Animals thus have to live with fights and massacres. This being so, the killing or murderous characteristics actually become virtues in these beings. But what about human beings? Have they rid themselves entirely of the habit of living in this same way? Do they not also slaughter animals in enormous quantity, murdering and killing them and robbing them of their freedom? They certainly do. The fact that they must also meet hard karmic retribution is a matter of course. The difference between the meat-eating of the animals and of the human beings is that while the meat-eating of the carnivorous animal is a vital necessity, it is absolutely not so with human beings. But only a very small percentage of mankind have discovered this and have therefore stopped eating animal food. They have gone over to vegetarian sources of nutrition. The rest of mankind has as yet such a total lack of understanding of the fact that one should refrain from animal food and become a vegetarian, that they can regard such a situation only as abnormal. But these meat-eaters have, from this aspect of their way of being alone, so much karma from killing waiting for them that they can be killed by catastrophes and accidents at any time whatsoever.