After the birth of his son, Tod asks Dr. Totton how he can get back into good Taoist habits. Later, a listener has some intriguing questions about how to handle disagreements and veganism.
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Hello,
I just started listening to your show and have been really enjoying it so far. All of Dr. Totten’s words, explanations and advice really seem to come from a place of wisdom rather than just knowledge. But after this episode, I seriously question his wisdom after all.
I have to say that I was really taken aback at his comments on veganism. Everything he has said up to this point has been about self-improvement and working toward creating a better environment for ourselves and others. But his excusing the practice of eating meat was really quite shocking. I can only assume now that he is a meat-eater and has (like so many others) found a way of justifying the practice to himself. Killing = suffering and the excuse that “plants have feelings too” is shockingly ignorant and misleading. Plants do not have sentient consciousness in the same way that animals do. There are 1000s of scientists who have vouched for animal sentience but not one reputed scientist has published any peer reviewed work that establishes plant sentience. Plants don’t form attachments to others and grieve when they lose a loved one as animals do. If we are to take Dr. Totten’s excuse that all things suffer and die anyways, then we can very easily justify any type of behavior including murder, cannibalism, torture, etc…. Animal agriculture is NOT a “natural process” of of dying as he suggests but is rather a systematic and large-scale Holocaust being carried out because of our disregard for the sanctity of life and, more to the point, our selfish desire to have a “tasty morsel” regardless of the suffering that that that small bite might bring.
Shouldn’t we (as Dr. Totten suggests) always be striving towards self-improvement, awareness, and higher states of consciousness?
Not only is animal agriculture unsustainable on just about every level (environmental, economic, health, etc…) it creates massive amounts of unnecessary suffering and negative energy. The only excuse for not being a vegan/vegetarian these days is pure selfishness (at worst) or pure ignorance (at best). And for someone like Dr. Totten to excuse this behavior within his own practice, this is selfishness and/or ignorance of the highest order.
Dr. Totten suggests in earlier podcasts that we should review a persons actions rather than their words. If, indeed, Dr. Totten is not vegetarian/vegan (or at least actively moving in that direction) then I find it hard to take him seriously as a “teacher”. How can he tout “harmonious living” when he is partaking in the creation of so much un-necessary suffering? Geeze, man…. if you want a burger so badly, there are plenty of vegetarian options out there. The same goes for bacon (I’m talking to you here Tod),…or fish…or chicken…or turkey…or liver…or shrimp…or sushi…. or hotdogs….or pork… ( I could go on). There is a vegan/vegetarian alternative for literally EVERY animal-based product you can imagine.
Dr. Totten suggests that “much later” we will likely evolve to higher level beings that will be able to live off of energy alone. But aren’t we, as individuals, active participants in our own evolution? Isn’t evolution a process? Can we get there by skipping some steps? Are we supposed to just do what we want, regardless of the suffering it may cause, because sometime, in the unforeseeable future we will be higher level beings? Sorry, but that is a cop-out. We live here NOW and it is up to us to improve and raise out consciousness to to improve the world for ourselves and those around us NOW, not just sitting on our hands waiting for the 2nd coming.