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GOD ALMIGHTY in His most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of ALL Earthly creatures, as in all times before, some are rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission.

GOD ALMIGHTY in His most holy and wise providence, hath also given us unequivocal guidance: "Thou shalt not kill.” He refrained from saying, "Thou shalt not kill humans,” to provideth with us an unequivocally broad Commandment, applicable to all life in general.

Are we to totally rest our souls upon Scripture, that which hath sanctified slavery, for guidance? Or are we to totally place our faith in HIS COMMANDMENTS?

Biblical Scripture was written by, perpetually imperfect and fallible, mankind. HIS COMMANDMENTS were written by HIS HAND!

Read the Ten Commandments.¹ What does the sixth commandment say? Do you read, "Thou shalt not kill,” or do you read, "Thou shalt not kill humans”? Why didn't God say, "humans”? It’s only ONE (1) word! Are we to assume that God was too tired at that precise moment of utterance to say, "humans”? That's certainly a preposterous thought to contemplate! Or, rather, did He ignore that single word purposely? The notion that He ignored that single word on purpose makes much more sense. So, you now have a choice. Either follow what the apostles have said or follow what God has said. Your choice.

To those wanting to quote Biblical scripture for supporting mankind's killing and consuming of other living creatures sharing our planet, we must remember that the same Biblical scriptures may be quoted in defense of slavery! See the rather extensive documentation posted at AltaVista, Google, Lycos and Yahoo!

There are two Rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: Justice and Mercy. These are always distinguished in their Act and in their Object, yet may they both concur in the same subject in each respect; as sometimes there may be an occasion of showing Mercy to a rich man in some sudden danger or distress, and other times of doing Justice to a poor man in regard of some particular contract, and so forth.

So too, sometimes Justice attains high ground for, say, the laboratory rat as pre-prescribed Law overrides the unbridled ambitions of a ruthless experimenter. Still other times, Mercy for the many whose very lives may be immediately at stake must be balanced by a need to experimentally deduce an appropriate remedy, that is,

The needs for the many outweigh those for the few.

Nevertheless, recognize that we mustn't ever be too quick at quoting this guidepost. Always must we recognize that what may seem necessary may NOT actually be so once ALL possible avenues, factors, variables, special cases, rare exceptions, possible underlying causes, potential subsequent consequences, potential emotional responses, potential interpretations or mis-rationalizations, and finally any immediate and initiate responsibilities are COMPLETELY taken into consideration. Sacrifice by the few for the many may at times seem appropriate and necessary while in fact being entirely unnecessary ... if only someone would recognize the boundaries to their thinking as cast by their own humanly assumptions!

Always must we appropriately hold back our own individual wants when they conflict with the needs of other fellow beings. We must allow the living demands of others to overpower our own self-directed goals and assumptions. Anything less would reflect of tyranny.

Furthermore, recognize the inherent underlying assumption even to this very precept itself. To make this concisely clear and follow up with subsequent deliberation and a brief example ...

The RIGHT decision is ALWAYS the MOST COMPASSIONATE.

So that it may be granted sufficient weight in your mind, allow me to reiterate:

The RIGHT decision is ALWAYS the MOST COMPASSIONATE!

The RIGHT decision is ALWAYS the MOST COMPASSIONATE!!

Among humans, the decision that yields the greatest compassionate final outcome among all other alternatives should always achieve greatest priority and preferred implementation.² So, our thinking mustn't become fixated on our present or immediate situation. Though this may at times be difficult to actually do, especially when we find ourselves short on resources and/or time, when possible always should we bear in mind that we must consider not only those conclusive and consequential outcomes to our own self-propelled actions/ideas but also, above all, responsibility for our own past mistakes. In short, always must we prepare for future possibility, compensate for past error, and select compassionately and judiciously among all present alternatives.

For example, for all immediate considerations in the short term, the needs of one hundred vicious rodents could never outweigh the needs of only one loving human. The human is far more compassionate and giving a creature than any multitude of rodents. In the short term, a single and caring human life shall always bear greater significance than any number of ignorant, vicious swine. We must insist on "the immediate short term” for these generalized statements however, since an imaginary scenario of some future predicament could yield a rare exception not yet considered. Read on ....

