I’m Convinced That Plants Have Thoughts, Feelings & Emotions – But I’m Still “Vegan”

That being said, this should in no way be used to justify the continuation of the mass genocide of animals. Have we been conditioned to eat meat? What right do we have to take another life the way we do today, in mass numbers and through extreme torture. First of all, I’d like to start off by emphasizing that billions of animals are raised for slaughter every single year, and that’s in America alone. It’s a horrid industry, full of torture, where animals are kept in heart-breaking conditions, stripped from their children, tortured, and made to live in fear for the entirety of their short miserable lives. This is no way to treat another being that shares this Earth with us, and we have no right to ‘grow’ them to feed ourselves, especially in an age where there are other options. Our actions with regards to eating animals is playing a big part in destroying the Earth. What makes us think we are above them, or better than them, or have any right to do what we do to them? Secondly, I’d like to point out that, although morality, ethics and empathy take precedence as a reason not to eat animals, so does health and the fact that it just doesn’t seem normal nor natural. Take milk for example, we are the only animal on the planet that drinks the milk of another animal, and the only species to continue drinking milk after weaning. Science is now confirming the benefits of a plant-based diet and their ability to reverse, heal, and prevent multiple diseases. Plant-based protein is also thought, by many, to be a far better option than protein from meat, at least that’s what the science is showing. Not to mention the antibiotics that are pumped into these poor animals, as well as GMO animal feed which is laced with pesticides that are destroying the guts of these animals. It’s a dirty and unethical business, one that has proven just how far we’ve strayed from morality and the spiritual foundations that once allowed for others and ourselves to live harmoniously. Arguments for eating animals tend to range, the most common seems to be that this is the diet of those who roamed the Earth before us. I published an article regarding that belief which you can read here. It’s not known that many of those groups were vegetarian based.

There is so much information pointing to the idea that we are more suited and adapted towards eating a plant-based diet.

The idea that meat is needed is simply not true, it reminds me of the clever marketing used by big food and big pharmaceutical corporations. We are only learning now that our food guides have been a recipe for disease. Perhaps eating meat is the same thing? Some that see enormous amounts of profits for a select few. Have we been made to believe that we ‘need’ to eat meat and that it’s ‘natural’? When you actually look at the way our digestive systems are constructed, we have the anatomy and the physiology of a strict plant eater or herbivore. We don’t have any adaptations in our digestive system or in our physiology that is adapted to eating or consuming animal flesh. And that’s why we can’t consume animal flesh without the aid of technology. But when you look at the jaw structure, jaw mechanics, our esophagus, our stomach and the length of our intestines, it’s clear that we have the anatomy of a committed herbivore. – Dr. Milton Mills The world is no doubt changing, the consciousness of the planet is shifting and can be seen in multiple areas that completely surround all aspects of human life. Health is clearly one of them, vegan and vegetarian options are booming and more doctors, like this one, are using food to help reverse disease instead of prescribing prescription medications, something that kills 100,000 people alone every single year. Many athletes are also going vegan and create a lot of awareness regarding the protein/muscle myth. It is my understanding that veganism is an umbrella term which celebrates the daily practice of compassion, sustainability, health, and global/personal examination. It is a reference point for living a life that closely parallels these values. It is never about perfection or particulars, but incremental and exponential ripples of personal change for humanity.

The rewards of living consciously and collectively are not exclusive to any particular person and their dietary lifestyle. We all play an integral role in creating positive shifts on this planet, and all have different pieces of the pie where our gifts and strengths lie. – Jill Stella If you had to experience the pain and fear an animal goes through during transport, being pushed into the slaughterhouse and the gas chamber or slaughter itself, you wouldn’t eat them. It’s only because you’re ignorant to reality—and their reality—that you do. – Erin Janus There are a lot of vegan activists out there that can make one feel guilty for eating meat, vegan activism can also create separation, fear and division, it’s usually what labels do. If you’re a vegan activist, it’s important to be conscious in the way you go about your activism, so you can reach more people. You never want to make someone feel guilty, or at fault, or like they are a bad human being that lacks compassion and empathy. I haven’t eaten meat for approximately 10 years now, and all though I do identify as a vegan today, I can tell you that 10-15 years ago, my love for animals was just the same as it is now. That being said, it’s hard to watch a mass genocide take place on a daily basis and try and go about your activism with peace and understanding, but it’s of utmost importance. On one hand, many vegan activists are asking people to have empathy for animals and what they are suffering through. At the same time they are not having empathy for people who may not be aware of the harm we’re causing to animals, and the lengthy journey it can be to make changes to our habits. We often forget that we once were not in ‘the know..’ – Joe Martino If you’ve been a long time reader of Collective Evolution, you’ll know that our unique style of conscious media incorporates neutrality and empathy into what we report and discuss. Why? Let’s explore with questions: where does it lead us, to always be fighting about issues? Where does it lead us, to bash other people about where they are at in their life and what they are doing? Can we not approach these situations with love? In fact, is it not clear that we HAVE to approach these situations with love if we want to see things change? Being a vegan activist myself, there is no shortage of a lack of understanding and backlash from the meat-eating community.

There are those who claim that plants have feelings and emotions too, just like animals, but vegans disregard them...

