Milk

Milk

I went with Xiomar to milk cows today.

We rode bikes. Carrie was sleeping and Emma didn’t come so it was just the two of us.

The bike ride is so beautiful. Everything here is beautiful

We got to the farm after about 5 minutes of riding across gorgeous dirt roads and rocks.

I see all the babies in one area. Xiomar calls to me and I follow him over to a gated pasture where there are mothers and a ~white horse with a third eye triangle. Xiomar opens their ‘pen’ where they are held and they sprint quickly through a path to the area next to their penned up babies. They immediately are standing across from their children, and it’s very easy to know who birthed who because of the overwhelming love they are showing to each other even across a fence. Xiomar and his cousin begin to open the gate, allowing only two babies into the milking area at a time. They run to their mothers who welcome them and turn to face the men, sheltering their humiliated and vulnerable offspring as much as they can. The hungry babies are busy sucking their mommy’s breasts, enjoying the foamy cream that is made to nurture their growing bodies. Quickly, they are roped around the neck and tied to the front legs of their moms.  I find this very intense. Screaming and crying out, trying to reach the utters where their food is, the babies wrassle against their bonds. At this point, Xiomar and his uncle are milking the moms, while their children watch, horrified and wide eyed and screaming. I’m beginning to cry at this point. The horse, who at first will not face me, and if I come near turns his entire body away from me, is beginning to say some what of ‘watch, do you see?” I look at the mom and child Xiomar is milking. She stands there, her screaming infant tethered to her leg while a human squeezes her breasts for the milk the baby needs. She is soothing and nuzzling her baby, calming it as much as can be done. The whole situation is full of love and agony. I come up to her face. She is literally crying. Tears stream out of her eyes. I touch her and soothe her, although the process is more of an empathic sharing of pain. I cry with her. She kisses me with her tongue and asks me to soothe her child. I rub its back and send love. This whole time, I feel very calm inside. I feel love inside. But there is pain and horrendous suffering around me and it is flowing through me causing tears. I watch and cry while this process of control and exploitation happens all around me. I say a mantra everyday to Violet Fire, and I had recited most of it on my walk to Xiomar’s this morning. Standing near the horse, I say the rest very quietly. I’m saying this beautiful mantra and beginning to feel warmth and tenderness from the horse. A calf, the one who I had soothed, comes up to me and sniffs my hand, very nervous. If I move, she has a very fearful reaction. I stand still with my palms open and finish the mantra. I hum quietly and feel very soothed and connected to the animals around me. The calf licks me.

This procession of babies and mothers yearning from opposite sides of the fence while their captors allow two at a time for milking, continues. I watch along with all the other babies and mothers. The horse seems a silky guardian to the women, though she can not do anything to stop the suffering. She, the other mothers, the waiting children, and I are all witnesses to a horrendous exhibit of human cruelty that is passed off as a normal and acceptable behavior to everyone. (Xiomar looks at me a few times, though he doens’t understand or ask why I am crying.) 

 I meditate, sitting on the ground in the small pasture. Humming quietly, am one with the universe. When I look up, many cows are gathered around me, looking at me, sensing my empathy. The babies are curious and come a little closer. The universe is so full in this moment. I am in  a state of fullness. When turmulous things are happening, I feel so calm inside. Emotions flow through me and tears stream down my cheeks, boogers from my nose, but inside I am love and extreme peace. This authentic self brings joy to every aspect of my being and allows me to feel the love beneath suffering. Mothers tend to their children as the milking finishes and the families lick each other lovingly. There is a baby with a branch over his head, and this child is the last to be allowed to its mother. REunited, it awkwardly drinks, despite the large wooden choker strangling it. I cry a lot and meditate, as the other families and I watch, full of presence in this moment.

The seperation of a mother and her child is evil. The possession of a living creature is empty and cruel. What meaning does life have if we ignore it? Love each other. This extends to all life. 

When I leave the pasture, the mothers and babies are still together. It feels very silent when I step out of the gate and onto the bike. I cannot speak. 

I don’t understand how people don’t understand this. It is not hard to look beyond the state of conditioning. We know how messed up all these things are so can’t we look further and realize it is allllllll messed up? If millions of people were silent participants in Nazi concentration camps, mass-genocides of many nations and Indigenous peoples, and slavery that still permeates  and haunts (United States) our government and people, how is it so easy to ignore that this is a pattern of behavior that is playing out everywhere all the time. We cannot have “pets” and “food animals.” These are living beings here to sleep and eat and live as we (humans) are. Nothing is lesser or greater and just because we have developed a certain way doesn’t mean anything. These creatures around our humanrace have developed in their own ways. We are here to take care of life and instead we are destroying it and causing innumerable suffering. Inside we are all the universe. Let go of this idea that we are cogs in a machine. Each one of us is the universe each one of us is a magical and spiritual being of love and light and if we don’t protect the earth we will allow those who deny the truth to destroy it. Many people don’t want to face the truth. People try to brainwash you and you are brainwashing yourself when you don’t accept your full power. Be a being of light, look past your desires and your conditioning. You don’t need these addictions that give you temporary satisfaction you need to be gods of life. Love the universe and KNOW it is trying so hard to protect you and show you love just let go of fear and trust it. Don’t fight the good inside of you.