The World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony

242 / the world peace diet
of science. However it happens, our spiritual impulse is inevitably
repressed and distorted by the guilt, violence, and reductionism that
herding and eating animals requires.
For all our scientific and theological theorizing, we know little of
human consciousness, because as a culture of omnivores we are uncomfortable
with ourselves. We have lost touch with our innate urge to learn
to remain quiet and undisturbed long enough to become open to the
greater light and higher wisdom that lie beyond the narrow margins of
conceptual thinking. Entering the joy, peace, and wonder of the present
moment requires an inner stillness that allows us to experience directly.
This is a practice that benefits both others and us. Clear awareness
requires us to cease from harmful actions that keep our minds agitated,
and to practice inner silence.
As an improvisational pianist, I can attest from personal experience
that thinking stops the flow of musical creativity. It is when I’m able to
be more fully conscious, beyond thought, in the present moment, and
allow the music to pour through that the most creative and inspired
music arises. People now call this being in “the zone” and it is seen as a
requirement for “peak performance.” Compulsive verbal thinking turns
off the flow of the zone and constricts consciousness. Perhaps animals
are always in the zone. As Joseph Campbell once said, watching birds
speeding through webs of branches and never even grazing a wing tip,
animals may dwell in a realm beyond mistakes, totally present to life in
ways our concept-crowded thinking cannot fully understand.
By living the truth of compassion in our meals and daily lives, we
can create a field of peace, love, and freedom that can radiate into our
world and bless others by silently and subtly encouraging the same in
them. We may discover that we can “think” with our hearts, without
words, and we may learn to appreciate the consciousness of animals and
begin to humbly explore their mysteries. There is perhaps much we can
learn from animals. Not only do they have many powers completely
unexplainable by contemporary science, but they are fellow pilgrims
with us on this earth who contribute their presence to our lives and
enrich our living world in countless essential ways. In fact, without the
humble earthworms, bees, and ants whom we relentlessly kill and dom-