In this episode, Dr. Katz (vegan) from “In Defense of Animals” begins the panel discussion on the sacredness of all life by exploring the morals and ethics of how we treat and view animal-people. He is followed by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s response to his question about how to shift the paradigm so people realize we share this world as co-inhabitants with many animal friends.
(Dr. Katz, could you please share with us your thoughts on how compassionate living drives your own life’s purpose?)
Dr. Katz: Alright. If I could start off, I’d like to read two or three statements from people whose genius sensitivity have motivated me and whose footsteps I’ve tried to follow and for my organization, that’s the driving force for In Defense of Animals.
The first one is a statement by Saint Francis of Assisi, it’s: “Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission to be of service to them wherever they require it.”
The second one is by George Bernard Shaw: “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them, that’s the essence of inhumanity.” Another genius – this statement tends to get hidden from the public. There have been art shows around the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. His artwork is fantastic, thinking futuristically of things he’s created. He stated, “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” (That’s right.)
And the statement that brings it full circle is a statement by Albert Einstein, who makes it all seem so very relative: “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” And that’s the statement that ties together now the concern for the well-being of the planet, as well as the well-being of the species that inhabit it – us, the human species, being part of a web of life.
And the statement that I’ll finish with, by Émile Zola, and he states, “The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous.”
And that’s the reason I’m here today –to take that chance. Several years ago, our organization… This is our 25th year for In Defense of Animals since I founded it. My background is as a veterinarian, so I’ve ministered, cared for, and done everything to save lives of animals all my adult life. And the organization has been successful, very successful. We’ve got some ground-breaking victories. But several years ago, I realized that I was only spinning my wheels or doing band-aid cures to stop cruelty and so forth. That unless the paradigm changed – the way we perceive, as a species, other species – that it’s time that we stopped seeing them as resources, seeing them as just commodities, objects, property, things. And as long as that is the main paradigm, that we will always continue to exploit them and harm them and abuse them, and not think in terms of them as compassion.
And the question was raised before, why doesn’t religion do more? Religion, to a great extent, has been the major factor why animals are considered down here and we are considered way up there. And that’s because religions, many of them don’t believe that animals have souls and we have souls, and therefore, why should we care about these beings that have no souls? And that goes back to the days of Thomas Aquinas and so forth in Western society, to looking at that and saying, “Why care?”
The man who came up with what goes on in laboratories – vivisection – Descartes, in his day, they tortured animals, experimenting on them because they believed that the screaming of a dog was no different than the ticking of a clock – that that animal was simply a mechanical being. No soul, no sensitivity, no intelligence.
Well, we’ve learned differently over the years, thanks to people like Jane Goodall. But these are the factors that keep the major separation, and this goes on. So several years back, I started a campaign to change the concept and the paradigm and started promoting the use of the term “guardian.” So for people who have animal companions – probably maybe some of you heard already –do your best never to think of yourself as the owner of your animal companion, but as their guardian, their protector.
And Mayor Prang of West Hollywood, several years back they were about the 3rd or 4th city in the United States that changed the term “owner” in their ordinance to the term “guardian.” And other cities include St. Louis, Missouri; Bloomington, Indiana; San Jose, San Francisco; Woodstock, New York; Amherst, Massachusetts; State of Rhode Island. We’re hoping soon to have Beverly Hills to have it happen; we’re working on that. So, this is critically important – action follows language. Concepts – what one does [follows] the way one thinks. So, as long as people like ourselves don’t take the lead and don’t think of animals as more than resources, property, commodity and things, we will just be spinning our wheels. (Yes.)
The other word and the other part of the language is the word “animal.” We are human beings, everything else alive is animals for the most part. So what’s this giant divide of objectifying every other species on this planet into this one big thing called “animals”? And whenever “animals” are used for us our species, it’s because somebody raped somebody, because somebody’s killed his “animal.” So this is something that I haven’t worked on too much because I’ve been doing the guardian thing, but I’m just planting the seed.
I would like to say that because of this climate catastrophe, it has brought together people. Up until now, there has been a good giant divide between animal protection and animal rights and environmentalists and a concern for the environment. And now because of this, this audience is made up perhaps of people who haven’t given that much thought to the suffering of animals. Maybe a little bit, but really haven’t put their minds into what goes on in the factory farms and the millions of animals that are killed in the most hideous ways – as a veterinarian, I’ve witnessed it – or who were raised in the most hideous ways.
