Ape Gone Vegan: The Divine Dilemma of Filled Stomachs

There is this question I got asked by someone on Quora Hindi that ‘The existence of carnivorous animals in the jungle depends on consuming other animals alive by tearing them apart. If this universe is created by an intelligent creator, what was the need to create such a horrific system of ripping and slaughtering fellow creatures?’

The moment you phrase the question in such a way from that specific point you dewalls in the field of primary philosophical arguments of The Problem of Evil proposed by St. Augustine.

Your concern that this cruelty in nature, where carnivorous animals eat innocent herbivorous animals, is completely contrary to the fundamental idea of ​​an intelligent and benevolent god. Because maybe god is there to protect every living being and resolve their materialistic problems and whenever you pray or burn incense, pray or do aarti or sajda you intentionally asking god to provide you something that you desire and from that moment onwards if there is a god he starts making efforts to change things and circumstances according to your wish?

I will say here sarcastically that since vegetarian animals do not pray to God, they neither burn incense sticks, do Sajda, nor go to church on Sunday, so God also does not care about them. And since God does not care about them, you should not either. So who is eating what, who is eating whom, and how, when, and where they are getting it from — you shouldn’t worry about it. Just eat what is served on your plate, cooked by your mother, partner, or maybe by you or your children.

But as I said this is sarcasm, not logic. Because we are humans and intellectually superior to other species on his mote of dust, let us be rational and analyze this problem from the point of view of philosophy, logic and ethics.

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When St. Augustine talks about the ‘Problem of Evil’, his view is about Privation– he argues that evil is not a thing in itself, but evil is ultimately the absence of good just as darkness is nothing but the absence of light. If there is light, darkness will go away, if there is none, darkness will return. Similarly, if there is no good, there will be only evil and where there is good, how can there be evil? But criminology 101, nobody is born a criminal; it’s the social structure, the treatment, and detachment that prepares a person to become a criminal and a threat to society.[3]

However, in the case of carnivorous animals, this doesn't apply since they are born with the nature of eating flesh and bone. They are supposed to be like that, and so if an omnipotent, omnipresent God has created these creatures to be cruel, then how can one say that God is all-merciful? He has created one of His creations to devour the other, and that too in as gruesome a manner as possible.

• Have you ever heard the shrieks of a wild boar caught between the teeth of a wolf?
• Have you ever heard the deafening cry of a fawn after it is crushed in the mouth of a panther or leopard?
• Have you ever heard the wailing of a buffalo calf caught by a crocodile in the pond?

Because if you have, then your illusion that nature is our one loving and caring mother should be shattered within a moment, and how kind or merciful do you think any carnivorous wild animal will be to you?

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So in a nutshell while St. Augustine asked himself this question in the context of human civilization, you have looked at the subject from a more complex perspective that 'if an omnipotent and all-merciful creator exists, then why is there such a harsh and gruesome system of natural predation created in the forest which involves suffering, violence and pain?

And this is a question not only on animal suffering but also on human suffering: that when there is so much pain, violence, hatred, murder, rape, trafficking of women and children, hunger, helplessness, thirst, war, accidents, fraud, suicide, racial-ethnic-religious-regional-linguistic discrimination, and pain in the world, then why doesn't Bhagwan, Khuda, or Christ wake up from their eternal slumber? Is He blind and deaf that His children are fighting among themselves, tearing each other apart, and not only harming each other but the very natural habitat and species that they are supposed to protect and nurture, because He neither hears nor sees?

The famines that have wreaked havoc in the world in recent 150 years only

• 10 lakh people died in Ireland (1845–1852) and about 3 to 5 lakh people died in the famine of Russia (1891–1892) and no God woke up from his sleep.
• About 20 lakh people died in the famine of Persia (1917–1919) but Khuda did not even listen. 
• The famine of Bengal in 1943 took more than 20 lakh lives but no incarnation descended and the famine in China (1958-1962) took millions of lives but no angel arrived.

American Civil War, Third Cholera Pandemic (1852-1860), First World War, Spanish Flu, Armenian Genocide, Russian Civil War, Jewish Holocaust, Second World War, Indo-Pak Partition Riots, Deportation of Palestinians, Korean War, Asian Flu, Vietnam War, Hong Kong Flu, Bangladesh Cyclone, Indo-Bangladesh War, Cambodia Genocide, Iraq-Iran War, Bosnia Genocide, Rwanda Genocide, Syrian Civil War, Yemen Civil War, Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), Haiti Earthquake, Ebola, AIDS and do you know what humans have suffered till date in the form of civilisation?

All the above-mentioned incidents, including famine, war, genocide, refugee crisis, epidemics and natural disasters, have claimed an estimated 33 crore 05 lakh 91 thousand+ lives. It is over but there is no trace of any Khuda, Bhagwan or God.

