Cynicism

1775: 

If we’re hoping to reach people face to face, without the use of computers, we need to come up with a very interesting form of ‘total delivery package’. If we want to connect in a more interesting and inspiring way we have to learn about how new information like ours is taken in.

Firstly we’re up against a whole lot of cynicism. People have good reason not to trust new information. If we really want to educate one-on-one, we have to wait for the other person’s willingness to be receptive. In other words, tedious though it may be, we have to wait for permission to speak. Without that we drive away any listener, unless we have an audience of drones. And surely the Animal Rights movement doesn’t simply want tame agreement to what’s being told. We don’t want people who will accept any old life-recipe. Our cause needs imaginative, creative people, and difficult-to-persuade people, whose sense of free-will is strongly embedded. We need those who will challenge our ideas and stop us becoming complaisant and dull.

But when it comes down to the actual information we aim to pass on, we must be prepared for questions. We will be judged by our ability to answer questions and by the manner in which we do that. Which brings us to the other important consideration. It’s not just information people want, but their instinctive willingness to identify with those with the information. If we can’t answer the big questions for the cynical listener we won’t break through their protective shield. We won’t even get the ‘big questions’ asked in the first place, unless we’re approachable as people. Today the no-questions-asked audience doesn’t exist! There’s nothing forcing anyone to listen to us, let alone agree with us.

An escape tool

1774: 

Communicating our message is made doubly tricky because we have to take a non-pushy, non-violent approach to others, at all times. As vegans we have to deal with potential recruits in such a way that they won’t be put off. And that might mean waiting until they are ready. Ready to ask rather than ready to listen.

We have to wait for permission from them to say anything at all, and have enough faith in people that they’ll tell us when they’re ready. But when they are, it’s easy to blow them out of the water with too much, too complete a story.

The beginning of the ‘story’ starts by going back to basics, back to untangling the misinformation we are given from other sources. But no one wants to be the schoolteacher here and no one wants to be taught like a school kid. There’s so much to learn but so much ego investment is involved in unlearning and passing on new information. But that’s why on-line education is so valuable. Maybe face-to-face instructors are now redundant. We no longer have to go to a teacher or an ‘authority’ for information, especially since they’ve proved incorrect in the past. On-line information is widely reviewed because it is so widely read and therefore more reliable. But because there is so much information out there, we can do our own sifting. We can learn as much or as little as we want to, and do it for ourselves. The Internet opens a DIY door, referencing web sites, blogs, books, DVDs, making information accessible enough for us to be able to find out what we need.

Consistency

1773:

Here in the media-saturated West, in the so called ‘developed’, most adults are aware of animal exploitation on our animal farms. It is essential for preserving the commercial interests of the industry that they conceal the truth about animal abuse. It’s not that the farmers are sadists, but as they struggle to maintain economic viability within a very competitive international industry, they must cut costs. To the bare bone. And that will mean reducing the already harsh conditions animals are forced to live in.

All through my formative years there was never any suggestion that keeping animals captive and killing them for food was wrong. And since they were sources of food, and pleasurable food at that, I never questioned it. In my family, in the society we lived in, there was never a strong enough base of compassion from which that sort of questioning could arise. And today, even though we know much more about conditions on animal farms, there’s still not a sufficiently strong ethical base to stir people. Almost nobody questions ‘the use of animals for human consumption’, so nothing changes. And it will never change unless some people can enlighten others to the gravity of ‘the truth’. In order to open the doors of perception, the fear factor must be addressed. As vegans, we first need to show how life is possible without resorting to using animals. The gravity of the situation outweighs convenience. 

If any of us are going to escape the brain washing we’re put through, if we can ever escape a lifetime of normalising animal-eating, then we’ll first have to re-examine our daily habits. And we’d do well to start with our attitudes and addictions. We have grown up regarding animals as not as important as humans and therefore we justify their exploitation. We’ve grown into addictive habits of using food for pleasure, and the thought of doing-without evokes uncomfortable feelings. So this is where we need to contemplate a change of attitude and challenge our addictions to discover if they are as immovable as we fear they might be. For this we’ll need a touch of altruism.

