Ministry Aroha

The path to peace begins with your plate.

#vegan #govegan

If it [the Truth] is already manifest, what's the use of meditation? And if it is hidden, one is just measuring darkness. Mantras and tantras, meditation and concentration, They are all a cause of self-deception, Do not defile in contemplation thought that is pure in its own nature, But abide in the bliss of yourself and cease these torments. Saraha's Treasury of Songs, translated by David Snellgrove, pp 224-39 cited in The Way of Zen, Alan Watts, p 79

. . . abide in the bliss of yourself . . .

#meditation #quotes #enlightenment

After studying religions for 40 years, it still brings such sadness to consider how these systems disregard animals. #Jainism is perhaps an exception, but even they advocate #ahimsa as a way to avoid karma - so, self-serving. Non-violence should be the beginning of spiritual growth.

#vegan #govegan

I was asked why I am vegan. My response was one word, "Compassion". He couldn't fathom this and asked about health benefits and such. I watched him move uncomfortably away from my response and I realised how out of touch with compassion we are. People want self-serving responses.

#vegan #govegan

A powerful #meditation involves contemplating Dependent Arising - all things are interdependent and we all need each other to come into being and to continue to exist. This creates wonder, #gratitude and #respect.

Sit and think - and imagine - all that was required for you to exist!

#meditate

We can feel guilty if we have #gratitude in a world so terribly messed up, but gratitude is a powerful force for #joy in our lives. When we imagine how we want things, we get saddened by reality. When we look for things that are good, we feel #grateful and joy comes.

Consider the good, too! ❤️

Vystopia - the anguish of being vegan in a non-vegan world

vystopia.com

#vegan #govegan

These two piglets were born today in a prison camp somewhere in #Denmark Their lives have been taken from them even before they were born 💔They will have no freedom no natural life and will never be outside😢#EndAnimalExploitation #StopEatingAnimals #LiveVegan because you care ✌️

Working on a therapeutic model centred around compassion. Yes, there is CFT, but it is lightweight and Gilbert's books I have read do not mention compassion for animals, so not adequate. Working through conceptualising issues as an absence of empathy and compassion.

#vegan #govegan #therapy #cft

As I wake up here in #Aotearoa, I see the global news. Yes, there is a lot of suffering in the world, but you are part of the comfort and peace we all need!

When we strive to do no harm, we are lights shining in the darkness.

You’ve got this! ❤️

#vegan #govegan

People take up causes that require protest, but when we discuss the violence on their plates, they get offended. A more cynical person would imagine that they care for causes that require no personal change. Standing on a street corner seems easy, compared to changing diet, perhaps.

#vegan #govegan

I was an undergraduate studying religion all day and then I would go to the canteen at the end of the day and tear apart flesh with my teeth. I would consume stolen mother's milk and eggs produced by exploitation. I imagined I was enlightened and a feminist - I was neither.

#vegan #govegan #peace

You imagine yourself spiritual, but you are full of corpses and their excretions. You imagine yourself compassionate, but you are full of suffering, fear and death. You imagine yourself evolved, but you are a walking graveyard - a holocaust drawing breath. Do no harm and evolve!

#vegan #govegan

Bowl of freshly washed beet greens

In addition to the spiritual evolution and being in much better health, our diet introduces me to so many new things. Super healthy gut biome, get ready for beet greens!

#vegan #govegan

Palestine Activism Communication and Engagement Coordinator The Program Coordinator for Communications and Engagement will support national AFSC campaigns led by the U.S. Palestine Activism Program, webinars, speaking tours and public events that focus on ending Israeli apartheid and the war in Gaza. They will they create outreach and educational materials including an apartheid-free monthly newsletter, online events, blogposts, media advisories, and social media content. They will organize outreach to key constituencies and mobilize and engage U.S. audiences in public actions working with the U.S. Palestine Activism staff team.

Palestine Activism Communication and Engagement Coordinator
https://afsc.org/job/palestine-activism-communication-and-engagement-coordinator

Silence can be a beautiful and needful thing, whether sitting in meditation or as a form of worship. Contemplating dependent arising and metta meditation are profound personal examples. I am radiating love for all beings - including you!

May all beings know peace!

#vegan #meditation #govegan

View of water and mountains at sunset

View of track, water and mountains at sunset

Evening #tramping

#aotearoa

We are not of this world, but are redeemed out of it. Its ways, its customs, its worships, its weapons, we cannot follow. For we are come into the peaceable kingdom of Christ, where swords are beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and none shall hurt nor destroy. — George Fox, Epistle 203 (1659)

The Peaceable Kingdom begins inside of you. The world will not change until your heart does.

“ . . . none shall hurt nor destroy . . . “

Go vegan!

#vegan #quaker #quakers #govegan

It is the greatest spiritual experience to begin a life of non-violence. Your heart opens to the whole universe. You see family all around you. It is your natural state and you marvel at the deceptions you accepted. You know that you are not better than others and you cherish all.

#vegan #govegan

Free-produce movement - Wikipedia

In every pound of sugar used we may be considered as consuming two ounces of human flesh."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-pr...

The modern free-produce movement is veganism, where we refuse "products" made with violence and exploitation. Go vegan!

#vegan #quaker #quakers #govegan

The pamphlet made a case for consumer complicity in slavery: "If we purchase the commodity we participate in the crime. The slave dealer, the slave holder, and the slave driver, are virtually agents of the consumer, and may be considered as employed and hired by him to procure the commodity . . .

The concept originated among members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in the late 18th century.

William Fox published a pamphlet urging a boycott of slave sugar . . .

The free-produce movement was an international boycott of goods produced by slave labor. It was used by the abolitionist movement as a non-violent way for individuals, including the disenfranchised, to fight slavery.

That milk belongs to a baby who died so you could consume. The baby cried for mother and milk. You are directly responsible for their death. As long as you buy, others will kill for YOU. You are as responsible - you have torn the baby away from their mother and latched onto mum.

#vegan #govegan

“I don’t care what god you believe in, [or] if you even believe in a god. I care about how you act. Your actions count, not your beliefs. Your actions matter. Are you killing somebody, are you enslaving somebody, are you oppressing somebody, are you discriminating against somebody? That’s what counts and that’s what matters. And that’s what religious people need to correct. [The] world would be a better place if we actually embraced and protected God’s creations. Instead of just killing them all.”

Gary Yourofsky

#vegan #quaker #quakers #govegan

We are called to fight the slavery of our time - the countless lives we take, the breastmilk of babies we steal, the exploitation of so very many. We are called to do this by our consciences, whether we are supported by our F/friends, or not.

#vegan #quaker #quakers #govegan

'It concludes: "We hold that Benjamin Lay was a Friend of the Truth; we are in unity with the spirit of Benjamin Lay."'

'Their joint statement recognises "the integrity and courage of a man who called slave-holders, including Quakers, to account, who protested the abomination of slavery, upheld the equality of the sexes, and lived his life with integrity according to his Quaker beliefs".'

Anti-slavery campaigner Benjamin Lay re-embraced by Quakers After 280 years, a religious group acknowledges an anti-slavery campaigner.

Friend Lay was disowned by Quakers for 280 years for speaking out against slavery.

'Lay told the gathering, which included wealthy Quaker slave-owners: "Thus shall God shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures."'

#vegan #quaker #quakers #govegan
www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...