Am I an atheist? Or an Agnostic? Definitely not. I not only believe in, but I feel the Divine Presence in my daily contentment and euphoria and in the occasional ecstatic state. My ideal diet is vegan and organic.

   And I feel that Faith as it is taught to many people is taught in a false way.  Faith alone should not be seen as the basis of one's religious experience.  Good works towards humans and towards other creatures, works which alleviate sorrow and pain, are the basis of religious experience.  When one acts correctly towards both other humans and other creatures because one sees one's self as a equal member of creation, one naturally feels good. The carnivore, however, or even the vegetarian who eats junk food or has bad attitudes, necessarily has periods of depression, anxiety, and despair.

    I have said that the haunted house is a usable metaphor for the carnivore or those eating animal foods such as dairy products and eggs. So to is the demonic temple, constructed by eating the corpses of bloodily murdered animals and the food of oppression, of chickens or cows who have been enslaved.  However, I do not thereby justify the building of houses or temples, unless it is done on rock, or on surfaces wherein there are no creatures who will be oppressed, displaced or killed, and if the materials used do not come from having oppressed or killed other beings.
 
 

   If we put into our bodies the corpses of animals who have been enslaved behind fences, prodded into chutes, painfully branded, separated from their families, bludgeoned, cut in half, decapitated, strangled, suffocated, placed in cages in factory farms, we are bound to feel bad. As we sew, we reap. If we cause pain, we feel pain. If we cause depression, we feel depression. If we cause despair, we feel despair.  Regard all anxiety, depression, or despair as feelings you deserve. That is the way things are in the universe. Do not grab Faith as a crutch and say that you are living the correct life and need to wade through the times of depression and despair. This is where False Faith enters in. Instead of accepting our bad feelings as Divine Judgment on our bad actions, we accept our violent habits, such as carnivorism, or eating animal foods that come from exploitation, or eating junk foods, as natural. When we do so, we continue to live incorrectly.

   And we are not given real guidance by the scriptures unless we choose to test every single line of scripture, unless we personally choose to discern morally what is correct and what is incorrect in every scripture. Since we are told by the majority of scriptures in the Torah, the Gospels, and the Koran, all of which are obviously rewritten versions of the original scriptures, that Yahweh, God the Father, Allah, sanctions the oppression and killing of other beings, we should, if we do have moral discernment, discard these scriptures as false, as obvious inventions or lies for profit. An all compassionate Deity by definition does not make laws to the detriment of any of its creatures. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch makes it quite clear that Deity desires no bloodshed of any kind, and no alteration of creation.  Humans are not to attempt to improve on Deity's creation.  They are to accept it as it is, and not mine the earth, make weapons, building buildings, etc.
 
 

   And for all those orthodox Jews, Christians, and Sunni Muslims who hold Genesis 9: 2-3 to be valid scriptures, there is a tremendous irony to be seen.  For those who treat other creatures so that those creatures will fear terror and dread, are bound to feel terror and dread themselves. That is the Divine Law.

"The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky--everything with which the earth is astir--and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these." Genesis 9: 2-3
 
 

The Institution of Psychiatry is Speciesist, Human-Centered,
not Creation-Centered, and is therefore of little or no help in solving problems dealing with our relationship with other creatures.

    Therefore, the relationship of the industrialist to other creatures is ignored.  The industrialist's job may be to cut down huge sections of forests, whether rain forests or not, wherein literally millions of other beings live, including insects, small animals, and birds. "The harrowing of hell" was a term that existed in early editions of A Handbook to Literature byThrall and Hibbard, and referred to the experience of harrowing or plowing, which is truly a demonic experience for all the small creatures and insects who live in the ground that is being harrowed or plowed. Therefore the Book of Enoch speaks of "righteous tilling" which refers to methods of growing vegetation, without oppressing, displacing, or killing the creatures who live there. Industrialists who plow millions of acres of farmland, and spray them with toxic insecticides, killing millions of small creatures; miners digging into the earth and displacing and killing millions creatures--these are not seen as a problem by psychiatrists. And those psychiatrists who have a religious affiliation with Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, will quickly point to Genesis 1: 26-28 and Genesis 9: 2-3 as justifications for industry: we are, they will say, sanctined by God to subdue other creatures, to have dominion over them, even to kill and eat them.