CARE is the foundation upon which Righteousness and Justice sit.³ Recognize that aspiring to reach unbiased decisions may be a lofty goal worth striving for, but NEVER at the cost of CAUTION or COMPASSION for those whose lives are affected by those decisions. One's thinking MUST ALWAYS be biased toward considerations of Individual Rights (Human Rights and Animal Rights) or Rights of All Conscious Life (covering all beings capable of self-awareness). Anything less is nothing short of blatant Apathy!

Apathy can hide behind a veil of "law"; apathy can hide behind a veil of "order." Sometimes laws require revision because of subtle possibilities that our legislators had overlooked. The bottom line is that if you aren't exerting the effort or taking the needed time to try to find or imagine the most compassionate option(s), in your mind then you are putting sloth, convenience, loss avoidance or some other self-centered motive ahead of CARING.. You MUST become aware of your own inherent selfish instincts, mood and self-centered perspective so that you may appropriately override them all in the pertinent situations. All too often, individual decision-making revolves around,

"Me, me, me: What’ll happen to me?” or  "Us, us: What’s best for us?”

Aspire to always take a step back and recognize the BIG picture to make decisions that are RIGHT for everyone whose lives may be affected by your decisions. As a Just, Righteous, Loving and Merciful human being, you must replace your self-centered mental programs with something more along the lines of,

"What’s best for YOU?”

As an example, you must be willing to arrive at selfless, self-deprecating — even potentially self-inflicting — conclusions derived along the lines of, say,

"However disagreeable this... may be to Me,
it is far better than that... possibility facing You.”

Apathy gets us nowhere, while Protection and Prevention get us going in the Right directions. Protection from Potential Harm is your GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY.

Caring is human, and Nature is cruel.

Look around you. Observe. Humans are the only creatures here on planet Earth who truly care for all other creatures in addition to our own. We are the only creatures possessing the cognitive capacity for doing so. How does it feel to be so special? But alone.

Some (actually most) may say that, because we are alone in this regard, we should just leave all the animals as they are, killing and tormenting each other. That is, they say that we should just choose apathy in our deliberations of all the other creatures who share our planet, because that's the way matters have always been before. But Nature's cruelty is no excuse for repeating the example she sets. As caring, intelligent beings couldn't we aspire to do better? We have the capacity now to not only solve our problems, but their problems as well. We look to the stars when we should likewise be looking at ourselves. Life becomes better when it's managed by those who care.

 

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

Have you heard that one before? Certainly most of us have.

Does it seem logical? Apparently so. Otherwise, most of us wouldn't still quote it.

Is it absolutely logical? No, it is not, and unfortunately so, for many before us have suffered unnecessarily by it.

Let's be clear about something before continuing though. Our forefathers and foremothers weren't fools. That precept, though erroneous, eliminated another fearful possibility, and they had to choose between the two. Analyzing matters completely, they choose justly, because their knowledge was meager compared with ours in modern society. What has happened is technological achievement now renders that precept worthless.

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse” was a just precept long ago when our ancestors had to consider the possibility that someone would vie for wrong and then claim ignorance of right as a defense. If that precept hadn't been in place, chaos would have ruled as criminal after criminal would have used this "ignorance” argument to avoid punishment. That precept, though erroneous, represented to our ancestors a commitment to Safety (or Security, depending on your own perception) above the possibility of false imprisonment, that is, punishment doled out to someone who really was ignorant at the time!

This is because all that a truly ignorant person needs to do right (assuming that person to be committed to doing right over wrong) is a simple explanation. For such an individual imprisonment is by far too heinous a punishment. Nevertheless, it happened: The truly ignorant suffered at the hands of "Right" for the sake of fear.

Nowadays, psychological knowledge has become so advanced and refined, that we can know beyond all doubt (believe it or not, this is entirely correct!) whether someone is lying or not. Yes we can, and if you disagree it's only because you are ignorant of all of modern psychological science. So, that erroneous precept above now becomes,

"Pretense is no protection.”

Today, pretending to be ignorant won't protect you from punishment. Only the truly ignorant nowadays may escape punishment, but only if they lack the capacity for recognizing the Right option — Cautious, Considerate, Compassionate, Concerned, Competent, Responsible — from the wrong. Ignorance on one hand must be balanced by the capacity to think and realize for one’s self on the other, assuming sufficient time, awareness and ability to do so.

