer gentle reassurance to the spiritual newborns that all of these rules and regulations are hogwash.

The actions/prohibitions themselves might have substance, but what makes them hogwash is that they're presented as rules and regulations.

Of course, the gentle reassurance often gets drowned out by the screeching and squawking of those who feel the need to recruit others onto their "one true" spiritual path.

Yeah. All newly awakened must face the challenge of finding that sweet spot of gently offering info/assistance to others, without cramming it down their throats...and to be open to the cues of others, so they can discern whether the other person is even interested at all.

In my experience and belief, spiritual growth works from the inside out.

I think it's both. If it were internal only, then what would be the point of interacting with other-selves at all? We do all affect one another.

Also, if we are all mirroring and projecting onto one another, what is really inside and what is outside? Inside/outside loses its meaning when we recognize the holographic nature of the universe.

Like a flower which blooms. Any approach that promotes an outside in strategy- whether following a certain diet, saying certain prayers, enacting certain rituals, dressing a particular way, or whatever, is the wrong approach. And by "wrong" I mean it doesn't create the intended outcome of enlightenment. All it does is confuse people and create an even larger glut of half-awakened "gurus" telling other people what to do. All of these things are perfectly valid as expressions of spirituality, but are not the cause of it.

Ah, but who's to say that some people might not get wonderful spiritual growth from such experiences? It is all catalyst, after all. Such an approach might not be appealing to you or me, but clearly is appealing to many other people. I don't think we can really say that approach isn't right for them.

All that spiritual "rules and regulations" do is create guilt and self-hatred and endless bickering among different groups following different sets of rules. And all of that is certainly not, as you say, love and forgiveness.

Well I agree with that. People who want rules tend to join a religion.