Doing without

347:
What a great asset this idea is, veganism, with its empathy-driven approach to day-to-day life. It checks my more violent and selfish instincts by the food it guides me towards ... or rather the food it makes me want to boycott. You can’t argue with the logic of veganism. Apart from avoiding the ‘cruelty-products’, it inspires a greater non-violence in other ways. Since I’m no longer quite so reckless in what I eat I’m less so in the way I think. And taking this to its glorious conclusion, it suggests that there’s logically not much difference between the sentient and the non-sentient, it’s all consciousness after all. It affects the way I drive a car or deal with the kids or handle the cat or respect the cow. When I considered becoming a vegan it was always going to be for reasons bigger than just avoiding animal food (life is more than food and clothes!!).
We are all consumers. We’re all users of resources and all adults should know that, environmentally, we tread heavily on the roses ... and I for one want to tread more lightly. Like many others, I want to value and better appreciate the power of things ... and to do that I have to first know that I have the power to transform myself from clod-hopping brute to sensitive, gentle adult.
I can either grab whatever I crave or be more constructive. It’s my choice. I can exercise some self control or be profligate. And once I’m less attached to ‘my stuff’ I can reduce the stress and dissatisfaction associated with it.
“Life is stressful and the cause of this stress is craving, or thirst”. Many of the things I would crave are simply no longer available to anyone who is vegan, so I have to learn to do without. And once I get used to that, a vegan lifestyle is very possible and very satisfying ... and fulfils my wish to be gentler with things without having to compromise principles.