On Prayer, Monasticism, Asceticism and the Spiritual Life
Sunday, 10 October 2010
New Look
We decided to use labels on the blog. That forced us to upgrade the template, and to a new design. It’s not bad. We’ve tried to bring the labels up to date.
I would be interested in reading a post that addresses compassionate diet and its relation to Orthodoxy. To elaborate, over time I have become increasingly concerned with unnecessary animal suffering as a component of human dietary patterns. Of course, this concern presupposes: 1) that animals are capable of suffering; as may be evident from: (1a) scientific evidence wherein we can observe biological prerequisites for pain; (1b) psychological evidence wherein we can observe stress, pain avoidance patterns, etc; (1c) human-commonality wherein God-image differentiated sentience does not seem to confer an entirely unique mode of suffering (i.e. when I suffer, there is a strong existential analogy to how animals suffer, and as such I should be able to empathize in a real way); 2) that there is a standard of necessity; ostensibly that: (2a) necessary suffering either has some teleological good in view (i.e. if I choose to suffer breaking my attachment to meat as a way to reduce animal suffering) or it is unavoidable in the course of mitigating or preventing an even greater suffering; (2b) pleasure (at least impassioned) is not a teleological good if it is acquired in a manner which causes suffering (sadism?). If the basis of this concern is well-founded, then it seems that there is a good warrant to examine one's own dietary practices.
In addition to the above, I wonder whether a diet which minimizes death and suffering is: 1) prophetic insofar that it points to an eschatological reality where death and suffering are no more (perhaps akin to how celibacy may be prophetic); 2) a way to be more consistently pro-life; 3) part of a compassionate Christianity which is not surpassed by Buddhism's regard for animal life; 4) consistent with a hermetic/monastic precedent (which would seem related to the prophetic aspect at least).
Much improved.
ReplyDeleteNice job on the blog aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in reading a post that addresses compassionate diet and its relation to Orthodoxy. To elaborate, over time I have become increasingly concerned with unnecessary animal suffering as a component of human dietary patterns. Of course, this concern presupposes: 1) that animals are capable of suffering; as may be evident from: (1a) scientific evidence wherein we can observe biological prerequisites for pain; (1b) psychological evidence wherein we can observe stress, pain avoidance patterns, etc; (1c) human-commonality wherein God-image differentiated sentience does not seem to confer an entirely unique mode of suffering (i.e. when I suffer, there is a strong existential analogy to how animals suffer, and as such I should be able to empathize in a real way); 2) that there is a standard of necessity; ostensibly that: (2a) necessary suffering either has some teleological good in view (i.e. if I choose to suffer breaking my attachment to meat as a way to reduce animal suffering) or it is unavoidable in the course of mitigating or preventing an even greater suffering; (2b) pleasure (at least impassioned) is not a teleological good if it is acquired in a manner which causes suffering (sadism?). If the basis of this concern is well-founded, then it seems that there is a good warrant to examine one's own dietary practices.
In addition to the above, I wonder whether a diet which minimizes death and suffering is: 1) prophetic insofar that it points to an eschatological reality where death and suffering are no more (perhaps akin to how celibacy may be prophetic); 2) a way to be more consistently pro-life; 3) part of a compassionate Christianity which is not surpassed by Buddhism's regard for animal life; 4) consistent with a hermetic/monastic precedent (which would seem related to the prophetic aspect at least).
Thank you
We will discuss the above comment soon.
ReplyDelete