But now because our Earth is involved, we have another “stake” in it – spelled the other way – and so on some levels I’m pleased that this is bringing this together. I have a question to ask You. And that is: Your thoughts on how to change the paradigm, to get people to realize that we are but one species among many, and to give much more consideration to the other species that we share the planet with. Thank You.
Master: Thank you, sir. You see, you have very good suggestions through your question, that we should really change the attitude toward our animal(-people) co-inhabitants. This will take a little time and a lot of public informing activities, in order to change everyone’s attitude. Every one of us can contribute our part, whatever way we can to change the public opinions. I wrote three books: “The Dogs in My Life,” “The Birds in My Life,” and “The Noble Wilds” – in the hope that I can give as much information as possible to as many readers as possible, so that they understand and accept the fact that our magical animal(-people) kingdom has a lot to offer and has a lot in common with us. In fact, some of them are more endowed than us humans. And I have suggested to use the word, “our co-inhabitants” in the Supreme Master TV, in referring to our co-inhabitants – the animal(-people). And some people already use “caretakers,” “a guardian,” “a human companion,” etc., etc., instead of “pet owners.” It’s a good sign, and I hope this trend will be more common in the future.
But even if they say, “OK, I am the owner of the dog(-person).” It’s just a term to refer to his companion. But if he treats the dog(-people) well, humanely, compassionately and lovely, then it doesn’t matter, we also don’t mind. As long as people’s mentality has to change, they have to look upon our animal(-people) co-inhabitants with all due respect and understanding. The best would be that they can communicate with the animal(-people). But you see, at least if we have domestic animal(-people), we should love and respect them as family members and give them names and comforts, the way we would like to be treated. My books are also to let people know that we can really communicate with the animal(-people) just like the way we can communicate with our family members or friends.
Therefore, I even suggest, with the Supreme Master Television, to list all the animal(-people) psychics, the animal(-people) communicators on the television website and the television screen. People can refer to it and really can test it out. They can call any of these animal(-people) communicators or psychics and talk to them about their animal(-people)’s feelings and wants and habits. You can test them even. Suppose these animal(-people) psychics never know where you live and never know what your dog(-people) look like even. You just give them the name of your dog(-person), and then the animal(-people) communicators, or you call it psychics, can immediately tell you the intimate details about your dog(-person). Then you know that he really knows.
And then you can ask them further questions about what your dog(-people) want and is there any question from the dog(-person)’s part or anything that the dog(-people) request from the so-called “owner,” the companion – the human caretaker. So nowadays, there’s no excuse anymore to treat animal(-people) the way the majority of us used to do. So, it is good that we have a television, and good that we list all these communicators, and it’s a little good of me to write these books to inform people about what I know about animal(-people) through my communication and interaction with them, internally as well as externally.
I think everybody should begin to realize that animal(-people) really have souls, and they’re just like us. They’re just like us; they’re just in different shapes. Different shapes, just like different flowers – some are big, some are small flowers – they’re all flowers. And living beings – some are big, some small, some have two legs, some two wings – they’re all living beings, like us. Thank you, sir, for bringing this up and giving me a chance to explain a little. God bless you. (Thank You.)
(I had the great pleasure of reading Supreme Master’s books about animals and they really are beautiful and spiritual, and they’re international bestsellers, which is always a good thing, because She again is spreading the word about the relationship between people and animals around the world. And of course, this is really all about evolution – when we become incapable of killing a pig or killing a dog, essentially, we’re going to be incapable of murdering each other and waging war.) That’s right.
(So how do we evolve to that next level?) Alright, love. Well, we just have to do it one step at a time. Actually, global warming is a tragedy, but in a way, it has a little positive effect, in that people are united together to fight global warming, that’s number one. And number two, people are getting more awareness about our co-inhabitants and how we should treat them. So I think that’s already half of the next level, Jane? (Absolutely.) And the next, we will go further and further, as we work along.
Photo Caption: “Some Wither as Time Passes Some Grow as Time Renews”
