The name of that book that is #5 on the NY Times Bestseller list is "Skinny B---ch." I guess the title was censored. It's the title though. Oprah should have these girls on her show. They really hit home on how important it is for humanity to become vegetarian.

I absolutely agree. It is also one of the reasons why I stopped eating meat last may, and like you I feel much better and lighter. Although I did not loose any weight, nor did it for health reasons, I did loose 81 points of bad cholesterol, and feel good about no longer being part of the abuse of animals in slaughter houses, or the ingestion of hormones and other things.

I would like your opinions.

I live in Alaska. I love this place and every animal that reisdes here. I have a great repect for them and am in awe of them. I harvest game and fish for consumption. I prefer wild game over store-bought. I detest the way poultry and livestock are raised and I am outraged when I see abuse of animals. Im a compassionate soul and feel a deep connection to the animals I harvest. But, my family and I love the meat and believe it good in moderation.

Am I in the wrong for eating meat even if I am not supporting the industry you speak against? If an animal lives a life wild and free and it ends at my hand without even knowing it ended, will there be any negativity in its flesh that I eat? Because I eat meat am I not enlightened?

I don't wish to pass judgments. I choose to address factory farming practices, of which I can attest to knowing something about.

Hi randooblua... what an interesting post, thanks for sharing your situation.. First off I want to say I think it's great that you're aware and concerned about how poultry and livestock are "raised" in the rest of the world. I'm sure you already know that living in Alaska and harvesting your game and fish for your own consumption is an anomaly in this day and age! Most people get their meat, eggs and dairy from the local supermarket (which typically means from a factory farm).

As far as what you can do...well, you can do a world of good simply by reducing your consumption of animal products. You might, for example, only consume animal products that you have caught or harvested yourself (and order vegan or vegetarian while dining out). And you can minimize the amount of animal products you eat every week by, for example, alternating animal-product days with veggie days. Or you can, as my family learned to do (without much resistance thankfully!), just choose to avoid animal products all together.

Believe it or not, cooking without animal products is easy, inexpensive and incredibly satisfying. Just ask my husband, the former "Chicken Wing King!" Many people have the idea that a vegan diet is all carrots and rabbit food and I am happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth. I was 30 lbs overweight when I became vegan and am still 30 lbs overweight! Wait...did I say I'm "happy" to report...????;-)

Here's a few of the things we typically eat (prepared without animal products): grilled veggie sandwiches & paninis, pasta arrabiata with "sausage," oriental stir frys, pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, soy yogurt and berries, "chicken" picatta and marsala with asparagus and capers, oatmeal, hummus wraps, risotto, veggie fajitas, home-made soups and stews etc...etc....

If you really like the flavor and texture of meat, but want to eliminate or eat less of it, I'd recommend this great product we buy online called Match Meat. matchmeats dot com

As far as the "enlightenment" aspect of your question is concerned...I feel I probably owe you an apology. It was my initial post regarding vegetarianism and enlightenment that started this whole fire-storm. I was merely posing the question as if I were asking Tolle himself. I was wondering, since he is prescribing a path towards awareness and enlightenment, why he didn't more fully address the issues of non-violence and ahimsa. It was never my intent to make people feel that they were "less than" because they ate meat. We're taught from day one to eat meat and dairy products and not to question it. How can we expect to change when that's all we know?

I guess if I were to venture to offer any opinion to you, as you requested, it would be this: don't worry about 'enlightenment.' think in terms of kindness and causing the least amount of harm - to the animals, to the earth, to your family's health - and let your heart and mind guide you.

Randoo, I'm gonna finally weigh in after reading a number of posts from vegans, vegetarians and omnivores.

I'm a vegan, two years now. I'm 57 years old, a mom and grandmother. I've been vegetarian (semi) off and on for years.

I justified my meat eating for a number of years. But while I can't tell you a defining moment, I just finally hit a place where
I could not call myself an animal lover (I am owned by cats) and consume animal products myself. I come from farmer's stock
on my father's side--my grandfather hunted and farmed. I had uncles and aunts who were farmers. I have killed free-range chickens, and know how to pluck them and prepare them. I've eaten hunted meat. But one day I couldn't anymore. I can't
bring myself to eat eggs. I no longer touch dairy. For almost every animal product I used to eat, there's a vegan substitute
nowadays, and I've found eating vegetarian to have actually expanded my choices.