For the sake of Safety, our ancestors chose apathy. Perhaps they chose sadly, because it was necessary if society was to remain cohesive, survive and progress.

Humans choose apathy for several reasons:

• Prevention (Safety and Security), like our ancestors did with the above erroneous precept.

• Survival (Killing and Consuming Animals). Though this practice is unnecessary today, modern society still continues to commit this wrong. In the far, far, imaginary future, if we were to encounter an alien society superior in intellect to our own, would they be equally justified to dispose of us as we have disposed of "Earth's lower life forms"? What if they find convenience or enjoyment in consuming us? (Vegetarians are Right. Killing is wrong. Period.)

• Sloth (Avoiding Mental Work). Yes, humans are lazy, physically and mentally. We prefer to decide according to what the popular conception is or to how matters seem, rather than exerting some effort to imagine possibilities which others (or authority) may be overlooking (however rare those possibilities may be). At times, we continue to do as we were taught or self-programmed into doing without taking a moment to think about possible oversight.

• Learned Helplessness. Some actually choose to helplessly allow self-suffering to occur, because attempt after attempt after attempt has taught them that there is absolutely nothing they may do to bring about an alternate end. Or they may fear what might happen if they were to try (e.g., someone living under totalitarian rule).

• Selfishness (Crime). Choosing to self-protect or to achieve some selfish gain regardless of the consequences, or choosing to ignore the consequences for the same end, is criminal. Though children may do it, they are children, still learning and still developing cognitively. Among fully aware and cognizant adults, selfishness regardless of consequence is criminal.

Always must we consider how our decisions will affect others, our society as a whole and other societies as well, and even future generations. How shall subsequent generations — several centuries in advance? — respond to, react to, praise or criticize the decision you are making? If time travel were possible, how might they be telling you to decide? Always must you become aware of the BIG picture when deciding what is "right" or "best" in general. The Right Decision takes into account EVERYTHING, ALL variables. Learn to forget about focusing on you, you, YOU! Instead, learn to automatically focus your attention on the task of actively deducing what is best for everyone in general once all relevant information has been amassed and taken into account. Analyze all possible consequences, implications, subsequent criticisms. Always consider the selfless option in the way of recognizing what is Right or Best. Forget about what seems appropriate; worry over what is appropriate once all influencing factors and potential consequences are taken into consideration. ALL assumptions must be exposed and erroneous perceptions eliminated.

Nature: We can tame her if we so choose. For now, it's only a matter of popularity.

As intelligent creatures, we have the brain power to do better, and never before have we had the technological prowess to make it happen. Certainly we have our own problems to solve, and it may seem more logical to us to start with ourselves first! So, when priorities are laid out, human problems rank primary to the problems of any other creature (unless that other creature happens to be your own loving pet! Starvation, curable disease and malnutrition have persisted in the world as the wealthy threw away millions on feeding, vaccinating and nourishing their pets), because we haven't the means to do all all of the time. Nevertheless, though it may be impossible for the few to protect and provide for all, it is always possible for a few concerned and caring citizens to at least advocate or sponsor the creation of an authority who can.

As a caring, adult human being I find it strange that some uncaring human beings actually occupy professional decision-making occupations! How can an uncaring human being aptly be described as a "professional decision-maker"? How can an animal-killer be called "professional," someone whose very occupation demands CARE and COMPASSION for all? Surely, our ancestors killed, hunted and fished, but they did it to survive! We don’t need to! Yet we still do it. No laws have been passed (yet) disallowing it. Just go buy a gun, walk in the woods, and blow a life away. Who cares? Yes, there are those who argue, "The animals don’t care. They are all killing one another, and they even kill us sometimes. So why should we care about them?” To you I say, "Another’s stupidity is no excuse for your hatred. The simple fact that one living being is dumber than you doesn’t provide you with sufficient grounds for extermination or torment. Consciousness, self-awareness of one’s own being, marks the beginning of all life, and it must be protected.” As a professional decision-maker, you must be committed to Right and Compassion; the two are inextricably connected. Killing other living creatures and consuming them (OH, how disgusting!) is for the non-thinking among us. Perhaps one day that statement shall apply to no one and not just to the "non-thinking.”

