On Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is definitely a lifestyle worthy of respect, in my opinion. However, with many people that I see taking up the practice for the first time, I find that they have a pretty high resolve of inflexibility. I feel like they are only looking at the restrictions and not really looking at why the restrictions are there. If you make something incontrovertibly unattainable, it makes you crave it more. You want what you can’t have. It’s a natural tendency. If vegetarians allow themselves the option of having meat, if they don’t harangue themselves over the occasional consumption of meat, they won’t feel tied to it anymore. I think Awareness by Anthony DeMello said something similar to this. He said a priest that denounces adultery openly and often is tied to adultery for as long as he acts against it. Practicing or acting against something ties you to that action. How much more liberating would it be if you didn’t feel like meat wasn’t an option? How free would you feel to know that you could eat meat if you wanted, but decide to consciously abstain? You are in control of what you do, not the rules. 

I’ve often considered becoming vegetarian myself. Key word: Considered. I like meat too much. Food is my greatest vice. However, from a health standpoint, I’d definitely do it. I’ve at least dramatically cut back on my meat consumption. I’d say around 80% of the people you meet on the street go over on their daily recommended value for protein. Usually it’s 2-3x greater than the daily value.

 

On the topic of giving up meat for the sake of animals’ lives (another motivation for vegetarianism): I’d just like to point out Native American cultures and Jewish cultures both restrict their meat for the sake of animals’ lives. Kosher laws require that the animal does not die of natural causes, and that the death of the animal is quick and painless.They want it to be humane and they want to be considerate of the animals’ comfort. For Native americans, several believed in only taking what was necessary. They believed a certain amount of meat was necessary to their diet, so they always prayed over and thanked the spirit of the animal for giving its body to nourish them and their family. From an ecological standpoint, as well, the killing of animals for food not only nourishes us, but keeps the animal population at a healthy level. Overpopulation could lead to starvation within the group and they would die a slower, more agonizing death.

Here in America, we kill too much. We consume way more meat than we need, so animals’ lives are being taken needlessly. Beyond the overconsumption of America, though, think of death as an essential part of life. Yes, taking the life of something that isn’t directly our right to take is a somber and sorrowful issue, but isn’t there at least SOME reason to it? Do we get mad at other omnivores for taking the life of their prey? We, by physiological and anatomical design, are omnivores. Part of this chain of life allows us, and sometimes urges us, to do things that we might not necessarily see the good in immediately.

To all my vegetarian, and vegan, homies out there: I think you’re doing the right thing. High five.

BTW, I have provided a link to Judaism Kosher laws. I couldn’t find anything on Native American dietary practices though. Bum. If anybody could help me find a link, I would greatly appreciate it along with my fellow readers.

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

Expressing My Opinion On Gender Roles

Well, I could tell everybody what they want to hear. “I see no natural difference between man and women. Those differences were imposed upon the genders by society. *spite coming out my eyes, mouth, and ears*” I’d be lying out of my ass if I said I believed that. Instead, I’ll share my personal thoughts on what man and woman are.

I can easily admit that a lot of the differences were influenced from outside sources. They weren’t natural. They came from society, they came from the Bible, and they came from several chauvinistic dickweeds back in the day that could sell a book or two… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to disagree with them.

These influences manifest themselves amongst the two genders as expectations. Personally, I have a LOT more expectations of my fellow man than I do of ladies. I don’t think I really have the right to determine how the other sex should be. The expectations I have of BOTH sexes is seen in my listed traits of the ideal man and woman

I think the ideal man should know how to dress up, and should do so when (not “if”) the occasion arises. He should train himself to be physically AND mentally fit. He should be well rounded: arts, literature, philosophy, math, the works. He shouldn’t be easily influenced by others; he should be able to make up his own mind and come to his own conclusions. He should always be prepared to provide for his wife and children, even if he doesn’t have to and even at the expense of his own comfort (this doesn’t mean that the wife can’t get a job, too. Back to that later). He should always be searching, always looking for ways to better himself. He should not be afraid of being wrong, and should recognize when he is. He should believe in chivalry, even if it is considered dead. He should develop his sensitive/feeling side. Women are not beneath him. Women are not above him. He should not objectify women. He should have his own values and be his own person.

When I picture the ideal man, I see a healthy, clean shaven man. His age is irrelevant. He wears a three piece tweed suit and patent leather shoes. His stance is forthright and firm. He’s a “renaissance man”. I always get the feeling that he came straight from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. It’s a mix between the antebellum era, the Industrial Revolution Era, and the Roaring 1920s. It’s what I try to be.

For the ideal woman, I always see it in terms of interaction with the ideal man. From the very beginning, I recognize that no matter how much a man may think he knows about women, he really understands nothing. Therefore, he has no right to tell them who they are to be. However, I still have expectations. I expect women to stick up for their rights, not have others defend them. They have the right to do what they damn well please, but they should recognize that they are also accountable. They have the right to get a job, but I expect the man to be able to support the family on his own if the need arises. They have the right to wear whatever they want, but the man reserves the right to have his opinion of what is attractive (and if he is the ideal man, then what he finds attractive doesn’t necessarily reflect society’s view of attractiveness). Each individual woman has the right to determine what is beautiful, and I personally wish that the foundation for their standards of beauty would be themselves. Personally, I like a person who doesn’t think she needs makeup to be beautiful. I’d even go so far as to say that I tend to lean more towards tomboy kind of girls. They seem more in touch with who they want to be, and I find that very attractive.

