I’m not sure what it is about growing old but I find myself always worried about all different types of life now, from insects to animals. We have a house on a lake full of bass that really don’t taste very good so I can’t fish because I may hurt one, sick isn’t it. Am I going crazy or do you think as I do? I’m beginning to think the lif…
I’m not sure what it is about growing old but I find myself always worried about all different types of life now, from insects to animals. We have a house on a lake full of bass that really don’t taste very good so I can’t fish because I may hurt one, sick isn’t it. Am I going crazy or do you think as I do? I’m beginning to think the life of an animal is no less precious than my own, although I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian.
That's why the Native people always gave thanks to the Creator before killing the animals that nourished them. (and they used every single part of the animal). I seem to remember reading (from one of my alternative sources) that fish offer themselves to us for food, James. I remember a person I knew going from killing animals to "shooting" them with a camera.
DD, I like many, love all kinds of meat!! But like MANY, I live in denial about where it comes from. Funny how people think it come from a styrofoam plate wrapped in plastic!! Oh well…
Ya, we have lost the symbiotic relationship to our food. From being too removed from the whole process; from raising, caring, feeding and finally killing with respect and love for the whole experience. I was so fortunate to have been exposed to the whole cycle in raising rabbits with my dad. In the city, no less. My dad had a tender heart that he covered up with booze, he didn't know what to do with the pain of his mothers early death. Quite the opportunity for introspection.
I never had to deal with alcoholism in my family growing up. Of coarse from 16-17-18-21i had my own bout with drinking. But it stopped then. Now I have to deal with it all these years later and don’t know what the answers are, just pray daily it might some day get better…
As my friend Dannion said when I asked him about my drinking , he said "oh, it's just self-medication." No judgement, just understanding about the challenges of being in the body. I drink responsibly most of the time and pay attention to the tendencies of negative emotions. Another opportunity to watch and learn.
I wonder what he’d say if it were your spouse that you were trying to deal with and those negative emotions (BTW negative emotions hits the nail on the head) and figure out how to deal with them, because I can’t figure it out. When I’m coming home from work I never know what I’m coming home to. I pray it’s not going to be a bad time. At times I question if I can come home to it if it were to go on for the rest of my days here. Alanon?? It’s so hard to know what is the right way to handle someone else’s drinking and as you say those negative emotions and negative effects drinking has on your spouse. When we were young her drinking was not a problem, things have changed in her over the years, it so abusive to me at times and no one, even friends of mine that go to AA can tell me how to fix this. It’s even hard for me to explain the emotional abuse I have had to take from someone I love, it’s a f’d up rollercoaster life I never thought I’d be in but I am. One friend told me I allow it by staying here, but for me I’m afraid what might happen if I were to leave. You see DD, these are just the surface problems of living with a functioning alcoholic. I’m starting to think there is nothing I can do to fix her problem. J
It is true that you can't fix her problem, this situation is complex. I am currently reading and practicing Byron Katie's "The Work" and "Letting Go The Pathway of Surrender" David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D. The more clear and solid you are the better everything can be, whether you stay or go. Both of these authors had life changing spiritual experiences and are not woo-woo. First she has to see and recognize the situation for change to occur, I would think, I could be wrong. I was firm with my husband about some patterns that were affecting our relationship and we continue to use these tools and chip away. Do your work to get clear, that usually means not doing the same things that don't work. I wish clarity and strength to you both.
I was vegan for over 20 years and it negatively impacted my health. I filled myself with PUFAs and estrogen-laden foods. The way I became a meat eater again is (a) I got sick (b) I learned that ALL live food gives up their lives for us (yes including the beets and carrots I just juiced and on some level they feel pain when you cut into them or grind them through a juicer).
If you can find a farm that humanely raised and humanely slaughters their animals, that's the best we can ask for (and remembering all of us will have to perish and die at some point.)
The key is for all of us to live a healthy, happy life and die a quick, painless death. My prayer before eating as others have shared in their replies is to give thanks ...and rest in knowing the animal lived a life I would have enjoyed if we had changed places. (hope this helps.)
