- VEGETARIANISM AND CHRISTIANITY (1)
Arnaldo Sisson Filho
In your opinion, regarding religious matters, why is it important to be vegetarian?
Within the type of Christianity I practice, based on the mystical interpretations and illuminations of Dr. Anna Kingsford, I would highlight two aspects; the first is within the phrase of the apostle Paul when he wrote: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” This is the law of Divine Justice. So, in this first aspect, if we sow pain, we will not reap happiness, joy, but rather we will reap pain. Just look at the world and realize this. We sow pain and we reap pain.
The second aspect is that a diet based on meat brutalizes, or, allegorically, kills, our noblest senses, that is, our intuitions, or our spiritual perception.
Our vehicles, both physical and psychic, are the lenses through which we see the universe, the world. If we are not sensitive (which initially depends on a pure and vitalizing diet), we will exchange our divine heritage for a meager plate of lentils, as in the biblical parable.
Do you believe that religion can influence a person to choose a vegetarian diet?
Surely. If a religion doesn’t do that, it doesn’t even deserve the name of religion. What we see today in our country, for the most part, is not religion, but rather “re-perdition.”
Christianity is about giving birth and growing within us the Christ Jesus that is inside us. Again, in the language of the apostle Paul, “the Christ in us, the hope of glory.” This basically depends on purity and goodness in our lives.
Eating meat is the opposite of that; it is impurity and cruelty. It is the predominance of materialism, of external senses, of the illusion that it is possible to benefit ourselves through the pain of others. Until we wake up to this, so-called religion will, in fact, continue to be “re-perdition”: lost blind people leading other blind people to the perdition of spiritual blindness.
And vegetarianism, as a general rule, is the ABC of this process of human beings drawing closer to God, of the birth of Christ within us, of the divine light that is born in the bosom of our souls and minds.
Do you think religions should dictate or indicate to their followers that they follow a vegetarian diet?
As I said, this is the beginning, the foundation, the ABC of religious life. It is true that what comes out of our mouths is more important than what goes into our mouths. This, however, does not mean that what goes into them is not important. It only means that what we think and say is even more important.
Does your religion have a tradition of vegetarianism?
Unfortunately, the vegetarian tradition of the early Christians, which was very strong, has been almost lost over the centuries. However, it was very strong within early Christianity, to the point that the Apostle Paul felt compelled to intervene, in a conciliatory and fraternal way, between groups that accused each other, some vegetarians and others not.
In this sense, among others, we see the importance of the work of Dr. Anna Kingsford, a great Christian mystic and prophet, still unrecognized by the materialistic and idolatrous Christianity that predominates today, as it has done for many centuries.
Does your religion have any determination or recommendation for people to follow vegetarianism? If so, why?
I think the best way I can answer is by bringing up some words from Dr. Kingsford and her great collaborator Edward Maitland:
“(…) So that everywhere in Catholic Christendom the poor, patient, dumb creatures endure every species of torment without a single word being uttered on their behalf by the teachers of religion. It is horrible – damnable. And the true reason of it all is because the beasts are popularly believed to be soulless. I say, paraphrasing a mot of Voltaire’s, ‘If it were true that they had no souls, it would be necessary to invent souls for them.’
Earth has become a hell for want of this doctrine. Witness vivisection, and the Church’s toleration of it. Oh, if any living beings on earth have a claim to heaven, surely the animals have the greatest claim of all! Whose sufferings so bitter as theirs, whose wrongs so deep, whose need of compensation so appalling?
As a mystic and an occultist, I know they are not destroyed by death; but if I could doubt it – solemnly I say it – I should doubt also the justice of God. How could I tell He would be just to man if so bitterly unjust to the dear animals?” (Vol. II, p. 312) (Anna Kingsford quoted in Her Life, Letters, Diary and Work. Third edition. Edited by Samuel Hopgood Hart. John M. Watkins, London, 1913. Vol. I, 442 pp.; Vol. II, 466 pp. Emphasis added)
“In passing beyond the limits of the initiated into the sphere of the ignorant, religion has always become degenerated into a fetish-worship, varying in its degrees of cruelty and sensuality according to the general status of the people and their priests. And these two regions of its manifestation, the inner and the outer, the spiritual and the material, the sympathetic and the selfish, the intuitional and the sensible, became in the hands of their respective representatives – the prophet and the priest – as essentially antagonistic to each other as light and darkness.
The prophet, cultivating the intuitions and the sympathies, and appealing directly to the soul and God, represented the spiritual side of man’s nature; while the priest, cultivating forms and appearances, appealed to sense and the outer self, and made salvation dependent on the sacrifice of others for self instead of on the sacrifice of the lower self to higher by the leading of a better life.
The process whereby I had thus been led to discover the true nature and source of the conflict ever raging in the world, between the soul and sense, being and seeming, prophet and priest – a process of which the abandonment of a flesh-diet was an essential part – proved to be indispensable to my preparation for the work l destined to perform.” (pp. 46-47) (Edward Maitland – The Soul and How It Found Me. Tinsley Brothers, Londres, 1877. 307 pp. Emphasis added)
“(…) The interruption of my work in question was caused by my being put under strong impulse to take part in the efforts then being made for the rescue of our animal brethren from the horrors of the physiological laboratory. I was conscious of a distinct vitalisation for this purpose, and under its influence I was enabled to put forth some words of appeal that went straight to the heart of England. For the two letters I wrote on the subject were reprinted in thousands both by public societies and private individuals, and served both to win new converts to the cause of humanity, and strengthen the hands of the existing workers.
