810:
For vegans, one enquiry can be seen as highly valuable, but
the enquiry could be largely unnecessary, since everything is already
understood, on a deeper level – the fundamentals of animal rights, in relation
to leading a non-violent life, are understood by most people.
If you take an up-close look at a
farm animal, it’s like looking into the eyes of a child or at the unassuming
beauty of almost any feature in Nature. You might never have regarded farm
animals this way before, having only seen them as grunting, ugly, stupid units
of potential food for humans. But as soon as you see them ‘come alive’ as
individual beings, it’s likely that you couldn’t bear to see them hurt in any
way, any more than you could stand by and watch a child being hurt. It’s like
coming across a pristine stream and drinking from it. You immediately know it
when you taste pure water, even if you’ve never tasted it before. It’s a eureka
moment - “This is how water really should taste”.
That pristine inner nature is
obvious in any animal, since what stands out most is that it hasn’t been
adulterated by the experience of being human, and so it seems precious and
untouchable, as something one shouldn’t hurt or ever want to. It’s this, about
animals, that on some level we already know, especially in the light of them
undergoing the worst possible treatment at the hands of humans who think they
own them. We don’t have to visit an animal farm or an abattoir to understand
this.
Since this
basic injustice is generally known, perhaps we vegans can leave people to
discover the fine details for themselves. It’s only a matter of time before
sensitive humans put two and two together; the information, concerning ‘farm
animals’, is widely available and accessible for those who want it (and our job
is certainly to make that information as accessible as possible). Perhaps, by
our letting people work the essentials out for themselves, we can butt out of
their business. It’s always far better to discover a truth for ourselves rather
than be directed towards it, with the danger of defying the expectation that we
should agree obediently.
For our part we just need
faith-in-people, that when they are ready they will go looking. Perhaps our
problem is that we think others are incapable of finding out for themselves.
Certainly, an omnivore who is moving-towards-being-vegan may need some
encouragement from us, but our main role is surely to stay out of the way while
they go discovering. We can be on standby, ready with the first-aid kit in case
the slope is too slippery. We can be there assisting and understanding,
especially if people don’t know what to do, but the full experience of
discovering something for oneself is invaluable. During the process of
discovery they might hit some uncomfortable feelings as they premeditate
details (of what a plant-based diet is all about, the implications of a vegan
lifestyle, etc), as they experience the whole unfolding process. But as soon as
they realise what they’ve been involved with all their lives, and as they
realise how their past may now seem like a personal catastrophe, so the new
possibilities will open up chances for a fresh start.
As the prospect of
major-lifestyle-change is considered, so it might feel like one is being doomed
for ever, just by having thought it, just by letting the possibility nag at the
conscience. But if we, who’ve largely forgotten the process we went through,
try to ‘guilt’ them into change, they might just step back and say it’s too
hard, and not want to go through with it. And with that they might lose their
best chance of taking up this particular challenge.
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