The other option is to become a breatharian and live purely off of sunlight and water (I haven't figured out quite how that works yet ;)
These days I haven't any encounters with creatures scheduled to be eaten. However Gtok offers some video shorts that bring such sentiments to mind. I suspect we are subject from nudgings that we are subject to from the animal rights and the vegan types. Always someones trying to shape our views on things.
It’s strange I don’t have a problem at all with people that hunt. I hunted years back,though never had a love for it, I liked hanging out with friends. Over the years something has changed.
In the day went along on hunting (to my relief, we never encountered any game). The commoradery was a big part of the action. Personally enjoyed helping work on restoring old cars for the same reason. Opportunities and more current attitudes have changed.
Mike, Way back when I would go hunting in the Berkshires (Ma.) with my cousin and my Uncle Ben. There was a bar there called The Liars Club where you’d tell big stories. We had a lot of fun back then!!
We also pheasant hunted which was lots of fun. That same cousin had a German Shorthair Pointer trained really well. His name was Bullet, great dog. I remember he would point at bird and freeze, my cousin would give him a command and Bullet would rush into the bush the bird wound fly up and all hell would break loose. One day I took a shot and thank God I thought I would hit the dog but didn’t. That would have been a disaster, he never would have forgiven me. But bird hunting was much more fun than deer hunting at least for me.
James, I hear you! My folks moved to a lake in the woods in the UP of Michigan after I graduated high school. Had heard about bird hunting so I went out solo and came across a ruffed grouse that wasn’t 20’ away. After blasting it to smithereens with the shotgun, I proudly took it home to my folks. What I didn’t realize at the time, but soon figured out, was that the bird was a mother grouse seeking to distract the intruder from her young ones. That was it for me for hunting of any kind. I still regret pulling the trigger. But, like you, I understand the need to cull the deer herd and so on, I just don’t want to be the one doing the culling. And insects? There are some on my hit list: waterbugs, roaches, ants, mosquitoes, flies. But that’s about it except for the violators on my tomato plants. I’m good with wasps and bees, will catch them inside and release outside. I like small spiders and prefer to co-exist with them, particularly those in the bathroom which usually end up with names. Bigger spiders in the house wind up outside, unless a black widow, in which case, it is bidden farewell.
I am right with you down the line!!! I think when I was young I was generally ignorant of the miracle of life. I have so changed since then. I can’t imagine knowingly injecting a person with harmful chemicals or not acknowledging ending the lives of 13 young soldiers. Just 2 examples I threw in there…
It might interest you to know that as a special education teacher, I kept as a pet a black widow on my desk for years. We fed it flies and crickets. It’s important to know what is and what isn’t a real threat. Black widow bites ARE serious but they seldom bite unless threatened by being touched and they often bite “blanks”. No venom, like a warning shot. They don’t live in my house but I’m not inclined to kill them if I happen to see them outside. I’m a lot less forgiving of brown recluse who happily burrow into my bed and bite because as far as they are concerned, it’s their bed now and I can just jolly well move over.
No but each one lives about 3 years with good care. Since they are literally everywhere except the north and south poles, they were easy to find around the school building. A kindergarten teacher had me paged one day when she recognized one crawling across the floor!! Interestingly, no one in all those years was ever bitten. That’s the potential vs actual threat demonstration.
Wow, that's way longer than my bathroom buddies last. Think the cats might have something to do with it. My wife understands and is okay with it - she's put up with me for 50 years...
Dear James, as a recovering vegetarian, I share your sentiments. I have often thought about what I will say first to our good Lord when I get a chance. Probably hit Him first with the demand to explain , if He can, the reason for suffering followed immediately by the huge disconnect between His command to Love one another while embedded in a world where everything eats (sometimes brutally - just watch my cats) everything else!! I console myself with the first law of thermodynamics but I’m still going to ask!!
I’m not sure what it is about growing old but I find myself always worried about all different types of life now, from insects to animals. We have a house on a lake full of bass that really don’t taste very good so I can’t fish because I may hurt one, sick isn’t it. Am I going crazy or do you think as I do? I’m beginning to think the life of an animal is no less precious than my own, although I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian.
