Escape

832: 

The negative side of the human condition is the capacity we have to either enslave or be enslaved; we see the usefulness of taking advantage of vulnerability. We don’t take into account the damage it does. But let’s look at the victims here - if we are being taken advantage of we might accept it or we might fight it. Those who accept it don’t think they can escape it because there will be too many repercussions. The most obvious example is that one can be so hooked on animal-based foods that one accepts the violence behind it.

As vegans, we don’t feel trapped by that, because we have disassociated from all that routine waste and cruelty. Just by changing our food patterns, we have relieved ourselves from a lot of the pressure of ‘being enslaved’. For me, the feeling of being trapped was transferred, as I focused on the animals’ entrapment. The natural outcome was to increase my sense of empathy.

            By making our own escape possible, vegans see the importance of helping others to escape.

            I’m bound to say that a vegan diet solves many problems all at once. It’s obviously good for the health of our body and mind, but it builds other strengths too, not the least of which is becoming less self-obsessed. It is even, dare I say, a prelude to altruism. By working for the animals’ benefit, it has an efficacious effect on just about everything else we do. It’s certainly good for our ‘mental condition’, eases our spiritual struggling, but most spectacularly it hastens us away from crap-food and towards ‘real’ food. I was with a friend yesterday who couldn’t believe I’d never eaten at McDonalds or Kentucky Fried. By the same token, I doubt if she’d experienced much eating of ‘health food’ in her life. Eating what the body thrives on affects how the human body machine functions and help us towards our eventual escape from being manipulated by the system.

            Escape might be our end goal but if we must live an enslaved life, just by knowing we can get out of it makes it less onerous. Part of the escape ticket is in the food we eat, but chiefly it’s the overall altruistic trend which brings results on so many other levels too. For vegans, we are making a start. It’s about what we choose to do but also about what we don’t do. It allows us to tread more lightly on the land and tread more carefully in everything else we do, particularly when we’re relating to others more empathetically.

            I must come back to food again. The energy we get from food is such a crucial factor in life; we can only do things for others because we have enough EXTRA energy and know we aren’t personally hooked on energy-sapping junk foods. By avoiding hundreds of available animal products we benefit greatly just from that.

Our non-vegan friends are necessarily drawn to thousands of eating-items which use appetising animal products, and by NOT boycotting them, they either lose energy through becoming overweight or they are enslaved by them, like the addict of another substance, also referred to as ‘junk’. And what is worse, by eating it, buying it and demanding it, we give financial support to the Animal Industries. We give them the nod, that what they do is okay by us.

            Our ‘vegan habits’ largely protect us from the commercial food industry, simply by our avoiding hundreds of all-round-harmful consumer items. Boycotting them is the ultimate escape.