I discovered when we suffer, we suffer as equals. And in their capacity to suffer, a dog is a pig, is a bear...is a boy.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the shared experience of suffering among all beings, regardless of species or identity.
Philip Wollen's quote reflects on the universal nature of suffering, suggesting that all creatures, whether human or animal, experience pain similarly. It calls for empathy and compassion towards all living beings, highlighting that the capacity for suffering is a common thread that connects us, transcending traditional boundaries of species and identity.
In practice
During a speech at an animal rights conference.
When I travel around the world, I see that poor countries sell their grain to the West while their own children starve in their arms. And we feed it to livestock. So we can eat a steak? Am I the only one who sees this as a crime? Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child. When I look into her eyes, should I be silent? The Earth can produce enough for everyone’s need. But not enough for everyone’s greed.
We torture and kill two billion sentient living beings every week. 10,000 entire species are wiped out every year because of the actions of one, and we are now facing the sixth mass extinction in cosmological history. If any other organism did this, a biologist would consider them a virus.
We obey people we don't trust, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like, using money we don't have, for gratifications that don't last, killing animals we don't hate, for pleasures that don't satisfy, dreaming of a life we don't deserve, and praying for an afterlife that doesn't exist, we are a stupid species
In their capacity to feel pain and fear, a pig is a dog is a bear is a boy.
While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in its belovedness. We encounter God in the ordinariness of life: not in the search for spiritual highs and extraordinary, mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life.
Heaven and Earth are not kind. They regard all things as offerings.
Most of us cluster somewhere in the middle of most statistical distributions. But there are lots of bell curves, and pretty much everyone is on a tail of at least one of them. We may collect strange memorabilia or read esoteric books, hold unusual religious beliefs or wear odd-sized shoes, suffer rare diseases or enjoy obscure movies.
in the presence of extraordinary actuality, consciousness takes the place of imagination.
What is a Christian? The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.
To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils.
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