Be a child!

Do you remember being a child?

Children are the closest things to heaven that we have here on earth. They are pure, innocent, loving, trusting, and full of promise. Before they are exposed to the hate of the world, children know nothing of what the so-called adults are constantly fighting for and about. They love for the sake of loving, and have no malice whatsoever. I know this because I see it in children, and because I was a child too. I remember what it was like to be a child...I remember when everything was brand new, seeing everything for the first time, and being amazed by the world!

I remember a poppy field that stretched forever into the horizon, the orange-red splashing across the clear blue sky. I remember being there, looking at the sky and the poppies as far as the eyes could see...and I was overwhelmed with love for life and everything around me. I didn't know the word then, but I must have thought for sure: WOW!

How else can I remember everything with such clarity and joy? The sight of poppies make me smile, regardless of how I feel. Whenever I see a poppy, I am transported back in time...to the poppy field where I played as a child; to a time when I didn't know about hate and fear.

Yes, I remember being a child, and I remember all the love that was given to me from all around: from people, animals and nature. I remember feeding chickens in a yard, and playing with them - they were my friends! When I realized that the chickens that people eat are just like the ones that I played with, I couldn't believe it. How can it be? How can you eat your friends? I was appalled!

As a child, I was very subjective. I thought that everyone thought and felt the same way I did. If chickens were my friends, then naturally they were everybody else's friends too. I thought that obviously people didn't realize what they were doing, and that's why they did it. It was a shock to find out that of course, they all knew what chicken was...they just didn't think of chickens the way I did.

It appears that people believe that they have a right to kill and eat anything - just because they feel like it. From my point of view that's a great form of abuse, to say the least - but in this world, abuse appears to be the norm, making me the strange one for thinking the way I do. After all, people are far superior to all other forms of life, right? Of course - what other form of life has the capacity to create cities, industries, bombs? Certainly not the cows or trees.

So of course, being people, we have the right to kill to feed ourselves.

The logic of this concept both escapes and intrigues me.

For example, if you are what you eat and you eat death - does that make you alive? What does being alive mean? It means more than just being here now.

Another thing that amazes me about a society that is always trying to avoid the middleman is that they would actually insert one in the food chain. 

Think about it! You say you get strength from the protein of a dead cow...but where did the cow get her strength while she was alive? Did she eat dead flesh too? NO! Her strength came from a life form that regenerates itself...the vegetable kingdom. Actually, it's well known by now that MAD COW DISEASE started when cows were fed road kill. By going against nature out of greed, a worldwide epidemic was stared in which hundreds of people died, and millions of animals had to be destroyed.

Remember, when you take from the vegetable kingdom, you don't kill anything. You help it grow, and it helps you grow. But when you take from the animal kingdom, you kill the animal - forever - and it kills you too, eventually. It kills the love of life in you. What love can you have for life if it's so disposable? If the suffering of any living being means nothing to you - are you really alive?

On an emotional level, well, that's something else altogether.

We all know that when we are extremely agitated, certain hormones are automatically released by our bodies into our entire system. This explains the stories you've heard of incredible heroic acts, such as a mother lifting a car to free her child that was pinned under it. How does a 100-pound woman lift a 4000-pound car? An adrenaline rush - the hormone is automatically released into the body in response to the emotion, giving you the strength to achieve miracles!

In the same way that the body automatically releases adrenaline when needed, it also releases other substances through the system when triggered by particular emotions. It's well known, for instance, that extreme anger releases a certain chemical in the body that causes gallstones. Other powerful emotions release other powerful poisons into our system. Experts have written about this in sufficient books over the years.

The same thing happens to animals. When they are feeling extreme emotions, such as being the next in line to undergo a painful execution in the slaughterhouse, they automatically release all kinds of toxins into their system that are absorbed by all the organs. 

In other words, the healthy steak that you eat, that supposedly gives you life, is actually poisoning you - because it is poison. It absorbed and contains all the anger, pain, fear, hopelessness, agony - all the desperate emotions that the animal was feeling as she was dying - and that cause a myriad of diseases.

And you are putting it into your body.

The amazing thing is that the animal is not responsible for poisoning you. She doesn't mean to kill you, even though you mean to kill her. She didn't release these poisons in her system as a way of getting back at you. No, it happens automatically, just like with people. Imagine being faced with certain painful death: do you think you could control the release of hormones in your body?

If people would actually think about this, would they go on doing it? Would children, those innocent little love-filled creatures really enjoy eating a "happy meal", if they knew the horror story behind it?

I'm not suggesting that we shock and horrify children with stories of how animals are tortured and killed. That's too cruel, especially to a child who really loves animals. The images would make grown ups cry - imagine what it would do to a tender child. What I am suggesting is that we become human, and humane. That we realize what we are doing to ourselves and to our world. That we look at life with the love and innocence of a child.

Now, before you think that I am a radical nut, out to destroy the livelihood of millions of people in the food industry, please take a moment and think about it.

