Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: Why is there so much injustice towards all animals in this world? Why are we, humans, so cruel to our animals?

A: Perhaps the easiest answer is that, as sophisticated as we are, we humans are not so far removed from being animals ourselves. Our ascent from an animal origin to becoming fully realized and spiritual is a long one, particularly here on earth. The human species evolved from the animal kingdom about one million years ago, which is a very short time in evolutionary terms. Many of us still respond to the primitive emotions of ghost fear, superstition, magic because as a species we haven't evolved beyond those primitive influences â€“ our brains are still wired to be receptive to them so to speak. Injustice is still a part of our makeup â€“ not just to animals but to our fellow humans as well. After a million years of evolutionary progress we're just on the verge of giving up on slavery; women are finding equality with men; governments are responding to the will of the people. These are positive steps, but injustice still prevails. Here is a quote from The Urantia Book that speaks to this:

The whole idea of primitive justice was not so much to be fair as to dispose of the contest and thus prevent public disorder and private violence. But primitive man did not so much resent what would now be regarded as an injustice; it was taken for granted that those who had power would use it selfishly. Nevertheless, the status of any civilization may be very accurately determined by the thoroughness and equity of its courts and by the integrity of its judges. (70:11.10)

If we exhibit injustice towards one another certainly injustice will also be exhibited towards animals. However, animals and humans don't have the same rights. We are stewards of the planet meaning that the animals come under our care and supervision. Whether they're to be used as food or for labor or simply to give us pleasure it's our duty to treat them with love and respect â€“ since we don't treat one another that way yet it's too much to expect that we will do so with the animals under our care. But, in my estimation, animals are usually treated better than we treat one another. So, wherever you confront injustice it is valuable to speak out to try to change the condition.

Labels: animals, cruelty, humans, injustice, respect, The Urantia Book