Two years later, I can now write about the significance of that incident, ‘the ants incident’. Because it’s only now in the unfolding of our current experiences that this disconnect between the understanding of energy consciousness and the view that all life is sacred, is fast becoming our most painful undoing.
When I wrote Hope for Humanity, I used to think that the global elitists likened us common folk to animals; enslaved and monitored, abused and imposed upon. But it was worse, we are viewed with the coldest disregard of the most unsophisticated and unnecessary nuisance of little more than an insect. What ever it is we’re thinking (or not thinking) about our fellow multi-legged beasties, some big rich guy with a ‘superiority complex’ is thinking about us. But can really we blame the global elitists for feeling superior when it is merely our human societal conditioning that teaches us to view ourselves as separate? Would a society that considered life as sacred go to war over land? Would we keep animals in factory farms, would we use pesticide or herbicide on our lands? We have all been taught to view our place on this planet within an intellectual order and the disconnect of modern society from its source can be experienced all around.
Everything alive will one day die, from plant to insect to animal, it is the cycle of life. And actually even the most humble vegan would agree that life ‘needs’ to be taken, as is only life that sustains life. Sometimes we might step on an ant without knowing, or we even sterilise a babies bottle - killing millions of bacteria and we can not say that is wrong. But what we can say is that it is in the attitude and circumstance that life is taken that really matters. When we take life through cruelty and not compassion, through greed and not necessity or with disregard and not respect, we cultivate a culture and an energy which devalues and degrades the very sanctity of life to which we are not separate. After all, we might not want to live in a world of ants any more than the global elitists want to live in a world of the common free folk.
Later on in the kitchen… I noticed that my brother in-law had in the end left the ants and the washing up aside… and the ants were escaping nicely. Champ. 💓
I am drawn to protests – I find them exhilarating; they form community, develop camaraderie, give meaning and purpose, but most importantly, they give us hope.
Over the years, I have been involved with many environmental protection camps and you need not have visited such places to know what lies at the heart of this agenda. With populist slogans like ‘save the trees’ emblazoned from post to post, to the environmental protester, trees are known to be the single most important, sacred and prized natural feature of our land, and rightly so. Owing to their impressive repertoire, including oxygen givers, erosion protectors, shade and habitat providers: - trees play one of the most fundamental parts of our ecosystem and must be protected at all costs.
Welcome the environmental protester:- valiant protector of our natural world, risking life and livelihood in this saintly pursuit. Unfortunately, there are a great number of folk who would fail to share this view and it’s not hard to understand why. Because let’s face it, despite centuries of uprising, nothing has been able to stop the steady increase in social and environmental issues. So much so, that when we consider the actual successes that environmental protection has offered, it has undoubtedly become a game of small wins and big losses and never was a true word said.
Of the protest camps that I’ve ‘knocked about’ in – a common sight amongst the security guards, the mud and ‘people up trees’, is that these camps are largely inhabited by folk happily whiling away the long under-stimulated hours somewhere up in a cloud of smoke. Smokers of all types, including those claiming to be of the ‘medicinal’ green variety. In fact it is such a common sight, there is absolutely nothing of any particular interest, until you start to deeply ponder upon it’s parallels and then you might begin to see something rather very wrong.
Because you see, there is no one who can really disagree with the fact that smoke inhalation of any sort is one of the most self-destructive and dangerous activities that we can knowingly impose on our bodies today. This toxic substance, starves the body of oxygen, directly targeting and damaging the lungs – who are the very oxygen givers of our bodies, and whose primary function is really no different to that of a tree. The very root of what many protesters are on one hand externally seeking so hard to save, while internally allowing it’s continued destruction.
