Conscience

1210:

So, here we have it, the battle between body needs and conscience needs.  That battle in our decision making weighs some central values – either we decide in favour of our own sensual interest or we take the more difficult decision to aid our spiritual development.  Is the weaker choice a ‘satisfaction decision’ because it isn’t based on ethics?

         

In a subsistence environment, there is no choice to make, but no mistakes either.  But in our rich Western world there are so many temptations that we are seduced into making mistakes.  We follow what others do.  And the seductive element is that we act out of habit which requires minimum-thinking, and that appeals to our need to conserve energy, because it’s always the easiest way possible.

‘Was it for that’, that we humans were given such good brains?  To make things easier for us?

With our fine brains, we no longer need to question ‘normal practice’.  We no longer need to look at the rights and wrongs of things we do, because we know (as eager followers) that the normal way is the safe and easy way.  So, if food tastes good, we go for it.  It must be safe because we’ve been eating this way for the whole of our lives.  The lubricated wheels of habit, and doing what we’ve been taught to do, give life predictability – where food is concerned, as soon as temptation tickles our tummy, we roll over.

Vegans, marginalised and denied support, are considered weird because of the food we eat.  Outsiders assume that we deliberately deny ourselves the ‘normal’ pleasures of food because we’d rather stand out as being special.  We’d rather get off side with people, and being contrary for the sake of it.

In fact, we do it for the sake of the animals.  That is our main reason for taking such a bold step, out of animal compassion and a wish to do something better for the future of our world.  You might think we have other motives, like our wish to simply cut our food bills (it’s quite inexpensive to eat vegan food!!) or to eat healthier food, or to help reduce carbon emissions.  But whatever the reason, it’s our outrage over animal treatment that acts as our kick start.

The people we look up to, teachers, parents, doctors, VIPs, priests, rock stars, writers, academics – almost none of them stand up for animal rights.  Without leadership in our community we are led by commercial interests; conscience is no longer our guide.