Victims of the powerbrokers

1493: 

What is most urgent for repair?  Why are we all so scared about the future?  Why are we immobilised?  Surely what makes us so afraid is that, as individuals we can’t do anything about any of it, let alone all-of-it.  We feel as though we are victims of the people who run the show.  Our fear is perhaps being conscious of our circumstances and knowing we're helpless to change things for the greater good.

         

To a very great extent, once you’re vegan that fear largely dissolves.  It’s likely that, once we stop using meat, we are engaged with something bigger than ourselves.  We have crossed a bridge.  We have a cause to fight for.  By being vegan we also develop enough self-discipline to bypass a lot of the pedestrian fears.  By not giving fears any mind-space, we can divert our energies towards something more interesting and useful - repair.  And perhaps more than any other reason for things having got so out of hand is pessimism -  the appearance of things getting worse makes any attempt at making things-get-radically-better seems unrealistic.  Perhaps this delusion stops things moving forward faster.  Look how slow we are at coming to terms with global warming, for instance.

Using a shipping analogy: the great ship of Society is sailing towards rocks – it hits and begins leaking. It needs running-repairs, to avoid sinking.  Steering away from the rocks is difficult due to inertia, and the fact that the ship is taking on so much water.  The atmosphere on board is close to panic.  Just when the opposite is most needed, the atmosphere is least energetic and creative.  The smell of panic is not conducive to making running-repairs, to keep the ship afloat.  Everyone seems to be transfixed by the gashing rocks. 

Repairs are slow.  The ship is getting heavier.  Disaster is almost inevitable.  Rescue is unlikely.  Should we jump?  Should we give up?  Give in?

Whether it's a matter of global warming or unethical treatment of animals, our habits of daily living are our sinking ship.  They are habits which are so heavily ingrained in us, that we can't be creative about a response to the unexpected; we can't act since we are so transfixed by the danger-rocks gashing at our hull; we don't even see our deteriorating health.  We only experience a fug of feeling overwhelmed by it all.  The ship of our society is foundering.

Vegan principle covers a lot of issues, including many of the greatest problems facing mankind today.  The principle of sustainability, non-violence and eco-friendliness is just one idea that is likely to avert catastrophe.  This is at the heart of vegan principle.  Whatever isn't immediately or obviously covered by it, will follow on logically from it.  It's one idea for steering away from the rocks and for repairing the gash in the side of our ship, all at the same time.

To repair the cumulative damage we’ve done to ourselves and our world, we need a safety principle.  A self-repair and an environmental fix-up principle.  The very beginning of this repair involves boycotting animal farm produce, not just because it’s crap-food but because it symbolises all that nasty, anthropocentric arrogance in the human soul. Our ‘species-domination’, more than anything else, is perpetuating a near-catastrophic relationship problem with each other, but also on an interspecies level.