CONFESSIONS OF A VEGETARIAN: Seeking Freedom

Vividly, I recall standing in the windowed kitchen where we sat our groceries and drank tea. We took our meals, often in the living room, with community vegetarian potlucks swapping liberation tales, playing music and connecting.

I was not in the kitchen for tea this day, however. I was about to do an insensible act. As I stood before the stove, I reflected on the last few days. Meeting one of the five housemates, grandmother Meridel Le Sueur, was memorable. She was a poet, kind and born into a family of political and social activists. I knew three of her grandchildren. http://www.meridellesueur.org/ Meridel encouraged my piano playing, writing and cheerfulness. I loved her poetry, her interest in youth, and her generous ability to connect.

I remembered the day Jane Fonda sauntered through our kitchen en route to my roommate’s office to discuss new developments. I remembered how interested, curious and helpful my housemates were. I wondered if I’d discover why I was living in San Francisco (what I came to learn). I wondered if I remembered to put away the co-op food picked up late today.

I’m getting ahead of myself.  Desiring to be a writer, and new to the Bay Area, I chanced upon a meeting with Pat Parker, poet and writer. We became friends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Parker Together we found ways to share history, poetry and dreams.

Although independent, I denied my truth when seeking my “herd”. Pat wanted to sit on the dock of the bay and go crabbing.  I obliged her. My best days were when our nets were empty, but not our souls, as we talked and communed. My vegetarian conflict was relentless. How to say “no”, but not make waves? It’s amazing what we do to fit in.

Today my bucket was not empty. And Pat was about to travel. So I took my crab to share with one roommate before the others got home. My attention was on preparation, reflection and making sure I didn’t get pinched. Where were my heart, intelligence and learning? They abandoned me; or I submerged them in favor of pleasing “another”. Painful memories have a way of resurfacing; repeating our mistakes is their calling card. http://consultingforpassion.blogspot.com/2014/07/confessions-of-vegetarian-day-i-heard.html

Deftly and unconsciously I lifted out the crab. As she entered the pot, I was taught a lesson. The crab did not cry out. But her angry eyes glared into mine.

Later, shocked and stunned, I realized she was pregnant. Her angry face never left me. Do animals, birds, and sea creatures feel? What a stupid question. This was my defining moment. Whatever battle I still had to wage, I committed then and there to become a vegetarian.

Sometimes we need to walk through the hot fires of our conditioning and come out the other side, transformed. We need to be patient and loving, for the journey is deep and long to growth and healing.

What is your journey, dear reader, in releasing negative conditioning and embracing conscious living?

THE LADY OR THE TIGER REVISITED

I was inspired in my seventh grade English class by reading The Lady Or The Tiger. That day I decided to become a writer. Not yet the later books, A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, Miles Connolly’s, Mr. Blue, Kazantzakis’s Report to Greco, Joan of Arc or Peter Matthiessen’s Snow Leopard rousing me. We are talking myth by Frank R. Stockton.

 

Not only did my emerging writer self present itself then but also the creative path to be an organizational and leadership consultant. My work: empower clients in envisioning desired futures. It is about clients finding themselves smack dab in destiny and then crafting a new story. (By crafting, I mean an authentic, creative engagement with the world such that unprecedented outcomes prevail.) In short, it’s an innovative conversation, thinking outside the proverbial box, discovering possibilities. It's best fired by passion, yet too often it shows up when the house is on fire, as in the case of our myth.

The Lady or the Tiger is a fascinating old school power story spiked with horrific paradigms still stalking our collective future. It is a story of tragic consequence for those moving outside inflexible class boundaries. It is an excellent myth for innovative leaders setting sail for uncharted worlds. Ending paradigms that destroy life are the riveting new narratives of pioneers and remarkable organizations. These are the leaders born of true leadership development. They are the risk-takers, manifesting outrageous futures.

Our old story involves a King doing as he pleases. It is a storyline ready to erupt into bloodshed. (When will the media lose its fascination with this story?) Our world is locked up in these predictable chronicles. What made The Lady or the Tiger so powerful is its conclusion.

I was dumbfounded when our teacher told us to write an end to the story as our assignment. Craft a new story? Remarkable. Astounding. Outrageous. Awesome. Okay, so who comes out from behind the door? The lady or the tiger? Wow. That newly created story is in now in my hands!

Working with companies as well as animal and philanthropic stewards, I still get hooked by old story lines. Who comes out, the lady or the tiger? My clients present ongoing dramas: lack of shared resources, ladies and tigers, kings and princesses still abound. These lineages are rife with violence. Precisely because the lady or the tiger myth still plagues our worldview, imagine my delight when I recently discovered a new twist in the storyline, likely born of daring leadership.

I am not going to tell you the outcome, but you might want to read “The Lady, the Tiger and the German Shepherd,” showcased in Unlikely Loves by Jennifer S. Holland. It is a story with promise for more arresting sequels. We are on the verge of a tipping point where dog eat dog and power games just might take a back seat to love, possibility and team playing.

Your turn: Who comes out, the lady, the tiger or…?

