|
|
Pagan Choice or Personal Choice?
Rain SilverSplash
As I travel in Pagan circles, I often come across very heated
discussions on the topic of vegetarianism. Is it a way of life
dictated by the Wiccan Rede? Is it supportable as a Pagan choice?
Many take the admonition of the Rede to mean that they shouldn't
kill an animal to provide food for themselves. Is this a valid
interpretation?
Consider.... The God of the Hunt (anyone remember the Horned
God?) is one of the oldest God images in human history and ranks
right up there with the Goddess of Fertility in age and
importance. Stone Age man depended on the hunt for food, and he
wasn't just hunting roots, nuts, and berries. Some believe that
the scarce forage led the ill equipped proto-humans to hunt other
animals for food. The need to use tools (weapons in this case) to
bring down food animals and the need to communicate for effective
cooperation in the hunt led to the evolution of self-aware
intelligence that now separates man from the other beasts.
Throughout the ages, man has hunted animals and, as agriculture
developed, husbanded animals for their meat, fur, hide, fat,
horn, and milk....even for their waste products. Fertilty rites
were enacted to ensure the harvest of the field AND fecundity of
their beasts.
OK, this isn't ancient times. We have alternatives! We don't have
to kill other creatures to survive. Right? Well, maybe. I will
admit that with careful dietary planning and perhaps a few
supplements we can survive without meat, and textiles are very
versatile these days so perhaps we could do without leather....a
common material used for shoes. We have already acknowledged that
we can live without meat, so if we use man made materials for
shoes, there is no need to farm animals for these materials,
right? Perhaps, but think about it for a moment....man-made
materials are generally plastic--made from petroleum by-products,
a diminishing resource. They are manufactured through processes
that can't help but pollute, and, once the end product has
outlived it's usefulness, it's carcass will be with us for
thousands of years. Think about all of the pollution caused by
the processing of "man-made" synthetics next time you
put on your "faux-fur", orlon "fleece" lined
jacket, or shoes made of "100% man-made" materials.
This is bad enough, but what about all of those unemployed
cattle? It sounds trite, but this is not a joke. We have bred
cattle for thousands of years as meat animals and a resource for
their hides. There are millions of head of cattle in this country
alone. Is it humane to return them to a wild existence they are
no longer able to cope with? Is it fair to a farmer to demand
that he find another means of income so he can support all of
these cattle that no longer contribute? If one takes all these
things into consideration, the choice of "man-made" as
opposed to natural is clearly *not* in the best interest of the
environment. One must admit that animal resources are 100%
renewable, and with PROPER STEWARDSHIP, the balance of nature is
maintained.
As a modern Pagan, I don't see myself as a protector, but rather
a steward of ALL living things....that is to say, one who ensures
that resources (both plant and animal) are used wisely. You have
to understand that the world can not be changed over night, and
you have to be certain that the changes you advocate are
responsible ones in the long term. Stewardship is NOT a Christian
concept (as is often stated). Stewardship was *the way of life*
our forefathers (both Pagan and Christian) lived without even
naming before we all lost contact with the land. Stewardship
wasn't a choice; it was sensible living. I
would certainly not advocate cruelty to any living thing. To be
sure, some modern farming techniques ARE cruel, and they DO need
to be changed. As I see it, that should be our task as stewards
of the environment: as stewards, each of us needs to examine our
place in the ecosystem and find that balance is not the same as
extremism. As we try to restore our connections with the land,
many become extremists in their effort to counteract the mistakes
of the past without a thought to natural balance. Extremism--in
either direction--is dangerous to the necessary
balance.
OK, but the Wiccan Rede says "An Ye Harm None"....To
take the philosophy of harming no living thing to its logical(?)
conclusion, you would have to find a nice corner, curl up, and
wait to die. How about that cucumber in your salad? It was alive
til you put it in your mouth. The cotton in your shirt was grown
with pesticides, herbicides, and poisonous fertilzers....THEN
viciously mowed out of the field, spun into thread, and the seeds
rendered into cooking oil so you could stirfry your pea pods. I
fail to see how you can separate the value of life into
consumable or sacred according to phyla. To me, the salad I ate
yesterday falls into the same category as the the meatloaf
sandwich I just ate: I bless the spirits of each equally. Man is
not carnivorous, but we are indeed omnivorous....hence,
meat-eaters. One must understand that the lion is NOT going to
lie down with the lamb--except for a juicy snack. Humans evolved
into meat eating creatures, and it is as much our nature as the
lions'.
Without some animal protein, the body does not function
properly: it is prone to illness and weakness. I have seen too
many 'good' vegetarians on the verge of anorexia because they
chose to eat only vegetables, many of which consume more calories
in digestion than they contribute. It seems, too, that they are
usually sniffling about during cold season and routinely take
artificial iron supplements to keep from suffering the ravages of
anemia. Without the cruel, wasteful, ecologically unsound
practices of modern, factory, produce farming, vegetarians would
find themselves unable to make that their choice. Vegetarianism
is a PERSONAL choice, but please make no claim that it is a Pagan
choice. The evidence of the ages will not support such a
statement.
Essay Copyright 1998 © by Rain SilverSplash. This article may be distributed freely, so long as this notice remains and the article is in no way edited from it's original form. No fee may be charged for the distribution of this article in any form without consent of the author.
| If you know what you are looking for, or just want to browse the books and CD's, try the search engine.... |
This page last updated 3/14/06