Altruism means doing things not only for ourselves but, in this case, for the sake of the animals. By focusing on them we ignite empathy. By cauterising our own empathy for the long-suffering animals, we’ve allowed ourselves to become hard hearted enough to comply with and enjoy the meat and dairy in our diets, and indeed the leather in our shoes.

When we consider vegan principles we not only see life through more compassionate eyes but realise the extent to which we are living in a carnivorous, violent society. We’re understandably afraid of leaving it behind. But this is the price we must be prepared to pay, to help shift such an entrenched attitude in our society. And if things remain as they are for a long time to come, that would mean being on the outer for a long time. As uncomfortable as that thought is, there is always hope that today’s activists will bring the majority around, and that hope is sustaining. Once empathy is ignited then the pendulum starts to swing the other way. And it’s this hope that saves us from despair. Plus empathy for the true victims in all this, for whom it’s a million times worse. For each of these individual animals amongst billions of others on death row, there is far less reason for hope.

We can work for many unrewarded years to ameliorate this discomfort, our own and theirs, by being grateful that we don’t have to suffer as much as the poor creatures. We may have been born into a violent and animal-abusing world but we do have some chance, however slender, of escaping it. The animals were born with no chance of escape whatsoever. If we can hold that thought, it may help us withstand the degradation of being part of this unholy human species.

What better thing is there for any of us to do than set a new fashion in compassion? It’s not about being ‘cool’ or even solely about being ‘vegan’, but about being consistent in our conduct, in all our daily activities. And if we aspire to consistency, we set an example, which others may or may not choose to follow.

I don’t think we’re here to enjoy the experience of simply living as free beings in a human-dominated world but to offer reasons for becoming the angels of mercy we were meant to be. 

The easy approach

1772: 

There’s a lot going on in the world today, so it’s understandable, with the present high awareness of issues, that some of the most uncomfortable problems are pushed aside. There’s no time for contemplating ideals, like considering what vegans are talking about. Get real!!

         

As animal advocates, vegans are ignorable. What we say confronts  conventional attitudes. The world of plenty, promoted by the Animal Industry, is attractive. They seem to know what we want and don’t preach at us. In their advertising, they seem to have a certain sense of fun about them.

It’s therefore not surprising that veganism is dismissible, especially since we don’t look like ‘fun’ and are therefore disliked, especially for our high moral tone. There are many other urgent issues to consider, and most people are willing to let them trump animal concerns. Omnivores don’t have sleepless nights when they  use a few ‘naughty products’. They believe that there’s nothing much to worry about, eating animal based foods and buying animal derived goods because just about everyone they know is doing much the same.

However, for the thinking person is suspicious, even when they don’t know details. Suspicion is mainly aroused because the whole mess of animal abuse is kept so secret. They must have something to hide behind their closed doors. We feel hoodwinked into believing the conditions under which animals are kept is acceptable. And with so many accounts of animal foods being associated with serious health conditions, we again feel as though we are being fooled into believing animal foods are healthy. The fear is that we are being brainwashed, and even the most intelligent people seem to be falling for it.  

The Comfort Pit

1771: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

Here in the West we live comfortably enough, but many people are imprisoned by a comfort attitude, where human-centred considerations outweigh other considerations. We trash the planet, we take advantage of defenceless animals and we do it for our own benefit.

We enjoy the fruits of exploitation. We like what 'civilisation' brings us, but we’re compromised by our attachment to certain comforts. We're so enamoured with what we consider a normal lifestyle to be, that we're reluctant to give up any of our comforts; not the least of which is the huge variety of animal-based commodities we’ve come to rely on. Our cushioned lives have softened us to such an extent that we can't make any principled decisions if they interfere with our comforts. We’ve settled for compromised principles and for not living in harmony with the world outside the human realm.