This is the great delusion of separation, the lack of understanding that the very life giving instruments that we are trying so hard to protect are also right here within us. The most important tree that we can only truly offer any protection lies much forgotten, while our focus remains firmly fixed outside of ourselves. This failure to acknowledge our bodies also as part of the great magnificence of nature:- the co-dependence between the respiration of our lungs and the respiration of a tree, each bringing the other life is perhaps on one level a product of why environmental protesting continues to fail. Because how can we convince government and multi-nationals to care for nature when the truth is we care even less for our own.
People are drawn to environmental activism for many reasons and knowingly but more often unknowingly, ‘nature’ may not always be at the heart of this agenda. But whatever the reason, we are here for the most worthy cause of all – because we want change. We live in a culture of diminished responsibility, casting assertions and laying blame on all but ourselves. But when we consider change, we must first ask ourselves what is it within us that we can change first. Because nothings changes if no one changes so then what better place to start, than where the success is in our own hands.
‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ Ghandi.
A few years ago it was revealed in a numerology reading that my life’s path number was five – the path of freedom.
The truth will set you free
To live a life in truth isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. It’s a bit like getting off the express super highway and stumbling out barefoot onto the hard and stoney, 'road less travelled' and there are far too few of us here for comfort.
It’s been a while since I left my job and the security that laid a beautiful roof over my head. After eight years, life in London and all that it had to offer a young girl had dulled, but in a chance encounter, my luck had come in and I happened upon the ancient teachings of yoga vedanta (the ancient philosophy behind the practice of yoga). A beacon of light had set my soul ablaze and all my instinct spoke out – here I had found my truth.
To recognise your truth is perhaps one of the most blessed and cursed experiences of this life. In this time old pursuit many have anguished over the quest to find meaning and purpose, however when meaning and purpose do finally fall into place, to live in accordance with those understandings can be an entirely different matter. After separating the lie from the truth and the material from the immortal you might start to experience an uncontrollable desire to change a fair few things... and of course, as with most change, not all folk will understand. Sadly much of this hardship will come from your closest friends and family. This is the lonely road where many walk in the pain of separation, outcast and estranged, ridiculed and hated but when you believe in pulling yourself out of the mire, every sacrifice is sacred and there becomes no other way of being.
Thankfully, for as much pain there is as much promise and there will be many newfound discoveries in which to delight in along the way. In my time as living ‘homeless’, I had come to realise that without an address there were now a fair few societal restrictions that could no longer apply (a top bonus if like me you’re interested in dicing along the thin blue line of the law).
When you cease to see the sense in society, in a world where basic human rights have become increasingly distorted, even something as simple as going outside can become a bewildering experience... perhaps even inciting a volatile protest! Imagine being denied entry to board a costly train because you arrived moments too late, only to watch it sit stationary on the platform for a further two minutes, dumbfounded to the heights at which ‘health and safety’ have reached.
When you’re on the other side, to think deeply about life can become an ever evolving experience and you might start to wonder why it is that others do not. One of the hardest things to contemplate is the plight of consumer culture, something which can bring about all manner of feeling ranging from disbelief to sadness to even outrage. For example, knowing that the existence and growth of major corporations such as the food, beauty, and pharmaceutical industries are driven through global demand and that these corporations seldom served to overcome suffering but exist for the proliferation of profit in sickness and addiction, simply because we continue to allow it. Is amongst the absurdities of modern society in which we now live.
Manipulation and control through institutional governance and it’s rebellion have gone hand in hand throughout the ages. But as we quickly move from one scandal to the next, frustration lies in the forgetting. Through art and film, lyric and literature despite every warning history has foretold, apathy has continued to prevail and can anyone really be blamed for that? In a centralised government, continuity of life as we know it and our attachment to the safety of the system is now so deeply rooted in survival, that there is so much at stake. And there are some pretty serious topics to contemplate… How would we cope with food shortages, a serious banking crash or a housing shortage? Self reliance no longer exists on our farms and we are so disconnected from the natural world, to whom would we turn1?