I can’t really picture the ideal woman. The ideal woman, to me, is defined more by her character than her physical features. I couldn’t even picture her in a certain era like the ideal man, because it just all seems so “plastic”. Victorian corsets, Stepford wives, bobby pins and makeup, etc…okay, maybe the 1920s. I just really love that era. If it weren’t for the following decade, I would have wished to be in my prime during the 1920s. It just seems so classy. Back on topic. I just want the woman to be her own person, but I want her to realize that with the freedom to be her own woman she can’t rely on being a woman as an excuse, either. Women are on the level of men. neither is a higher status than the other. Thus, they should share the same general privileges and responsibilities.

And what about problems with societal expectations on the genders? Women generally complain about how society has told them how to look. They are pressured by men to be the skinny, blond, well endowed, long-legged bombshell. They must wear revealing clothes and seduce the men and they belong at home or in the kitchen. Don’t panic; I’m exaggerating, lol. But you get the picture. 

However, I don’t feel enough credit is given to the pressures put on man. Being a male nursing major (in what is generally considered a female profession) I’m getting quite a bit of social flak. Do you know how many demeaning looks I get, even in my own field? I can barely find a study partner in any of my classes because all the girls are afraid of me. I stood up and asked “Who here does not have a partner?”. A fourth of the hands went up. I asked “Who would like to be my partner?” The hands sporadically crept downward and the girls tried to find partners in each other. Didn’t even get an answer. I think they assumed that I would take over in the study group or something. In general, the pressures I feel are imposed upon me are: I have to lead (in relationships, in business matters, in dancing), I have to take ALL the initiative in relationships, I have to follow a “masculine” profession. People call me feminine or gay because I care about how I look, because I’m not afraid to share my feelings, because I don’t really care for watching sports, because I don’t really care about cars, because I don’t strive to be the leader all the time, because I’m cleanly and organized. It’s not only an insult to me, but it’s an insult to females and gays. I don’t think I could do either of those groups justice anyway, lol.

“Is Buddhism a Religion?” in Retrospect

Please bear with me. This is more of a constant stream of thought in response to my previous post, with fragments of different ideas all over the place, than an formal retrospection. I’ve tried to organize it as much as possible for your convenience, but that’s not saying much, lol.

I had a few qualms with using Christianity as a comparative tool at first, but I thought about it and I’m really not able to explain what I was trying to say without referring to it in some way. First, I think it would be a safe assumption to say that, for most of us, it’s all we really know. If I was to pick something like the practice of Islam, not only would I not really know what I was talking about, but neither would the people I was trying to talk to. It’s frustrating sometimes because, even though I am happy to be Christian, it’s put alot of blinders on me. The only way I know how to break it is to explore other beliefs and see how they relate to mine, or what I’ve been told are mine.

I would say that Christianity, as we know it today, has skewed my ideas on “religion”, giving me only a Westernized understanding of what it is. I looked up the word and it said “religion” was a term made by the Anglo-Saxons in the 13th century CE. Heh, the infiltration of Western thought has penetrated a little deeper than I thought. What I also find interesting is that what we consider as the origins of modern religion started in c.1500 BCE with Zoroastrianism. There’s about three millenia there that what we know as “religion” being practiced, but it’s not being called that. That word isn’t in existence yet.

Regarding the people that lived in this window of time, this “religion” was most likely homogenized into the rest of their everyday lives so that it would remain more or less indistinguishable. Simply put, religion and life were the same thing. This is just an assumption, though.

What I’m starting to realizing now, as I continue to write this post, is that if I try to take away all outside influences on both “religion” and “way of life”, I’ll find that there isn’t really much of a difference.  My choice of the words (more like labels on concepts) are proving to be insufficient. Words are subject to influence by culture and change in the times. There are two ideas that I’m trying to describe, but to put them in context of words distorts their meaning.

Maybe comparing Buddhism and Christianity wasn’t my main goal. Maybe what I was trying to do was better define the two words, or maybe extract the concepts from the current words and find new words to call them by. Maybe what was really important to me were these concepts.

I’ll stop there, but don’t think that means I’ve stopped thinking about all this.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Kudos if you’ve seen this vid already…but have you seen it in HD? Aweshum.

Original video. Click the vid to link to the HD version.

 

These were outtakes that didn’t make it into the final vid, but I actually like it more. Man, the Salar de Uyud salt flats are phenomenal.

 

This had to be one of my favorite parts of the video. The Hulu Wigmen totally caught me off guard. Here’s a little extra footage that didn’t make it in.

 

This last one is when Matt was invited to a university in Vermont to talk about his experiences travelling while making the video. There’s SO much more to the video than what you see. What’s shown here is part 1 of 3.