The wall

1194:

In promoting Animal Rights, we are facing a wall.  But this might not be so big.  Not as big in space as in time.  This might be a slow wall, not a big wall.  Or what we might perceive to be a mountain range to be crossed, but in reality merely a small set of hills which appear to be big.  Slow-hills, to be climbed as if treading over boggy ground.  Forward progress is best achieved by softness of tread.

Animal Rights and ‘going-vegan’ need to insinuate themselves into people’s psyches, almost as smoothly as water passes over a stone to refine it into sand.  It seems that we can only influence outcomes by way of continuous, slow and patient attrition.

Ach! you say.  That’s too slow for me!!  Me too.  But we’re dealing with the will of the people, individuals’ determination to make their own decisions.  Big changes may come fast, but I doubt it, not when it comes to food-beliefs and the sacredness of an individual’s right to make decisions.  Change might not be coming from that direction anyway.  It might be quick for other reasons, but we must be prepared for either eventuality, when it comes to animal-using.  And if change is going to be slow, then it hinges on the reasons why one either becomes vegan, or decides not to be.

If you’re one of those who decides to try being vegan then you might ask yourself if you’ll have enough motivational oomph to stick with it, and work to help lay foundations stones?  But, you say, it sounds like featureless work.  So why be drawn into this?

Is it a trick of the light that makes us see only the most obvious reasons for doing things?  What seems so at first may not necessarily be so.  Physical energy from plant-based foods is assured, but motivationally, where veganism scores highest, is that spiritually there’s something very uplifting in following vegan principle - one particular weight is lifted, allowing us to feel what few others can possibly feel, that one is at peace with one’s world.  Maybe for you it is a eureka feeling.  Vegan principles give vegans a clarity of purpose, a clearing of doubt and a certainty of direction.  There’s stimulation enough to pursue one big inspiration - the liberation of animals.  To know there’s enough stimulation/motivation there to work with, is based not on an enhanced sense of duty, or love or compassion, or even empathy.  The oomph comes from interest.  This subject is stimulating in the same way an almost unsolvable theorem is - we are in it for the challenge of ‘it’.  The direction of moving towards an ideal.

For the non-idealist, they’ll always go for personal pleasure.  They won’t work on ideals.  But they might seem okay about us being different.  They’ll even think it’s cool if we want to talk about animals, although not best-pleased.  However, in general, they’re happiest if we’d move away.