1434:
In one way particularly, we
humans have lost our way, or as the moralists say “lost our moral compass”. With its no-touch-animals policy, I think
veganism helps people get back on the path.
By ‘no-touch’ I mean ‘exploit’, and I put it that way because it’s
simpler to understand. It’s a clear
starting point, using the principle of harmlessness to affect every major
attitude we hold, about animals especially. It’s a force for good, not only because it’s a
personal stabilising force but because it acts as a reference point; when we
get confused and lose our bearings, we can always go back to the principle
of harmlessness.
This principle governs the
food we eat and the relationships we have with others. It starts at home with setting personal
standards that let us be not so difficult to live with. Doing things harmlessly, gets us past our
worst blockages with people. It leads to
good communication and an intelligent way of tackling many of today’s global
problems. As an all-purpose panacea,
it’s something any of us can practise from home - by setting high standards of
harmlessness. It's likely that the most
constructive changes-of-the-future will come out of this basket. And therefore it follows that the impetus to take
on a vegan lifestyle comes out of a conscious attempt to eschew harm. In that way vegans set standards.
It’s no good waiting for
others to do it first. And surely, short
of some catastrophe forcing their hand, no government is ever going to take
bold initiatives, like the closing down of abattoirs. And with the abattoirs
remaining open, humans will continue to have closed minds.
Minds can open simply by
being ‘turned-on’, by inspiring behaviour. When ordinary people stop indiscriminately
believing what politicians, academics, churches and media tell them, they’ll start
to think for themselves. And
feelings-felt mixed with an instinctive self-trust will change attitudes, after
which we'll be free to discover the solutions we need.
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