What is the hidden link between the increase in wars and of cancer?
A report published in UK newspapers (7 June 2013), shows that half of the UK population is likely to get cancer by 2020
A study from Warwick University shows that between 1870 and 2001, wars between states increased steadily by an average 2% a year. In the 1990s, the frequency of wars between states rose by 36% a year. This figure doesn't even include civil wars.
Cancer is like war
With the increase in wars and of cancer, perhaps there's a connection between the two - something that is creating a great sense of malaise and contributing to both of these things. Is such a notion spurious? Is there a link between the two, beyond the fact that older people are living longer and more likely to get cancer?
Cancer is very much like war. In warfare one faction attempts to take over neighbouring borders, and in the biological illness cancer cells attempt to take over neighbouring cells. There is little difference in both destructive processes, though one belongs to the microcosm inside our bodies while the other belongs to the macrocosm of the outer world. In both cases, the natural state of peace is disrupted by dangerous cells that begin to eat away at the fabric of the body/society.
Is this analogy useful?
Today science tells us that everything is interconnected. Even though we can't physically see the connection it stands to reason that somehow what we are as human beings and how we act, has profound consequences across the world, even the whole universe. If this sounds crazy, take a look at the following short video, it's mind blowing! This short clip is from one of Professor Brian Cox's televised lectures (it is worth watching, so even if you don't read on, at least watch this!)
Everything is Connected to Everything
No electrons in the universe can sit in the same energy level
The implication is that everything we do, immediately makes it necessary for the universe to instantly re-arrange the configuration of all electrons across the whole cosmos. In fact, we can't even lift a finger or blink without that being true! This is a mind blowing reality and one that humanity needs to get used to. This is just one of the brilliant aspects that modern science reveals.
Brian Cox might be uncomfortable with his exposé of science being used to explain possible relationships between seemingly disparate things - on the other hand, this parallel rise in war and cancer does raise the question if there is some profound link. If everything is connected to everything else, is it so unsound to reason that there is a link? Could there be something from Carl Young's Universal Unconscious manifesting?
Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)
"And ye shall hear of wars & rumors of wars...For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom" Matthew 24:7
The rise of War
At the moment we're seeing an unprecedented rise in social unrest around the world, and warfare. Data from a study by Professors Mark Harrison from the University of Warwick and Nikolaus Wolf from Humboldt University, shows that between 1870 and 2001, the frequency of wars between states increased steadily by an average 2% a year.
Between 1870 and 1913, the frequency of ‘pairwise’ conflicts (i.e. the numbers of pairs of countries involved in conflicts) increased on average by 6% per year. The frequency of wars increased by 17% a year during the period of the two World Wars, and by 31% a year during the Cold War. In the 1990s, the frequency of wars between states rose by 36% a year. This increase in wars doesn't even include the rise in civil wars, which are also on the increase.
Mark Harrison: ‘The very things that should make politicians less likely to want war – productivity growth, democracy, and trading opportunities – have also made war cheaper. We have more wars, not because we want them, but because we can.’
But what has been motivating human beings to make more wars?
The rise of Cancer
According to a report published in the UK newspapers (7 June 2013), half of the UK population is likely to get cancer by 2020. This has got a lot to do with the changing demographic i.e. more old people are alive today than ever before, and the likelihood of cancer increases with age. However, even though this tells us who is getting cancer (i.e. older people, and more of them), it doesn't say anything really about why.
At the same time, meat consumption worldwide is likely to double by 2020 - which is again curious considering the projected statistics with regards to cancer.
Meat and Cancer
And yet... there is more and more evidence coming to light that a major culprit of cancer is an unhealthy diet, most specifically meat consumption. Science is beginning to finally blaze a trail by showing that meat consumption increases the likelihood of cancer. This is worth repeating:
meat consumption increases the likelihood of cancer - and by a huge margin!
Large studies in England and Germany have shown that vegetarians are about 40 percent less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters. (See Sources for more information).
