Catching Up

I had an infestation of mice a number of years ago. I live in an old farm house. It was awful because the infestation got so bad we had to use traps. Sometimes a mouse would fall into the dog's water dish and I would find it swimming frantically - and then I would have to catch it and release it outside. When I killed a mouse using a trap I felt terrible. I buried them outside in the earth since it felt wrong to throw their little bodies into the garbage can. Eventually I connected with a humane pest control company that found the entrances that mice were using under the kitchen floor and closed them up. I also learned to cover all foods and keep pet foods covered as well. Later, I discovered piles of stored pet food stashed in corners by busy little mice. I tried to imagine them running with one little piece at a time for hours to create the stash. After the pest control people left, there was no more trouble. The mice were gone, or were outside at least and not in my pantry. I felt okay again. I just hate killing anything.

I have always admired the Buddhists who are so gentle with all of God's Creatures. I think of the Buddhist way whenever I find myself spending a good deal of time trying to catch and release flies, wasps, spiders and the occasional yellow jacket who wanders into my house. I wonder now how I could ever have participated in the inhumane raising and killing of animals for food. Part of my mind had to have been closed down. 

I found a really good book by Will Tuttle, Ph.D.who is a Buddhist, a teacher and a professional musician as well. His book is titled The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. New York; Lantern Books, 2005. He has this lovely passage on page xvi of the preface:

     "The calling we hear today is the persistent call to evolve. It is part of a larger song to which we all  contribute and that lives in our cells and in the essential nature of the universe that gives rise to our being. It is a song, ultimately, of healing, joy, and celebration because all of us humans and non-humans alike are expressions of a beautiful and benevolent universe. It is also a song of darkest pain and violation, due to our accepted practices of dominating, commodifying, and killing animals and people. In order to confine and kill animals for food, we must repress our natural compassion, warping us away from intuition and toward materialism, violence, and disconnectedness.

     The song of the new mythos that yearns to be born through us requires our spirits to be loving..."

There is something exceptionally compelling about the way Dr. Tuttle writes and calls people to a reorientation of how we eat and act in the world. I highly recommend the book. There is a website as well:  circleofcompassion.org

I have been researching and reading some books by Christian authors on the same topic, but so far, I have not found an author who writes from such a deep place in the heart.

But, then again, I think that most Christians are only beginning to catch up.