That's why the Native people always gave thanks to the Creator before killing the animals that nourished them. (and they used every single part of the animal). I seem to remember reading (from one of my alternative sources) that fish offer themselves to us for food, James. I remember a person I knew going from killing animals to "shooting" them with a camera.
I knew someone that hunter elk, bear, deer and other animals with his camera.
DD, I like many, love all kinds of meat!! But like MANY, I live in denial about where it comes from. Funny how people think it come from a styrofoam plate wrapped in plastic!! Oh well…
Ya, we have lost the symbiotic relationship to our food. From being too removed from the whole process; from raising, caring, feeding and finally killing with respect and love for the whole experience. I was so fortunate to have been exposed to the whole cycle in raising rabbits with my dad. In the city, no less. My dad had a tender heart that he covered up with booze, he didn't know what to do with the pain of his mothers early death. Quite the opportunity for introspection.
I never had to deal with alcoholism in my family growing up. Of coarse from 16-17-18-21i had my own bout with drinking. But it stopped then. Now I have to deal with it all these years later and don’t know what the answers are, just pray daily it might some day get better…
As my friend Dannion said when I asked him about my drinking , he said "oh, it's just self-medication." No judgement, just understanding about the challenges of being in the body. I drink responsibly most of the time and pay attention to the tendencies of negative emotions. Another opportunity to watch and learn.
I wonder what he’d say if it were your spouse that you were trying to deal with and those negative emotions (BTW negative emotions hits the nail on the head) and figure out how to deal with them, because I can’t figure it out. When I’m coming home from work I never know what I’m coming home to. I pray it’s not going to be a bad time. At times I question if I can come home to it if it were to go on for the rest of my days here. Alanon?? It’s so hard to know what is the right way to handle someone else’s drinking and as you say those negative emotions and negative effects drinking has on your spouse. When we were young her drinking was not a problem, things have changed in her over the years, it so abusive to me at times and no one, even friends of mine that go to AA can tell me how to fix this. It’s even hard for me to explain the emotional abuse I have had to take from someone I love, it’s a f’d up rollercoaster life I never thought I’d be in but I am. One friend told me I allow it by staying here, but for me I’m afraid what might happen if I were to leave. You see DD, these are just the surface problems of living with a functioning alcoholic. I’m starting to think there is nothing I can do to fix her problem. J
I will pray for you, James and your wife. God still answers prayer. He is the answer. Always. It is hard to know what to do but GOD!
Thank you Margaret….
It is true that you can't fix her problem, this situation is complex. I am currently reading and practicing Byron Katie's "The Work" and "Letting Go The Pathway of Surrender" David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D. The more clear and solid you are the better everything can be, whether you stay or go. Both of these authors had life changing spiritual experiences and are not woo-woo. First she has to see and recognize the situation for change to occur, I would think, I could be wrong. I was firm with my husband about some patterns that were affecting our relationship and we continue to use these tools and chip away. Do your work to get clear, that usually means not doing the same things that don't work. I wish clarity and strength to you both.
I was vegan for over 20 years and it negatively impacted my health. I filled myself with PUFAs and estrogen-laden foods. The way I became a meat eater again is (a) I got sick (b) I learned that ALL live food gives up their lives for us (yes including the beets and carrots I just juiced and on some level they feel pain when you cut into them or grind them through a juicer).
If you can find a farm that humanely raised and humanely slaughters their animals, that's the best we can ask for (and remembering all of us will have to perish and die at some point.)
The key is for all of us to live a healthy, happy life and die a quick, painless death. My prayer before eating as others have shared in their replies is to give thanks ...and rest in knowing the animal lived a life I would have enjoyed if we had changed places. (hope this helps.)
The other option is to become a breatharian and live purely off of sunlight and water (I haven't figured out quite how that works yet ;)
These days I haven't any encounters with creatures scheduled to be eaten. However Gtok offers some video shorts that bring such sentiments to mind. I suspect we are subject from nudgings that we are subject to from the animal rights and the vegan types. Always someones trying to shape our views on things.