Is it any wonder then that a projected increase in meat consumption is also associated with an increase in cancer?
Slaughtering and Eating Animals - the cause for the increase in cancer and war?
It's fair to say that humanity has an extremely unhealthy relationship with the very planet that sustains it, that provides humanity with everything - life itself! Could it be, then, that animal slaughter and the ingesting of dead animal flesh is the root cause of both the proliferation of warfare and likewise of cancer?
In terms of cancer, the jury is out with regards to meat consumption, which is why the number of vegetarians and vegans is growing by the day.
But how about war? How could animal slaughter be leading to more warfare and social unrest?
Looking at the facts again in no particular order we have:
- an increase in meat consumption
- an increase in abattoirs and animal slaughter
- an increase in cancer
- an increase in wars
The introduction to this hub looked at the interconnected nature of existence, albeit briefly. Does it really seem so improbable that the way we treat animals undermines our ability to behave in a kind and compassionate way toward each other as a whole and so increasing the likelihood of war?
By killing an animal in the first place (or conveniently, paying someone else to do it so we don't have to do it and see it ourselves), for the mere sake of taste sensation, we've transgressed one of the prime Divine rules: Thou Shalt Not Kill.
If killing animals is acceptable, and humans can't see the Divine work going on in all things, everything else is easily destructible, other people too.
Too many humans are in a state of drowsy apathy, living life by a script that was delivered to them by their parents and peers, but which isn't necessarily right. We are like zombies. Much of humanity seems immune to the suffering of billions of animals being processed heartlessly everyday, through the abattoirs, and the effect this has on the overall psyche of a country or society.
Some of the greatest minds have linked meat eating to warfare
Many great minds past and present have linked animal consumption and warfare. These are just some of them.
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
Leo Tolstoy, author
"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
Pythagoras, mathematician
"While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?" George Bernard Shaw
“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” St. Francis of Assisi
Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. Thomas Edison
"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men." Leonardo da Vinci, artist and scientist
"Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God."
Cardinal John H. Newman
"The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion." The Buddha, Mahaparinirvana Sutra
Living Graves
- By George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
We are the living graves of murdered beasts,
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites.
We never pause to wonder at our feasts,
If animals, like men, can possibly have rights.
We pray on Sundays that we may have light,
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread.
We're sick of war, we do not want to fight -
The thought of it now fills our hearts with dread,
And yet - we gorge ourselves upon the dead.
Like carrion crows we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and the pain
we cause by doing so, if thus we treat
defenceless animals for sport or gain,
how can we hope in this world to attain,
the PEACE we say we are so anxious for.
We pray for it o'er hecatombs of slain,
to God, while outraging the moral law,
thus cruelty begets its offspring - WAR.
Sources
- PCRM | Meat Consumption and Cancer Risk
When cancer researchers started to search for links between diet and cancer, one of the most noticeable findings was that people who avoided meat were much less likely to develop the disease - Alarming increase in wars | History Today
- BBC News - Half of UK population 'will get cancer in lifetime'
The number of people in the UK who will get cancer during their lifetime will increase to nearly half the population by 2020, a report suggests. - Consequences of increased global meat consumption on the global environment
Related Hubs
- Are You A Food Monkey?
Many of us eat without thinking about what we eat. Maybe we eat what our parents ate. Maybe we eat what adverts tell us to eat. Are we food robots? - Compassion feels great!
Is it possible to progress on the spiritual path without learning empathy and compassion? - Compassion is not selective
- Reasons to stop eating meat
Some very good scientific reasons why stopping the consumption of meat is beneficial to human health, and the planet as a whole.
A cancer in society
Perhaps the cancer that is growing in our midst - physical cancer, warfare, greed, environmental abuse, and so on - is really due to our complete confusion with regards to our spiritual origins, where people are fully identified with their five senses, to the exclusion of everything else... The result is chaos, abuse, illness and war.
