Up-mood

1136: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

When vegans say “change to plant-based food”, it’s about the most troubling suggestion anyone could hear, because on the one hand it sounds right but on the other depressing.  Veganism touches the most matters, concerning personal survival and peace of mind. Too much! And, most people still prefer the life they know, rather than risk going into so much unknown.

However much vegans promise good times ahead, however fit and energetic and calm-minded we may seem, basic survival-instinct is our persuader; it’s a mix of safety factors and happiness factors, concerning cravings and comfort, and all filed under ‘habits’.  Habit number one is mood, the things we do to help maintain our up-mood; anything endangering my happy-mood is rejected.

Up-mood overrides logic, compassion, imagination, the lot.  At a crucial point (between considering the unknown and actually going there) comes a dread of leaving behind a big part of our satisfaction-guaranteed life.  That dread stops people listening to too much stuff about animals. But they do hear what we say, even if they don’t always process it. And they don't process it for fear of being in fuller consciousness of ‘it’.  They fear it might affect them badly.  So, when they purposely zone-out of what they’re hearing, it’s the same as tuning-out of a radio or closing a book we don’t like - we avoid whatever makes us feel uneasy.

It’s not that difficult for our 'listeners' to tune out of  our ‘vegan talk’, because most others do just that. When I’m talking to someone about ‘all this’, and because a lot of it's to do with animal suffering, the whole experience of listening is bound to be unpleasant anyway. But that’s before we even get to the ‘disturbing personal guilt about it all'.

I reckon it’s our job to gauge how much unpleasant stuff we let out and how much uplifting stuff we use, to sugar the pill.  And if we’re going to sneak in one or two moral judgements, then we gauge them even more carefully.

Veganism isn’t only about giving things up, it’s a lot to do with feeling better about ourselves, feeling more energetic and conscientious.  Feeling more mentally alert and agile and therefore more optimistic.  All of that I'll need, just to withstand the strain of dropping habits.  All my life I’ve done such-and-such, and now I'll never be doing it again.

One particular habit is most difficult, concerning something we love and hate all at the same time.  It’s a habit we’ve been feeling bad about, perhaps for a long time, and yet the thought of dropping it is tempting.  ... And, so the vegan mob will tell you, the loss of one habit is compensated by the new habit ... And they go on to talk about many other advantages.

But the trouble is in the pre-meditation.  You can’t get it out of your head, that ridiculous image of The Lettuce Leaf Diet.  What would life be like, like that? Just trying to do it for a while will inevitably bring a lot of once-well-hidden things up into consciousness.  Consciousness has a quiet word with Conscience, and whammo, there’s no going back.  Once started, it becomes an all-or-nothing project by this all-or-nothing guy.  But what about the ‘nothing’ bit?  Yerrgh!

At the edge of the water my toe tests the temperature.  My friend who is already in calls out.

“It’s really warm”.
“Oh yea?