It’s strange I don’t have a problem at all with people that hunt. I hunted years back,though never had a love for it, I liked hanging out with friends. Over the years something has changed.
Going out hunting is a great guy bonding experience from what I have heard.
In the day went along on hunting (to my relief, we never encountered any game). The commoradery was a big part of the action. Personally enjoyed helping work on restoring old cars for the same reason. Opportunities and more current attitudes have changed.
Hunting at My Uncle’s cabin was a big poker game 😂
Mike, Way back when I would go hunting in the Berkshires (Ma.) with my cousin and my Uncle Ben. There was a bar there called The Liars Club where you’d tell big stories. We had a lot of fun back then!!
The Liars club is fitting for hunting or fishing 😂
I use to go pheasant hunting with my dad on the farm.
We also pheasant hunted which was lots of fun. That same cousin had a German Shorthair Pointer trained really well. His name was Bullet, great dog. I remember he would point at bird and freeze, my cousin would give him a command and Bullet would rush into the bush the bird wound fly up and all hell would break loose. One day I took a shot and thank God I thought I would hit the dog but didn’t. That would have been a disaster, he never would have forgiven me. But bird hunting was much more fun than deer hunting at least for me.
James, I hear you! My folks moved to a lake in the woods in the UP of Michigan after I graduated high school. Had heard about bird hunting so I went out solo and came across a ruffed grouse that wasn’t 20’ away. After blasting it to smithereens with the shotgun, I proudly took it home to my folks. What I didn’t realize at the time, but soon figured out, was that the bird was a mother grouse seeking to distract the intruder from her young ones. That was it for me for hunting of any kind. I still regret pulling the trigger. But, like you, I understand the need to cull the deer herd and so on, I just don’t want to be the one doing the culling. And insects? There are some on my hit list: waterbugs, roaches, ants, mosquitoes, flies. But that’s about it except for the violators on my tomato plants. I’m good with wasps and bees, will catch them inside and release outside. I like small spiders and prefer to co-exist with them, particularly those in the bathroom which usually end up with names. Bigger spiders in the house wind up outside, unless a black widow, in which case, it is bidden farewell.
I am right with you down the line!!! I think when I was young I was generally ignorant of the miracle of life. I have so changed since then. I can’t imagine knowingly injecting a person with harmful chemicals or not acknowledging ending the lives of 13 young soldiers. Just 2 examples I threw in there…
Was trying to remember from whom the idea and phrase "reverence for life" came. Turns out it was Albert Schweitzer. Thought you wouild like this summary of his life: https://www.wrf.org/women-and-men-of-medicine/albert-schweitzer-reverence-for-life
It might interest you to know that as a special education teacher, I kept as a pet a black widow on my desk for years. We fed it flies and crickets. It’s important to know what is and what isn’t a real threat. Black widow bites ARE serious but they seldom bite unless threatened by being touched and they often bite “blanks”. No venom, like a warning shot. They don’t live in my house but I’m not inclined to kill them if I happen to see them outside. I’m a lot less forgiving of brown recluse who happily burrow into my bed and bite because as far as they are concerned, it’s their bed now and I can just jolly well move over.
Thank you for that insight! Did the same spider live all that time? Figured their life span was much shorter.
No but each one lives about 3 years with good care. Since they are literally everywhere except the north and south poles, they were easy to find around the school building. A kindergarten teacher had me paged one day when she recognized one crawling across the floor!! Interestingly, no one in all those years was ever bitten. That’s the potential vs actual threat demonstration.
Wow, that's way longer than my bathroom buddies last. Think the cats might have something to do with it. My wife understands and is okay with it - she's put up with me for 50 years...
Dear James, as a recovering vegetarian, I share your sentiments. I have often thought about what I will say first to our good Lord when I get a chance. Probably hit Him first with the demand to explain , if He can, the reason for suffering followed immediately by the huge disconnect between His command to Love one another while embedded in a world where everything eats (sometimes brutally - just watch my cats) everything else!! I console myself with the first law of thermodynamics but I’m still going to ask!!