To the use thus made of me in respect to the question of vivisection, and the vivid insight given me respecting the true nature of the influence which has manifested itself among us under the name of materialistic science, as an incarnation of the principle of evil on its lowest planes and in its most hideous aspects, I can distinctly trace the full opening of the spiritual vision which qualified me for the work I was so soon to be called to. For I was thereby shown that the priests of science, possessed by the devil of selfishness, were bent on dragging the world down to a worse hell than ever the priests of religion had made it. And the principle of both priesthoods was the same, – even salvation for self by the sacrifice of another.” (pp. 51-52) (Edward Maitland – The Soul and How It Found Me. Tinsley Brothers, London, 1877. 307 pp. Emphasis added)
Do you believe that being vegetarian influences one’s relationship with God? Why?
I think I’ve answered this before: – because it purifies our bodies, greatly facilitating spiritual perception, and because it is an expression of divine love. As a philosopher said, the eye can only see the sun because it first made itself similar to it, albeit in miniature. So, perhaps we can say that man can only see God if he makes himself similar to Him, even in miniature. I think that’s what’s in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.” (Mathew, 5)
Vegetarianism is the foundation, the basis of this life. The vegetarian weeps and is gentle towards our younger brothers, the little ones; he hungers for justice for the little ones, he is merciful towards them, and it is the beginning of the purification of our hearts, minds, and bodies.
Why are you a vegetarian? Did religion have any influence on this decision?
I am a vegetarian out of love for our younger brothers. We are like semi-divine beings to them, for we possess paranormal faculties, so to speak, in their eyes. If we treat them cruelly, Divine Justice will not bring us blessings, it will not bring us the light, the glory of Christ, but will bring us pain, sadness, and spiritual blindness.
Do you believe that Christ was a vegetarian? If so, how do you explain the miracle of the multiplication of fish? Do you believe that eating meat does not correspond to Christ’s vision of life?
As Christ Jesus himself said: “except to you (his disciples or apostles), I speak NOTHING that is not in parables.” The evangelists followed the precept of their Master. They wrote their gospels allegorically. The allegory of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is a beautiful parable, where the bread represents superficial religious knowledge, and the fish represents profound, mystical religious knowledge. These are age-old symbols. And feeding the multitudes abundantly with this knowledge is characteristic of the Children of God, of the Christs of all times and nations.
A literal reading of this and many other parables is a consequence of spiritual blindness. When we make this literal reading, pretending that what is an allegory is historical fact, we commit one of the worst sins, idolatry. We worship the form and kill the life-giving meaning.
Today it is considered more than probable that Christ Jesus was with the Essenes, at least for a good part of his life. And the Essenes were all vegetarians.
If Christ was a vegetarian, why aren’t all Christians, since, in theory, they follow the path of the Master Jesus?
Because those who call themselves Christians, for many centuries, have little of the Christian in them. They are groups dominated by materialism and idolatry (by the senses and spiritual blindness). In this context, saints and prophets were frequently misunderstood and sometimes even persecuted by those who call themselves Christians. Consider the examples, among many others, of Roger Bacon (imprisoned for many years), Thomas More (imprisoned and beheaded), Giordano Bruno (imprisoned and burned), Malagrida, the miracle worker from Brazil (imprisoned for years and burned in Portugal by the “holy” Inquisition), and Anna Kingsford, ridiculed and despised to this day. All by people and groups who called themselves and still call themselves Christians.
The sacred symbols of Christianity need to gain life through a spiritually lucid interpretation, that is, a Christian, or Christ-like, interpretation. Like the prophecy of the dry bones that come back to life.
It is the spirit of this interpretation that gives life to the letter and the symbols, and its literal and materialistic reading kills, as the apostle Paul wrote. It kills first spiritually, and then physically.
And the consumption of meat is a typical expression of this slaughter. Worse than that is only the torture of vivisection and the tests of so-called science using innocent and defenseless little ones, which is the apotheosis of this spiritual blindness of this idolatrous and materialistic age.
Do you think that if the Christian community knew and/or believed that Christ was a vegetarian, more people would stop eating meat?
Certainly yes. But how will they know if their religious leaders, whom they follow, are spiritually blind, defending the slaughter, the cruelty, and even the diabolical torture of vivisection and so-called scientific tests on little ones? Religion will one day become a reconnection with God, and will cease to be, as it is today, a “re-perdition” into idolatry and materialism.
Explain a little about the main concepts and foundations of your religion.
Something has already been said, but, in summary: the religion of Christ Jesus, in Heaven, at the right hand of the Father, and also within us, in our hearts and minds, it is the religion of purity and goodness. And vegetarianism is an expression, albeit a basic one of these eternal precepts.
Feel free to add anything you deem necessary.
Just one more quote from Dr. Kingsford, that I like very much:
“I consider the vegetarian movement to be the most important movement of our age. I believe this because I see in it the beginning of true civilization.
My opinion is that up to the present moment we do not know what civilization means. When we look at the dead bodies of animals, whether entire or cut up, which with sauces and condiments are served at our table, we do not reflect on the horrible deed that has preceded these dishes; and yet it is something terrible to know that every meal to which we sit down has cost a life.
I hold that we owe it to civilization to elevate the whole of that deeply demoralized and barbarized class of people – butchers, cattle-drovers, and all others who are connected with the deplorable business.
Thousands of persons are degraded by the slaughterhouse in their neighbourhood, which condemns whole classes to a debasing and inhuman occupation.
I await the time when the consummation of the vegetarian movement shall have created perfect men, for I see in this movement the foundations of perfection.
When I perceive the possibilities of vegetarianism and the heights to which it can raise us, I feel convinced that it will prove the redeemer of the world.” (Anna Kingsford – quoted by Samuel H. Hart, in Anna Kingsford: In Memoriam. Emphasis added.)
NOTE
(1) Interview conducted by journalist Viviane Pereira on July 1, 2007. Published in edited form in Revista dos Vegetarianos, Year 1, Number 10, pp. 23-25.