The connectedness to animals/insects/living creatures - question for you all

[dilated_pupils]

Before I relate I want to show you what I stumbled across in a trip report on erowid:

The guy had taken 25B-nBOM I believe here is the quoted text:

I just saw a cockroach that struck me with fear. I shared a moment of awareness and felt empathy towards this bug. I offered my love and compassion as I sprayed it with Raid like an asshole human being. But I guess he, I, deserved it. Karma. And the cycle continues. Life and death. Metamorphosis. Nirvana.

A lot of times when I trip I feel connected to everything as I truly believe every living thing is obviously connected.

Some issues I have is that we know that certain bugs/insects carry diseases, so let me put it bluntly, did this man do the right thing by killing the bug? I mean would that hinder your normal day? Hinder you on a trip?

I know that I tend to try and catch the bugs I find and release them. I do spray my home, but I also remind myself that I walk barefoot (which in some cases if the stuff is toxic to humans is not that smart) but if you cannot honestly say you're willing to accept this chemical in to your body, then how should I be able to spray it all over another animal? I guess using it as defense - like spraying bug spray before they arrive is one thing - but it's another to trap them and let them die slowly. I feel that kind of energy hurts a lot of my trips. Obviously I'm speaking about insects and bugs here but in all honesty we know that some animals are not always treated right. Now I do know I am not everyone, nor can I go explain and fix every problem when it comes to such things, but what can I do personally to make these types of trips better?

I put all this thought into my feelings & emotions on the subject after reading the guys report, but in all honesty I am most surprised by the fear aspect. Now look I'm not trying to say I want a relationship with my fellow bug/insects where they can crawl all over me, that would be to much, but in all seriousness when we give off fear we only pass it on. And in this case if the bug had the fear and this man picked up on it, don't you think he did the wrong thing? I would have set it free. Cockroach or not, and without getting to what grosses me out about such things, it's still a live and can simply be put outside. If we keep spreading fear, we'll be filled with it. Animals large and small need to be in harmony and I do find it hard sometimes to look at a bug, or insect, sober or tripping, and not get the heeby-jeebies about them. I think it's probably from a lack of knowledge on such creatures but who knows?

What are your takes on this subject? I'd love to hear it!

-dp

 

[Jonneh]

It's a complicated subject.

I was a vegetarian for several years on more or less utilitarian grounds; the benefits to my life from eating an animal (easy protein source, social conformity, mild pleasure while eating it) didn't outweigh the disadvantages to its life (its extinction, often in an unpleasant way), even taking into account its complexity relative to mine (which I usually judged to be less, perhaps immodestly) and thus (lots of assumptions here) lesser sentience. I was honestly no less happy as a vegetarian - fit, healthy and saving money!

I maintained this state (of vegetarianism) through imposed will alone, though - I never developed a repulsion for meat - and at some point I started eating meat again. I don't know which came first, but I suddenly had a new philosophy: animals reared for meat (or my share of them) would not exist were it not for my meat-eating. If I trust that markets are modestly efficient, a lamb eaten is a lamb born. Therefore, if an animal's life is preferable to its non-existence (which it 'obviously' is, I judged, given certain minimum standards of treatment during its life), my meat-eating can be justified (at least in the forcibly closed system that includes me and the animals, and ignores factors such as energy and thermodynamics). I had confidently rationalised something I had been equally confident was wrong, or that's what it felt like, and this time (rather conveniently) it was in line with my desires. Convenient, but I was genuinely convinced by my new reasoning.

I still believe that, on a given level of explanation, there are right and wrong answers to these questions, but I cannot hope to know them, and wouldn't trust anyone who claimed to. It kind of follows my reasoning on organised religion.

The NBOMe'd bug sprayer has probably thought about these issues on some level, as have you, and in the end, one has to trust one's reasoning, and that one's intuitions aren't psychopathic. I certainly feel the same way as you about sentient (and probably non-sentient) beings in certain sober and drug-induced states, but I've never brought back a knock-down argument that could convince a version of myself bent on destroying these beings (which thankfully never materialises).

 

[dilated_pupils]

The NBOMe'd bug sprayer has probably thought about these issues on some level, as have you, and in the end, one has to trust one's reasoning, and that one's intuitions aren't psychopathic. I certainly feel the same way as you about sentient (and probably non-sentient) beings in certain sober and drug-induced states, but I've never brought back a knock-down argument that could convince a version of myself bent on destroying these beings (which thankfully never materialises).

Well said! That brightened my day to read that. I can only wonder that those animals or insects/bugs that do carry disease, are in fact diseased as well and if not, immune to their disease they carry. There are plenty of ways, which I cannot fathom since I am not really these creatures, that we could be looked at as the 'disease'. I thoroughly do not believe we are, so the fact remains the creatures that do carry such diseases may in fact just either a) be in need of our help b) be there to give us answers into our own selves

I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to just be a race of beings where we don't have to worry about infectious diseases and such but in all seriousness these things occur for a reason. They spread for reasons like being unsanitary, and we can prevent a lot of what we are 'scared' or fearful about. If that guy would have picked that cockroach up, then washed his hands, I think he'd have been fine. Sometimes I freak out when I see a bug, but only when it's like how a person can freak you out by walking up behind you. If you aren't expecting it, then you may react hastily.

-dp