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

258 / the world peace diet
imize eating meat when it was offered, though I worried I might not get
enough protein if I refused it completely.
Dogs were an occasional threat as we walked along the backcountry
roads, I suppose because they would perceive us as strangers invading
their territory. One morning as we walked by a house in rural West
Virginia, a large German shepherd emerged without barking and
walked behind us. I shivered when I suddenly felt his nose touch the
back of my leg. We walked many miles and he stayed right with us, a
beautiful animal, friendly and energetic, always running before us and
acting like our protector. We stopped for lunch on a little hill above the
road and ate a few apples and then meditated for about a half hour as
we usually did. The dog sat quietly with us, looking alertly into the distance
and radiating a profound sense of peace and power. We were quite
in awe of this dog! He was clearly an accomplished meditator. We continued
walking and, coming around a bend in the road, we saw a house
on a hill above us—and a large dog who immediately rushed down the
hill right at us, looking like he meant business. Our German shepherd
friend was at the moment a few hundred yards behind us, and what a
thrill it was to see him streaking from behind us across the hill and
bowling the other charging dog over before he could reach us! After
receiving some stern growls, the other dog ran back up to his house and
we three continued on together, enjoying each other’s company enormously,
until the great dog eventually looked at us, turned, and trotted
back toward his home. I wondered how anyone could fail to be touched
by the spirit of this being—yet if he was kept in a cage or, as in China,
seen only as a piece of meat to be eaten or, like a coyote or wolf, as a
nuisance to be shot, his presence and individuality would be completely
invisible.
Our long walk south continued through the hills of West Virginia
and into eastern Kentucky, and then into Tennessee. People thought we
were on an adventure to see the world, but for us it was an inner journey.
Meditation and self-inquiry were the focus of every day, always
coming back to the present moment and striving to approach cosmic
consciousness. I felt certain that more elevated levels of consciousness
than the ones I had experienced and saw displayed in people must be