Communicating our message is made doubly tricky because we have to observe a non-pushy, non-violent approach at all times. As vegans we have to deal with potential recruits with what looks like passivity, so they don’t get put off.
We have to wait for permission from them. We have to have enough faith in people, to believe they’ll tell us when they’re ready to listen. The most efficient way this can happen is to start from scratch.
Vegans educating omnivores need to go back to basics, back to laboriously trawling through recipes and fact sheets about what happens to chickens in cages. Omnivores also need to go back to basics in order to untangle the misinformation they’ve swallowed. It’s humiliating for vegans and for omnivores. No one wants to be the schoolteacher here and no one wants to be taught like a school kid.
So much rubbish has been poured into our heads that we have to get rid of it to make room for new information. There’s so much to learn but to our advantage, to our rescue, has come an unexpectedly useful tool, the computer.
Maybe face-to-face instructors are now somewhat irrelevant. Perhaps it’s meant to be, and that’s how things are happening already. We don’t have to go to a teacher or the ‘authority’ for information. We can do that for ourselves. The computer opens the door to a DIY world. By referencing web sites, blogs, books, DVDs, etc., we are finding what we need, indeed what we need to make an escape.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
It’s hard for omnivores
To show why attitude change is so important, to pull this off, we first need to appreciate the difficulty in which people find themselves. If the 99%’ers are struggling to fight off their demons, (but have enough spirit to consider what we’re saying) their raw passion is essential to take that ‘leap’ ahead. Some may be angry enough that they’re prepared to do anything to be rid of the 1%’er influence. Initial passion, ten points!
But in the give-and-take of it all some self discipline is needed. Veganism might be quite straight forward in theory but the practice of it takes guts. And because we as a society don’t believe we live in an age where these sorts of major gestures are valid, where the showing of true grit is not longer regarded as important, this whole subject of ‘going vegan’ is ridiculed. And because it is not taken seriously it becomes a vicious circle. They never get to hear what we have to say because we aren’t being asked to say it, and not-hearing about it means escaping the pit isn’t a reality.
But in the give-and-take of it all some self discipline is needed. Veganism might be quite straight forward in theory but the practice of it takes guts. And because we as a society don’t believe we live in an age where these sorts of major gestures are valid, where the showing of true grit is not longer regarded as important, this whole subject of ‘going vegan’ is ridiculed. And because it is not taken seriously it becomes a vicious circle. They never get to hear what we have to say because we aren’t being asked to say it, and not-hearing about it means escaping the pit isn’t a reality.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Consistency of conduct
Those of us who are aware of the scale of animal exploitation in our society, know it shows up a fault in us, as human beings. If we are determined to escape this insidious ‘pit’ (and if we want others to escape too) we must focus precisely and altruistically on what we do. It must be primarily for the sake of the animals. Life might be uncomfortable for us, who have to live in a carnivorous and violent society, but it’s a million times worse for the animals on death row, in prisons all around the world. If we need to be grateful for anything THIS is what we need to bear in mind, how good it is to have been born in the pit with some chance, slender though it may seem, of escaping it. The animals were born without that privilege.
In gratitude for that we can set a new standard. It comes down to setting a fashion in compassion. Our style in the end is not just about being ‘cool’ or even living a ‘vegan lifestyle’ but our consistency of conduct in all daily business. And if we aspire to high standards then what we do, what we think, what we profess must communicate to others, the reason why there is a need for such a radical change of attitude.
In gratitude for that we can set a new standard. It comes down to setting a fashion in compassion. Our style in the end is not just about being ‘cool’ or even living a ‘vegan lifestyle’ but our consistency of conduct in all daily business. And if we aspire to high standards then what we do, what we think, what we profess must communicate to others, the reason why there is a need for such a radical change of attitude.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The easy approach
In our collective awareness there’s a lot going on in the world. Is it any wonder, in the present embrace of issues, that some of the most uncomfortable issues are pushed aside? “No time to deal with everything” … and that’s where it solidifies. There’s no time for contemplating mystery or imagining New Age ideals. It’s safer to stick with old habits and submit to the persuasions of the 1%’ers. We don’t allow time for constructing new habits and new attitudes. And as for listening to vegans … get real!!
We animal advocates are supremely ignorable. What we say doesn’t cut it, whereas conventional attitudes seem, in comparison, to sit more comfortably with people. The world of plenty, promoted by the animal industries, is attractive. The guys who run things there seem like admirable people. From them there’s no finger wagging and they seem to have a certain sense of fun and gay abandon.
It’s therefore not surprising that veganism is dismissable. We are disliked for our high moral tone. Other urgent issues will always trump animal concerns. Omnivores are happy to use a few ‘naughty products’ and believe that otherwise things are fairly okay.
However, for the thinking person this sort of acceptance of how things are doesn’t wash - it comes down to something more serious, concerning one’s brainwash-ability.
We animal advocates are supremely ignorable. What we say doesn’t cut it, whereas conventional attitudes seem, in comparison, to sit more comfortably with people. The world of plenty, promoted by the animal industries, is attractive. The guys who run things there seem like admirable people. From them there’s no finger wagging and they seem to have a certain sense of fun and gay abandon.
It’s therefore not surprising that veganism is dismissable. We are disliked for our high moral tone. Other urgent issues will always trump animal concerns. Omnivores are happy to use a few ‘naughty products’ and believe that otherwise things are fairly okay.
However, for the thinking person this sort of acceptance of how things are doesn’t wash - it comes down to something more serious, concerning one’s brainwash-ability.
So far, but not far enough
Wednesday 27th Janusary
Back in the pit, a vegan missionary roams amongst the fast-asleep majority. We might want to recruit wherever we can. We talk to those who might want to escape but who don’t particularly want to be recruited to anything. We see their eyes glaze over and wonder if we’ve told them too much. Perhaps they simply want to improve their life in the pit. They don’t want to learn uncomfortable facts and won’t; to that end their free-will resists the missionary.
Some however do want to find out. They feel aroused, but on waking they see a dilemma – they’re attracted to the idea of self improvement yet they don’t want to be pushed around. They like to hear our views and maybe even feel inspired by some of what we say, but not to the whole of it. For instance, they may not be friendly to the idea of having ‘devas’ on their shoulders, not wanting to see things that way. For them imagination is confined to making the most of entertainment. The usefulness of ‘dreaming’ might not relate to their ‘real’, materially based world. For many people life is not full of possibilities but full of the fear of having less. Veganism doesn’t seem as attractive as the call of our friend the 1%’er, who calls for us to come out to play.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A wake-up call
In the West we live comfortably enough but in a mind prison, well, more like a pit with steep slippery sides. As omnivores there’s no chance we can climb out - we’re disabled by our attitudes and habits. If we’re happy to stay there or we’ve given up trying to escape we can use our autopilot to survive. We don’t have to think too deeply about what we’re doing then. When vegans move amongst the sleepers and start talking about escape no one has to listen. Some do but for every one listening a thousand are not and prefer it that way and don’t want to be woken up. They don’t want to be told anything unless it will improve their life (in the pit). To that end their own free-will is strong enough to resist any attempt to reach them.
As for waking up, some may be ready to be roused, but there’s a dilemma – one may be attracted to the idea of self improvement but not want to feel as though they’ve been pushed that way. Sure, they may feel guilty and fear ill health and for these reasons do want to wake up. Sure, they may hae been just waiting for an excuse to show their compassion, but most of us want to do it at our own pace.
Some will say: “Too slow, too slow” and yet if some of us do this, if we put pressure on, we lose our best chance with them, since they’ll say: “There’s nothing worse than being morally blackmailed into 'self-improvement'”.
As for waking up, some may be ready to be roused, but there’s a dilemma – one may be attracted to the idea of self improvement but not want to feel as though they’ve been pushed that way. Sure, they may feel guilty and fear ill health and for these reasons do want to wake up. Sure, they may hae been just waiting for an excuse to show their compassion, but most of us want to do it at our own pace.
Some will say: “Too slow, too slow” and yet if some of us do this, if we put pressure on, we lose our best chance with them, since they’ll say: “There’s nothing worse than being morally blackmailed into 'self-improvement'”.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Escaping the ‘pit’
Our society is full of dead animals and from the ease with which we kill them and eat them comes the violence and selfishness of our species. It’s the pit that we’re all born into and kept in. To escape it means leaving behind the very people who make our lives liveable.