While there is nothing that can really be said to someone who isn’t yet ready nor wants to hear, the wisest discipline is often the hardest thing to endure, allowing others their own rates of progression and growth and to stand patiently aside while much damage continues to be done. Could it really be that despairingly simple, to do nothing while government continue their steady march forward threatening our abilities to legitimately and successfully protest, removing every right while we contemplate our lot?
Yes and no and perhaps so, but my advice is not to do nothing. Every scripture has taught us that the most powerful impressions we can leave this world are simply to live from truth because we can not choose freedom for anyone but ourselves. In my experience, the road less travelled is the beginning of the ultimate path to freedom. It is arduous by nature and not everyone will understand, you may lose friends, family, respect and livelihood, perhaps it will be the hardest and most difficult choice you will ever make. But know this – there is a deep satisfaction in every step and this will be many times worth your effort. Because what could be grander than the grandest vision, than in the creation of our new earth together.
1. Since leaving behind major aspects of the system six years ago, I have spent this time supporting and being supported by a rich diversity of natural and urban communities here in the UK. If you would like to know more, please leave me a message in the comments and I will be happy to share more of my experiences with you.
In March 2020 following a series of unexplained deaths, a deadly and highly transmissible virus was found to originate at a wet market in Wuhan, China. Somewhere in-between wild and exotic animals cramped close together; sodden cages piled high, the unnatural contact of faecal and mucus excretions between animal and human that would never normally mix, cast loose the deadly pandemic into the world. In this breeding ground for bacterial and viral infection, Covid-19 trans-mutated from bat to pangolin to person, before making a beeline straight for humanity.
This alarming tale is what movies are made of. But what is even more disturbing is that what occurred at Wuhan is not unique. There are in fact countless thousands of other almost identical wet markets spread throughout South East Asia, continuing to trade animals in this way to this day.
To some, this outbreak will come as no surprise, because the study of zoonosis (diseases which are spread between animals and humans) has been prevalent within the scientific community for centuries. First thought to have arisen around ten thousand years ago, the earliest emergence of zoonotic disease was birthed in agriculture and animal husbandry through the domestication of the common farm yard animal.
Over the past century, as a rapid rise in population has seen a steady increase in the demand for cheap meats, so too have the emergences of zoonotic disease. With traditional farming methods no longer serving the way we consume, billions of animals are now held in immense factory farms, housed in inhumane, unsanitary over crowded sheds, where antibiotics are routinely administered in a bid to suppress the spread of prevalent illnesses. In recent history, Zoonosis has been responsible for many highly infectious and deadly diseases of pandemic and epidemic proportion. There are currently around 200 Zoonotic diseases, where 60% of all human disease and 3 out of 4 new diseases are now Zoonotic emergences. This includes, Spanish flu, bird flu, swine flu, measles, mumps, chicken pox, typhoid, SARS, influenza, small pox, AIDS and whooping cough, all transmitted to humans from the domestication, captivity or close contact of wild animals.
As the daily deluge of pandemic reporting continues to grab headlines, there is much to be said for life in this masked and sanitised ‘new normal’. Coming to terms with how Covid-19 has held the world to standstill has brought to light an insecurity many have never seen in the fragility of ‘mighty man’. In this disempowerment we have fixedly looked towards our leaders, holding dear to our hearts the keeping of their three commandments, “wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance”. But what remains to be hidden, is the very root cause of the critical change we so desperately need to see, the change of normalising the recognition of animals as sentient and intelligent beings.
We know how to stop a global pandemic, we have known for decades. But while common man continues to be blind sited from the real cause in the wasteful pursuit of the cure, the ultimate battle lies in the ruthless and unrelenting profits of major industries like the meat and dairy and the pharmaceutical industry. We don’t require any more evidence to understand the basis of our problem, captivity and abuse of animals is the major cause of the biggest threat that humanity faces today and the only answer to a lasting solution is in the rapid reduction of the consumption of meat and dairy and the elimination of live animal markets. These may sound like drastic measures any non vegan would be scathed to approve, but if what we have gone through in one year is not drastic enough and if we really are serious about saving the lives and livelihoods of millions more, then what we don’t need is another ‘lock down’ but a collective ‘shut down’ of factory farming globally.