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

Togier Berge Photographer, photo used with permission

In the eyes of the law, the fox kit was out of place, a weed, expendable. To me, his individual life was precious, his death arbitrary.

                                                                                          Priscilla Stuckey

All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.

                                                                                          Buddha

Fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness represent three key aspects of cultural dysfunction, in organizations and society. They are not just isolated behaviors but powerful strategies that have outlived their usefulness.

                                                                                          Peter Senge and Fred Kofman

     

The first quote broke me when I first read it. It broke me the third and the fourth times too. Broke through my sluggishness. Life expendable? Dylan has it right, “the answer is blowing in the wind.”

In Kissed By a Fox, Priscilla Stuckey writes of our western creation story that shaped a rupture in our understanding of the world. It is the separation story of mind split from body and spirit from matter. Tracking Descartes, Plato, Augustine, Malthus and Hobbes, Pricilla brings to light the western confabulated creation story, producing hosts of paradigms: humans steeped in original badness, (and there is nothing we can do about it); animals as unfeeling mechanistic forces; and the belief that if we cut ourselves from our bodily experience, heaven will redeem us. Well, “basta” on that.

History books and the media sirens are rampant with old embedded views, moldy cheese stories. Even the mice don’t want that cheese. Who Moved My Cheese? What I love about paradigms is that untruth can be released. Poof! Goodbye old world-views. Hello life connection!

“In the Andean story,” Priscilla writes, “humans as well as llamas, potatoes, maize, beans, ancestors, rains, and mountains all keep life running smoothly by loving and allowing themselves to be loved.” West African couple, Sobonfu and Malidoma, says that each child is raised knowing they were born to bring a special gift to the village.  Basil, Francis, Thoreau, Butterfly Hill and The Achuar found radiance in connection with our environment, taking stands to protect and honor Father Sun, Sister Moon and Mother Earth. Unlikely Loves written by Jennifer S. Holland chronicles animals who share love between species as they bear their special gifts.

Jennifer writes of Piper of Oklahoma, a Pit Bull, who was first responder in licking rejected baby goat back to life. “Piper and GP (Goat Puppy) were like Mother and Son after Piper revived the little goat that night.” Posed Paws, a group of pet photographers, posted this jewel of love between the species, http://posedpaws.ca/edmonton-pet-photographer/real-life-fox-and-the-hound-best-friends-will-melt-your-heart/. In 2010, the positive news media reported the story of Buddy the German Shepherd, that went viral. Buddy raced to get the lost Alaskan state trooper after Ben Heinrichs let Buddy out of their burning house. Once found, Buddy raced ahead, leading the trooper to the burning house and his family in need.

Martin Buber also got it right. We exist in relatedness. There is the I-Thou relationship. The Wind’s been blowing into a better creation story all along. Many of us are setting sail. The fox kit, indeed ALL life, is not expendable.

Togier Berge, Photographer, used with permission

CEREMONY

In ceremony the pictures of my heart could be seen without my having to speak much about them, and I sighed with relief at being deeply known.    

                                                                         Kissed By A Fox by Priscilla Stuckey

January 1, 2014 is a gift I still am receiving. A blessing to sit in circle with friends tucked in our respective places of nature, engaged via the modern miracle of media conferencing. As a gift, Andrea tells this year’s story in A New Start. On our call, she said, "We always get a do-over;" I felt a chill. We all get a do-over; none of our best efforts gone awry trashed? We all get do-overs. That is the beauty of January 1. 

I have been in the business of granting others and myself do-overs. But, I was unprepared for my recent do-overs. Ready to ramp up reorganizing my work life, I was halted. Move in a new direction something deep inside urged. Friends and mentors told me to write poetry and stories. I told them that my life is serious; I have obligations. Writing needs to wait. Not so said the poems and stories that flooded in. In my holiday blog, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE BREATH, I did write of my trip to Sacred Camel Gardens. It was interlude.

That is what my life begged for, more interludes. What is an interlude? "A short piece inserted between the parts of a longer composition." 

I had been in the practice of giving forth my best contribution in answer to needs requesting to be met. Somewhere in the middle of a sentence, a hand was placed over my mouth and that practice curtained. 'Receive more give less,' was the message. Huh, I thought I was both receiver and giver. Not so was the reflection back. 

New Year's Day, a wealth of gifts, all unexpected pours in. My neighbor’s best Vegetarian Pazole. My niece and nephew and families present additional holiday gifts. Home late, I discover a gluten free brownie hanging like an ornament on my door handle. A host of fire logs on my back porch just because she told me. Add to this being whisked off the following day by another friend to our favorite Indian restaurant gifted more with Tibetan incense, to start the New Year off right. My heart is full from New Year Day Ceremony and the accompanying cornucopia.

This magnificent interlude: gifts prancing in from all fronts, a compelling break from old life, in the midst of its vast do-over, is this bridge to 2014. I said, "yes" to these gifts like the little Shih Tzu, who stayed with me recently, shyly creeping down the hallway when invited in for a cuddle. It’s like that you know; receiving is delicate business. It is an unbridling interlude to new life.

That is how my new year is progressing. How about yours? I don't know what 2014 holds. It is clear it is secured and full of abundance.