Transitional stages

1133: 

Being part of the Animal Rights Movement is an advantage, not just for the vegan lifestyle it suggests but for developing a certain lightness-of-being.  If ever I’ve achieved that, I’ve noticed people are feel less afraid of me.  They recognise a non-violence in me, which in turn lets them trust me, or at least it helps them not fear I’m going to say something hurtful to them.

It’s hard for me to talk about this without seeming cute, but there are distinct advantages in being non-threatening.  For a start it lets the subject I want to talk about be taken at face value, without all the shutters going up at the outset.  I suppose it’s about not making value judgements.

Being Animal Rights-oriented for some years, it’s easy to forget how I viewed the difference between refusing to know and wanting to learn.  Now, I realise just how difficult this subject is for people to talk about and learn from.  I’m less impatient these days, especially when people are obstinate or they don’t seem to understand what I’m on about.  In the end I do have to care where others are coming from, knowing that they’re overwhelmed by personal and global problems, whilst knowing that they’re contributing to them and not alleviating them.  It’s a perception glitch many people face, that they can’t see past the obvious food/health/animal-cruelty angle of vegan principle; they don’t see enough deep truth in it (behind veganism and animal rights, non-aggression and robust health) to realise it all comes down to working with Nature and not against it.

The human race has been struggling to dominate Nature for a long time, and that’s probably the main cause of the global problems plaguing us today.  Personally I know I need to find a way of going back to a more natural lifestyle.  I don’t mean to live primitively, just find a way to use present systems harmlessly.

By learning how to consider others before embarking on harmful actions, I’m experiencing break-through.  And of course, that makes me want, more than anything else, to communicate what I’ve found out to others.  “You too can make a breakthrough”.  So I feel this passion, enthusiasm and what sounds like altruism welling up in me.  But to communicate all this, to bring those feelings to any sort of action, requires good morale, good mood and a genial disposition.  And, in turn, that means I’ve got to be able to understand where other people are at.  I need to overcome the odds against me, including lack of support from friends, family and even fellow vegans.

But if I’ve been disappointed in people it might not be such a disadvantage.  As others draw away, I’ve become less reliant on encouragement from them.  Morale has to be largely self-generated.  And if I’m going to be spending a lot of time using my energy to promote Animal Rights, then morale is going to be important.

I know vegans are still very few in number and pro-active vegans even fewer.  As rather lonely advocates for animals, vegans may feel unsupported, vulnerable and at times depressed by others’ lack of interest, but if we get affected too badly by that we won’t be able to maintain momentum - and that means zero help to the imprisoned animals, and less chance to inspire others, or encourage and inform them.

         

Animal Rights is not like a contemplative religious order.  It isn’t based on prayer or wishful thinking but on experimentation, trialling of ideas and attempts to break-through old attitudes.  It’s a multidimensional pursuit - not only about doing one’s duty to help animals or trying to convert people to vegan food, but about making hard work (the whole project of Animal Liberation) enjoyable.  If I can do that one thing for myself, I know I won’t be pulled down by what others are thinking.  And then my own motivation doesn’t become the issue, and I’m deriving my own pleasure and satisfaction from the gratifying feeling of doing something constructive, for those who most need it.

Does that sound too pious?  Perhaps it does, but vegans are up against a huge barrier of resistance.  It impacts on us heavily - it’s not easy to be part of such a tiny minority.  And what we don’t need is to be dragged-down.  And what we do need is solo exploration, that can take on a momentum of its own.  Then discovery is its own reward and our communication with others will run more smoothly and less-frighteningly.  After that, the transitional stage is on a downhill run.