Ah. I still fail to see what
fresh meat has anything to do with spiritual needs. See,
Purity in those days not only tied in with spiritual aspects but also physical cleansing, such as bathing, and a long tradition was made so people would clean themselves before any ceremonies begin (obviously, we do it today too, especially at birthdays, parties and weddings). Purity consisted in avoiding illnesses, lest it affects the masses, and it was understandable to choose the best and untainted beast for sacrifice. Then again, even you wouldn't have meat from an animal that died of illness, would you?
If so, I hardly find the tradition insane besides the point that animals need to be slaughtered for tradition's sake. So I guess I'm glad Kosher was banned. But now they must also ban needless killing of certain animal species.
In Greek and Egyptian religion, for instance, animal sacrifice during rituals was a way of adding meat to the diet as well as honoring the gods. I believe those practices encouraged people to understand what they were doing -- taking a life for their own life-- in a way that did not objectify the animal. That is important, if nothing else, for the humans, who saw the animals they ate every day and often raised them and were doubtlessly attached to them. (This too is an antiquated paradigm, of course, but I think it was a good one as far as meat consumption goes.)
For Egyptian, that's understandable since it was a famished land (or it wasn't, and was rather powerful; I forget), where food sources were of concern especially since
Homo Sapiens were carnivorous travelers until they established farming for the first time. It was adapt, devour and survive before then, but when language erupted and intelligence evolved we became open in thought's realms. Animal sacrifices were important back then, and it kept us adapting to meat. What you say is true, and is also true for Aztec cannibalism, and perhaps still true for
Bakri Id of Muslim tradition, where Goats were grown and sacrificed once a year. However, there's a problem with that:
For the current sacrifices that take place in the name of older religion is hardly prepared the old fashioned way. Take Bakri Id for instance: in the old times where agriculture was scarce in Muslim and Arab regions, similar sacrificial traditions began. However, if you've noticed, these days the traditions completely disregard the
affection part and keep the
slaughter idea, with people buying mature goats from the markets, bring them home and have them slaughtered at a defined date. This instantly
objectifies the animals who's flesh we consume, something the sacrificial ceremonies have been trying to avoid.
And before an Atheist uses my words as an excuse to point a finger at religion, I ask you: What's worse than sacrificial ceremonies? KFC, which mass-produces meat and stirs more gluttony across the world, at the cost of millions of animal lives a day. See, at least the former has people value lives. But for a consumer, it's as easy as to go ask for an extra
Chicken McPuff.
This kinda reminds me of an old, tribal philosophy (whether it was Vaanara or something else, I forget):
For every time you yearn a morsel so you could walk further, for every time you take the life of another to extend your own, pray. And thank your prey. For the strength of those limbs that is now your own, for those breath in those lungs that is now your zeal, don't let it go waste and thank the prey who saved you. Usually the prayer ends with a proper burial of your prey. It was quite a noble tradition.
I've seen pork meat exponentially more times than I've ever seen a real live pig. There is something wrong with that. You forget that you are eating a corpse. And in becoming more vegetarian, I've experienced something very similar to what you described: the reality of what I am doing is much more apparent. (It's also much, much harder to eat a lot of meat. I can stomach it still myself, of course, but I am way more satisfied with just a bit of it.)
Thank you! And then there's people like my uncle around who just
can't stomach vegetables. He wants meat, day and night, fish or beef, and I begin to wonder where all that protein really goes. When it's anything
but meat he gets irritated. TBH, he isn't alone: although a handful of us realize what's happening, several thousands in the country would prefer... er, I'll stop here before I offend anyone unintentionally, but you get the idea.
Additionally, I've learned to enjoy all kinds of vegetable tastes that I hadn't appreciated before.
XD That just made my day.