Being trapped by comfort is rather like living in the bottom of a comfortable pit which has steep, slippery sides. There’s no chance of our climbing out while we're still addicted to animal-based material pleasures and the measure of happiness they seem to bring us. If we're content to stay where we are or we've given up trying to escape, we can still survive in our human biased bubble so long as we don't think too deeply about where we are, what we're doing or the independence we've given up. Our willingness to accept our present situation means we're trapped (along with most others) by the animal-based comforts of home. However confining this pit is, it's deemed better than being outside it - on the 'outer'. Our comfort comes at a high price however.

In our trapped existence we seek comfort by using products of The Animal Industries, mainly in the form of violence based foods. But the more we get to know about the background of these foods and the harm they do, the more we consider putting things right for ourselves - introducing some self-discipline into our lives. If we ever consider making a serious move towards self-improvement, we know it will mean breaking the habits of a lifetime which will bring us discomfort. Then any thoughts of boycotting foods made from animals makes for uncomfortable feelings.

If we do consider forgoing some of our 'comforts' for the sake of self improvement, we step towards a group of people we might not be ready for. A group of people who advocate a radical and ethically based diet change. Under their influence, we should not feel we've been pushed into change. Self improvement has to be self-generated or at least voluntary and done at one's own pace.

Vegans encourage people to consider the plight of farmed animals. They want mass change. Some vegans, however, can be 'too encouraging'. They think that leaving it up to the individual to make the decision to change will be too slow. But trying to speed up another's self-improvement may only serve to slow it even further. We vegans often underestimate how obstinately some people dig their heels in whilst accusing us of trying to morally blackmail them into self-improvement.

Almost certainly, most people won't change as quickly as vegans want them to - so we clash. Vegans can become obdurate. We fail to read the signs sometimes and don't see how someone might seem interested in what we have to say but have no intention of changing! Instead they're trying to work out how to justify remaining as omnivores and improving their life 'in the pit' rather than escaping from it. 

If vegans can't reach them on an ethical level by espousing empathy for animals, it's likely omnivores will think this is a health and food matter only. They'll try to work out for themselves ways of getting the best of both worlds. They'll hold back to preserve their free will, but they'll do a few 'right' things to give themselves the impression of moving forward. In this way, they think to keep the best of their omnivorous diet and health without going all the way - as vegans do. 

Their dilemma is that they may be attracted to the idea of self-improvement, even outraged by what they find out about animal farms and animal foods, but they may not like the idea of substantially reducing their choices in food and clothing. Moving on may not appear so attractive when they look about and see that their health is 'okay' and their life is 'okay'. Since they aren't required to confront animal torture or witness animals being killed, the idea of making no change seems 'okay' too.  In this way they get to keep their home comforts, their social acceptability and their feelings of being 'normal'. Anything more radical in terms of change, gets thrown into the 'too hard' basket.

Vegans can be left feeling impotent, non-influential and frustrated. All we can do is stand on the sidelines and wait patiently for people to change. It's difficult to see how activists can feel anything but useless in their attempts to protect exploited animals. It's why we often sound too strident when we speak about "Animal Rights" - and if there's one thing the average omnivore finds difficult to identify with, it's the strident vegan!

Escaping the ‘violence-pit’

1770: 

Our world is littered with murdered animals chopped up and divided into small portions for humans to buy and eat. From the ease with which we seem to be able to kill and consume them it isn’t surprising that we’ve turned ourselves into a violent, selfish and cold hearted species.                                                                                                                       

This is the society we’ve all been born into and brought up with. Only when we become independent adults can most of us decide whether to conform to our society’s values or start out on our own with our own quite different values. If we decide to disassociate our values with those of our society, we might find that we’ve jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. For, by escaping, we may end up in the ‘fringes’, lonely.

