Energy maximising

135:

Maybe as vegans we are convinced about our arguments concerning animal slavery even though we know it’s going to be a long drawn-out David and Goliath affair. The odds might seem stacked against us and the tide doesn’t seem to be turning our way, and our campaigns seem to leech energy to no obvious effect but should energy loss be such a great fear for animal activists?
I know that I spend time fretting over ineffectiveness, over the loss of motivation, over tiredness that can lead to depression. I try to steal energy from my other commitments, but then something else goes short in my life, relationships are stretched, there’s never enough time to do anything else well. I’m torn between doing more for Animal Rights and spending less time with my family and friends.
The original idea of Animal Rights is totally inspiring. Eventually it makes a call on my energy so I try to feed it by reading books or watching DVDs, or doing whatever it takes to keep up the passion.
If we let Animal Rights work interfere with our personal life, things may start to go wrong, so it’s a matter of getting the energy balance right. Where’s that extra energy to come from? Certainly from vegan food (no longer being slowed down by eating crap and stodge) but mostly energy is coming from the sheer significance of what we are trying to do. So, it’s crucial to get this energy thing right since the burn-out rate amongst animal activists is frightening.
If energy is a problem, maybe we have to start considering energy not as a finite resource, like having so much petrol in the tank to run the machine, but more like a self perpetuating resource - once released, the energy out-put generates more than enough energy in-put. Motivational energy, for such meaningful work, must become a type of energy that expands as it expends. Let’s say that acts of usefulness or kindness, where there’s big investment on our part, show surprisingly little energy depletion - how could this be? Perhaps activism that’s fuelled by passion defies logic. Perhaps it uses the sort of energy where the more we use the more is replaced.
I find it works that way, that as soon as I let go of self interest, the stronger I feel, energy-wise. Could it be that when energy is released for the ‘greater-good’ that we actually make energy, and set off a chain reaction? Could it be that when we begin to take an interest in a forest, an animal, a human, any global issue, that when we start advocating for them and not for ourselves, that the energy we need will appear from nowhere? And does the opposite happen, where self-interest drains our energy ... which could be why the insatiable thirst of the greedy fits the ‘more greed, more need’ pattern?
If energy works like this (harmful sources like meat depleting energy, harmless sources like plants fill energy) it puts a new spin on things - that however hard pressed we are there will always be enough energy for meaningful activities.