Why do we eat?
To stay alive?
Yes, but what is it we are doing when we are eating?
What do you mean?
Well, what are we saying when we eat?
Well we're not saying anything! We just see something we like the look of or the smell of, and we say "Mmm, I like the look of that. My belly would like that very much!"
Yes, I know. But let's start from basics. What is 'eating' when looked at from first principles?
First principles? Sorry Wasim, I don't quite understand what you mean?
OK, let me try and explain.
Yeah, I wish you would!
You do want me to explain don't you? You are interested in what 'eating' really is?
Yeah, I suppose so.
Suppose so! Show a little more enthusiasm please!
Yeah, alright then. I would love you to tell me what eating really is and why we do it
Excellent, that's better! Now let me begin:
When I eat something I am in affect saying to the thing that I am about to eat (be this thing dead or alive - though usually it is dead. It would be strange if you started talking to the chicken that you were about to eat. In fact, in today's modern life, you will have no intimate connection with your food at all. It arrives neatly packaged and fresh to your local supermarket)...anyway, I think I am rambling. So where was I? Oh yes! So when you are about to eat something you are in affect saying 'metaphorically' to the thing that you are about to eat:
"Hey you! Mr Fish" (or Mrs Hen, or Mr Cabbage, or Monsieur Frog (if you eat frogs, the French do), or Mr Goat, or Mr Lamb, or Mrs Turnip or any other animal or vegetable you care to mention). What you are saying is this:
"Hey you! Mr Fish" (or Mrs Hen, or Mr Cabbage, or Monsieur Frog (if you eat frogs, the French do), or Mr Goat, or Mr Lamb, or Mrs Turnip or any other animal or vegetable you care to mention). What you are saying is this:
"Hey you! I am Mr Wasim and I need carbon atoms to stay alive. Why do I need carbon atoms? Well because carbon is the only element that can form the long chains needed to build me! I need carbon to build my tissues, and to build my proteins, to grow, to repair my body, for energy, for my hormones, for my blood, for my bones, for my skin. I need carbon atoms to fight off infections because my white blood cells need carbon for their metabolic pathways, for their Endoplasmic Reticulum's and for their Golgi Apparatuses, for their cell membranes...in short I need carbon atoms to be me! To be Wasim!"
"But dear Mr Chicken and dear Mrs Lamb and dear Mr Apple and dear Mr Rice and Dr Miss Wheat, the thing is I can't breathe in carbon from the atmosphere. I can breathe in oxygen but not carbon. If I could breathe in carbon then I wouldn't have to eat or catch or hurt or kill you! Oh no! If I could breathe in carbon atoms through the air, through my nostrils, I'd be able to make my own food! But then I'd be called not an animal but a plant. Plants breathe in carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and they use the carbon in carbon dioxide to build their bodies. I, Mr Wasim, can't do that I'm afraid"
So when I eat something I am saying: "Hey you! I need your carbon. And since you are made of carbon, or since you have carbon inside of you, and since I can't make my own, I must have yours! So give it to me!"
The problem with asking would be that if Mr Chicken, or Mrs Cow or Mr Fish could talk then they would respond by saying: "Oh no! You can't have it. It belongs to me! My carbon is mine. Hands off thief!"
But we take it anyway. Don't we?
We kill Mrs Cow, and slaughter Mr Chicken and catch Mr Fish and pull out Mr Potato and we say: "I don't care what you think. I will take if off you whether you like it or not!"
So when I eat something I am saying: "Hey you! I need your carbon. And since you are made of carbon, or since you have carbon inside of you, and since I can't make my own, I must have yours! So give it to me!"
The problem with asking would be that if Mr Chicken, or Mrs Cow or Mr Fish could talk then they would respond by saying: "Oh no! You can't have it. It belongs to me! My carbon is mine. Hands off thief!"
But we take it anyway. Don't we?
We kill Mrs Cow, and slaughter Mr Chicken and catch Mr Fish and pull out Mr Potato and we say: "I don't care what you think. I will take if off you whether you like it or not!"
What you and I, and every other animal in the world is doing when it is eating, is stealing each others carbon. We are carbon thieves. We steal the carbon that plants have breathed in and built into their bodies, we steal the carbon that animals have built into their tissues from either eating plants or eating other animals, and we take this carbon (when we eat a steak for example) and we break the steak down in our belly, and we strip away the carbon that has been built into proteins and fats and carbohydrates, and we use it to make our own proteins our own carbohydrates, and our own fats. The proteins we need to keep our nails healthy, our hair sleek and shiny, our eyes moist and healthy, our skin, our bones, our brains, our fluids, our sperm, our eggs, our muscles - ourselves.
We are all carbon thieves.
Every beast of prey, first and foremost carnivorous man, is the living grave of thousands of corpses. Our self maintenance, our existence; is a chain of torturing deaths
How does that make you feel carbon thief?
Every beast of prey, first and foremost carnivorous man, is the living grave of thousands of corpses. Our self maintenance, our existence; is a chain of torturing deaths
How does that make you feel carbon thief?
Shame on you!