If we’re sure our own motives are sincere, we’ll inevitably attempt to convince others to do as we’ve done. In our case, we are fighting on behalf of a voiceless species, who can do nothing for themselves about the humans who enslave them. This is why some of us must try to act on their behalf, to defend them from attack, even though we are up against the greatest and most entrenched juggernaut history has ever know – the Animal Industry.

Today, it’s already happening. Vegans are fighting back, preserving our own strengths while helping to liberate farmed animals. But our personal inner strengths are sometimes at odds with our determinations. One’s need for support to help with this difficult aim can easily overshadow the main goal of working for animals’ liberation. Which is why our energy might become drained and consequently why we become disheartened by our lack of progress.

There is all the more reason to remind ourselves of the importance of what we are doing, the scale of the task ahead and the urgent need to get MANY people on side. So, we must appeal to consumers. They, not the farmers or the animal executioners, have to be our main target and future support. If consumers come across (and then act together with us, essentially by ‘going vegan’) we can dismantle the animal imprisonment system. The abattoirs will go out of business and together we will have brought down the whole of the Animal Industry.

This industry, with the cooperation of the billions of consumers, have in their custody billions of animals. They are locked in concrete and steel tombs, awaiting execution. The freeing of them means the freeing of ourselves. It's the start to end the violence, so widely practised in human life on this planet.

Boycotting wins no friends

1769:  

Animal Rights is about introducing a different set of values, perhaps unheard of before. Most omnivores haven’t even considered that animals deserve ‘the right to a life’. Vegans have, going on to pursue their responsibilities, discovering how the liberation of animals impacts on daily life, and then operating on an entirely animal-free basis. This not only means changing diets, clothing and other commodities, but leaving their friends behind in the process. Omnivore friends, being more self-protective or self-interested, aren’t into developing new value systems that impact on so many of their daily habits. But sticking with the old value systems of their parents' generation is embarrassing, especially since they face a moral dilemma. It's easier to be omnivorous but difficult to ignore what vegans are saying.

The situations facing some animals are famously well known. They are exploited - the hens kept in cage; the chimpanzees going insane in science laboratories, the breeding sows in ‘iron maiden’ sow stalls, the dairy cows turned into a milk-making machines. Today we can't pretend NOT to know about animal cruelty. Fifty years ago people didn't know but today even young children get to find out what happens 'down on the farm'. It's distressing to know about it, but strangely, eating habits don't necessarily change because of what is known.

Perhaps this shows just how strong the eating impulse is. We're reluctant to change our food habits unless it’s to our own advantage. It's unlikely that most people would choose to change their lifestyle if it meant separating from others. We are the masters of our own destiny, endowed with a will of our own and living in a free-choice world. No one has the authority to tell us what we may or may not eat. We are the arbiters of our own choices. But the more we learn about the life of farm animals, the harder it is to be comfortable about our choices.

         

The whole idea that vegans are putting forward highlights this dilemma. We can't help but inflict guilt just by the very mention of 'animal issues'. It isn't surprising that once we are known to be 'vegan' that most people try to avoid us.

         

So we vegans might be lonely because we’re avoided and lonely because we deliberately disassociate from the lifestyle shared by almost everyone else. We may well be regarded as social pariahs. Since we not only boycott many products sold in shops (to our own considerable inconvenience) but boycott social events like barbeques, dinner parties and restaurants, we are disliked. This is something which vegans need to find a way of dealing with.

We all suffer from our choices in life (the omnivore suffers guilt and chronic illness, the vegan suffers from social alienation). There's comfort in being part of the mass, and doing what others do. And there's no comfort for vegans who are on the outer, and only part of a small minority. However, there are special advantages - it’s great that we’re into self-improvement, great that we stand up to the hypocrisy in Society and can do it without bitterness. But we have to take into account our need for other people. And this comes down to our approach and how we advocate for animals - how do we advocate strenuously whilst not necessarily going on the attack, how we remain friendly with those we might want to judge.

The big question for us is surely how we stay emotionally neutral and not feel depressed when the people we know avoid us or avoid talking about this subject.

