A Letter to Neale

Dear Neale,

I understand abuse and cruelty as it pertains to humans—as much as it could possibly be understood—but CwG, Book 1 did not mention animals. I read the paper or listen to news and hear day after day how people torture and kill, maim and abuse animals. On a grander scale, we have slaughter houses, chicken farms, etc. The animals are innocent victims. I cannot bear to think of the pain they must endure. And for what? Please, please ask God to explain this for me — and what I can do to help, ok?

Thank you so much,
Lori, MT

Neale Responds

My dear Lori,

Nothing is right or wrong in the Universe. A thing is simply what it is. The labels right and wrong are labels which we place on things in order to define Who We Are. This is what we are doing every time we call a thing by any name at all. Problems develop, however, if, when a great many members of a particular society call a particular thing “wrong”, that society comes to think of that thing as wrong intrinsically. The society forgets that it decided that. In other words, it made it up. Out of thin air. You see, most people cannot stand that level of responsibility, so they pretend that someone else made it up. Usually God. God decided. God said so. Now they are no longer responsible. They are just following God’s orders. Yet God did not order any of the things that humans have chosen to require of themselves. That is a myth.

I begin my answer with this small lesson, lest we get into judgment about this business of what is done with, and to, animals. There is no place for judgment in the mind of a master. There is only observation. The master observes, but never judges. The master simply watches. First he watches the action, then he watches the result. The master is content to let the student experience the results of his own actions, rather than correcting the student. If the student experiences negative results long enough, he will come to the master and say, “master, I keep hurting myself doing this. How can I stop hurting myself in this way?” The master will rarely respond with an answer, but almost always simply repeat the question. “That is a good question,” the master will say. “How can you stop hurting yourself this way?” The student will then discover the answer on his own, calling it forth from within, thereby coming to wisdom. Had the master given an answer, the student would have come to knowledge. Yet it was the master’s intent that the student should come to wisdom. The two are not the same.

If I were a master, I would answer you now with your own question. “That is a good question,” I would say. “How can you help stop the abuse of animals?” You would then come to your own answer; the answer that is suited to you, that is true for you. You will come to this if you ask yourself the question often enough; if you dwell in the question, and if you live whatever answers come to you. Soon—sooner or later—you will come to the answer that is true for you. This is the only answer which matters, Lori. In truth, it is the only answer there is.

This is how it is, not only with regard to your questions and concerns regarding animal abuse, Lori, but with regard to every question ever asked by anyone. Unfortunately, we have become very impatient to know the answers to all the mysteries of life. We don’t want to wait. We don’t want to have to figure them out for ourselves. And we certainly don’t want to have to stand responsible for the result. So we have taken to looking to Others for the answer. I’ve capitalized “others” there because we think of these “others” as The Ones With The Answer—and so their name deserves capitalization, no?

Nowhere in life do we do this more consistently, and more rapidly, than on the subject of religion, and in the quest for the highest truth. Unwilling to seek out and find our own highest truth, using the tools of our experience, we allow others to tell us what the truth is. We not only allow them to, we demand that they do. We drape them in robes and burn incense and speak to them in hushed tones, and then we beg of them to tell us what is so. Then we do a most extraordinary thing: if we agree with what the robed ones have had to say, we make them saints, and follow their teachings to the letter (whether they work for us or not). If we disagree with their teachings, we call them blasphemers, and we bitterly denounce them. (We may even try to kill them.) Thus we do what we want to do anyway, simply avoiding the step of holding ourselves responsible.

Yes, people do some terrible things to animals. (They also do some terrible things to humans, but as you point out, that is another matter.) Asking God to explain why is like asking God to explain the origin and construction of the Universe. Both questions are equally complex. Besides, as God would be the first to point out, the explanation is irrelevant. The only relevant discussion is, what can you do to help? My answer is: do what you want to do.

There are countless options here; dozens of ways you can make yourself heard, impact the situation, cause or seek to cause certain behaviors of others to change or be discontinued. But remember this. Your success or failure in this endeavor should not and must not ever be measured in terms of how much of the behavior you cause to stop. You may, in fact, when all is said and done, have stopped none of it. Stopping the behavior cannot be the point. Making a clear statement of Who You Are must be. That is where the satisfaction is. That is where the victory lies. That is the whole reason for living; for being what you are being; for doing what you are doing for having what you are having. That is the only reason for doing anything at all. Remember that.

with love