Should I Eat Meat? ...carnivores vs. herbivores

It is my belief that each animal was gifted with a sacred role to play. Some animals were gifted with a 'medicine' that offers joy to the People, some that offers servitude and others that offers sustenance. The animals that were gifted (or rather burdened) with the role of sustenance understand that it is not their cuteness that is required, or their muscle; they know that it is their meat, skin and other body parts that offer the People the most worth. As these animals were willing to provide this gift at the beginning of time, I believe that they are especially blessed by Spirit. I believe that these animals hold a sacred place in the scheme of things and that we will be shown how to repay them in some way when the time is right.

In nature, animals eat animals. We are animals ... mammals in fact, no different in lots of ways to any other mammal. Mammals are identified by the fact that they suckle their young, have hair covering their bodies and are 'warm blooded'. We are all those things. We are just animals who eat animals. It is obvious, though, that man has adapted to eat meat. We eat meat by choice. Our bodies have evolved. We have molars: teeth designed to grind vegetation. We have teeth intended to snip and crush. If we look at the teeth of a sheep or deer, we find teeth similar to our own. We do not have prominent canines like a cat or wolf: teeth designed to rip and tear. Carnivores, or 'meat eaters', do not have obvious molars. They do not chew their food. They rip, tear and swallow. They are designed to eat quickly, instinctively fighting for their right to eat their fill. Cattle and horses graze constantly, ruminating for hours, absorbing their feed at their leisure. In my humble opinion, we were not designed to eat meat. For us, eating meat is a learned ability. Although I was raised as a strict vegetarian, I do, as an adult, occasionally eat meat. I do not seek meat out. I do not walk past a butcher's window and think, 'oh, that steak looks beautiful'. Raw meat turns my stomach, but if I am out for dinner and a steak is served up to me, I will eat it ... and I will usually enjoy it at the time. But I do not seek it out. I never crave meat and I do not believe that we need to eat it. In fact, it is not the meat itself that really turns my stomach or the fact that people think they need to eat it. I believe the thing that stops me embracing the whole 'meat eating' process fully is the way in which the animals are bred, raised and harvested. This really raises my shackles.

But, as far as what I think about eating meat: 'each to their own' is the stance I choose to take. You do what your body and Spirit tell you to do.