May 2009

–It’s in to be a vegetarian for health and environmental reasons, but factoring in a spiritual dimension of harmlessness may add a reverence for life–It’s in to be a vegetarian. More and more people are becoming vegetarian or at least saying they are for both health and environmental reasons. Being a vegetarian avoids the animal fat that contains the bad cholesterol, for example. It’s generally healthier than meat eating, higher in fiber, more likely to have recommended dosage of vitamins and minerals. It’s certainly more environmental friendly. Growing vegetables, grains and fruits leaves less of a carbon footprint than raising cattle. And such staples tend to be consumed closer to home, thus indeed being greener.
And yet there may be another reason to be a vegetarian, a spiritual one, one based on at least a degree of harmlessness. If one were to take a wide view of what’s harmless it may be one wouldn’t eat at all, so it has to be a harmlessness that is somewhat suited to our needs, our understanding, our possibilities, sometimes our bodies, and in these days of belt tightening for many also our pocketbooks. It means it’s OK to eat milk and eggs because they do not take life. It makes a distinction between the life of a fish, which is more at the sensory than the awareness level and that of a pig which studies have shown can be so aware that they can be traumatized on their way to slaughter. Factoring in a spiritual dimension helps us make better choices. But most of all it forms a layer of gratitude for the smaller forms of life being sacrificed to sustain our own, and in the process makes us more reverent toward this mysterious thing we call life.

–A noted British art connoisseur feels that justice would now be better served if the restitution of Nazi looted art ended– At what point does justice ends and business begins? That is the idea behind Sir Norman Rosenthal’s recent article in The Art Newspaper, an influential art journal. The prominent art connoisseur, a former leading curator at London’s Royal Academy for more than 30 years, whose parents were Jewish refugees from Germany an Slovakia, has called for an end of the restitution of Nazi looted Art. His reasons are simple, the restitution has become a business. Grandchildren and other relatives of former owners are now in various litigations for valuable pieces, some in museums. Since 1998 during a conference in Washington where 44 countries pledged to find “fair solutions” many have filed claims to recover art taken from former family members through whatever unscrupulous tactics the Nazis used to acquire whatever art they wanted. Needless to say Rosenthal’s argument has caused a stir among those who have championed the righting of this unquestionable wrong through restitution. Rosenthal who is now active in the art world from Abu Dhabi to Philadelphia no longer believes that restitution is an effective way to overcome the past. “We can no longer wipe history clean” he says adding that the claim to art looted by the Nazis should end with the death of the last surviving owners.
Sometimes justice must look forward, not backward, and certainly forgiveness must. It does look that Sir Norman has a point.