    Today one of the great ironies is that even true science shows that these scriptures are false, for like it or not, medical researchers from Cancer, Lung, and Diabetes Foundations all describe the unhealthy effects of cholesterol.  For those of you who are new to vegetarianism or the vegan diet, simply search for vegetarianism, or vegan on the web and you will immediately have access to literally thousands of parties who have excellent information at their disposal regarding the unhealthy effects of a flesh-based diet.
 
 

    The problem with the concept of Faith as preached by many Christian T.V. Evangelists is that, instead of asserting that we feel these negative feelings because Deity is just, they preach that humanity naturally feels these feelings, that humans are justified in subduing other creatures and having dominion over them, killing them and eating them, and that one is to have faith in the false portrayal of Jesus of the New Testament who says all foods are clean.  In so doing the T.V. Evangelists, turning their own words on them, are "doing the devil's work."  For instead of acknowledging that we feel anxiety, depression and despair because we have gone astray from the straight path, they affirm that we should have faith during these times of emotional turmoil.  And they stay away from stating that all human feelings are just, and from acknowledging that "by their fruits you shall know them."  For if the fruits of our actions are bad feelings, depression and despair, then it is only too obvious that we must change our evil ways.

    However, the syndrome taught in the New Testament, especially the Pauline epistles, is this: to accept our bad feelings as natural, and not as Divine Judgment, and to accept the authorities of the Church and State as Divinely instituted as well.  This is the perfect scheme for a system of control, for obedience to false church doctrine, and for wage slavery, which is, of course, the condition of the masses, and of all those who work under the rich.
 
 

    The carnivore's body is an unseen grave, said Jesus.  When our bodily temple is constructed of and occupied by the corpses of oppressed and murdered animals, it is obviously not dedicated to an all-compassionate Deity, but to the opposite, to evil and to the demonic.  Our bodily temples become haunted houses.  Our cholesterol-related diseases, and our anxiety, depression and despair are not at all mysterious.  They are karma.  And vegetarianism and compassion therefore become a form of exorcism.

   I feel, as do Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, as well as some of those true remnants of Jews, Christians and Muslims, that we are reborn again and again until we face our negative impulses honestly and deal with them correctly.

    I believe that the Divine, the Force, Destiny, Providence--the Power is known by many names--wants us to care for and respect creation as It does, not just the animals, but the plants and water, and air, everything that is.  I feel that vegetarianism and egalitarianism are necessary corollaries of that Power, which is described by many as Divine Love. If we eat animals, we're supporting brutality to them beforehand, for they've got to be slaughtered before we can eat them.  Or, if we enslave animals, or in any way oppress, displace, or coerce them, as we do with cows for their dairy products, or chickens for their eggs, we are not being compassionate to these animals.  And, if, like the rich, we treat other humans as anything less than equals, then we too fail to follow the all-loving nature of the Divine.

  The notion that humans have the right to subdue other creatures and have dominion over them is itself a prime demonstration of Fallen Humanity, a Fallen Mentality. It means we are supporting a non-harmonious state for other creatures.

   And I feel and believe, in common with many Jains, that what we call the Divine far transcends the short-sighted views of personality that many of us have been conditioned to have about Deity. I feel that the argument between whether Deity is Personal or Impersonal is, for the most part, a useless or fruitless argument, because those whom I respect who assert that Deity is Impersonal, such as some Jain and Buddhist teachers, nonetheless also assert a belief in reincarnation, which means there is an immortal soul, and that there is a Providence, or Power that compassionately oversees all the learning processes of all the beings in creation.  Therefore, they assert that we are immortal and that the Divine Force oversees our actions, so what does it matter that those representing the Impersonal say that no human representation of Deity is adequate?  Really, virtually all who are conscious of Deity believe that anyway.  Generally speaking, the assertion that Deity is Impersonal is more an attempt to see the Divine as being beyond human comprehension, and to see all human personalities as teachers or messengers of the Divine, and not as actual full-blown Deities themselves, or incarnations of Deity. To regard any human messenger as Divine is perverse and nonsensical, a state of mind to which the eating of corpses contributes.  In this respect the fundamentalist and orthodox Christians are in great error. The divinity of Jesus was just one of the many distortions of Jesus' message that is brought forth in the New Testament. Numerous scholars have pointed out Constantine's logic in accepting the deification of the Jesus constructed by the bishops he did not send into exile. For if the words of a divine Jesus can be interpreted to sanction slavery, economic elitism, sexism and the disease promoting diet of carnivorism, which was profitable to the Jewish cattle ranchers as well as to the Romans who taxed their profits, then the ideological battle was won.
 
