Book Title: Ahimsa is not Religion It is way of Life
Author(s): Clare Rosenfield, Linda Segall
Publisher: Clare Rosenfield and Linda Segall

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Page 25
________________ it out. What is to prevent those who close their eyes to the pain of helpless creatures from closing their eyes to the pain and loss of human lives? Once we become used to claiming no responsibility for such events, our minds become weak and spineless, and we allow--someone else to do the slaughtering, someone else to die for us, someone else to push the nuclear war buttons. But we need to claim responsibility, at least in part, for whatever we do, whether it brings good or painful results. In this way, we will remove the blinders from our eyes. We need to see clearly that the misery we are inflicting on others by default is already coming back to us like a boomerang, individually and collectively. Then we will not be afraid to acknowledge that indeed, the causes of war are in us, and that the greatest cause is this: ignorance of the preciousness of all life. It takes courage to take a long look at our weak. nesses, at our callousness, at our desire to avoid, shirk, and postpone responsibility. But the secret is that once we look at it, we are no longer in ignorance. The thorn in our consciousness is removed, and with it, the cause of our pain. This is what it means stress, the trauma of overexposure to heat or cold while being transported without food or water for one to three days, disease, or brutal handling. Cows, calves, sheep, and pigs are killed either with a sledgehammer (still the most primitive and widely used method) which may take several blows, a knife (used on fully conscious animals who are hoisted up onto a conveyor belt by one leg so as not to fall in the blood of a previously slain animal), or electric bolt pistol. 24 For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org Jain Education International

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