Protection. Think "protection.” Think "care.” When you start thinking just those two words, you begin to realize what in the world may be done to make life here more enjoyable ... for all.

 

In the long run, NOTHING is of greater importance or attains higher priority than considerations of Individual Rights. (See paragraph after next.) Nothing, no issue of "fairness," no capital gain or loss, no argument — however popular, emotion-packed or powerfully advocated — can achieve greater significance or value than caring for and protecting the lives of all those who will subsequently become affected by your decisions.

Yes, certainly there are those incidences where survival of an entire society (or an entire species) may demand "sacrifice of the individual," but in such cases we must always do our best at ascertaining that the situation indeed demands such an individual effort: Could not a group share the burden a bit better perhaps? Additionally must we always do our best at ascertaining that sufficient compensation is doled to those individuals who willingly assume (forced into assuming?) such sacrifice, provided of course that the necessary time and resources are available to do so. (Moreover, it has been argued, such "sufficiency” is not attained until the compensation-loss in question actually begins to be perceived as "a desirous tradeoff.”)

Consider wartime or crime-fighting (or some rescue or medical operations). In these scenarios, short-term losses are sometimes sustained so as to achieve greater long-term gains. Similarly, consider employees who engage in dangerous or potentially risky activities for the sole sake of yielding some particular service or product. The long-term gain for society offsets the potential risks involved for the individual employees, but ALWAYS do we attempt to minimize (and sometimes actually eliminate) those risks with the appropriate training and equipment. So, though Individual Rights may not achieve greatest significance generally in the short-term, in the long-term such will always hold true (assuming that things always work out the way we plan [uh-hum!]).

Recognize that, typically, all your memories were created when information reached you from external sources. Even information passed on to us verbally isn't readily recalled unless we can actually relate to some physical experience(s) suggested by the verbal information. Otherwise, the verbal information remains in our minds as some arcane or imaginary concept. (As a child , did someone tell you that still water "disappears” over time? Remember what happened when you actually observed a physical occurrence? It subsequently made more sense and became accepted as obvious fact.) Humans learn best with tangible experience.

For this reason, caring for others falters when "the other" is a total stranger (not necessarily human) whose experiences we cannot relate with, because we aren't able to recall any similar memories that might spur the caring emotion to begin with. (The young artist finds greater support and enthusiasm from adults [or parents] who are themselves artists than from those who have never themselves pursued the inclination.) The only way that might happen is if we were to actively try to imagine possibilities that might initiate our motivation to care. So, try to imagine reasons to care,

• actually experienced by yourself or imaginary,
• however improbable you perceive each to be,

that would spur your caring emotion and set your thinking free. Don't depend on your memories to do that for you. You must learn to allow for every honest possibility before rejecting, despising or accusing, whether you have actually experienced those possibilities yourself or not. Furthermore, note that even if you DO HAVE similar prior experience, will the final outcome always turn out as your memories perhaps lead you into expecting?

Caring for others also improves when we imagine ourselves in the place of others: Imagine your mind behind that other face. Have you ever paused to think what it's like to be a fish in a tank? a bird in a cage? a pet in a house? or an animal in a zoo? They are still conscious, emotion-feeling creatures, regardless of their inherent mental shortcomings. Learn not to confine your thinking to the superficial, external details: IMAGINE the emotions, feelings and fears within. There is nothing wrong with consuming meat. What's wrong is how it is obtained: killing innocent life.

IMAGINE that it could happen (or could have happened) to you, or someone close to you. Recognize that those who are less privileged than yourself are likely bona fide victims of circumstances far, far beyond their individual control. WOW!!! By all universal odds, aren't you lucky that you aren't a turkey!! And you don't care, because it's not you!

Learn to see yourself in others: human and animal. (CAUTION: Instinctive behavior — click here for a word of warning.) Treat them as you would yourself prefer to be treated. What is best for YOU is NOT always what's best in general. (Adam Smith's [1723-1790] "invisible hand" is NOT generally applicable.)⁴ Caring for everyone may be impractical physically, but never emotionally. Though you may not be able to DO everything in the way of helping and caring for others, you should always feel that propensity within you. And that emotion within you will always become apparent in the subsequent outcomes to the decisions you make.