 

  Test the spirit.  Associate with those who preach compassion toward all
creatures, with Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, with vegetarian Shia Muslims, pure remnant Maya following the vegetarianism of Quetzalcoatl, with pure remnant aboriginal groups, or with non-affiliated groups that have a pure diet and wish the best for all creatures.  Fast when the spirit moves you and abstain from foods involving cruelty, i.e. animal foods, and be mentally receptive to, and meditate on, the alleviation of suffering for other creatures that such abstaining involves. In other words, contemplate the fact that if you abstain from flesh foods other animals will not be brutally killed by bludgeoning, by being cut in half while alive, by suffocation, by strangulation, etc.  This is what I did when I changed in Big Sur in 1971.  It was very hard for me to admit that my carnivorism was causing pain and death to other creatures, because I had been taught to accept the notion as correct for over thirty years.  So, if you're feeling pain or guilt during this process, own the pain and guilt, accept the fact that you are responsible for these feelings, and pray for help and guidance to go on to a life that is pure in diet and action.

    Go to the wilderness, like the Essenes, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, like Jain and Hindu and Buddhist renunciates, and, like renunciates from every religious culture, go away from the city whose structures are the burial stones and memorials of slaughtered and oppressed creatures who once lived there.  Regard all beings, including, of course, humans, as deserving your total compassion.  Do this as consistently as you can, and, if your experiences are similar to mine, in the process of eliminating your negative thoughts and eliminating the cholesterol, the corpse remnants, and animal food remnants from your body, you will literally exorcise yourself of evil, you will feel alleviated, and you will be spoken to by new and purified feelings and concepts.  You will literally be rebirthing your self.

   Entertain the obvious and meditate on the obvious: that a Deity of infinite love and compassion is, literally, that, and extends its love to all beings, including those whom you are currently paying someone to slaughter so that you can eat its corpse's remnants; including those cruelly imprisoned so you can eat dairy and eggs. Be vegan, eat no animal foods. Be organic. Don't support the pesticide and herbicide industries that not only kill countless creatures but contaminate the food you eat.  Don't eat genetically modified food.  It is the result of the worst type of hubris demonstrated by Fallen Humanity, the notion that humans can "improve on creation." If possible, eat food that has not come from unrighteous tilling of the soil. Experiment with staying away from the food of cruelty, and meditate on what contributing to cruelty says about you.  Realize that you, like all the rest of us, are not perfect and need to change.  Only the supreme egotist believes he or she is perfect already.  You certainly have nothing good to lose and much good to gain by trying this way.
 
 

    Combining meditation, positive thinking (wishing all creatures well) and abstention from animal foods with Shamanic practices in the wilderness I have literally experienced ecstasy and, for periods of time, that deep oneness with the Divine we all seek.  Compassion works.  Remember that we are not only what we eat and think, but we are where we are as well.  Remember that the wilderness is a far purer environment that any city can ever be. Clean air with pure negative ions (which are positive in their effect on humans and othere creatures) pervade nature. When we place ourselves in nature's purity, away from the polluted atmosphere of cities, we have already begun the process of healing.

   As far as Shamanic experiences are concerned, be aware that even the Shamans of carnivorous cultures, most of them, recommend that one abstain from all fat before ingesting psychoactive herbs.  Included under the definition of fat are all animal foods.  Purity of diet and purity of mind are essential to a valid Shamanic experience.
Shamanic experiences taken unwisely, hastily, without preparation, without humbly acknowledging one's submission to Divinity, and without wishing well for all beings, for all creation, are not only less likely to be fruitful, but even possibly dangerous, especially for immature people of any age who wish to feel the oneness of Divinity and Creation while taking the herbal sacrament, but in their daily lives do not see Deity as pervading all creatures.  It is only an immature mind that regards psychoactive plants whimsically.  They are to be regarded with utmost sacredness.
The usage of cocaine and heroine in cities only minimally interfaces with Shamanism, and should not be regarded as true Shamanic experiences, but instead, in most cases, as a distortion of them.  Not only does the making of most cocaine involve polluting the environment, but the motives of those involved are not generally to alleviate the suffering of creation, but instead to gain profit.

   In no way, however, do I support the evil Drug War, which is just one more war against aboriginal people, since psychoactive plants are part of their culture throughout the world.

    The source of one's psychoactive plant sacrament is also to be considered.  If it comes from an impure or questionable source, pray over it and ask for guidance as to whether you should use it.

