non-violent vegans

By making non-violence work on the habit level, we need to get used to it and acquire the habit of not faltering, not slipping back into violent ways even when we’re on the defensive. If we do still act violently then we still have attitudes we haven’t got to the bottom of yet. (We all find that one extremely embarrassing – our hard side being spotted).
Habits related to violence show up when we’re least on our guard. Often at home, where perhaps we are so well known that we don’t even try to impress. So when we roll out of bed and take our black mood to the breakfast table, things can fall apart quickly. Without considering the consequences, we say something hard, and with this one small violence the damage is done. It all happens so quickly, and then it’s hard to pull back. The atmosphere darkens. And we can’t take it back once our words come out of our mouths. We try to bluff it out, try to justify it, but whatever we say the feeling is left hanging, unresolved. Once the violent side of us is spotted, others remember we have a nasty side and from then on they avoid stirring us up. And so it goes … we begin to dislike ourselves ... then we resolve to become a truly non-violent person and to deny violence altogether. But good intentions may not be enough to deal with such a deeply ingrained violent past, which all of us have inherited from having grown up in a violent society. The nature of violence has to become a study in itself and habits need to be carefully readjusted if we want to acquire a truly non-violent personality … if that is what we really want. Being vegan is one thing, being a truly non-violent vegan is another!