Equality in Suffering

3:46:24 PMSimpleJakhttp://dump.bitcheese.net/files/tolobab/Flayed.mp4
3:46:30 PMSimpleJakThat is an extremely graphic killing and torture.
3:46:42 PMSimpleJakNormally I don't care, but this one is having a bit of an effect on me.
3:47:29 PM+typhonThey've got a hormone balance or brain structure that makes them seem impulsive and cruel by modern standards, but they would be fine with a suit of armor and a free hand to enforce the king's rule.
3:47:47 PMdwayneyWell thanks for th warning I am only interested in death videos if they are Isis or cartels. Because it feeds my delusions about criminal terrorists and scary drug dealers. Violence unrelated to these two notions, I cannot understand, and shrink from.
3:48:08 PMSimpleJakI think it's important to consume meaningless violence.
3:48:13 PMSimpleJakI am highly influenced by Buddhism.
3:48:31 PMSimpleJakThe ideal Buddhist, as I understand it, should have zero emotional affect from meaningless violence.
3:48:43 PMSimpleJakhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equanimity
3:48:48 PMSimpleJakEquanimity (Latin: æquanimitas having an even mind; aequus even animus mind/soul) is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. The virtue and value of equanimity is extolled and advocated by a number of major religions and ancient philosophies.
3:49:11 PMSimpleJakNeither a thought nor an emotion, it is rather the steady conscious realization of reality's transience. It is the ground for wisdom and freedom and the protector of compassion and love. While some may think of equanimity as dry neutrality or cool aloofness, mature equanimity produces a radiance and warmth of being. The Buddha described a mind filled with equanimity as "abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill-will."
3:50:04 PMSimpleJakWhat is interesting to me is that a killing like that is not nearly the worst things out there.
3:50:11 PMSimpleJakFor example, factory farming is worse.
3:50:24 PMSimpleJakYou'll notice cows and pigs and chickens make the same sound as this man when they are killed.
3:50:30 PMSimpleJakBecause it's the same experience for them.
3:50:53 PMSimpleJakI'm going to watch this video again and really focus on the sound while reflecting on the practice of eating animals.
3:52:33 PMSimpleJakIt's pretty surprising to think that everyday, on Thanksgiving for example, there are beings sitting on our table that underwent an experience very similar to this man.
3:52:37 PMSimpleJakAnd it's all ordinary to us.
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3:57:21 PM+typhonI think it's more that a brutal murder reduces man to an animal in his final minutes, which is part of what we recognize as the crime, not that animals are elevated to the status of murdered men because they gasp and struggle.
4:00:29 PM* SimpleJak pauses to reflect on your words
4:02:36 PMSimpleJakI think we recognize that there is tremendous suffering present when a human is reduced to mere 'animalness', agreed. So, what is civilization? It is an agreement and edifice created by social beings so that they may escape that suffering-filled world. We lament when we are reminded that such a world exists when we can sometimes go years without seeing it.
4:03:29 PMSimpleJakBut, this is the world that non-humans live in most of their lives. They don't get to experience near as much safe harbor or refuge that we get to experience. It's just as bad when they are 'put' in that world at our hands as when it is a human.
4:04:36 PMSimpleJakYes, there is equality in those moments.
4:05:22 PMSimpleJakThe equality is borne from the fact that the intensity of the signals in the nervous system of the non-human and human will dominate their experience. The nervous system of all faced-animals are sufficiently complex to allow them a similar experience.