Have you answered The Call?

I’ve attended more self-improvement and spirituality conferences than I can count, and served on my fair share of committees to help improve how we treat the planet, the workplace, and each other. I’ve been a Seeker for as long as I can remember, wondering about things unseen, the marvels of the Universe, the human potential for healing, and what is that force that tells us the right things to do? I frequently check in with the Grand Source of Life; I’ve spent countless hours refining my intuitive skills, and maintain the highest intention of listening for, and responding to, The Call.

We usually think about The Call in terms of Life Purpose: a spiritual or religious experience that lets us know with certainty how to figure out our vocation, our gifts, our special role. We yearn to make some kind of meaningful contribution, to know what our unique piece of the whole is, so that we can get busy making a difference in our community and the world, feeling confident along the way.

I like to think that The Call is much more than vocation, or something relegated to religion or dogma. Personally, I find that more than scriptural reference, or what others have to say, more than social traditions or psychotherapy, personal discernment is what’s most important-becoming aware, gathering information, making a decision, and seeking signs of confirmation of your choice.

I surmise The Call to be spiritual, good for the Listener, and revealed for the good of all Beings; ultimately it is pragmatic, and yet it remains rather elusive for many of us. So why is it that for some of us, even when it becomes clearly evident to others, we can hardly believe the message we hear is The Call, that it’s meant for us, and we resist? Recently, The Call appeared in my life the most unforeseen way; so unanticipated that I couldn’t help but ignore it for almost a year.

Oprah Winfrey says, “We're all called. If you're here breathing, you have a contribution to make to our human community. There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It's why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.”

One thing for certain, surviving my cancer diagnosis many years ago helped me recognize that I do want to be “truly alive,” and that my existence must have some meaning or contribution. Joie de vivre! Carpe Diem! Life’s too short as the saying goes, too short to not heed The Call and live your passions. The message seemed loud and clear at the time I perceived it in the past, but I wonder if I confused The Call with career direction: here I am at midlife and my vocation seems to be changing again.

So, how do you know you’ve heard The Call? In the song, WordUp, Nu Metal band Korn says, “When you hear the call you've got to get it underway,” implying that one will know without a doubt what actions to take for fulfillment and contribution. It’s never been that simple for me, but I’m working on it.

So what is The Call for me now? Well, this sounds as awkward as an Armadillo, especially coming from someone who’s been a non-meat-eating person for twelve years:

er, um…The Call for me now is clearly: “Eat chicken.”

OK, so maybe it’s not the most humble Call anyone’s received. But wait! It’s not just any chicken. It’s organic, locally pastured, insecticide and herbicide-free; raised by a friendly Farmer, with maybe a little organic grain to help supplement the chickie’s diet during inclement Midwest weather; it’s given no animal by-products to peck, no antibiotics,  and, (as is true with all commercial poultry) no hormones (the federal government forbids the use of hormones in all poultry, according to the USDA).

Recognizing that my dream messages are altruistic to a degree, as well as hearing sympathetic meat-eaters cluck about how humanely-treated chickens are happier (until we line them up for slaughter), doesn’t assuage my tender heart. After all, the defining moment when I decided to stop eating meat and poultry was purely psychological. I read a book called “Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic,” by DeGraf, Wan, and Naylor, and overnight committed to not participating in the ever-growing pressure to increase mass production of animal sources of food –animals inhumanely raised and treated to grow fast quicker, to get them down the conveyor belt each hour with so much speed that a worker could not kill them properly before being dismembered for packaging. All that to satisfy gorging Americans, capitalism and our consumer-driven market. I immediately embraced a vegan diet.

Kudos to those of you who remain steadfastly vegetarian. Certainly the planet is Calling for a more Eco-friendly, humane food chain. To my chagrin, I ended up converting to a plant-based diet, tossing the occasional fish in the saute pan and eating eggs. After becoming fatigued and protein-depleted I had to admit I did not feel good, and I simply did not have the energy and inclination required to satisfy that need otherwise. Please understand that I’m rationally aware of the ability to exist with non-animal sources of food, and have shared those benefits liberally, much to the annoyance of my meat-eating friends.

At any rate, I’ve been resisting The Call to Eat Chicken for about a year now. I’ve been perfectly content with the planetary and personal health benefits of eating a plant-based diet for at least twelve years! On a practical everyday level, having a meat-free diet has meant no worry about prions (mad cow disease, bird flu in humans); no greasy residue or rancid aromas; and, a smug sense of satisfaction knowing our food is safer to eat because there’s minimal risk for evil bacteria such as Salmonella or campylobacter. Let’s face it-it’s simply not as dangerous if an organic carrot sits on the counter for a few hours.

 

So how do I know that “Eat Chicken” is really The Call? Well, at first, the message came through Chicken Dreams: I ask my husband to order the Organic Roast Chicken dish, so I can take a bite (without anyone seeing me of course); then, dream scenes in which I instruct him to buy chicken, or grill it (only outside); next, I’m at our local Co-Op quizzing the butcher about what they mean by “free-range” and “natural organic”; I purchase the bird bits myself, before I wake up from the dream-mare in a cold sweat.

In spite of the dreams,  of admonitions from my Asian health practitioners, and my intuition telling me as clearly as though it were coming through my IPhone: “Eat Chicken to build your depleted Chi”, up until now I cringed at the idea and refused to act accordingly.

I figured, “I’m pretty darned healthy”…except that I began having swallowing problems. Funny, it started happening around the time the Eat Chicken Dreams Series began…feeling like food was getting a bit stuck in my throat progressed in frequency, accompanied by achy finger joints and eczema outbreaks, until I completed a rigorous Elimination Diet and stopped eating soy and, ironically, eggs…

Which brings me back to what a wise friend recently stated is the most precise way to detect The Call:

 “If you ignore The Call, the universe will repeat the message for you. And, if you still don’t listen, you get symptoms (to help you pay attention.)” Still, it’s hard for me to let go of the mind set that I disciplined myself to adhere to in the past, and accept what my body is telling me now.

One of the things I love about Eastern philosophy is that at its purest, it prevents you from becoming too rigid or attached to the rules you make up for yourself, even rebuking its own rules in favor of believing in messages of inner truth:

"Do not believe in what you have heard; do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations; do not believe anything because it is rumored and spoken of by many; do not believe merely because the written statements of some old sage are produced; do not believe in conjectures; do not believe in that as a truth to which you have become attached by habit; do not believe merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. After observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." ~ Gautama Buddha

As I swallow my smoothie and rub my tender fingers, I search the Internet for restaurants serving local organic chicken, and map out the way to our local family-owned organic chicken farm store to make my first purchase in over 12 years.

Contribute to the Conversation:  If you want to explore The Call from both religious and secular perspectives: http://whatsyourcalling.org/about

(specific to chicken slaughter: http://whatsyourcalling.org/campaign/what-if-your-calling-involves-a-violent-but-necessary-act)