"The vegetarian diet is the religious worship of animals. They refuse to eat their 'god' ".
Just wanted to throw out how untrue that seems...
James Frazier's
The Golden Bough is a lengthy documentation of the elevation, sacrifice, and assimilation of gods throughout human history. Corn has been an especially popular god.
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My understanding of vegetarianism is that it originated as a type of ascetic lifestyle for cloistered spiritual devotees. It's a lifetime fast. It's not meant for ordinary people.
However, these practices became popular in the cultures in which they originated. And when Eastern spirituality arrived in the West (such as yoga, vegetarianism and meditation, to name some Indian varieties) it was embraced but adulterated to suit American values. There are many cultural practices in India which arise from their spiritual disciplines that are not at all embraced by Americans - the caste system, for example. Yet traditionally, the caste system is indivisible from diet; diet, work, and lifestyle is dictated according to caste. Priests might be vegetarians; laborers would not. Without proper context, vegetarianism seems to be just another fad diet.
If a person wished to retire from the pace of modern life and change his body chemistry to a state of heightened sensitivity for the purpose of spiritual exploration, accepting any limitations that may accompany this, then vegetarianism would be an excellent choice.