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I was sad one day
and went for a walk;
I sat in a field.
A rabbit noticed
my condition and
came near.
It often does not
take more than that to help at times--
to just be close
to creatures who
are so full of knowing,
so full of love that they don't chat,
they just gaze
with
their marvelous understanding.
~
by Kia Pierce on
Facebook
Nothing affects
Consciousness, yet the Grace of Conscious
Awareness brings light to the conditioning of the personality
with compassion and greater tendency for loving kindness. As
this is realised at home in the heart...it naturally flows to
every
aspect of self, including the appearance of other. For some
who have spontaneous awakenings, without much life
experience behind them, there can be a pull to remain or
become devotional as a way of deepening the form within the
formless Awareness they are. Some of our greatest examples,
enlightened teachers thoughout history, have been devotional
as a way of expressing this enormous love that flows like a
raging river at times..It must express..If the Absolute view is
taken that we are Consciousness, and there is no loving
kindness in that particular expression, there may be an
immature awakening that has halted its own potential for the
great expansiveness of unconditioned love and purity of heart.
~Gloria Byrom
Agrelius, on Facebook
Compassion, in which all ethics
must take root, can only attain
its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures
and
does not limit itself to mankind.
~Albert Schweitzer
Feeling that morality has nothing to do with the way you use the
resources of the world is an idea that can’t persist much
longer. If it does, then we won’t.
~Barbara Kingsolver
Now I can look at you in peace; I
don’t eat you anymore.
~Franz Kafka
Common experience
shows how much rarer is moral courage
than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth
of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular
cause.
~Clarence Darrow
The Greater Good
Peter Singer On How To Live An Ethical Life
by Gillian
Kendall
have to be fanatical about it.” Please explain.
Singer: I was
trying to draw a distinction between being ethical and
being a purist. We should look at what we eat in terms of its
consequences — that is, we should ask, “By eating this
food, am I
supporting practices that are cruel to animals, or damage the
earth, or contribute unnecessarily to climate change, or hurt
people
in developing countries?” I think we should all ask those
questions.
But it is not like being an Orthodox Jew and keeping kosher. If I
understand rightly, if you keep kosher, you do not eat certain
foods
under any circumstances. Eating ethically is not like that.
I judge things by
their consequences. I don’t think you have to be
pure. Most people are not doing absolutely everything right. And
even if they are right in how they eat, what are they doing to
help
the world’s poor? I don’t know anyone who can claim to
be a saint.
We should not be too hard on others or on ourselves, as long as
we’re doing what we can to reduce our harmful impact.
be personally pure yourself?
Singer: Yes. You
could make sure that no animal product ever
crosses your lips or touches your body but be doing less than
someone who might occasionally buy some humane animal
products but is putting a lot of time and effort into helping
animal-rights groups, or preventing climate change, or helping
the
world’s poor. The second person is having a bigger impact on
the
world, even though he or she may not be quite as pure.
ethically. How do you manage that role?
Singer: I can
only talk about general principles and draw attention
to particular issues. I cannot make a decision for anyone. People
have individual needs and circumstances. I have to respect the
choices that they make, as long as I believe they have
conscientiously reflected on their actions and are trying to
minimize the harm that they are causing through what they eat.
from:
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/425/the_greater_good
Ed note: Not
trying to sell a magazine here, but one could do worse.
The Sun is
the only one I know of that has no advertising whatsoever.
The writing
truly is "Personal. Political.
Provocative." as they say.