   Understand that Vision Quests and Shamanic Experiences are not the same as using the plants for Recreational purposes, except in the purest sense of the word Recreational, which means we are literally trying to re-create ourselves into a being who is more loving, more humble, and, generally speaking, more actively involved in attempting to recreate the earth itself into a place where no beings are oppressed.

   If the vision quest genuinely leads us temporarily to an ascetic life, divorced from involvement with others, so be it.  Periodic separation from human society is absolutely essential for all truly spiritual personalities.  When we are in nature, away from the city, we are less apt to be affected by the negative vibrations of civilization. And it is more easy to meditate.  The withdrawal and return rhythm observed by Arnold Toynbee of great religious figures in history is valid.  All the buildings and streets and monuments of cities are the gravestones of creatures who once lived there, who were killed, abused, and displaced, so humans could have their way.  While parts of the Torah, New Testament and Quran do condemn cities and industrial civilization, most of their scriptures do not.  Yet all three works were composed by people who were aware of the teachings of Noah and Enoch in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. Both of them condemned all bloodshed, and all tampering with creation whatsoever, such as mining, making weaponry, or using cosmetics.

    On one level, meditation can be seen as debriefing in the purest sense of the term.  We do not hang onto any mental concepts which come into our minds.  We make ourselves receptive to what Is, not to "thoughts" about what is.  The experience of Divine Reality is quite separate from all the concepts we have learned about Divinity.  That is why meditation teachers constantly teach us to divorce ourselves from thinking, not to hang on to thoughts that come through our consciousness, and to just be.

    One of my frequent affirmations, one which I generally use prior to meditation, is to wish the happiest and most regenerative feelings for everything, and every being, in every dimension. And to spend time on the affirmation, realizing that it is, in fact, a wish that all things, all beings, exist in a paradisal state, free from any imperfection, free from sorrow, pain or death.  I say every thing very advisedly, for I believe all things are conscious, not just the animal kingdom.  These too are the teachings of Jains, and Brahmins following the Institutes of Vishnu and the Laws of Manu, as well as of aboriginal people who are animists, believing that all parts of creation are animate.  As other parts of this study say more fully, aboriginal cultures live more in harmony with nature and are far superior morally to all industrial cultures.
 
 

   If one experiments with cruelty free living, one will "naturally" feel the beneficial results. Corollary to the statements by Jesus that carnivores are "hidden graves" and to Bernard Shaw's observations that carnivores are "walking graves" is the notion that, in a sense, the carnivore's body can be seen as a haunted house, haunted by the spirits of the animals whose body parts now reside in the body of the carnivore.
 
 

   When I backslided from my vegan diet, I have inevitably felt the negative results.  Once when surfing in Hawaii I had worked up a hunger, and instead of waiting until I would reach my home where good organic food awaited me, I impatiently went to a "greasy spoon" and ate french fries cooked on the same grill where meat had been cooked, using the same meat saturated oil over and over again.  After the initial satisfaction of ingestion was over, I began to feel as if I were a different person, as though my body had been invaded by another entity.   I felt depression and even despair, and immediately began doing enemas. But I felt the awful effects of that meat saturated oil for three consecutive days. I realized also that all my good thoughts could not remove the fact that for the time being, I was a being who had incorporated the oil of the corpses of murdered animals into himself, and was suffering for having done so.

    Another time in South America, in Peru, I was hiking in the Andes, and though I had found a few oranges and eaten them I had, once again, become hungry.  A gracious person offered me a ride in his truck, and it began raining, so he invited me into his home.  He prepared himself a dinner of steak, rice, potatoes and onions, and offered it to me.  I separated the vegetable contents from the steak and ate them, though I generally did not eat anything cooked with animal foods.  But they of course were saturated with the meat permeated oil.  So the next day, while hiking, for about four hours I felt absolute despair, so much inner pain that I told myself that if I had to feel this much pain it would be better to be dead.  A voice inside me said: "Remember, you didn't feel this way yesterday, before you ate the meat permeated food."  The voice didn't remove the despair, which lasted about four hours, but I hung on till I finally felt better, the clean air of the Andes no doubt being a big help.

     Here is a main key: compassion works.  If you live compassionately your life style itself will make you feel good.  When not in a meditative state, watch what thoughts enter your consciousness, and examine all thoughts which make you feel stressful, or which bring in any type of negative feelings with them.