What to wear....

What to wear 

A few weeks ago one of my yoga students inquired about what to say to people when they ask you if as a vegetarian I am wearing leather. I thought this question was really interesting since I haven’t mentioned anything on this in my blog on vegetarianism.

It seems quite apparent to me that wearing leather is not much different to eating meat. The animal is slaughtered much in the same way, if not worse- sometimes being skinned alive.

Leather comes from farmed animals, mostly cattle, all of which do not reach the natural end of their lives. They must go through a lot of suffering on the farm before meeting their violent and frightening death. Cows and cattle are certainly amongst the most exploited animals on our planet. Beef and dairy cows are both used for leather. Beef cows are bred simply to eat, get big and die. They are almost universally kept in housing during winter and in some places all around the year. Dairy cattle are among the most exploited animals on the planet. Like every other mammal, cows only produce milk when they have offspring, so to increase productivity a dairy cow’s life is a constant cycle of pregnancy and lactation. On top of this physical strain is the psychological stress when the calves are separated from the mothers. After being allowed to suckle her colostrum – the first milk produced by the mother after birth which provides vital immunity to the calf -the calves are taken away within days in order to maximise the amount of milk available for humans[1]

As what concerns the leather production, soft leather does not come from old cows but from calves, and the softest leather of all comes from unborn calves whose mothers have been slaughtered. Despite supposedly humane stunning in abattoirs, millions of animals are still conscious when their throats are cut, and can be skinned alive.

It is quite apparent thus that anything from eating meat, to drinking milk, eating cheese, eggs, wearing leather and other clothes that contain animal product contribute to this chain of slaughter and torture.

Essentially I do not think there is anything wrong with farming and using the products of animals if it is done in a humane natural way, letting the animal live a peaceful natural life, looking after it, and then sharing its natural gifts. In our world today however it is pretty hard to find anything that has been produced in such a way. Because society and humankind is obsessed with material possession and the cheaper things can be produced the better, no matter what the cost.

So one can be sure that anything one buys, be it food or clothes that contains animal product carries the smell of greed, slaughter and torture, the tears of innocent souls. Truly there is no difference between leather boots, jackets or purses and beef, chicken or eggs.

Each time we are at the supermarket or in a clothes store we have the choice to ignore all these facts and to support the slaughtering and torturing of animals and the proliferation of greed in the world or to make a conscious choice to find alternatives. Yes, it requires effort because it is still a minority of people who realise that every action carries a vibration into the world, creates a certain karma for our selves, our children and further generations. But it is effort well worth it because truly, say you would stand in a field besides a cow who peacefully suckles her calf, would you separate her violently from the baby, abduct it to a slaughterhouse and skin it alive in order to get the latest fashion of leather boots?

Who in their right set of mind would do this? And where is the difference between taking away a calf from its mother and a human child from their mother? When you look into the eyes of the animal there truly is no difference. An animate soul is dwelling behind all living eyes, who can deny this?

It is only convenient if someone else does gets their hands dirty and we just walk into a nice store and chose whatever we like in this moment and the next month or even day it is going to be something else. But conscious living does not work like this. It means that things, places, actions, everything carries a certain vibration. Who for instance would want to live in a place that was once a slaughterhouse? There is something inside us that naturally repels any form of violence that is caring and protecting. I really don’t like to make such kind of comparisons- but here it goes: the concentration camps during the Nazi regime, they too were located on the outskirts soehwere where people did not see for themselves what truly was going on in there. People sort of knew perhaps, or sensed something and some even knew... but they didn’t have to pull the trigger themselves or lead the children into the chambers and so few showed resistance.

Surely there is a difference because people were also forced into silence through violent threats and psychological brainwashing. But some of it applies also to current live situations. The abattoir is far away somewhere, we don’t smell it, see it. And we see the advertisements for wonderful clothes and meat bargains and meals on TV all the time. One is made believe so many things each day, conditioned in a certain way that considers meat eating as normal and all the glorified chefs that sprout on TV shows all over the place vent themselves as refined carnivores and vegetarians are still regarded as ‘missing out’ on the main ingredient of a proper meal.

Best thing is to know thyself... to continue the wonderful journey of self inquiry, who am I really? Beyond conditioning and the body mind conception of a self. And all the rest will come naturally.

*I am not a fundamentalist with some set ideologies that i read in a book somewhere or someone told me. I do own a few things made of leather that i received or bought before I was aware of how they were made. I did not frantically rage through my closet to remove anything animal made. I just simply would not buy anything leather or animal now that I know.

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[1] http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/leather.html