1842:
If ‘vegan’ means more to us
than just food, then it might be a new basis for our thinking. If you can ever
see yourself as a guardian, or as being protective, or encouraging independence,
you’ll know how comforting that place is. And if you yourself have few
over-dependencies, then you’ll see a way ahead, and be on the way towards the ideal.
As a sort of patron-saint of
lost causes, the most fulfilled vegans are the ones on the side of the most
vulnerable, who no one else thinks about. There are no rewards, no praise, no
encouragement, no notice taken of what we do. But if approval doesn’t matter
much to you anyway, then you might just make it. To become one of the planet’s
natural caretakers.
A janitor is who we are, in
our heart of hearts, guardians and look-over-ers, without the creepy surveillance
connotations - neither preacher nor evil guardian, nor nanny nor master, just protector.
Our brains are hard-wired to
focus on empathy. It’s not much more than a shorthand for intelligence. Because
we humans are so clever at guessing what others need, some of us use that to
exploit the unwary. But without that ulterior motive, this ‘guessing’ may be
very useful. Many people do look beyond their self-interest, to devise ways of
lessening suffering or guess at how to make things work better than they do
presently.
Whether it’s car maintenance
or relating to animals or in human relationships, humans (can) make things run
smoothly. If we think we might have the janitor-gene in us, it’s likely we’ll be
drawn to where things are going wrong and work to fix them, by developing that
sort of ‘empathy’ skill.
In order to be effective in
anything we need to go to the unknown. We come closer and look carefully, even with
our imaginations, to feel how it might be for others, and then to have care
enough to think about others. Then it’s all-good for all concerned. Empathy is in
all of us and it’s use is for the ‘Greater Good’.
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