More on ‘escape’

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Escaping our own habits-of-convention is contingent upon knowing more about vegan principle, as opposed to merely eating more vegan food. Being vegan lifts us out of the imprisoned state by taking us closer to a more natural, freer state of mind. It has other benefits too numerous to mention - it isn’t only about slimming and health and food but also about appreciating what we didn’t appreciate before, namely the beauty of innocence, of perhaps one of the most beautiful things we know, animals. (Yes, kids are beautiful too but not as oppressed or helpless as the ‘food’ animal).

Our habits hold us hostage. We’re always attending to selfish needs at the expense of others’ needs. Humans want so much more than other predators, in  this predatory world. Our appetites, addictions and insatiabilities are the ruin of us. Wealthy humans (read Westerners) are always wanting, and this pain of ‘wanting what we don’t need’ brings us to longing for what we can’t have. And this brings us to the search for a means of escape.

            We have a warped perception of right and wrong perpetuated by those with a vested interest. We are so enslaved (by them) that we’ve become subservient (to them). We don’t even try to change that. We say to ourselves, “Why bother to protest, when things are so far out of my control”. The question for most people is surely whether one should put up with it or attempt to flee from it?

The pit is merely the state of mind which makes a Goliath out of what we see, and causes us to believe that ‘it’ is too big to do anything about.

As soon as you go vegan you start the upward climb out of the suffocating pit. It might be a long climb but the smell of freedom from it is exhilarating. Inevitably conditions apply - it’s a matter of facing certain facts; facing habits of ‘wanting’ and attempting to drop them … especially the most insidious, connected with animal foods and all the social conformities that implies.

Here at the heart of vegan principle is a diet. Yes, it’s good for slimming but it’s more than just food. It broadens out into a non-violent approach to life which includes a ‘no-touch-animal’ approach, which implies that humans are not to be trusted around animals. Vegans are proactive avoiders of all dealings with animals, as in the most vulnerable ‘food animals’. And as with paedophiles who must have no access to children, so it must be for all animal-eaters who should have no access to animals - “Beware of humans. They eat your babies”.

Once things are seen from the animal’s point of view, we can move towards a truly symbiotic, mutually-respecting relationship with them.