Ideals and our self-perpetuating energy - part one

1499:

  

This omnivore insult is hard to take - "You vegans are nuts" - but it's not exactly a mortal blow to us.

As vegans we have a great advantage over those who aren’t vegan.  Our conscience is clear and our health is all the better for our plant-based diet.  So, why begrudge others their small pleasures, when they're making fun of us?  For them, what is it?  Perhaps a nervous, if-nagging guilt?  Probably there is a desperate need to justify one's own actions?  I don’t know.  But what I do know is this - for vegans it's not at all bad.

What makes it all so worthwhile is that we have a special goal.  We have the goal of the idealist, tapping into a sort of 'guardian-consciousness'.  I'm sure anyone can feel it if they dare to apply it.  A feeling of being protective.  But this isn't to do with ideals, it's more likely driven by our senses, as a response to sensual beauty.  We show it towards children or puppies, but we don't necessarily show it towards the less-cute.  For the most vulnerable, our 'protectiveness' is not so forthcoming.

At this time, we are not driven by ideals.  We are therefore an ideal-poor society.  If you’re a non-idealist, there is no profound basis for developing any sort of consciousness.  You don’t see stars in your children’s eyes because there are plenty of them in the sky.  You don't see the beauty in a forest or feel pity for the lowly farm animal.  If, for instance, you've never felt empathy for the vulnerable animals, you won't feel strongly about helping them.  If you haven't felt this kind of 'ideal' in yourself, then it’s unlikely you'll ‘get’ why idealists thrive on their ideals and how ideals allow the idealist to thrive.

         

Idealism is more or less selfish, because it pays back - it is simply another form of energy which motivates.  And this idealism-inspired energy seems to be self-perpetuating.

         

All this 'energy-talk' might seem too lofty for down-to-earth people, who might be right when they suggest that idealism can lead to arrogance.  But whether it's arrogance or just being 'up in the clouds', the danger of idealism is that it separates one from another.  Like a vegan, thinking themselves better than non-vegans. But we shouldn't blame the ideal for that.  The ideal itself is golden.  The big problem with ideals is they don't match optimism with design; we might look ahead and see better things but we're short on designing those 'better things'.  I suppose you could say that ideals are applicable to whatever seems to you to be most important in life.  But, necessarily, those ideals can only ever involve harmless activity and ‘repair’.