Thought Nine

 Reverence For Life

The more I ponder this subject, the more I realize I have a lot of work to do in obtaining it. I am unworthy to write this thought, but have been instructed to do so.

One will find their inner peace only as they learn to have reverence for life. This is not a task that comes over night. It is a process of refinement, not an event.

I think of the bird in the tree singing, looking for food, living its life. For entertainment, this bird will lose its life. The bird will not be eaten and was harming no-one. Many will say, "Big deal, it was just a bird."

This type of callousness has been shown toward mankind for generations, and continues today. How many men have lost their life's for entertainment, in a coliseum, on a field, as a game? Spectators have gathered, with little thought on the suffering of the man. Big deal, it was just a man? Understand, mankind is not the most intelligent of all beings, and some smarter intelligence's have that attitude towards us. Some advanced beings are evil, just as some men are evil. We are being protected.

Thoughts of our farming methods have been troubling me lately as well. For the sake of economy and convenience we place a chicken in a little cage where it can barely move to lay eggs its whole life. We take no thought of the suffering that went into our breakfast. Similar fates happen to pigs, while being fed chicken dung, and cows being feed byproducts of beef processing. Is economy more important than humanity?

Have products of life become a commodity, like a pair of shoes, or a new blanket? Is there no reverence or appreciation for the suffering that went into our meals? A modern economy has an out of sight, out of mind mentality. At least when you lived on a farm you had the opportunity to feel that reverence for the sacrifice that went into your meal.  Many farmers have been pressed into this type of farming through economic pressures to compete, so we must not point the finger at farmers.  Only society as a whole can change this.

Does this mean we save a chicken life over a human life? Of course we save the human life, but it is the attitude with which we do it. Have reverence for the life and minimize the suffering as much as possible.

It amazes me how shallow people are towards the suffering of others. I saw a dog chained to a stake in a yard. It had its voice box removed so it couldn’t bark. No doghouse or tree in sight. The dog was staked up through all seasons, all day everyday. I never once saw the dog off the chain. Why did the owners have a dog?

Humans treat each other the same way. One man will think he owns another. He will use that mans work for his luxury and status, and possibly use the slaves daughter for his pleasure. There will be no thought given to the indignity suffered. A ruler will roam the countryside in search or fair ones to use as pleasure girls in his palace. Veiling your daughters face had practical origins.

Aloofness has led to torture in the name of domination, wars and disease as population control, and banking manipulations for gain and power. Destruction of personal liberties for many so one can preserve unjust power. No thought by the perpetrators is given to the suffering caused. In a nutshell, vain selfishness, all rationalized somehow by the guilty.

But that is where the problem begins for the one who disrespects life. You must collous yourself to feel right when another is suffering at your hands. You must lie to yourself and close your heart not to be troubled. When you close off your heart, not only is the bad blocked off, but the good as well.

Your intelligence needs fresh energy to feel alive and well, much like your body needs food. It is the energy that makes you feel at peace with yourself and the world. That energy gives you calm and confidence in all your endeavors. It opens you to the higher abilities you have within, that you have not yet understood or discovered. It is the path to the higher you. A callous heart is a dead heart, denied food and progress, with the energy flow blocked.

A young child can feel the energy of life. Stopping to smell the roses. That can fade as we grow older, with the knocks of life. With the hardening towards life. A return of evil for evil.

Do you feel empty and dead inside? Does the beauty of life bring you no joy? It is time to change the things you are doing that trouble you, instead of pretending they are somehow all right. Open your heart to the guilt, so that you can also feel the light. Get on the path to the higher you. You will not get there overnight, but there are joyous fruits along the way.

Copyright © 2002 by Brian Bresee. All rights reserved. The text of this book may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever, whether by graphic, visual, electronic, filming microfilming, tape recording, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles.