1932:
What a great idea veganism is,
with its empathy-driven approach to day-to-day life. It checks my more violent
and selfish instincts by the food it guides me towards, or rather the food it
makes me want to boycott. You can’t argue with the logic of veganism.
Apart from avoiding the
‘cruelty-products’, it inspires a greater non-violence in other ways. Since I’m
no longer quite so reckless in what I eat, I’m less so in the way I think. And
taking this to its glorious conclusion, it suggests logically there’s little difference
between the sentient and the non-sentient, it’s all consciousness after all. It
affects the way I drive a car or deal with the kids or handle the cat or
respect the cow. When I considered becoming a vegan it was always going to be
for reasons bigger than just avoiding animal food (life is more than food and
clothes!!).
We are all consumers. We’re
all users of resources and all adults should tread more lightly. Like many
others, we surely want to value and better appreciate the power of things.
Food, for example. And to do that, I have to first know how to transform myself
from clod-hopping brute to sensitive, gentle adult.
I can either grab whatever I
crave or be more discerning. It’s my choice. I can exercise some self control
or be profligate. And once I’m less attached to ‘my stuff’ I can reduce the
stress and dissatisfaction associated with it.
Life
is stressful and the cause of this stress may be craving, or thirst. Many of
the things I would crave are simply no longer available to anyone who is vegan,
so I have to learn to do without. And once I get used to that, a vegan
lifestyle is very stressless and satisfying, and fulfils my wish to be gentler
with things without having to compromise principles.
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