This is no simple pit with Nirvanah on the outside of it. Escaping the pit may take us from the frying pan to the fire. It may bring us to the ‘fringes’, which can be even worse.
The pit is a mindset fixed in one reality and, to a vegan, it’s a reality we reject. If we’re sure our own motives are inspired by the greater good then the two stages of action must surely be to get out of the pit and to influence enough others to do the same in order to eventually bring about the end to ‘pit’ conditions. It’s the old story of a people being oppressed and fighting back, only this oppression is a mind game that is basically a vilification of compassion and particularly vegan principle. ‘They’ are on one side of a barrier, we’re on the other simply because we’re defending our right to protect animals from attack.
Today, in a way, it is already happening, the fight back. An escape team is forming. The most effective team will succeed in helping humans to escape whilst freeing the animals. At the back of our most optimistic mind all of us see how it might just work. If those in the team are genuine then things are really looking up.
But the motive to form a team in the first place, where is that coming from? I’ve suggested it’s our need for company along with a desperate need to escape pit conditions, etc. But I’d also say it’s our need to be amongst people who’re enthusiasts for ‘the greater good’. Our ‘main motive’ … yes, we could want to recruit others to expand our subgroup, to feel safety in numbers, but most of all it’s for combining minds to launch an escape. Whatever our motives, it’s the getting of support in our escape that’s important as long as it’s a double action –simultaneously liberating the animals and personally escaping ‘the pit’.
By bringing ‘escape’ to the forefront of peoples’ minds we deliver a wake-up call. It’s rather like in the olden days, the clarion call to take up arms, and now the arms are invisible and non-violent. Our greatest call on people is to join with us in slicing into animal industry profits. By means of boycotting everything that is tainted with ‘pit-think’ we dismantle the concept of imprisonment. We end ‘today-think’, where we have in custody over a billion animals, locked behind steel, awaiting execution. That’s the pit!
This is no simple pit with Nirvanah on the outside of it. Escaping the pit may take us from the frying pan to the fire. It may bring us to the ‘fringes’, which can be even worse.
The pit is a mindset fixed in one reality and, to a vegan, it’s a reality we reject. If we’re sure our own motives are inspired by the greater good then the two stages of action must surely be to get out of the pit and to influence enough others to do the same in order to eventually bring about the end to ‘pit’ conditions. It’s the old story of a people being oppressed and fighting back, only this oppression is a mind game that is basically a vilification of compassion and particularly vegan principle. ‘They’ are on one side of a barrier, we’re on the other simply because we’re defending our right to protect animals from attack.
Today, in a way, it is already happening, the fight back. An escape team is forming. The most effective team will succeed in helping humans to escape whilst freeing the animals. At the back of our most optimistic mind all of us see how it might just work. If those in the team are genuine then things are really looking up.
But the motive to form a team in the first place, where is that coming from? I’ve suggested it’s our need for company along with a desperate need to escape pit conditions, etc. But I’d also say it’s our need to be amongst people who’re enthusiasts for ‘the greater good’. Our ‘main motive’ … yes, we could want to recruit others to expand our subgroup, to feel safety in numbers, but most of all it’s for combining minds to launch an escape. Whatever our motives, it’s the getting of support in our escape that’s important as long as it’s a double action –simultaneously liberating the animals and personally escaping ‘the pit’.
By bringing ‘escape’ to the forefront of peoples’ minds we deliver a wake-up call. It’s rather like in the olden days, the clarion call to take up arms, and now the arms are invisible and non-violent. Our greatest call on people is to join with us in slicing into animal industry profits. By means of boycotting everything that is tainted with ‘pit-think’ we dismantle the concept of imprisonment. We end ‘today-think’, where we have in custody over a billion animals, locked behind steel, awaiting execution. That’s the pit!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dealing with loneliness
Let’s face it, a tiny, tiny minority are vegans. We are outsiders and will remain so until substantial numbers of people start to take vegan principle seriously. It’s debilitating to be alone, so we gravitate to a group. We form escape teams to give us a better chance. Groups forms and a movement builds and strengthens but at the same time other problems appear. As soon as that edge is gone and it feels more comfortable being with like minds, the social safety of belonging to a group sucks the guts out of the initial impetus for escape. We get diverted into actions, all justified, all with the appearance of us being effective. From there we fall into delusion that things are changing, when the changes are pathetically small and insignificant. That’s the interesting thing about all ‘new age’ movements, they show us how-it-could-be, they highlight the need to escape, they never mention the loneliness. All of this comes when we consider taking on a radical viewpoint.
Perhaps two extremes have a pull on us here. The need to be with others and the need to break away from others. It feels like living a contradiction when we’re with people we don’t really agree with. The same applies for others when they’re with us, wanting to avoid us because we make them feel uncomfortable.
Animal rights is about introducing values that we may have not heard of before. Most omnivores haven’t even considered that animals deserve the right to a life. A vegan would be expanding responsibilities while omnivores are self protecting and not wanting to be open to new values. Animals present us with a dilemma because some animals are so famous for being so badly treated. If I said to you fox, you’d say ‘hunt’. If I said chicken, you’d say battery egg. Each exploited animal has their own particular association with cruelty. The chimpanzee going insane in a cage in a science lab, a breeding sow restricted in an ‘iron maiden’ sow stall, the dairy cow a genetic freak milk-making machine. Today we know so much of what happens to animals much of which was not known forty years ago. Most adults are aware of the cruelty and find knowing about it uncomfortable. Vegans will never pass up an opportunity to tell others about it so we seem to be helping people spoil their day by bringing up these issues.
For us it’s not only the loneliness a castaway might feel on a dessert island, it’s a loneliness self imposed by our deliberate disassociation with others. We boycott products in a food store but we also have to boycott certain social events like barbeques and restaurants both of which stink of the cremated remains of animals. And for that we may be hated or disliked.
It’s not unlikely that vegans are vilified, and maybe that’s why we need a way of dealing with this loneliness AND the vilification all at the same time. Vegans are at the very least self developers but we have to take into account our need for other people and to be friendly to those we might be in judgement of.
Perhaps two extremes have a pull on us here. The need to be with others and the need to break away from others. It feels like living a contradiction when we’re with people we don’t really agree with. The same applies for others when they’re with us, wanting to avoid us because we make them feel uncomfortable.
Animal rights is about introducing values that we may have not heard of before. Most omnivores haven’t even considered that animals deserve the right to a life. A vegan would be expanding responsibilities while omnivores are self protecting and not wanting to be open to new values. Animals present us with a dilemma because some animals are so famous for being so badly treated. If I said to you fox, you’d say ‘hunt’. If I said chicken, you’d say battery egg. Each exploited animal has their own particular association with cruelty. The chimpanzee going insane in a cage in a science lab, a breeding sow restricted in an ‘iron maiden’ sow stall, the dairy cow a genetic freak milk-making machine. Today we know so much of what happens to animals much of which was not known forty years ago. Most adults are aware of the cruelty and find knowing about it uncomfortable. Vegans will never pass up an opportunity to tell others about it so we seem to be helping people spoil their day by bringing up these issues.
For us it’s not only the loneliness a castaway might feel on a dessert island, it’s a loneliness self imposed by our deliberate disassociation with others. We boycott products in a food store but we also have to boycott certain social events like barbeques and restaurants both of which stink of the cremated remains of animals. And for that we may be hated or disliked.
It’s not unlikely that vegans are vilified, and maybe that’s why we need a way of dealing with this loneliness AND the vilification all at the same time. Vegans are at the very least self developers but we have to take into account our need for other people and to be friendly to those we might be in judgement of.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ah, but the loneliness!!
The marginalised, the fringe dwellers, the minorities of this world, might know what it feels like to be alone. Heck, we can stand being laughed at, we can stand people being rude to us but at the end of the day we’re on our own and it’s silent. It could be dangerous to feel alone. It may drive us crazy but more dangerously we might be tempted to go back to our old idiot-ways.
If we’re serious about ‘the greater good’ we have to find ways of NOT feeling alone and not feeling that it’s all pointless. If we’re a minorities we’ll gather together to form resistance groups of fellow escapees, to ease the loneliness. But we might need to have more than just a couple of hours on Tuesday nights.
If we’re serious about activism, if we want to get involved, it’s useful to the cause, useful for the company, it bolsters the spirit, but we live apart. Vegans in Australia are like emissaries spread out over the country, sowing seeds, but an emissary gets lonely, especially away from a city. This is one big personal challenge for most vegans, not changing our diet but changing our social life.
If we’re serious about ‘the greater good’ we have to find ways of NOT feeling alone and not feeling that it’s all pointless. If we’re a minorities we’ll gather together to form resistance groups of fellow escapees, to ease the loneliness. But we might need to have more than just a couple of hours on Tuesday nights.
If we’re serious about activism, if we want to get involved, it’s useful to the cause, useful for the company, it bolsters the spirit, but we live apart. Vegans in Australia are like emissaries spread out over the country, sowing seeds, but an emissary gets lonely, especially away from a city. This is one big personal challenge for most vegans, not changing our diet but changing our social life.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Escaping the pit
If we are going to find a way back to sanity and get a tad more freedom for ourselves we must know that we aren’t trapped in the pit, that it is escapable, and that nothing obliges us to inhabit what I’m calling ‘the pit’.
As things stand at present we can all see how certain human behaviours are dangerous and nonsensical. To help us navigate around these habits we might choose to use ‘the little people’ (you know, the ones sitting on our shoulders).
Once we listen to what they’ve had to say we’re almost home and hosed, or at least we’ll feel okay about coming this far. Almost suddenly it feels like we’re half way out of the pit. The pessimist (the glass-half-empty type) says there is such nonsense in the pit that it has a drag-down effect. Some believe it’s too much to fight free from. How can we live with idiots? How can we stay sane? How can we escape? And overall, how can we help the enslaved animals?
Optimists don’t go there. They see what is unfolding, albeit slow, they see the glass half full. They don’t forget the horror or the need to fight tooth and nail to replace it but they know the pit. Optimists know the connection between escaping the pit and putting in something more than half an effort towards escaping. They know they are earning their right to be free and they know that part of their own right is to establish freedom for our animal slaves. By getting this into perspective, by weighing the energy needed, the optimist glances across the divide, at the bosses (the ‘1%’ers’) for clues on how to make the-supreme-effort.
As efforts go their energy-to-task ratio is inspiring! When they want something they will stop at nothing to get it. They invest in a certain type of energy, and, once energised they keep it that way and keep their advantage.
They know the more energy you put in the more you get out. They never forget to put in more energy than anyone else. Material success blossoms by ruthlessness and high energy input. If ‘industry’ ran churches they’d stop at nothing to keep their congregation together. Evangelist and industrialist come out of the same basket, they’re controllers, and their grip is strong. To escape them we need to outwit them, maybe with something special.
If we can find something to help build a head of steam (…of course I’m likely to suggest that vegan activism is all you need for that!) we’ll pick up momentum and arrive at somewhere big. Eureka, we find it, we go for it, we ride it like a wave. It feels fabulous, it feels right, it heralds the very future itself … but as time goes on the ‘bigness’ tests us. Once we get past the honeymoon our commitment is tested. Our interest, our passion, our stamina is tested. If we take vegan activism as our example we discover so much about animals and food and compassion but the down side is that we’re almost alone. Most causes bring with them alone-ness. But loneliness, aloneness, solo flying, risk taking, they all may be essential. We might need to feel lonely and sad to build strength. The pit is no easy place to leave. Particular strengths are needed not just to combat our adversaries but for our own ESCAPE. Going vegan is not escaping, but it’s the first space suit we wear to break away from the strong gravitational pull of the pit managers and the collective consciousness they’ve moulded.
As things stand at present we can all see how certain human behaviours are dangerous and nonsensical. To help us navigate around these habits we might choose to use ‘the little people’ (you know, the ones sitting on our shoulders).
Once we listen to what they’ve had to say we’re almost home and hosed, or at least we’ll feel okay about coming this far. Almost suddenly it feels like we’re half way out of the pit. The pessimist (the glass-half-empty type) says there is such nonsense in the pit that it has a drag-down effect. Some believe it’s too much to fight free from. How can we live with idiots? How can we stay sane? How can we escape? And overall, how can we help the enslaved animals?
Optimists don’t go there. They see what is unfolding, albeit slow, they see the glass half full. They don’t forget the horror or the need to fight tooth and nail to replace it but they know the pit. Optimists know the connection between escaping the pit and putting in something more than half an effort towards escaping. They know they are earning their right to be free and they know that part of their own right is to establish freedom for our animal slaves. By getting this into perspective, by weighing the energy needed, the optimist glances across the divide, at the bosses (the ‘1%’ers’) for clues on how to make the-supreme-effort.
As efforts go their energy-to-task ratio is inspiring! When they want something they will stop at nothing to get it. They invest in a certain type of energy, and, once energised they keep it that way and keep their advantage.
They know the more energy you put in the more you get out. They never forget to put in more energy than anyone else. Material success blossoms by ruthlessness and high energy input. If ‘industry’ ran churches they’d stop at nothing to keep their congregation together. Evangelist and industrialist come out of the same basket, they’re controllers, and their grip is strong. To escape them we need to outwit them, maybe with something special.
If we can find something to help build a head of steam (…of course I’m likely to suggest that vegan activism is all you need for that!) we’ll pick up momentum and arrive at somewhere big. Eureka, we find it, we go for it, we ride it like a wave. It feels fabulous, it feels right, it heralds the very future itself … but as time goes on the ‘bigness’ tests us. Once we get past the honeymoon our commitment is tested. Our interest, our passion, our stamina is tested. If we take vegan activism as our example we discover so much about animals and food and compassion but the down side is that we’re almost alone. Most causes bring with them alone-ness. But loneliness, aloneness, solo flying, risk taking, they all may be essential. We might need to feel lonely and sad to build strength. The pit is no easy place to leave. Particular strengths are needed not just to combat our adversaries but for our own ESCAPE. Going vegan is not escaping, but it’s the first space suit we wear to break away from the strong gravitational pull of the pit managers and the collective consciousness they’ve moulded.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Prison
Conscience is here whether we like it or not. It’s one of the essential elements of our world, like rain and sunshine. It keeps us in check. The mystery of how it all holds together, the universe and everything, may not be for us to understand. And the mechanics of it aren’t meant to be tampered with. The natural evolution of any of the bright ideas of humans, if not vetted by Nature, if not in keeping with the atmosphere Nature makes for us, eventually goes sour on us. It may be great for those who skim the profits and kudos at the beginning, not so great for the poor suckers who come afterwards, who have to mop up the damage. I
Human ideas often progress from using natural resources to exploiting them and finally becoming so dependant on them they lead us into a grim sort of self imprisonment. By taking advantage of what Nature has to offer we get carried away with our own nerve, we get cocky and it eventually unleashes forces we never intended. Here we could use an example, but there are so many examples and all of us are so familiar with them, quoting instances is superfluous. Our track record of polluting, exploiting, killing and aggression is depressing. In fact it is so corrupting that even the climate is reacting negatively to what we’ve been doing.
Specifically the main problem humans have imposed on this planet is the concept of prison. By inventing it to better take advantage of others we go on to make an inevitable prison for ourselves. It’s the imprisoning that hurts most because we’re all free beings, whether we’re a tree, a human or a mouse. The other animals haven’t taken part in this human game so it’s our society that looks so ugly. Our own (human) prison is in the form of the (human) society we’ve made. Our ‘collective consciousness’ determines how we inhabit life from birth and onwards, and we remain in the same old group-think unless we make a concerted effort to get out of it. This ‘pit’ is where most of us are and presumably from where most of us want to escape.
Human ideas often progress from using natural resources to exploiting them and finally becoming so dependant on them they lead us into a grim sort of self imprisonment. By taking advantage of what Nature has to offer we get carried away with our own nerve, we get cocky and it eventually unleashes forces we never intended. Here we could use an example, but there are so many examples and all of us are so familiar with them, quoting instances is superfluous. Our track record of polluting, exploiting, killing and aggression is depressing. In fact it is so corrupting that even the climate is reacting negatively to what we’ve been doing.
Specifically the main problem humans have imposed on this planet is the concept of prison. By inventing it to better take advantage of others we go on to make an inevitable prison for ourselves. It’s the imprisoning that hurts most because we’re all free beings, whether we’re a tree, a human or a mouse. The other animals haven’t taken part in this human game so it’s our society that looks so ugly. Our own (human) prison is in the form of the (human) society we’ve made. Our ‘collective consciousness’ determines how we inhabit life from birth and onwards, and we remain in the same old group-think unless we make a concerted effort to get out of it. This ‘pit’ is where most of us are and presumably from where most of us want to escape.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Happy two millionth birthday to us
If current number-one disease for humans today is hubris things look bad. Our need to show-off-dominantly is a cover for cowardice of the ‘me big: you small: crunch variety!
In contrast, in the display of Nature, with its egalitarian cooperation and clean-air policy, despite all it’s harshness and extremes and violence, nothing is for no reason. In Nature things work out more intelligently. It’s been in the game of improving-conditions for longer than humans! Nature is, bottom line, a sustainable way of doing things. Erm, humans are not that way inclined! And how!!
Nature has devised a system, call it the mind of God or the way of the devas, anything you like, but the system seems to work … but then humans come along and try to improve things. Happy birthday. The human is celebrating its two millionth birthday today and we are announcing that WE are taking over from Nature today. But in doing so (we’re now looking back on us from the future) we can see we were hoisted on our own petard. Our attempt to twist the truth and sell misinformation might have drowned innate knowledge were it not for the new-age consciousness movement making us aware of such things as sovereignty and intuition. It was never the stuff they taught you in school. The innate knowledge that parents have about upbringing of kids, or the ability to smell rain when its coming or the subtle ways to harmonise our surroundings, all that is intuitive and innate and it’s probably the stuff we bring across with us … from wherever we come from.
The really complex interactions between me and other people or between me and my environment, aren’t learnt in school. We bring the essential knowledge across from whoknowswhere, from instinct, upbringing, genes, previous incarnations, it doesn’t matter where because where doesn’t matter. What matters is that we use it, to its fullest. It’s brilliantly supplemented by human learning (we can’t help putting our brains to use) but there are rules and when the rules aren’t respected we fall into the mess we call “today’s world”. Our cleverness is never meant to take over from Nature – learning, specialising, genius, it’s all very useful but only as one of many more hum drum devices, for opening up the greater attributes in us.
Most people are idiots. I don’t mean to be rude. But hubris makes us idiots. You still love idiots, you still can love everyone, but there’s only so much time to be wasted in complying with idiots’ wishes. The present human is exploitative and hubristic. Nature’s way of dealing with this double disease is to hit us over the head repeatedly, until we see sense. We haven’t yet begun to respond to nature’s clobberings, well the idiots haven’t anyway. Nature, by ever-so-slightly clobbering us, lets her devas whisper into our brains –“you are too big for your boots”. Nature bestows conscience on humans, in the form of a bunch of pesky little voices always hammering at our ears. We try to abandon them. We try to rely on two million years of learning. We downgrade Nature. We abandon the better side of our own nature. We numb the intuitive inner self.
In contrast, in the display of Nature, with its egalitarian cooperation and clean-air policy, despite all it’s harshness and extremes and violence, nothing is for no reason. In Nature things work out more intelligently. It’s been in the game of improving-conditions for longer than humans! Nature is, bottom line, a sustainable way of doing things. Erm, humans are not that way inclined! And how!!
Nature has devised a system, call it the mind of God or the way of the devas, anything you like, but the system seems to work … but then humans come along and try to improve things. Happy birthday. The human is celebrating its two millionth birthday today and we are announcing that WE are taking over from Nature today. But in doing so (we’re now looking back on us from the future) we can see we were hoisted on our own petard. Our attempt to twist the truth and sell misinformation might have drowned innate knowledge were it not for the new-age consciousness movement making us aware of such things as sovereignty and intuition. It was never the stuff they taught you in school. The innate knowledge that parents have about upbringing of kids, or the ability to smell rain when its coming or the subtle ways to harmonise our surroundings, all that is intuitive and innate and it’s probably the stuff we bring across with us … from wherever we come from.
The really complex interactions between me and other people or between me and my environment, aren’t learnt in school. We bring the essential knowledge across from whoknowswhere, from instinct, upbringing, genes, previous incarnations, it doesn’t matter where because where doesn’t matter. What matters is that we use it, to its fullest. It’s brilliantly supplemented by human learning (we can’t help putting our brains to use) but there are rules and when the rules aren’t respected we fall into the mess we call “today’s world”. Our cleverness is never meant to take over from Nature – learning, specialising, genius, it’s all very useful but only as one of many more hum drum devices, for opening up the greater attributes in us.
Most people are idiots. I don’t mean to be rude. But hubris makes us idiots. You still love idiots, you still can love everyone, but there’s only so much time to be wasted in complying with idiots’ wishes. The present human is exploitative and hubristic. Nature’s way of dealing with this double disease is to hit us over the head repeatedly, until we see sense. We haven’t yet begun to respond to nature’s clobberings, well the idiots haven’t anyway. Nature, by ever-so-slightly clobbering us, lets her devas whisper into our brains –“you are too big for your boots”. Nature bestows conscience on humans, in the form of a bunch of pesky little voices always hammering at our ears. We try to abandon them. We try to rely on two million years of learning. We downgrade Nature. We abandon the better side of our own nature. We numb the intuitive inner self.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
You know where you are?
There are countries in the world where the collective belief is that their country is right about most things, and these people may be in big trouble with their beliefs. Everything runs that much more smoothly by leaving behind these attitudes. They’ve landed us in so much trouble. Like water running down a hill, cooperation between disinterested parties is virtually trouble-free.
Human hubris
Monday 18th January
In the best of all possible worlds we work for the greater good rather than our own good. The ideas that gods or conscience or ‘devas’ put forward is spiritual. Which means it’s not materially motivated. Good for the soul but these ‘spiritual’ goals always seem unreachable and dreary in their pursuit. But a milder manner is all we need, without being spiritual at all. Putting ourselves second is addressing the greater good and deflecting our own fears, because whatever fears WE may have they are nothing compared to the torments of those we’re aiming to help.
The problems facing each one of us are seen within that context – of others’ greater suffering. For vegans it comes down to straight-out empathy with exploited animals. By deflecting the focus from the ‘me’ to ‘you’ we deal with problems more intelligently, since there’s so much less self interest involved. Self interest is a motivator but also a dead weight, it sucks the best juices from any personal fruit before what’s left over can be of much use to ‘another’.
I suspect humans see all this well enough; there are enough examples of altruistic acts of kindness to make us proud to be part of our own species. So, at first it might seem best to focus on the personal, closer-to-home problems, get them out of the way and then look at the deeper stuff, which we can call ‘The Greater Good’ … but we don’t get that far. We never quite clean up our own act to our own satisfaction to address ourselves fully enough to ‘the greater good’.
I suspect that single decision is the turning point and the ruining point of adulthood. Bcause we never clean up the personal issues (which often come down to wanting people to like us more) we never get round to vegan principles. But at the other extreme, vegans look down on their fellow man and make it known that they want others to be better, like us.
While these extreme perceptions exists what help can non-vegans be to vegans or vegans to non-vegans? We each have important things to learn from the other. That medium, portal has to be opened somehow, opened with common consent.
That’s why I think it’s futile to be trying to win anyone else over. But if you don’t you feel as though you’re not doing your bit for ‘the animals’. It’s so understandable that activists are willing to engage in very ineffective actions to feel better about ‘their commitment to the cause’. ‘Action’, how can you be an activist without action?
By taking another look at this whole thing from a slightly different angle we might find an answer to that ‘action’ problem, wanting to be actively expressing a dearly held belief. But the hubris we are all infected by is not really being acknowledged. The disease of it is harming us.
We deal with problems like we deal with farm animals, we try to inflate them and kill them. Whereas they are sign posts to follow. Our problems we interpret for their symbolic meanings. I stub my toe: I know I’ve been caught with some nasty little hubristic thought that took my eye off the beach and onto my SELF. Stubbing your toe on a rock on the beach, taking the pain, taking the ego assault, getting some advice from the ‘little people’ … when the pain subsides I can look back and laugh at myself. In garage-mechanic terms, where there’s a big job to be done on a vehicle, like dismantling egoey things, you need some team work. Where ego is involved in our troubles we need a specialist team of devas to deal with us. They go in hard. We perhaps take it hard. Obviously everyone knows all this since it’s happening all the time. It happens on a personal level and a collective level. It’s the same advice ‘the devas’ always give – that we look to our fears, but to look at them without getting annoyed or blame or without going to war or ultimately without having to be right all the time. The hubris-free human is the mostest!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Style
Conscience may appear to us as a working team of ‘devas’, overseeing our every move. Even though they’re only in our imagination, they metaphorically represent a world where morality is a great force but isn’t the only driving force. These days the word ‘morality’ has such ugly conotations that it blurs the difference between good and bad, sincere and genuine. The ugliness of the godbothering preacher has made ‘being good’ a cheap play for brownie points. We need something more substantial in today’s truth pie. Perhaps we’re better off going for panache. We might do better following our own sensitivities and sense of style. And in our own style of life, our lifestyle, this is where discrimination truly forms. And of course, I’d say there’s no better place to start discriminating than veganism.
In a vegan lifestyle we see a smoother operation - the body itself is usually functioning in top form simply because it isn’t being daily poisoned by the animal stuff. Its interaction with the environment is gentler too. If you watch an average vegan cutting up vegetables you’ll see part of a gentler lifestyle happening. And a vegan who is truly beyond the tempting world of commodities, is free to develop a number of things not the least of which is style. Style comes more easily via a more sensitive thinking (and of course acting). Our thoughts, attitudes, tone of speech, manner, sense of purpose is almost palpable, if only because our lives aren’t jam-packed with guilt and grubbiness. For us personally as vegans this has to be the really great advantage of our lifestyle. The frustrating thing for us is that we aren’t able to commincate this without sounding up ourselves.
For vegans, if they’re not out there being advocates for animals, they’re simply setting ‘style’.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying no more old fashioned morality, it’s just that morality was always a stepping stone to better things. It is a reference point, like having ground rules to do with honesty. The evangelical preachers gave morality such a bad name because they made almost everything pleasurable sinful. They were moralists and ‘morality’ is now a words that is practically unmentionable. And yet here there is a basis for doing things in a finer way. Morality, upbringing, values, are all guides. They point in the right direction, but we’re all heading, whether we like it or not, towards a more sophisticated behaviour which is one consciously relying less on guile.
In a vegan lifestyle we see a smoother operation - the body itself is usually functioning in top form simply because it isn’t being daily poisoned by the animal stuff. Its interaction with the environment is gentler too. If you watch an average vegan cutting up vegetables you’ll see part of a gentler lifestyle happening. And a vegan who is truly beyond the tempting world of commodities, is free to develop a number of things not the least of which is style. Style comes more easily via a more sensitive thinking (and of course acting). Our thoughts, attitudes, tone of speech, manner, sense of purpose is almost palpable, if only because our lives aren’t jam-packed with guilt and grubbiness. For us personally as vegans this has to be the really great advantage of our lifestyle. The frustrating thing for us is that we aren’t able to commincate this without sounding up ourselves.
For vegans, if they’re not out there being advocates for animals, they’re simply setting ‘style’.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying no more old fashioned morality, it’s just that morality was always a stepping stone to better things. It is a reference point, like having ground rules to do with honesty. The evangelical preachers gave morality such a bad name because they made almost everything pleasurable sinful. They were moralists and ‘morality’ is now a words that is practically unmentionable. And yet here there is a basis for doing things in a finer way. Morality, upbringing, values, are all guides. They point in the right direction, but we’re all heading, whether we like it or not, towards a more sophisticated behaviour which is one consciously relying less on guile.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
This way to the level playing fields
If we aren’t sure about our direction in life we can imagine another place, another dimension, where people rather like us are doing things a little differently. They consult with conscience about basic things, every day things. Theirs would be a more subjective civilisation, doing ‘good’ all over the place … ugh, it’s already sounding sickly sweet, so I’ll try again. These imaginary people, may or may not exist in the face of extreme Earth-bound cynicism. And yet, as emissaries they tell us things we ought to know, not of the ‘goody-two-shoes variety but of extreme common sense. We perhaps don’t see the point of imagining devas and idealistic people when we’re up against so many problems. But it’s a chance we can’t afford not to take. Maybe I’d plead a case for conscience.
If there are any possibilities for humans in the future I think they lie here, in restoring the balance between being too clever and being too heart driven. The conscience, the guiding devas, in various forms, are taken more seriously in some so called ‘less developed’ countries. We in the West have forgone conscience in order to get ahead, so that we’re ‘first worlders’. And by way of all our damage and exploitation we’re in a mess BUT we’ve arrived here with at least a fuller consciousness of what we’ve done. We’re super aware of the horror and super aware of our potential to be constructive. We don’t see ourselves as automaton driven by supernatural forces but as self guiding entities working in the knowledge of what IS human. By becoming acquainted with our potentials for destruction and creation we’re on the brink of starting again. This time there’s enough awareness to strike a better balance between the genius of intellect and the guidance of conscience. We could, in theory, turn things around so we are all pointing in the same direction and all being as egalitarian as possible.
Impossible? Not really when conscience is elevated to it’s rightful position, no longer squished and trodden down by ‘the march of progress’. Our collective conscience is the disembodied organ that give our species a clearness of direction. On an individual level it’s where each of us want to be, but we’d like YOU to be there too, to hold my hand. I choose to hold hands with my ‘friends’ who live on our shoulders.
The ‘little people’, in order to keep us honest, in order to keep us on our toes, in order to help us manage our lives, encourage us to ‘give and take’. They suggest that the stuff we put in makes things work better. Having things working smoothly because they’re well lubricated by us (‘we’ being merely the oil cans). Smooth running is always better than operating grudgingly. And it’s even better if we can ‘put in’ without expecting any reward at all. If that sounds way too unrealistic or idealistic then it means we aren’t quite convinced about our rewards and yet ‘putting in’ is an essential first step to getting anywhere.
The fact is, we’re ruled by the laws of physics – apart from sun and rain we can’t expect anything else simply to fall from the sky. We don’t get ‘owt for nowt’. If we need to be reminded how these rules work we only need to consult with our ‘devas’. In other words we’d be doing ourselves a favour by acknowledging them because, if anything, they always tell us the unvarnished truth. They represent our wonderful potential but also point out the ‘strings attached’. They level the playing field so that the interests of all are taken into consideration.
If there are any possibilities for humans in the future I think they lie here, in restoring the balance between being too clever and being too heart driven. The conscience, the guiding devas, in various forms, are taken more seriously in some so called ‘less developed’ countries. We in the West have forgone conscience in order to get ahead, so that we’re ‘first worlders’. And by way of all our damage and exploitation we’re in a mess BUT we’ve arrived here with at least a fuller consciousness of what we’ve done. We’re super aware of the horror and super aware of our potential to be constructive. We don’t see ourselves as automaton driven by supernatural forces but as self guiding entities working in the knowledge of what IS human. By becoming acquainted with our potentials for destruction and creation we’re on the brink of starting again. This time there’s enough awareness to strike a better balance between the genius of intellect and the guidance of conscience. We could, in theory, turn things around so we are all pointing in the same direction and all being as egalitarian as possible.
Impossible? Not really when conscience is elevated to it’s rightful position, no longer squished and trodden down by ‘the march of progress’. Our collective conscience is the disembodied organ that give our species a clearness of direction. On an individual level it’s where each of us want to be, but we’d like YOU to be there too, to hold my hand. I choose to hold hands with my ‘friends’ who live on our shoulders.
The ‘little people’, in order to keep us honest, in order to keep us on our toes, in order to help us manage our lives, encourage us to ‘give and take’. They suggest that the stuff we put in makes things work better. Having things working smoothly because they’re well lubricated by us (‘we’ being merely the oil cans). Smooth running is always better than operating grudgingly. And it’s even better if we can ‘put in’ without expecting any reward at all. If that sounds way too unrealistic or idealistic then it means we aren’t quite convinced about our rewards and yet ‘putting in’ is an essential first step to getting anywhere.
The fact is, we’re ruled by the laws of physics – apart from sun and rain we can’t expect anything else simply to fall from the sky. We don’t get ‘owt for nowt’. If we need to be reminded how these rules work we only need to consult with our ‘devas’. In other words we’d be doing ourselves a favour by acknowledging them because, if anything, they always tell us the unvarnished truth. They represent our wonderful potential but also point out the ‘strings attached’. They level the playing field so that the interests of all are taken into consideration.
What an effort
Friday 15th January
The gratitude factor is vital for growth. Any growth is a matter of give and take – taking what’s on offer and giving back in terms of appreciation and gratitude. If it doesn’t come freely and willingly and it’s all too much of an effort then our intentions are failing - we aren’t being effective, we’re not getting satisfaction or benefits. Any benefits we do hope to get (from our ‘acts of goodness’) might seem to have strings attached; instead of a generosity of spirit we’d only see grudging behaviour and our becoming resentful, that what we’d rationed out more than we were getting back. Trying to do the right thing is always a mix of the success and glow of acting for the greater good and the defeating blow of resentment. Imagine becoming a vegan, making the effort to give things up and yet it always being an ‘effort’. We’d eventually feel like giving up and going back to easier ways.That’s the critical factor in experimenting – is it worth going on to reach the time when it isn’t all such an effort? Starting up a new lifestyle habit, what seems to be a better way, will it fail or succeed? I suppose all people ask this. And ask if expending energy is being scuppered by others’ inaction, as if we’re doing the right thing and ‘making the effort’ (taking the lead) while others should be doing things too, to lighten the load. To break this cycle, to release a more exciting and effective level of energy into what we intend to do, we need to ratchet things up to a new level. It’s all in the perception … for instance, instead of accepting ‘food’, as everyone else does, in terms of self benefit alone, it becomes a symbol of protest – that’s much of what ‘veganism’ is doing. It takes our relationship with our world up to a gentler, more intelligent level. As a vegan we begin to see the link between self development and self discipline. Being vegan is discovering our own potential, especially where ‘making the effort’ is concerned .
Scourging ourselves and doing our duty is not the same sort of ‘effort’ because it’s an unnecessarily unhappy route to take. With a little imagination (whisperings from the devas!!) we can adapt the give and take principle to our creative effort.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Ouch!
As I walk along a safe, sandy beach, ouch!, my toe, I stubbed it on a rock. Angry, blaming, cursing, “the bastards”, ‘they’ made me do it … the ‘devas’ are always there to remind me, sometimes painfully, not to let in too many thoughts of self importance. I like to think I have a self-regulating system, that I can imagine these ‘guardian entities’ into existence. I like to think I can handle them even when they’re quite rough. They need to be, to protect me from …
Imagining them into a real existence is not much different to imagining ideas into real existence and then watching them grow until they’re quite independent of imagination. Whenever that happens a birth take place, a habit forms, a repair, a resolve is made. For that we should feel gratitude.
By not appreciating how much we gain from experiences, even stubbing our toe, we can’t see the almost alchemical process of self change. Without gratitude we can’t create a new reality. We have to make do with the one imposed on us. By accepting ‘the way things are’ there can be no moving on, no improvements, no aiming at the future. If we don’t encourage growth in ourselves (and in others) it just won’t happen. There will be no exhilarating bursts just the slow old changes, whimpering along from mistake to mistake. We’ll be constantly clobbered by the ‘little people’ for not acknowledging them. They’ll scream with mischievous delight whenever they spot ingratitude in us.
Imagining them into a real existence is not much different to imagining ideas into real existence and then watching them grow until they’re quite independent of imagination. Whenever that happens a birth take place, a habit forms, a repair, a resolve is made. For that we should feel gratitude.
By not appreciating how much we gain from experiences, even stubbing our toe, we can’t see the almost alchemical process of self change. Without gratitude we can’t create a new reality. We have to make do with the one imposed on us. By accepting ‘the way things are’ there can be no moving on, no improvements, no aiming at the future. If we don’t encourage growth in ourselves (and in others) it just won’t happen. There will be no exhilarating bursts just the slow old changes, whimpering along from mistake to mistake. We’ll be constantly clobbered by the ‘little people’ for not acknowledging them. They’ll scream with mischievous delight whenever they spot ingratitude in us.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Imagination
The unknowable is something of a mystery. It’s beguiling since the unknown almost dares us to follow it. Some of us will do anything rather than conform with convention. The rationale here is, I suppose, that because conventional ways have got us into the mess we’re in today, the opposite may get us out of it.
Imagine this if you will, that the world is dying from unimaginativeness. It’s frowned upon to imagine too much. There’s nothing reliable about imagination unless used as entertainment. If we’re serious about safety and frightened of change we’ll be as unimaginative as possible.
But un-imaginative the ‘little people’ are not - these ‘devas’, sitting on our shoulders, tripping us up when we get above ourselves, pushing us beyond our comfort levels. They look out for us.
If we are imaginative enough to allow them to they will offer their hand to hold. Their imagination is our best safety net, daring us to explore and generally making harmless mischief for us when we make mistakes. They expect a lot from any one of us. They’re like elder brothers and sisters. Or guides. They make up the conscience. They act rather like the piano teacher who is intent on keeping students’ standards high.
Imagine this if you will, that the world is dying from unimaginativeness. It’s frowned upon to imagine too much. There’s nothing reliable about imagination unless used as entertainment. If we’re serious about safety and frightened of change we’ll be as unimaginative as possible.
But un-imaginative the ‘little people’ are not - these ‘devas’, sitting on our shoulders, tripping us up when we get above ourselves, pushing us beyond our comfort levels. They look out for us.
If we are imaginative enough to allow them to they will offer their hand to hold. Their imagination is our best safety net, daring us to explore and generally making harmless mischief for us when we make mistakes. They expect a lot from any one of us. They’re like elder brothers and sisters. Or guides. They make up the conscience. They act rather like the piano teacher who is intent on keeping students’ standards high.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Imagine ‘the little people’
If you’ve got no purpose or worth, if you’re a selfish bastard and if you suffer from too much hubris it’s likely you’ll have deadened your imagination a long time ago. You dare not imagine what horrors the future holds in store. Whether we are optimistic or pessimistic, imagining what the future holds is a favourite game most of us play. By projecting the picture in our head we get to know where we should stand on things in relation to that picture. And this is where idealists sort out their aims.
Non-idealists just can’t imagine that far ahead, not in positive terms, so to them a ‘vegan world’ might simply be wishful thinking. Imagination is considered by them a scourge. To many of us though it’s a boon. To imagine puts a more interesting spin on things. To NOT imagine makes the most interesting things seem fearful.
To take this out to what some might think is the extreme, we may like to imagine the ‘little people’, the invisible guides or guardians of our soul who live on our shoulders. They whisper in our ears and suggest great possibilities or they tell us things we’d rather not hear about. Some people are quite at home with them, others have never even allowed ‘such absurdity’ to enter their heads.
For those who can ‘imagine’ it would be these ‘little people’ (or I might like to call them ‘devas’) who do a lot of the difficult work for us - they suggest we take notice of things we could easily have missed, they alert the conscience when we’re in danger of doing something we don’t need to do. You might imagine ‘the little people’ as coming from another world or as an invisible ‘organ’ which relies on conscience to find it and use it. Or it’s just a dimension to life which we can only know instinctively. But whether we acknowledge such things or not the whole matter of ‘the unknown’ interests most of us. We are attracted to the unknown. Anything from an unknown world gives us a chance, however slim, of escaping ‘the pit’. And there’s nothing we like better than peering into the unknowable future - we call it ‘having aims’, we call it projecting goals, we’d like to know that it’s for and on behalf of our childrens’ generation and their welfare, with the view to allowing them a true chance to escape ‘the pit’.
Non-idealists just can’t imagine that far ahead, not in positive terms, so to them a ‘vegan world’ might simply be wishful thinking. Imagination is considered by them a scourge. To many of us though it’s a boon. To imagine puts a more interesting spin on things. To NOT imagine makes the most interesting things seem fearful.
To take this out to what some might think is the extreme, we may like to imagine the ‘little people’, the invisible guides or guardians of our soul who live on our shoulders. They whisper in our ears and suggest great possibilities or they tell us things we’d rather not hear about. Some people are quite at home with them, others have never even allowed ‘such absurdity’ to enter their heads.
For those who can ‘imagine’ it would be these ‘little people’ (or I might like to call them ‘devas’) who do a lot of the difficult work for us - they suggest we take notice of things we could easily have missed, they alert the conscience when we’re in danger of doing something we don’t need to do. You might imagine ‘the little people’ as coming from another world or as an invisible ‘organ’ which relies on conscience to find it and use it. Or it’s just a dimension to life which we can only know instinctively. But whether we acknowledge such things or not the whole matter of ‘the unknown’ interests most of us. We are attracted to the unknown. Anything from an unknown world gives us a chance, however slim, of escaping ‘the pit’. And there’s nothing we like better than peering into the unknowable future - we call it ‘having aims’, we call it projecting goals, we’d like to know that it’s for and on behalf of our childrens’ generation and their welfare, with the view to allowing them a true chance to escape ‘the pit’.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Boycotting made easy
The struggle to stand firm in the face of temptation isn’t merely one of disciplined decision-making but in finding a reason to be disciplined. Why do something and why NOT do something else? What’s this reasoning based upon? In the prioritising of issues in our own minds we sort out what is the most urgent thing in need of reform, and we have to ask ourselves what am going to do about it.
This question in the mind lies behind our decision to boycott things. It’s a toss up between making a fairly lightweight gesture or making ourselves feel less guilty and going in so hard that we risk not being able to maintain the pitch. We might end up boycotting almost everything in our society, and would this inevitably drive us crazy? How would it be for vegans if we were craving all these ‘prohibited’ goods all the time? People often ask if we are “allowed to eat” certain things. Vegans say back: ”I can eat what I like. It’s my own choice. There’s no authority watching over us. I alone decide if I don’t want to allow myself something”. Vegans stay vegan by tapping into their own sense of purpose and worth in relation to a vision of a future society - in harmony with animals, for starters!
This question in the mind lies behind our decision to boycott things. It’s a toss up between making a fairly lightweight gesture or making ourselves feel less guilty and going in so hard that we risk not being able to maintain the pitch. We might end up boycotting almost everything in our society, and would this inevitably drive us crazy? How would it be for vegans if we were craving all these ‘prohibited’ goods all the time? People often ask if we are “allowed to eat” certain things. Vegans say back: ”I can eat what I like. It’s my own choice. There’s no authority watching over us. I alone decide if I don’t want to allow myself something”. Vegans stay vegan by tapping into their own sense of purpose and worth in relation to a vision of a future society - in harmony with animals, for starters!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Self confidence
Some life struggle is good for us since it develops appreciation for what we have. It’s good for the soul, as long as the struggle leads to a more interesting personality. However rich or however poor we are, if we’re interesting enough we’ll have no trouble attracting people towards us and eventually our ideas. I don’t mean being a show-off extrovert who’s good at parties, but having a personality that’s growing in uniqueness and sovereignty. By acknowledging ours and others’ sovereign right to a life, we recognise the unique individual who is worth something in their own right. If nothing else, this gives us self confidence to combat social isolation. It helps us to lead the fashion and not follow it, to say “yes, go ahead”, boycott, do what is necessary and not back off when things get rough. This is the same confidence that says no when we’re tempted. If it is lacking in our world and we keep giving in to exactly what our brain washers want us to, then our biggest problems surround the dilemma of giving in or standing firm.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Emasculating vegans
For people like vegans, isolation is society’s intended punishment for us. Our fellow beings will not tolerate people who, simply because they eat special food think they are better than anyone else. Whether that is fair or not the ‘avoidance’ we experience can make us feel insecure or depressed. It doesn’t help if we get angry about it, or frustrated, or slip into self pity. That eventually affects self confidence.
The brainwashing of the general public relies on envy of others’ freedom, and since ‘freedom’ is associated with ‘wealth’ we’re trained to believe that we could do almost anything we wanted … “if only we had money”. The 1%’ers’ lifestyle is portrayed as something to strive for. They don’t need to be liked by us to secretly admire them or envy them. It’s the private goal for many people to emulate the 1%’er’s big houses, large bank account, educational opportunities or plentiful sex. Their ‘plenty’ contrasts with our lack of it, and we’re lured by it. But our wanting ‘it’ means we must be prepared, if necessary, to be cold hard bastards, which in turn means closing down our present self examinations. Getting rich fills us with enthusiasm for material progress and consequently sucks the enthusiasm out of us for getting to know who we are, as individuals.
The brainwashing of the general public relies on envy of others’ freedom, and since ‘freedom’ is associated with ‘wealth’ we’re trained to believe that we could do almost anything we wanted … “if only we had money”. The 1%’ers’ lifestyle is portrayed as something to strive for. They don’t need to be liked by us to secretly admire them or envy them. It’s the private goal for many people to emulate the 1%’er’s big houses, large bank account, educational opportunities or plentiful sex. Their ‘plenty’ contrasts with our lack of it, and we’re lured by it. But our wanting ‘it’ means we must be prepared, if necessary, to be cold hard bastards, which in turn means closing down our present self examinations. Getting rich fills us with enthusiasm for material progress and consequently sucks the enthusiasm out of us for getting to know who we are, as individuals.
The power of food
Friday 8th January
What they may NOT know is that there’s a strong counter argument going on out there, gaining ground rapidly. People are beginning to wake up to the fact that animal products are dangerous as well as immoral. We know food is obviously essential to life but not this food. If animal derived foods are anything, they are toxic and unethical. They are detrimental to life, environmentally, human body-wise and animal-wise … and yet we remain omnivores unaware that we’ve been royally brainwashed. They’ve got us where it counts. We can’t stop thinking about the ‘roast’ on Sunday or the ‘omelette’ for breakfast or the after-dinner ‘ice cream’. How can anyone walk past a cake shop, or any one of the many other comfort stations, without paying a visit?
Poisonous they may be but the addictive qualities of these foods force us to eat them. We can’t get past our own tastebuds and tastes. We’re hemmed in by our social eating habits. If we go against the eating norms of our society, then relationships will be immediately compromised and threatened. In contrast, when we eat from the same table, we’re guaranteed acceptance.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Addictive foods
We live craving for shopping. Life is a never ending search for sex, food, drugs or companionship and only rarely is it a genuine thirst for self discovery. Hedonism rules. Our providers satisfy us, but they own us. This ‘pit’, this inescapable maze, this bog that sucks us down … but when you look at it more closely, it’s really all smoke and mirrors.
The whole edifice crumbles as soon as we puff some passionate resistance at it. If we are driven by compassion for animals and a need to educate others about it (and about loving the earth) it’s no good if we remain exploited ourselves. We can’t defend animals if we eat them!
We have a choice. With some education (and if we’re living in a relatively free, so called ‘developed’, country we do have some choices) there’s a chance to stay in control of our own lives and reduce the impact of the exploiters. But food addiction is like a lump of concrete in our gut. The food constipates us but more importantly our addiction to it prevents our egress from the pit.
They know how ‘animal foods’ bring us in from the cold, to the emporiums and malls and even the corner shop. They are there, always, providing the treats and tit bits for us. This is where we eat it or buy it and salivate over it. Our providers know how to pleasure us. They know things about our weaknesses, with the help of their tame scientists tampering with flavours and additives, we don’t know about ourselves. They know we’ll put aside our thoughts of the badly treated animals. They know we’ll be hooked on tastes and textures, and they know that, by eating their foods, we’ll fit in with others and enjoy social acceptance. By ‘eating together’ we ‘stay together’.
The whole edifice crumbles as soon as we puff some passionate resistance at it. If we are driven by compassion for animals and a need to educate others about it (and about loving the earth) it’s no good if we remain exploited ourselves. We can’t defend animals if we eat them!
We have a choice. With some education (and if we’re living in a relatively free, so called ‘developed’, country we do have some choices) there’s a chance to stay in control of our own lives and reduce the impact of the exploiters. But food addiction is like a lump of concrete in our gut. The food constipates us but more importantly our addiction to it prevents our egress from the pit.
They know how ‘animal foods’ bring us in from the cold, to the emporiums and malls and even the corner shop. They are there, always, providing the treats and tit bits for us. This is where we eat it or buy it and salivate over it. Our providers know how to pleasure us. They know things about our weaknesses, with the help of their tame scientists tampering with flavours and additives, we don’t know about ourselves. They know we’ll put aside our thoughts of the badly treated animals. They know we’ll be hooked on tastes and textures, and they know that, by eating their foods, we’ll fit in with others and enjoy social acceptance. By ‘eating together’ we ‘stay together’.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Hand in hand
The Animal Rights movement doesn’t have funding or pro bono help from top level professionals. We can’t compete with 1%er wealth. They have all the material advantages. They own the media and advertising industries. They can buy whomsoever they please. They legally sell addictive substances to the public, in the form of a wide range of foods. Their researchers tell them how far they can push the customer who always wants a reliable supply of favourite foods. On this level, veganism can’t win people over. We have to go the longer, slower way, at least at first.
All humans in the rich Western world, especially the omnivores, are having such a good time indulging in the animal stuff that we never want to think about food, just simply enjoy it. We humans would rather shut out all thoughts about awareness of animal exploitation. We’re happy if whatever they do is done behind closed doors, just as long as we can get what we want. In this respect we’re members of a mutual encouragement society – we go along with what the 1%’ers do by giving them the nod so they’ll bring us the goodies. It’s classic drug dealing. A co-dependency between dealer and client is developed. We all get what we want and it’s in everyone’s interest not to welsh on the other.
All humans in the rich Western world, especially the omnivores, are having such a good time indulging in the animal stuff that we never want to think about food, just simply enjoy it. We humans would rather shut out all thoughts about awareness of animal exploitation. We’re happy if whatever they do is done behind closed doors, just as long as we can get what we want. In this respect we’re members of a mutual encouragement society – we go along with what the 1%’ers do by giving them the nod so they’ll bring us the goodies. It’s classic drug dealing. A co-dependency between dealer and client is developed. We all get what we want and it’s in everyone’s interest not to welsh on the other.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The animals’ revenge
Many 1%’ers are involved in exploitative ventures. They represent the political corporations. They aren’t fussy about which “natural resources” they exploit. And succeed they must in the face of fierce competition. What today’s shareholders in the animal food and clothing industries get up to, is the modern day equivalent of rape and pillage. Business-wise 1%’ers attempt to monopolise their market, sending competitors broke if they can. They conserve their assets, expand at every opportunity and play every dirty trick in the book to keep their advantage … in that way they keep their accounts full and their customers compliant.
They produce: we consume – and we’re especially all-consuming when it comes to food. We buy items that are, to some extent, addictive. Our addiction to our favourite ‘animal’ foods (or other animal products we “can’t live without”) is in part The Animals’ Revenge. It may be that the stolen body parts of animals effect a creeping deterioration in our metabolism. If we ingest them, we pay … in more ways than one!
Animal foods are profitable to the exploiters but just as certainly not profitable to the humans who consume them. They, along with the hapless animals, are victims. But, to some extent, we humans can look after ourselves. We can learn and we can change since we aren’t entirely enslaved, whereas the domesticated animal is. Entirely. This is why vegans are calling for a stop to it all - because animals can’t defend themselves against human attack. Against human bullying.
They produce: we consume – and we’re especially all-consuming when it comes to food. We buy items that are, to some extent, addictive. Our addiction to our favourite ‘animal’ foods (or other animal products we “can’t live without”) is in part The Animals’ Revenge. It may be that the stolen body parts of animals effect a creeping deterioration in our metabolism. If we ingest them, we pay … in more ways than one!
Animal foods are profitable to the exploiters but just as certainly not profitable to the humans who consume them. They, along with the hapless animals, are victims. But, to some extent, we humans can look after ourselves. We can learn and we can change since we aren’t entirely enslaved, whereas the domesticated animal is. Entirely. This is why vegans are calling for a stop to it all - because animals can’t defend themselves against human attack. Against human bullying.
Monday, January 4, 2010
It’s only animals
How did the ‘1%’ers’ ever get so much power? It comes from knowing their customers and by their own unconcern about being wicked? They are far too wicked to worry about it.
Their plan has almost worked. They’ve constructed a maze to keep their ‘clients’ trapped, or in shopping parlance, they stop their customers leaving the store without all the essential animal products in their shopping trolley.
1%’ers operate on a set of values (to do with the exploitation of resources) which most of us could never accept. We take what they give us and by our buying, do what they tell us. We don’t fully realise how dangerous our shopping habits are, since we are their playthings - they’ll do whatever it takes to keep their advantage. They’ll do things based on conserving what they have. They’ll always act within the law. They always protect themselves by never seeming to be directly accountable for what’s being done. They don’t usually act openly against the interests of humans. They wouldn’t draw attention to themselves that way. But for all their stealth and careful image-making, they know their customers don’t really care to know too much. They know they won’t notice or even care about what’s being done to “non-humans”, as long as they keep the good times rolling.
Their plan has almost worked. They’ve constructed a maze to keep their ‘clients’ trapped, or in shopping parlance, they stop their customers leaving the store without all the essential animal products in their shopping trolley.
1%’ers operate on a set of values (to do with the exploitation of resources) which most of us could never accept. We take what they give us and by our buying, do what they tell us. We don’t fully realise how dangerous our shopping habits are, since we are their playthings - they’ll do whatever it takes to keep their advantage. They’ll do things based on conserving what they have. They’ll always act within the law. They always protect themselves by never seeming to be directly accountable for what’s being done. They don’t usually act openly against the interests of humans. They wouldn’t draw attention to themselves that way. But for all their stealth and careful image-making, they know their customers don’t really care to know too much. They know they won’t notice or even care about what’s being done to “non-humans”, as long as they keep the good times rolling.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Trouble in the ranks
“1%’ers” have been successful at cementing our shopping habits. They not only give us what we want but mess with our minds at the same time. They effectively do our choosing for us, do it by brazen temptation and by way of misinformation. Subtly and subliminally they secure our loyalty to their products – we the customer support them (the animal industries) to serve our own interest. Other than vegans, have we ever seen anyone routinely not wearing animal skins somewhere on their body or not eating abattoir-derived foods? And you don’t need to look too closely to see that most adults over 40 are already ill from their life-long use of these products.By using misinformation, the “wicked 1%ers” persuade the spending dollar from peoples’ pockets and have no compunction about generally screwing up the future of the planet as they do so. They conserve what they have (in their bank accounts) and discourage radical changes … so that when their sons or daughters announce “I’m going vegan” you can bet they’ll respond - “Not if we have anything to do with it you won’t”!!!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The factory farm
We no longer chase and hunt animals to kill them for food. Instead we keep them captive and, in this age of factory farms, we cramp them together behind bars and treat them like machines. The wealthy animal industries are owned by people, the “1%’ers”, who from the 1920s devised the intensive system.
I quote from J.S. Foer’s Animal Eating, “Modern industrial agriculture has asked what hog farming might look like if one considered only profitability – literally designing multitier farms from multistory office blocks …”. The ruthlessness of these designs reflects the worst imaginable outcome for the animals themselves.
The wealth of the animal industries comes from the “99%’er” customer, who has “gone along with it” and doesn’t want to know too much detail. Humans have conspired with the use of industrialised methods in farming. We, the customer, have allowed agribusiness to wield the same powers as lords of the manor have done in the past. They’ve woven us into a maze that seems inescapable. We shop, they profit.
I quote from J.S. Foer’s Animal Eating, “Modern industrial agriculture has asked what hog farming might look like if one considered only profitability – literally designing multitier farms from multistory office blocks …”. The ruthlessness of these designs reflects the worst imaginable outcome for the animals themselves.
The wealth of the animal industries comes from the “99%’er” customer, who has “gone along with it” and doesn’t want to know too much detail. Humans have conspired with the use of industrialised methods in farming. We, the customer, have allowed agribusiness to wield the same powers as lords of the manor have done in the past. They’ve woven us into a maze that seems inescapable. We shop, they profit.
Soul food
Friday 1st January 2010
Eating animals: “But they have no souls so it’s okay”. “They don’t feel things as we do”. “They can’t reflect on their situation or see up ahead to what’s in store for them”. Whether any of that is true or not, does it matter? New information today says that it’s safe to eat only plant based foods. So why not simply do just that? In our world of misinformation people concur with what they’ve been told - that animals have no souls and that meat is good for you. Their main fall back position is a powerful one: “We’ve been eating meat for two million years so why stop now?”
Perhaps it’s timely to stop this habit now because we know we can survive safely without animal food but also because we’ve shown how cruel the human system can be when it is making money from selling certain foods. Just look at what hell holes the factory farms are!
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