It is that lost instinctive tie to the rhythms and patters of nature that Ahimsa exhorts us to regain. One philosopher that has not ignored the subject of the treatment of animals is E.F. Schumacher. Modern visionaries can trace the beginning of the beef industry to the loss of the sense of the sacredness of ourselves, of others, of animals and of the earth. This loss mirrors itself as the callous and cruel exercise of power over other creatures more helpless than ourselves. There is no compassion in a science, philosophy or doctrine that ignores our interdependence with other species.
Compassion suffers miserably at the hands of big business.
Per Singer s excellent book, Animal Liberation, established that we already hold the high moral ground as our cause is just. Ahimsa training requires that we confront our indifference and lack of moral courage and acknowledge that animals have a silent dignity all of their own that we have violated. Cornering the linchpin of our own ignorance is not an easy task. When the mystic Gurdjieff arrived in the West at the turn of the century with his message that Man is asleep. Man is a machine , he was misunderstood.