Motivational energy

865: 

High energy is something we all find attractive. Kids have it in abundance, wild though it might be. If you have it, as an adult, it’s something very satisfying, especially when it’s ‘busting-out’ with good feeling. Perhaps what I’m saying is that vegans have access to that energy, because that’s precisely what you get by eating solely plant-based foods. Vegans have energy to burn.

             But what sort of energy is this? Is it a macho energy, so useful for winning wars? Or is it the less overt energy that drives motivation?

            A vegan diet is physically energising but it also has, within the reasoning behind it, a unique motivational energy; we are, after all, involved in one of the most revolutionary projects - the freeing of animals from human bondage. The energy needed to bring this about has to be exceptional; it has to come from somewhere that humans so far have never dared to look - from the plant food we eat, without the diluting effect of non-plant-based foods .

The food regime vegans adopt isn’t like any other diet, since the reasoning behind it is the boycotting of the foods we DON’T allow ourselves to eat. Ours is an on-going experiment to test what plant-based foods can offer; these foods (for the soundest of ethical reasons) must replace animal-based foods, but they must bring us to that point of security where energy and health needs and where eco-friendly criteria are met too. If all our food requirements are to come from this source, then they must be physically not-heavy, they must be relatively inexpensive, and sufficiently satisfying, and we should feel no hankering for the alternative product. If all these requirements can be met, then we can be fully active with clean energy coming from a clear conscience. How optimistic is that?

Animal Rights gives us an excuse to find meaning, and surely there’s nothing as meaningful as the prospect of a world without animal-exploitation. For this, we give up nothing, except for daily participation in violence; as far as I can see, there’s no better prospect for our species. There’s no better project in life, than to transform our own species in such a simple way. And if this is such a worthy project, I’ll want to give it my best shot, and pursue it efficiently. I’ll want my mind working smoothly, without squandering energy and without making too many mistakes. So, we come back to that unique quality of plant-based foods, which give us so much energy and immunity to the sorts of illnesses which plague people today. Most importantly, it gives us a sense of momentum.

The good intentions of people are held back by lack of meaning, energy and self esteem, rather as if they are driving a fine car with one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake. When we experience this forward momentum there’s something akin to a perpetual-motion type of energy - the more of it we use it the more we get; it expands rather than expends. The mistakes we’re bound to make, along the way, might not seem so destructive. With a clear conscience, negativities can roll off us like water off a duck’s back. It seems to me that Vegan Animal Rights is a particularly constructive project-for-life.

If we have to put up with criticism, ridicule and denigration, or if we don’t get support or encouragement, or if we’re not taken seriously, does that really matter at this early stage of the game? Any of these set backs, generating from unenlightened sources, are insignificant when there’s enough highly energised momentum in our lives.