Energy

836: 

By not ‘doing’ violence there’s a better chance to use energy constructively, to bring about a balance between the pushing-forward and the holding-back of energy.

By giving out energy in pursuit of animal protection, and not draining it by being involved in exploiting animals, generous amounts of energy come back - just by showing respect for nonviolence, there’s a potential source of energy. The opposite is true therefore. As soon as I want something that will involve harm to something else, energy reduces - I’d suggest that this sort of wanting does the most damage. By not-wanting something, that I know I shouldn’t be wanting, I hold back the grabbing hand. I remember reading a book entitled The Grab where three daughters divide up their mother’s belonging after she’d died. It was an ugly business ending the previous good relationships they had had.

Perhaps the state of ‘not-wanting’ is close to contentment, and is probably the key to transforming human nature.

If an omnivore ever takes veganism seriously, ‘self denial’ will become the first worry, giving d up all animal-based foods and commodities; self-denial then has to be weighed against attractive things which might bring pleasure but which also represent the side of our nature we most dislike. By dropping our dependency on animals we give ourselves the best chance to escape that side of us, that side which is associated with violence and waste and addiction (a self-made prison, albeit an escapable one). To be vegan we are deliberately aiming at freeing ourselves from a heavy conscience burden and making this a life time’s project.

Of course, there are other great projects, like raising children and caring for less fortunate people, but if we’re not freeing ourselves in this way, we are well and truly trapped. And by tinkering with little improvements and making half hearted reforms to diet and ethics, all we can hope for is an improvement of the existing ‘prison’ conditions in which we live; it runs parallel with the attitude of improving the welfare of animals as opposed to liberating them completely.

If we can focus on the non-violent principle, we can escape our self-made prison and help others to escape too. And enjoy a heretofore unknown bonus of energy into the bargain.