We are now exploring life on Mars. Why? Why bother going to other planets, if we can't live in peace on earth? What are we looking for out there? Are we looking for more things to destroy?

Many say that man is looking for meaning by exploring the universe, by boldly going where no one has gone before. We are spending gazillions of dollars to discover what makes us tick. You know what, there's an easier way. If you want to go where no one has gone before, go take a look at an even more virgin territory: the human heart.

The human heart is very strange territory indeed. It has such strange characteristics and is so complex, that maybe that's why we are afraid to explore it. Maybe we think that going to Mars is easier than going inside ourselves. Maybe we're right.

Because the truth is that if we studied the human heart, we would really be amazed! If we would choose to put the emphasis on learning about the power of love, how it works and what it can do, then life would be totally different. Totally.

Imagine what the world would be like if the first thing you learn in the school of life is to appreciate the gift of life. You are here, now. Do you know how lucky you are? You are on a beautiful planet, and this planet has a beautiful sky, sun, air, oceans, lush vegetation, mountains, beaches, rainbows...

And there are people, yes lots of people to exchange ideas with, to do things with, to love and be loved by, to share this beautiful experience with.

There are animals...all kinds of different, exotic, furry, friendly, loving, splendid, strong, sweet, strange, colorful creatures! Some of them will even live with you if you both choose to, imagine that!

There are flowers of different gorgeous colors and varieties, so many of them, even in the places where you least expect them. There they are, smiling at the sun!

There are stars to gaze at and the moon to contemplate in her many phases and moods, and a million other beautiful things to fascinate you, if you wish to be fascinated.

And everything is there, just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed by you! That's how lucky you are!

Now, you see all of this and you wonder - why am I here? The answer is simple: to enjoy it! But what do we do? We make happy meals out of the animals, we crush flowers to make perfume, we cut down millions of trees, we make garbage bins out of the oceans and we suffocate the air with toxins and waste. Hum, that's some way of appreciating the gift of life!

We point to each other and designate each other as the enemy, as the ruler or the slave of this wonderful world that we are all a part of - that belongs to everyone equally. We put on suits and ties, and from behind large mahogany desks, we put borders around our countries - to keep "them" out and "us" in. We make silly laws, belief systems and rules that are designed to keep people in the dark and in fear of the invisible enemy. We create cages for ourselves of various kinds, and we shut ourselves in, because the bad guys are everywhere, right? Isn't that what they say in the news every night? Yes, everyone is out to get us, so we have to protect ourselves. So we protect ourselves by building weapons that would destroy the whole planet in a matter of minutes - and we call ourselves "intelligent"!

The most amazing part of all this is that we call ourselves children of God! Imagine the nerve! Some actually think that we are justified in doing all of this, by the authority of God! There has been so much bloodshed in the name of God - no wonder God is getting such a bad name. We do horrible things to each other and to our world - with our own free will - and then we blame God for not stopping our bloody rampage! When we are in difficult times, we pray and beg and plead, and we insult our Maker by asking Him to prove Himself to us in order for us to have faith. What more proof do we need to believe in something bigger than ourselves? Did we create this planet? Did we create the universe?

We didn't create it, but we are destroying it - with our own free will. If we used that same energy in a positive way, we wouldn't need jets and spaceships. We could transport ourselves wherever and whenever we wanted with the powerful force of love. "Miracles such as I have done you can do too, and more" Jesus said that - would he lie?

The thing is that Jesus did all those miracles - because he used the most powerful force in the universe: LOVE. His essential teachings can be summed up in the golden rule: love one another as I love you (without measure). That is the secret, which is really no secret since he spoke it plainly. So, regardless of what you think or what anyone told you - if you do what Jesus taught, you will perform miracles. He didn't come here to glorify himself. He came here to tell us the good news: that we are more than what we see - that each and every one of us has powers beyond our limited imagination. And that we can access those powers by loving without measure. Just as he did - we can do too, and more!

But look at Jesus! He loved everybody, even those who killed him. His dying words were,  “Father, forgive them”, because he already had. Not once did he say an eye for an eye. He said, turn the other cheek. Does that mean kill me again? No, it means, I understand that you may not understand, and I want to help you understand, because when you do, you'll stop killing yourself too.

Over and over, Jesus said that love was the answer. While those who asked were expecting him to judge and condemn, he taught to forgive and to love even more. He taught that light always wins over darkness. And he told us to be the light in the world.

How did he learn to love so much? What did he know about love that is obviously escaping us? How did he learn about the mysteries and the power of love? That is what we should try to learn and explore. Not as a hobby, but as a full-time occupation. Not out of curiosity, selfishness or self-importance, but as a way of living. Because then, just as he said, we will be like him, and we too will do as he did.

When we return to being as little children before they are exposed to the hate of the world, we will see the real purpose of our being here. 

And that is to be, as Jesus said, "gods".  

Wishing only well,  

Carmen Colombo

June 1997
WOW Zone