It’s the Year of the Pig (the Earth Pig to be specific) according to oriental astrology, so I figured I should dedicate a word or two to the unfortunate victims of unnecessary mass slaughter.
What you may not know about pigs is that they’re listed as the fifth most intelligent animal on the planet, much smarter than our beloved canines. Pigs are also emotionally sensitive, highly social and very aware. They love snuggles, belly rubs, playing, rolling in the mud, and some even love to paint. They dream and much like human mothers, they sing to their young when nursing.
“Love of animals is a universal impulse, a common ground on which all of us may meet. By loving and understanding animals, perhaps we humans shall come to understand each other.” – Louis J. Camuti
Even in religion, there is a historical taboo on eating pigs. However, although some religions may slander the pig as filthy it is actually quite the opposite! Pigs prefer clean spaces and would never sleep in their own excrement unless otherwise confined, as many are in factory farms. The pig will further prefer not eat in a filthy environment. Unfortunately in factory farms, they’re forced to live in their own faeces, blood and vomit alongside other pigs in the same condition. It is perpetual torture.
Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventure, and for hides and furs is a phenomena which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging is such acts of brutality. — The Dalai Lama
Eating pigs is also to the detriment to our health. It’s simply not healthy to consume the flesh of a pig in any form. Pig meat is loaded with cholesterol and saturated fats which clog up your arteries and all the while widening your hips, not to mention the stress hormones that are released into the bloodstream of the animal before its death. So, not only is it unjustifiable to
kill God’s lovely creatures, but you also contributing to the degradation of the planet.
It is stated in astrology that the organs of the Earth Pig are the stomach and spleen. To protect these vital organs, overindulgence is warned against. The gut is probably the most vital region of the human body with regards to metabolic and developmental functions. Food is the life force of the gut, which informs the rest of the body resulting in a healthy physiology and psychology.
Anything we consume we become, hence the very popular maxim “you are what you eat”! To over-simplify this notion, if you consume death you become dead. However, this is applicable at deeper fundamental levels – the anger, the rage, depression, and sadness in the world is intrinsically linked to the food that we eat and the violence we perpetuate to other living beings. This is the energy we consistently emanate as a specie, therefore our own suffering is exacerbated.
“As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.”
— Leo Tolstoy
If we are to realise a greater degree of empathy and peace, it’s worth extending the compassion and love we have for canines, felines and the creatures we have decided are pets to the invisible animals we don’t see – those who spend their lives behind slaughterhouse walls.
In short, let’s give the pigs a break this year, it’s their year. In the same way we celebrate our own birthdays, it would be quite the celebration for pigs if the they could keep their lives and not suffer for mere bacon, ham and pork chops. They are not things, they are not products. They’re alive with personality, they are trustful, and like children, they need our kindness and protection.
“May all that have life be delivered from suffering.” — Buddha
Written by Derrick Shadrack