But I think it's something each one of us has to come to in our own way. No doubt about it, eating vegan helps the planet, helps the animals, and lessens suffering. It's good for the human body. I effortlessly dropped sixty pounds and all I changed was removing animal products from my diet. My doctors love it too. It's not, however, an all-or-nothing proposition. You can eat less meat. You can stop eating dairy. (Soy and rice milks and cheeses, and nut meats and nut cheeses taste better to me now than the dairy kind, because I know the animals didn't suffer for their production.) You could do a "meat-out-Monday" or day of your choice. You can stop eating pork, or stop all red meat.

Will you be less enlightened? Maybe. Only you will be able to answer that. Will there come a day when you can no longer justify to yourself the animals who die because you eat them? Maybe, maybe not. If so, you'll quit doing it. It doesn't make you a bad person if you can't go there. But your health will be better in the long run if you can go vegan. The planet will be better off in the long run.

As to the rest, only you can answer what you can and cannot live with. Transform yourself where you can and where you're ready for transformation, say I, fwiw. Take what you can use for now. If you become ready for the next step, it'll still be there.

That's my free advice, fwiw.

Hi Nancy!

I'm not Nancy. I'm Starshadow...but that name was taken, the board told me, so I used my Trek role playing game character's name. Starshadow's my real name.

Yes, I changed it legally nearly two decades ago.

great, thanks Nancy.

My name is not Nancy.

Why are you being offensive with this? I've just opened myself and said that Nancy is not my name.

Do you have a problem with this Nancy person?

What is the problem? Do you have a reading comprehension problem, what?

when you fail to receive a reaction to your posts as yourself (nancy677) you assume another identity...

I think you need to ask yourself why you feel so threatened by people talking about not harming and eating animals. You are obsessed with these posts and have now assumed several different identities in hopes of playing a game with people on these boards.

No one is fooled. Only you are the fool.

Anyone who has spent more than a minute reading these posts is amply aware of your disdain towards vegetarians and vegans.

Instead of continually haranguing people on these threads, why not start your discussion thread?

I became vegan several months ago to lower my cholesterol (which, by the way, worked like crazy!) And I'm amazed at how much happier and lighter (emotionally AND physically) I feel. I'm laughing and smiling so much that some of my friends are swearing its all the fruits and vegetables! That being said, I don't (usually) think I'm better or more enlightened than anyone else because I don't eat animal products (and if I do slip into superiority that's just more EGO, and something that I have to let go of.) I just LOVE this lifestyle - it makes me feel better in so many ways and I hope that people are inspired to give it a try, or even to just go veggie for a couple of meals a week, but if I'm trying to push it on someone else, that is not kind and caring. My hubby and son are meat and dairy eaters, and while I encourage them to try some of my delicious veggie dishes, they usually only do so with a burger, and that's cool. My point here is that we can use the ideas of letting go of ego work here too - I'm not choosing veganism to feed my ego, or to bash anyone elses.

Dead weight = density. Alive = full of life force. Enlightenment = en-LIGHT-enment. Vs. Deadening. Hmmm You do math.
(And I'm not being mean doobie, just playful. Trying to get a point across.)

I think if we didn't see animals as separate from us, outside of us, we wouldn't kill them. It's a function of ego.

In Genesis, the fall from grace explains the union we felt with God in the beginning and how we lost it. We felt invincible because we felt His power as our own. We were One.

Then we started getting all mental. The brain's function is to pick things apart, categorize matter. The minute we got caught up in the head we fell into duality. The clue is in the reasoning that is done just before the fall. Now all of a sudden God is outside of us, over there. We are Two.

With that came feelings of vulnerability. We felt how small and insignificant we are in comparison to Him. With vulnerability comes fear and with fear comes the need to protect oneself. Hence, ego is born. It is our creation, not God's. We have been given free will so we can do anything we want, even feel separate from Him.

I wonder. If we didn't feel that separation and returned to that state of Oneness, could we torture and kill animals the way we do? I don't think so.