Meditation and not being vegetarian

I read about Martin Shaw who had a spiritual epiphany when he was a young man and took to a Hindu-based Philosophy, Sant Mat. He gave up alcohol, drugs and meat which is totally admirable.  I started my spiritual quest when I was in my twenties too with a minor epiphany which literally opened the heart to enquire into things I had taken for granted.  So I am a hybrid, a mongrel philosopher with Christian faith and a continuing enquiry into philosophy.  I have been attending philosophy classes at the School of Economic Science for 40 years and this was where I discovered meditation and that was over 35 years ago.
I am sure that giving up alcohol and meat (and sex for some) aids the spiritual quest but the promise of meditation is that it does the whole works.  It takes you beyond those desires and needs.   As long as you really give yourself to it, it will take you to your goal.  And as it belongs to no faith or gender group, it is beyond the politics of religion which tend to divide people one from another.  One day, not when I choose, the appetites will give up just as the body ages without my doing anything about it, but until that moment, my discipline will just be meditation coupled with clearing the mind and heart of the old tyrants of jealousy, hatred, greed and vanity.   The rest of the can of worms should diminish once the bad old tyrants have given up their hold.
If you find this interesting, and have a question about  meditation and you live in London, come along to St Martin-in-the-Fields on November 20th at 10.00 am and find out more.  The event there is called JUSTTHISDAY  and it has brilliant speakers and is a chance to find out how brilliant meditation is.

www.justthisday.org