'The world is his who can see through its pretensions. What deafness,
what stone-blind custom, what overgrown error you behold, is there only
by sufferance – your sufferance. See it to be a lie, and you have already
dealt it a mortal blow.' - Emerson
Our behaviour invariably reflects our understanding,
are called to allow our innate mercy and kindness to shine
and yet our behaviour also determines what level of
forth and to confront the indoctrinated assumptions that
understanding we are able to attain.
promote cruelty. While we are granted varying degrees
The calling we hear today is the persistent call
of privilege depending on our species, race, class, and
to evolve. It is part of a larger song to which we all
gender, we are all harmed when any is harmed; suffering
contribute and that lives in our cells and in the essential
is ultimately completely interconnected because we are
nature of the universe that gives rise to our being. It is a
all interconnected, and socially-constructed privilege
song, ultimately, of healing, joy, and celebration because
only serves to disconnect us from this truth of our
all of us, humans and non-humans alike, are expressions
interdependence.
of a beautiful and benevolent universe. It is also a song of
This exploration is intended for readers of all religious
darkest pain and violation, due to our accepted practices
traditions as well as those who do not identify with
of dominating, commodifying, and killing animals – and
any particular tradition. Like the Golden Rule, which
people. In order to confine and kill animals for food,
articulates a principle that is pronounced by all the world's
we must repress our natural compassion, warping us
religious traditions and is intuitively accepted by people
away from intuition and toward materialism, violence,
of every culture and persuasion, the principles discussed
and disconnectedness. The song of the new mythos that
in this book are universal and can be understood and
yearns to be born through us requires our spirits to be
practiced by all of