Is macrobiotic, vegan?
No,
Some macrobiotic people might choose to be vegan, but no, macrobiotics is not vegan.
But isn't macrobiotics concerned about the suffering of the animals that must die, in order for macrobiotic people who eat them to eat them?
Macrobiotic people may or may not be concerned about the state of suffering involved in the process of making those creatures food, but usually macrobiotic people don't concern themselves with such things.
There are seven levels of judgement as described by Georges Ohsawa and Michio Kushi (and others) and they include:
7. Supreme or Cosmic Conscious
6. Ideological or Objective
5. Social or Interactive
4. Intellectual or Self Study
3. Sentimental or Emotional and Feeling
2. Sensory or Experiencial
1. Mechanical or Physical and Moving
When we are concerned about the experiences of other animals, at what level of judgement are we functioning?
When we say something like "Let's not eat something that runs away from us!", what level of judgement or consciousness are we functioning at?
I would say we are functioning at a more emotional or sentimental level of consciousness when we are more concerned about the emotional state of the creature we are about to eat than our own need or desire to eat it.
One might come to believe that plants are conscious and aware of life and may wish to continue living as well as the creatures that we human choose to eat.
If we are concerned about the emotional state of animals that we are considering eating, shouldn't we also be considering the state of the plants we are harvesting for food?
Where does this sentiment end?
Are you willing to give up eating so that all other living things can continue to live?
Are you also going to stop all living things from consuming other living things?
Maybe after stopping consuming other living things you won't have the will or energy to deal with anything but your own survival.
For myself, I'm more concerned about how what I eat affects me.
I used to eat animal foods in almost every meal but I felt either too much energy or extremely stressed out and I often suffered from colds and influenza.
As I started to eat less and less animal foods and more plant foods I started to feel more comfortable and healthier.
I now choose to eat plant based foods at least 86% of the time, if not more.
So I choose foods based more on how they affect me than how they are affected.
I imagine that most people in macrobiotics approach their diet similarly.
How about you?
Thank you, very much.
Bruce Paine
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