 

At this point it is worthwhile to point out John Winthrop's fixation on Man. The rights of men during Winthrop's era extended well beyond those of women. Only after a long struggle were women finally granted equality under the law. Similar statements hold, of course, for persons of African ancestry, Jews and other peoples around the world. Human history, our ever-continuing human saga, constitutes an ample record of our inherent stupidity and moral ignorance.

Furthermore, we must point out that human tendency to focus on self and care for human life in preference to any other living creature. (Animal Rights were utterly nonexistent in Winthrop's lifetime.) Only today are all of Earth's other living creatures beginning to receive some consideration, care and protection. And why has it taken so long? Merely because they are of low intellect and lack the capacity to speak. Regardless of their low intellect, we must remember that they are still conscious and self-aware. What requisite level of stupidity could possibly sufficiently justify human apathy toward another consciously living creature? How low do you have to go? All conscious life deserves protection.

Thinking is Progress!

Once you realize that humans progress only so long as we take the time to THINK about what we are doing so as to search for a better (best) way, these responses become appreciated for all the effort put into deriving them. Here are some important conclusions to all our efforts for isolating those appropriate mental tools to use for human deciding. To summarize it all in a nutshell, the argumentative logic flows as follows...

Evil and Apathy must NEVER be freely allowed to gain the resources or power to subdue RIGHT. Where an Apathetic and intelligent mind may overpower those who are of lesser in strength, all and the only hope that remains rests solely in a Compassionate Force of equal or greater power annihilating the dominating Apathetic force so as to free/protect the subjugated. But, sadly, my friends, this is precisely where we stand today. Apathy has seized control over all lesser intelligent life on Earth; before our very eyes killing is freely running rampant. All of Earth's lesser intelligent creatures haven't any utter means to themselves shake this tyrannical control and dominion. They may seem content, but only because they do not comprehend! Their only hope rests not only in us saving them from themselves, bound by the manacles of perpetual ignorance, but also in us saving them from us who have chosen to tyrannize, kill and consume them ... and only for convenience. God grants us each free will to choose, and at times we choose poorly ... some of us criminally. Though all the lesser intelligent creatures may be perpetually fettered to poor and cruel decision-making, killing their own and even us at times, why should we not intervene? (Though they haven't the means to know any better, we do! Yet we still choose apathetically!) We have today the compassion, will and power to intervene and thwart cruelty that rests not only in the guise of human criminality but also in the form of blatantly dumb, animal senselessness. And we should do it, because we C-A-R-E.

Food for thought. Get your mental gears going. Think about what "life in general" means. God gave you a brain. Use it wisely.

FYI: The world is changing. The compassionate are demanding more. And the apathetic are getting prosecuted. Maybe next century? Maybe next decade? Eventually animal-killing shall become illegal.

Remain apathetic, or change now and join the rest of us. You decide.

Putting Dead Animals on Dinner Tables Is Disgusting!!

Killing is wrong. Killing is criminal.

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References & Links:

1. Church of The Rain: The Ten Commandments at http://www.TheRain.org/.

2. MDPME: How To Effectively Select the Most Prudent Decisions: A Decision Making Guide.

3. MDPME: Morality in Decision Making.

4. MDPME: Avoiding Mental Error: General & Professional.

5. MDPME: "Animals Are Right!” say Turkey and Chicken.
   Cleverly highlights Animal Rights in an alternating discourse between two fictitious characters, Turkey and Chicken.

6. A Modell of Christian Charity, 1630, by John Winthrop; Massachusetts Historical Society, 1838: http://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html.

7. Early American Literature 1620-1820: John Winthrop, by Francis Murphy, Smith College, in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 3rd edition (1989), 21-32, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York and London.

8. IS VEGETARIANISM A VIRTUE? IS CARNIVORISM A VICE?: http://www.all-creatures.org/hr/hra-isveg.htm.

9. A Practical Guide for Making Decisions, 1980, by Daniel D Wheeler and Irving Lester Janis: Click here for more from these two authors.