>Hi Peter,

>Thanks for your thoughts but I don't feel any curiosity whatsoever
>about eating meat.  I've done that in the past before my vegetarian
>days, even steak tartare (sp.?).  My health is very much better as a
>vegetarian.

And could probably improve even more.  I believe the reason vegetarians
are often healthier is more due to all the junk foods they are avoiding
than to the fact that they they are vegetarian.

>The thought of eating flesh is repugnant, my body gives me clear
>signals to the mere thought!

Is the monk's body telling him that the beautiful woman before him is
not desirable or is his mental pre-conditioning overriding his body's
signals? Or how about people who feel nauseous at the thought of any
human intimicy or at the idea of eating raw foods?  The question is how
do we go about making choices on issues like this and at the same time
be certain that we are not deceiving ourselves and just cementing what
our cultural,social or personal biases & projections happen to be. In
more cases than none having a strong emotional/intellectual reaction to
something has nothing whatsoever to do with your body giving you the
right signals for what it needs. The instinctual part of your brain is
only concerned with survival and immediate gratification and is very
unsentimental about issues like food choices.  Therefore, if your body
was telling you that it had no need for meat it would be completely
indifferent to the subject as it would at the thought of eating gravel.
Your emotional attachment to the subject gives you away.

>I don't need to eat the flesh of another to be healthy and really
>doubt that anyone does.

As long as there is room for improvements, you will never know if you
do not try.

>I realize each of us has to find our own way,
>it's just unfortunate when that way involves the suffering and death
>of another.

Factory farms aside, I am not so sure that killing another animal
involves much suffering. For one thing a huge rush of endorphines is
released when the integrity of an organism is threatened or seriously
hurt. Besides, if a tiger or a bear jumped me it would be over so fast
that I would barely know what had hit me, though I do admit that it
would be a very traumatic experience for me if I ever lived to tell.
But if I do need some meat in my diet (I do not know yet as I have not
tried) and I deny myself access to it I am commiting an act of violence
against the needs & integrity of my own body. And in the long run I
think this kind of action of going against our own nature will be
detrimental for the future this planet.

>If one feels that animal products really add a missing ingredient,
>why not raw, organic, dairy or eggs?  At least the taking of a life is
>not involved.

I intend to do that.  I have to cater to my conditioning. :-)

>And again, what magic ingredient could be in flesh that is not in
>dairy or eggs?

If I told you, only if you are able to transcend your emotional
conditioning, would I a) be able to convince you  b) make you take the
consequence of your newly found conviction.

>I'll leave these particular experiments to others!

Taking the vegan high road is IMO capitulating, taking the easy way out
& leaving all the difficult work to the likes of me. :-( I am not
exactly tickled to death by the choices I am soon to make and I feel
very deserted & betrayed by the vegan community, which would rather
wash its hands clean & turn its back to these very critical issues. I
am not sure that from the perspective of the indigenous people of our
world (not to speak of our paleolithic ancestors) a vegan diet based on
sentimentality & emotionality would make much sense & would possibly
even be offensive as native people always have always held animal foods
in great reverence and awe and considered eating an animal a sacred act
and the highest honor they could pay it. In retrospect, I think that
veganism will regarded as a mostly middle class cult and held up as
sign of our very unenlightened times.  If veganism is to have any
future it will have to mend the gap between the emotion/intellect and
the instinctual part of the human nervous system and be based on
experience rather than idea. If vegans are not willing to put their
ideas to the test and try eating a truly health & longevity promoting
diet that includes some meat they will have to stop claiming the vegan
diet is the healthiest for anybody including themselves and admit they
simply do not know.
Like you I am concerned about the consequences of meat consumption on
the sustainability of life on the planet.  We need to find out how
little we can get by with and still maintain our health.  Also, there
are some issues like overpopulation that deserve the same or even more
attention.

Best, Peter
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P.S.  Please do not get offended by my sometimes argumentative style of
responding as it is not at all aimed at you personally. I just happen
to feel very passionately about these issues and I find you as a vegan
surprisingly openminded. - That was a compliment. ;-)