DocM
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OK, you guys, stay away from Dude's house - bedbugs, mice, termites, you get the picture. (kidding).
First off, can I add here that reverence for life is important, but when one looks at nature, really looks, what do you see? Everything is eating everything else. I live in the woods. Bugs constantly eating other bugs. Frogs eating bugs, snakes eating frogs. Is this evil? Of course not. It is what it is. Life in the physical world often comes in cycles.
Why live in a house? For shelter? And what if an unwanted animal gets in? Share the house? What if it carried disease, or dies naturally in your walls and stinks? You didn't ask it in. You tried to have a dwelling that would not be inviting but it got in anyway. To keep it in your house would not be good for the animal; it is not their natural habitat. It would not be good for your health and physical well being.
What about killing a person? You and your loved one are attacked viciously while walking in a park. You have the chance to defend your loved one, but in the process you must kill the attacker. Do you worry about incurring bad karma? Let your loved one be bludgeoned (etc.)? If not, why not?
The key aspect of killing is intent. Is your intent to keep a clean house, and the killing a tragic but necessary part of it? If so, it is far different to your consciousness and your afterlife experience then if you maliciously seek out animals to destroy for the fun of it. Intent - this is what matters most. Is your intent to kill the attacker mentioned in the park, or to defend your loved one (and the killing a tragic byproduct of your defense).
It is foolish to think that we should live in the physical and not protect ourselves from that which would hurt us. The flu virus kills thousands of Americans each year. There is a pill called Tamilfu which, if taken early will eradicate the virus. Is it "wrong" to take Tamiflu then, killing this virus? Of course not.
Death is not the end of things - nothing truly dies. For me, the effect on you and your soul simply comes from intent. Should you live with a fly infestation in your home? Will it create negative karma for which you must atone? Heck no to both questions.
Matthew
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