The truth is, I agree, I am completely convinced through my research into the subject that plants do indeed have thoughts, feelings, and emotions, but ultimately, it feels much different eating them. It’s just not the same, and I don’t think I have to explain why... When you look into the eyes of an animal, it’s different. That being said, perhaps it’s not, and we just perceive it as different? Grover Cleveland Backster Jr., was an interrogation specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency, who became well known for his experiments with plants using a lie-detector machine. Through his research, he believed that plants feel pain and have extrasensory perception (ESP). His work became quite popular, only to be rejected by the mainstream scientific community in the same way that parapsychology is today, despite statistically significant results that rival that of hard sciences. Human intention experiments have been taking place for decades.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of peer-reviewed publications that have examined the mind-matter connection with some very interesting results. His work on this was published in the International Journal of Parapsychology. One fairly recent example comes from a study conducted by scientists at National Kaohsiung Normal University, National Taiwan University, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

They reference a previous experiment which suggested that “consumption of intentionally treated tea influenced subjective mood under double-blind, controlled conditions.” The study used Arabidopsis thaliana seeds (a commonly used wild type of seed that belongs to the Brassica family, which includes cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower), and measured differences in hypocotyl length, anthocyanin, and chlorophyll between seeds hydrated with intentionally treated vs. untreated water. You can read more about that here. A study published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine demonstrated that a woman with special abilities was able to significantly accelerate the germination of specific seeds for the purposes of developing a more robust seed stock. You can read more about that and access the study here. According to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire: They (plants) have ways of taking all the sensory data they gather in their everyday lives, integrate it and then behave in an appropriate way in response. And they do this without brains, which, in a way, is what’s incredible about it, because we automatically assume you need a brain to process information. It’s interesting because for consciousness to thrive and exist, based on my research, a brain or any type of biology for that matter is not needed. I believe all life forms possess consciousness, regardless of their biological make-up. Here’s a TED talk on how trees talk to each-other. I take a spiritual perspective because to be honest, I don’t want to hurt anything I perceive as a living, sentient, feeling, or experiential. Ultimately, at certain levels of existence, I believe any type of nourishment from ‘food’ sources is not really required. I’m not the only one, there are real live examples of this and scholars like Nikola Tesla who believed the same thing. You can read more about that here. To deal with this conundrum I found myself in, I referred to indigenous spiritual wisdom, something that has always resonated deeply with me, and at the same time, corroborate with much of my research. Rita Laws, Ph.D., explains the tremendous amount of respect these communities had towards animals, explaining how her own people, the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and Oklahoma, vegetables were the traditional diet, and all homes were constructed of wood, mud, bark, and cane – not skins. She explains how they, among many other tribes, had a predominantly vegetarian diet prior to European colonization. Perhaps one of the most interesting revelations shared by her experience and research is the fact that “more than one tribe has creation legends which describe people as a vegetarian, living in a kind of Garden of Eden. A Cherokee legend describes humans, plants, and animals as having lived in the beginning in ‘equality and mutual helpfulness.’” She describes how the world changed and goes on to explain how “the needs of all were met without killing one another. When man became aggressive and ate some of the animals, the animals invented diseases to keep the human population in check.

The plants remained friendly, however, and offered themselves not only as food to man but also as medicine, to combat the new diseases.” She spoke of a kind of soul contract that exists today, where some animals are providing themselves, and sacrificing themselves for humanity in order to teach us a lesson... “In the past, and in more than a few tribes, meat-eating was a rare activity, certainly not a daily event. Since the introduction of European meat-eating customs, the introduction of the horse and the gun, and the proliferation of alcoholic beverages and white traders, a lot has changed.” You can watch that full lecture and read more about it here, it’s where the quotes come from. Today, animals are raised and killed for slaughter, they are not thanked for their sacrifice, the eldest of the herd is not taken, and they are clearly not volunteering themselves. When it comes to animals, it’s no different to torturing, killing and depriving a human of their family and loved ones. This is what we are doing today, and in no way does this represent what it means to be a human being but instead shows a complete lack of empathy, love and morality. Plants, for now, I take the perspective that they are offering themselves, quite advanced souls who are playing a role for humanity.

There is a giant holocaust happening on the planet. I want to stay away from ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ here, and simply convey that at the deepest, most spiritual and metaphysical levels of existence, all is serving, all those who are suffering (animals) are actually benefiting humanity at this time, they are opening our eyes to what we no longer want to experience. Currently, as a vegan, I can definitely say that with the awareness that plants are also sentient beings, there is a MUCH different feeling eating them compared to animals. It doesn’t feel heavy, the vibe doesn’t seem unhealthy, but rather nourishing.

There is a far different energy, and a far greater impact on the planet when you eat animals.

The idea that plants have feelings and emotions too, does in no way justify meat-eating. This does not mean meat-eating is wrong, and labelling it as wrong is perhaps the incorrect approach when it comes to advocating change in human lifestyle that serves the individual, as well as the collective. Our job is to step outside of our current Earth experience, and observe it from a neutral standpoint and feel what intuitively resonates with our hearts. We’ve been subject to so much programming that most of the time, our thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced by outside entities. To truly know how we feel, we have to eliminate concepts of the mind like ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ That being said, these are simple, most of the time, great descriptions on how to describe what resonates with our heart, and what doesn’t. You’re not a bad person, or a terrible human if you eat meat, so don’t let anybody ever make you feel that way. At the same time, if you do eat meat, can you understand the perspective of the Vegan activist? There is a reason our planet is shifting towards a more plant-based lifestyle and perhaps that’s because this is what’s natural, and that what we’ve been taught by big food is not...

.

Read the full article at the original website