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So considering the context of your question, the reason for starting with the Problem of Evil was to prepare a bigger and broader perspective for the reader. Not to just draw a conclusion or tell that look, this is or isn’t some God or Bhagwan. Very ordinary minds that draw such conclusions can never understand the depth of human mind and consciousness. Rather, this question is a hotpot of many philosophical dishes like Evolutionary Biology, Theology, Free Will and Natural Law, Natural need of hunting, lack of goodness, Buddhist theory of suffering and its experience.

We live in a society where good and evil co-exist together. There is a provision of punishment by law for doing wrong, and there is also a provision of law to prevent anyone from doing wrong. There are teachers, parents, and neighbors to teach, and a general social behavior to learn, differentiating between right-wrong and acceptable-unacceptable. But even after learning this, breaking the rules is a human choice.

This choice does not depend upon any one factor, and because of these many variables, you know corruption is wrong, but you do it or support it! Everyone lies and steals. Some do it in small ways, some do it for taxes, and some steal money from the government treasury. Lying is wrong; some lie because they are late, some lie to go home, some lie to avoid punishment or trouble, and some people are just plain politicians.

Evil is not just the absence of goodness; both of these exist together. You are not just bad or just good. Both you and I are made up of a mixture of logic, personal thoughts, freedom, social structure, moral-immoral and ethical-unethical, conscious and inanimate, thoughts and opposition, likes-dislikes.

So, I would say that...

 

Image Credit : Meta AI©

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Carnivorous hunting is a necessity to maintain balance in the forest system (Jungle Raj). It is gruesome, but this activity of carnivores is necessary to keep the number of herbivores balanced. If left unchecked, won't the herbivorous animals overgraze the jungle? And this happens sometimes; Invasive species do this. By grazing the jungle too much, the herbivorous animals die of self-struggle and hunger, or move towards human settlements, and the same happens with carnivores too.

Now the question for you is: Is it necessary for the kind God to give such a gruesome death to the herbivores? Can't God ensure that the nails and teeth of carnivores do not cause them any pain? Or He could have made them of cotton candy inside so that when the vegetarian humans see them, they don't feel bad seeing this bloody scene of nature. They could see that the lion is eating cotton candy from inside the deer today. Is it because this is not a problem of morality but a need of biology?

Secondly, this gruesome scene of hunting, this terrifying system, is the result of the evolutionary process. A world which has probably been created by some God, the evolution of life happens according to natural laws, and one of those laws is the Survival of the Fittest. That is, in this harsh world full of biodiversity, the creature which is sharp, intelligent, and clever in the midst of pain and suffering, and can differentiate between prey and predator in the blink of an eye, his decision will decide his life or death. This is not a principle of good or bad, but of pure Adapt or Extinct, and there is no need to drag God into it.

Now the question for you: Does God want to say that I have made the rules? Now it is your problem whether you were born in hunger, helplessness, and poverty or were born in the house of Adani, Ambani, Tata, Birla, Mittal, Minister, Officer, or servant! Because if the world is running according to per-determined rules, then what is the point of praying in hunger and illness? Why not arrange for food and a doctor? If money is needed for that, then are not those who already have money God's favourite people? So if someone is an atheist due to his materialistic problems, logic, upbringing, or education, then obviously God shouldn’t have any objection to it? Etc., etc

The third is free will and natural law! But my question is: Free will from whom? And if animals are animated according to the law of nature, then the concept of free will becomes absolutely null and void for them! So can any vegetarian animal eat meat? They do eat Meat. When the necessary nutrition for their body is not available, then vegetarian animals fulfil it from wherever possible, even if it means eating meat! So do carnivorous animals eat vegetables? Yes they do! 

Video Credit: Nature Lens

 So when carnivores are sometimes vegetarians and vegetarians are sometimes non-vegetarians, is this free will or a denial of natural laws? Is this a denied free will?

And finally, does the human who sees this and says that this system is very cruel, not know that suffering and pain in nature is a unique law of this nature? Does he not understand that suffering, pain and death are a necessary defect in the physical world alike friction?

Death gives legitimacy to life.

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Animals can never feel and admire death and pain as interestingly and as creatively as humans can do. For them, hunting or being hunted is a normal and regular part of their life. It is only humans who have disconnected themselves from this cycle of nature.

We are apex predators, but we don't hunt, we farm meat for the sake of eating it[9]. We raise, slaughter and eat chickens, sheep, goats, all kinds of beef and pork. We were once a part of that cycle, but not anymore. We have stepped out of that cycle and established a new one, one that excludes 99.99% of animals and focuses on a select few species. That is why this cycle is not bestial, but inhumane because it was established by humans. Nature's cycle is bestial, but you oppose meat-eating by calling it inhumane, not bestial.

That is why you should probably ask a sentient animal if it has to choose death, would it choose a bestial cycle or an inhumane cycle? Which do you think it would choose? And are we giving ourselves license to destroy life by farming it inhumanely?

Why don't you ask yourself whether whenever you oppose eating meat, is it a moral obligation or an ethical obligation? Do you understand the difference between morality and ethics?

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  m.दिनेश© 

  -Dinesh Mandora     

  Dinesh Mandora All rights reserved ©

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