Final thought
The main agenda of Covid-19 global propaganda is to push ownership of responsibility from its place of proper governance and down onto the people. To vilify those for not wearing masks and to imply their heartless arrogance can be seen as an effort to sideline the real issues at heart. If government really were sincere in their tune, ‘in order to stop deaths’ then perhaps we would see them acting with such swift severity to end war, combat climate change, shut down factory farms or even end world hunger. I could be more convinced, but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon because then again lest us never forget... rich people don’t die from starvation.
[1] https://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/news/research-medical-benefits/the-increase-in-zoonotic-diseases-the-who-the-why-and-the-when/
[2] Dr Greggor
IMAGINE WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF WE PRIVATISED THE NHS..
There is in truth no battle nor defence when it comes to the great debate involving East vs West, because in reality, with it’s major artillery fire of global finance and mass media monopoly, the western agenda is the only agenda. Dominating and lording its intention over all other. Fully and absolutely complete.
Sadly, there is no difference to this arrangement when we speak of our great modern day medical achievements, because ever since the rise of the insatiable multi-billion dollar spinning, ‘Big Pharma’ eastern credibility over a rich variety of holistic approaches to medical care have steadily been stamped out and ignored.
Welcome the NHS, a national treasure proudly proclaimed by the many as the crème of British utopian society. Surely such a system allowing every citizen the right to free medical care, despite status or wealth should be heralded in virtuous, righteousness, purist and sacrifice for the greatest good? It’s likely yes, that there had once been such an intention and yes, all the while, the philanthropists probably really did care. But what has now arisen through an allopathic approach to sickness and ‘cure’ is an inordinate disproportion of folk surrendered to a toxic lifestyle, mislead into the belief that our medical needs will one day be taken care of. A falsity that can no longer be ignored.
In our understanding of modern day medical science, ‘the most superior of all’. We live and love safe in the knowledge that for the most, the ailments that we are likely to suffer in our lifetime will be treated or even cured over at the GP or pharmacy. This is the promise to an end of suffering, a course of capsules restoring the body back to balance and harmony. So with that taken care of, there is nothing that one needs to do and nowhere that one needs to go. A falling in mass unison, invoking a culture lacking in the will and knowledge needed to effectively look after our own bodies.
The principle following ‘our health is our authority’, is a premise for living by prevention rather than cure. A practice better known by the eastern approach to medical care. Here exists a wonderous myriad of ancient techniques, therapies and even modern alternatives, reaching far beyond the repetitive mundane adage of ‘5-a-day with 20 minutes of exercise’. Instead we are discouraged from eastern therapies and warned against such ‘supernatural’ ideas. With western research institutions funded to condemn eastern medicines by discrediting their merits. And all the while, dictating that animal testing and adverse side affects are the better alternative; when in reality they are chemically synthesised, artificially lab made medicines, that only mimic the natural compounds that were traditionally used for millennia anyway.
As allopathic medicine dominates the market and alternative therapies remain a niche, they have become a luxury that most can not afford. The problem with a pre-paid medical care system is that it holds a monopoly, driving down the price of its own allopathic drugs and pricing out that of the holistic market. So even if you wanted to choose an alternative, be sure to know you’d be paying through the nose for it.. twice! If allopathic medicine became a choice and not an imposition, this would certainly give rise to a growth in all other medicinal markets evening out the vast disparity of cost and making these mighty marvels more available to all.
Holistic approaches encourage a lifestyle not a reliance, for the power and responsibility of our health first lies with us. So please let us be honest and let us be done! Lets privatise the NHS and take health care back into our own hands, because the real 'farmacy' is an incredible thing.
