A better world to come

The sort of world we’d like to have already has a working model. It’s here and in very ordinary ways it’s coming into existence all the time, unselfconsciously. A cat is sitting on a mat, so when I stroke the cat she starts purring. She shows satisfaction. Maybe she purrs to get more affection. Maybe her own purring feeds relaxation back into her own system. This sound-vibration (about the most reassuring sound a cat can make) is important and satisfying to her and it also affects me beneficially. The satisfaction is mutual. A contented human stroking a contented cat - neither is being entirely selfish nor selfless.
These moments remind us that in very small ways all’s right with the world - by being in a state of familiar satisfaction at home. However, the significance of being with a beloved cat or a child we’re close to, is that these home values may be taken outside the home, to work, even to the big end of town. We can employ the same altruism in any issue-deciding situation, where making ‘the other’ feel valued makes for the best outcome.
Altruism, in whatever form it takes, has a magnetic quality. It stands out. People feel it there even though they don’t mention it. So what is altruism? Is it a method of making others feel good? Well, perhaps not entirely. But it is attractive to others. It gets noticed. It gets us noticed and it feels satisfying too - that’s hardly selflessness. So perhaps pure altruism doesn’t exist because it is contaminated by our own desires. But so what? The main thing is that we are inspired by what is everywhere anyway; a greeting on the street, a helping hand, dropping a coin in a charity box. It is already practised by almost everyone, but largely unselfconsciously. By bringing it into a fuller consciousness, as veganism tries to do, altruism takes on a usefulness with a very practical purpose. For vegans their altruistic boycotting of animal products is the beginning of a whole process we hope to be useful to the eventual liberation of animals.

Altruism is often innocent or at least unselfconscious. It may not be directed at anything because we are not using altruism particularly. Vegan altruism may be different. We have an agenda. We’re aware of the part altruism plays in the eventual success of our ‘mission’. Vegans have become disciplined enough to start things moving – towards a very conscious social revolution. Our job is merely to make a spark. Not much more is needed if we allow altruism to take over. It’s the beginning of a new attitude of being with ‘the other’, where we have empathy, compassion and respect. When we acknowledge someone else even by just saying “Hi” in passing, or if we retrieve a cat stuck up a tree. Any action, big or small, is making a statement about how things could be and probably should be. We initiate altruistic acts and know each act counts. It’s as if each act is a blow for freedom, defying a tendency we all have for self absorption. These acts of altruism, whilst not needing to mean very much at all, oil the wheels of our involvement with other people. Obviously, if we did them merely for the sake of doing a good deed we’d become greasy and disingenuous. But in a modest way each of us can do important things and do them well: like being affectionate or being useful. We are capable of being altruistic in any social setting by showing we care about others and we can almost draw the future into the present, by sketching the shape of a new type of humanity.