Thinking Cooks the Truth

Imagine a fish swimming in a river,
moving in perfect harmony with the currents.
Every cell of its body vibrantly alive.

Now imagine the fish on the bank of the river, dead.
Every cell dead.

Imagine the fish in a frying pan, cooked.
Every cell cooked.

The fish in the pan resembles the fish in the river,
but they are as different as night and day.

Does the reality I can grasp with my intellect
resemble the truth any more than the fish in the pan
resembles the fish in the river?

Who are these faithful friends?

They are generally obedient animals, with teeth, nails and hair like most others.  They love attention but are often ignored.  They would love to romp, but are usually allowed only a little bit of walking, and for the rest of the time, are made to sit.

Most often, they are made to eat food with minimal nutritional value, so that for much of their lives, they are obese and unhealthy.  In some cases, they are forced to breathe smoke and even to take harmful drugs to the point of addiction.

They have naturally curious intellects, but these are usually stifled by the countless hours of mindless television they are made to watch.

They are aware of endless opportunities to make others happy, to reach out and comfort suffering.  But because they are forbidden to do so, they are mostly sad.

Despite all of this, they continue to serve us until they eventually die.

They deserve our kindness.

They are our bodies.