"Were you able to become more aware of your own feelings? What feelings?"

Becoming more aware of my own feelings is an understatement of the profound emotions I experienced throughout Earthlings. Indeed, I've long been aware of animal cruelty (and seen several, short videos and commercials from PETA and SPCA over the years), but never before have I seen a work as long and detailed as Earthlings. So as cliche as it sounds, I became more aware of my compassion and empathy toward these creatures. There was a scene in which a bull has his throat slit and the camera zooms in on his panicked eyes for several seconds. For me, this was the most powerful scene of the entire documentary. At that moment, I really did feel the pain and fear he was experiencing, and that was a profound revelation for me.

Those eyes might as well be mine.

Were you able to be homo empathicus?

I'd certainly say I was able to be homo empathicus, but my social awareness specifically increased for the abusive humans in some of the videos. After part I, I certainly felt horrible for the animals, but seeing the anger and apparent hatred that some of said animals' captors harbored in part II opened my eyes to the other side of the torment that these creatures experience. Instead of feeling resentment toward these humans, I felt truly bad for them; I guarantee that many of these people are made into such callous beings because of the conditions they operate in and the actual work they have to do.

When, at what scenes, are you able to extend compassion to the suffering being?  When, at what scenes, are you able to send out from the center of your chest light, love, peace, or freedom to the suffering being?

I'd seen the same video before, but it was just as jarring to my psyche the second time around: that of a raccoon being skinned alive, its bloody eyelashes blinking and twitching in shock from pain. Watching this, all I wanted to do was find a way to alleviate its suffering--no living being deserves to experience such a death.

This image allowed me to "send out from the center of my chest light, love, peace, and freedom to the suffering being."

Were you able to see the beings on the screen, however briefly, as a devout Jain, Buddhist, or Hindu might? (See pp. 205, 209-210, 804-833, 846-54) Remember, "We are trying to learn ethics experientially. In this case, your assignment is to become an actor, acting as if . . . This "willing suspension of disbelief," as Coleridge put it, is essential to the effectiveness of all novels, plays, movies, etc. In this case, we temporarily relinquish our skepticism and disbelief in order to experience a little of what, say, a devout Jain, Buddhist, or Hindu might have thought and felt about animal suffering.

I felt like a Buddhist would, in that one should refrain from harming any and all living beings. Seeing the suffering of so many animals made me hurt for the suffering apparent in the human condition.

Were you able to see the beings on the screen, however briefly, in terms of one or more of the four immeasurable states of Buddhism (brahmāvihāra): love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, extended to all beings throughout the cosmos."

Yes, specifically sympathetic joy for the wild, free animals frolicking in their true habitats at the end of the video.

When, at what scenes, did you most feel the desire to alleviate the suffering, to do something about the cruelty you saw?

Vivisection has always disturbed me, so the entire section on scientific experimentation made me want to actually go out and do something to help. Watching giant chunks of charred skin peel off from a still-breathing pig specifically made me want to do something about the suffering I saw.

When, at what scenes, did you feel compassion fatigue?

I felt compassion fatigue at the rodeo portion of the documentary. Growing up in Texas had somewhat dulled my senses to the pain and torment rodeo animals go through, so after seeing so many other (and in my opinion, worse) instances of animal cruelty, I was a little worn out and dismissive of the grievances of such creatures.

When, at what scenes, did you feel overwhelmed, unable to comprehend, much less do anything about all the suffering?

The videos of apes being used for head-injury experiments was horrifying to watch. I was absolutely overwhelmed, in shock, and stunned.

When, at what scenes, did you just feel depressed, numb, shut down?

I never really felt depressed or shut down, but again, I definitely felt numb after seeing the head-injury experiments on apes.