Going-vegan – it’s almost like falling in love

This is where the idea of the "complete repair" comes in. Logically, if the world were to stop eating and farming animals, many of our major problems would disappear. On a personal level, where it must begin, there is a chance to make a break with an old set of habits and take an essential first step in repair by "going-veg". By withdrawing our support for the animal industries and freeing ourselves from the addictive grip of their products, we do a repair job on ourselves and help liberate the animals at the same time. And since this boycott and consequent lifestyle-change flies in the face of traditional social behaviour, this is a badge we can wear proudly. It makes us more attractive to ourselves and provides the motivation we need, to go forward and make much needed repairs contributing to the big three: human starvation, animal exploitation and environmental destruction.
But this switching of habit is no light matter. If we give up eating meat one day, the next day we’ll be questioning the whole ethical basis of animal farming and nutrition! So what starts out as just a change of diet, now opens up some big-time changes of attitude. Many people see the advantages of a plant based diet but they’re fearful of taking the first step. The idea is exciting in theory but in practice the changes look too scary. And this is encouraged by a certain obfuscation on the part of our society, in the way it refers to the animals we eat. The altruism gene in nearly all of us has been put to sleep when it comes to thinking about ‘agricultural stock’. We have all been carefully groomed to think euphemistically. The terms ‘poultry’, ‘porkers’ and ‘cattle’ are far enough removed from the animals’ true names to put them into a special category, as if designed specifically as a human food species. Any altruistic feeling we might have for the animals themselves feels somehow awkward when the collective term is used. It diverts our concern away from the individuality of each animal.
If we do see through this cynical downgrading of farmed animals we might consider the move to veganism. And it’s only then that we must be ready to surprise ourselves, by considering the non-pursuit of self-interest and the embracing of an altruistic, compassionate concern. That’s when we allow ourselves to be taken over by the passion of it. Going vegan is almost like falling in love! The big thrill comes in the idea itself - in this case "to not make use of animals". It’s a two-way bonus of liberating animals and strengthening ourselves at the same time.
We need courage and commitment to carry it through, but by carrying it through we develop the very courage and commitment we need. Once we establish this direction, when the logic falls into place, we see how this habit-change contributes so neatly to the future of the planet and contributes to our own personal development as well. In a nutshell everything is transformed by the application of the no-touch-animals principle.