Doing without is not so grim

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What a great asset veganism is, with its empathy-driven approach to day-to-day life. It checks our violence and selfish instincts by the food it guides us towards. Or rather, the food it makes us want to boycott. You can’t argue with the logic of veganism. But, apart from avoiding all of the ‘cruelty-products’, it inspires us towards greater things, in other ways.

When we become less reckless in what we eat, we’re also being more careful in the way we think. And taking this to its glorious conclusion, it suggests that there’s logically not much difference between the sentient and the non-sentient (it’s all some form of consciousness after all). Why behave towards the sentient in a better way than towards those regarded as non-sentient?

By thinking gentle, it affects the way we drive a car or deal with the kids or handle the cat or have respect for the humble cow. When I considered becoming a vegan it was always going to be for broader reasons than just avoiding animal food (life is, after all, more than food and clothing!!).

We are all consumers. We’re all users of resources and every adult should know that, environmentally, we tread heavily on the human-advantaged world we've inherited. Like many others, I want to tread more lightly on the earth. I want to value and better appreciate the power in everything and, to that end, I need to become more sensitive to anything I come into contact with. So, I have to transform myself from clod-hopping brute to sensitive, gentle adult.

I can either grab anything within reach or be more circumspect with my choices. I can exercise some self-control or give in to my cravings. It doesn’t have to be a choice based on morality, though. It could just as easily be the best choice for the least stress. If one of the main causes of stress is an inability to control cravings, then by being vegan (for whatever reason) we simply bypass that danger. Once, I couldn't walk past a cake shop, now I have no reason to go into one. There's nothing there I would eat. By being vegan, by determining how we choose to do or not do according to our fundamental values, we learn to do without. We usually accord with our own values in just about every other sphere of life, but not with food!! By being vegan we simply, but not necessarily easily, make our unhealthy/unethical food cravings unavailable. Chocolate, cream profiteroles are no longer going to be on our menu.

So, with my cravings for cream, chocolate and choux pastry, it boils down to learning to do without. And once we can get used to that, a vegan lifestyle is very satisfying. It's especially so, since it helps us to fulfil that universal wish, to be gentler with things without going crazy for the want of them. Just omitting; not having to compromise our gentle nature and compassionate principles. Insisting inside ourselves, to move away from those desperate urges which, down the line, cause harm to others is at the heart of being vegan; doors open, and we dare to enjoy almost anything if it is governed by the principle of harmlessness.