Focusing on consumers

1768:  

The public stick together. They have a way of not responding to the animal-horror stories. But if vegans feel anger towards the farmers and killers and retailers of animals, we might be missing the point. We can’t persuade those who make their daily living out of animals. We’ll surely have greater success, albeit slow, with members of the general public. And not with anger but with irresistible arguments aimed at this target audience. When you consider how much damage the consumers do with their purchasing of unethical products, perhaps they should be confronted about their shopping choices, to move them towards some consciousness raising.

Consciousness is very subjective. The ordinary Joe doesn’t think of himself as an omnivore. The ordinary Jo hasn’t given much thought to where her meat or milk comes from. All they know is that there are a few people, who call themselves ‘vegans’, who feel strongly about eating animals. If you see someone you know to be a vegan walking towards you, you can cross to the other side of the street or simply ignore what they are saying. Or you can do what so many others do - out of a need to lessen their guilt, they might choose to make this into a health issue. They pretend confusion about meat and milk as being “possibly” unhealthy, thus neatly avoiding the “possibility” of the food being unethical. Most omnivores can handle doing something that’s not healthy but can’t accept that they’re doing something morally wrong. It’s very difficult for your regular nice guy to condone the killing of animals. They might concede agreement that veggies are healthier, if only to divert attention away from any talk about caging and killing.

This ‘cruelty’ aspect is hard to face if you support it by what you buy. But for other reasons, for us, this is a sensitive subject to broach. But we also know that if we can get this aspect across, we start to make the biggest impact. By emphasising empathy and sensitivity and softening of attitudes, rather than adopting a healthy diet of plants, we touch a raw nerve. Which is why we hardly ever get any of this across. People are on the defensive when they are in danger of meeting a vegan and talking animals with them.

Since this is not a police state (and we are not ‘vegan police’), we have to wait for them to see what we’ve seen. Only then might they respond to the hard facts the way we’ve done. Maybe, you and I were deeply moved by pictures of struggling animals facing death; perhaps we changed our own way of eating in response to these sorts of images, of say a terror-stricken lamb being manhandled into the killing chute or male chicks being thrown into the mincer. Maybe people are similarly moved. But more likely at the first realisation of what was about to be shown the brain sends out a warning to avoid seeing these sorts of indelible images. It’s too upsetting. And whether it’s an image or the words contained in a vegan’s arguments, we are primed to expect danger and impelled to avoid it. To cross the road. Which is why vegans often feel alienated, rejected, lonely and hardly ever experience success in their advocacy for Animal Rights. 

Dealing with loneliness

1767: 

Let’s face it, a tiny, tiny minority of people are vegans. We are outsiders and will remain so until substantial numbers of people start to take veganism seriously. It’s debilitating to be alone, so we form groups to give us a better chance of survival. A movement builds and everyone talks about how-it-could-be but never talks about the loneliness of individual members of that group who because of their viewpoint feel alienated because of it.

Some individuals can lay aside their social isolation and find security within their in-group, but often they get side-tracked by ambitions for status within the group. Groups often narrow down to the most active members who form committees, which can then lose sight of their original target of attempting to change speciesist attitude, and it becomes a group push for exposing some of the most terrible of animal abuses – “win this and we win everything”.

That might not be true, but even if it is, the needs of the individual activist often get forgotten about. The emotional support network of the group becomes weaker, while the group-need for strength grows greater. There’s a frantic search for finance for on-going projects, and that could have its own rewards if there was any evidence of making progress but mostly there’s none, or very little.

Animal Rights is going to be slow in coming, so marking up progress is often impossible. The calls on our reserves of patience are great. The individual activist, feeling their failure feels their own loneliness, and begins to feel resentful. “Why won’t my friends listen?” “Why aren’t people changing when the need for it is so obvious?” They may have their reasons, but they don't necessarily help us feel less lonely. It's more likely they make us feel the reality of the unshiftableness of human nature combined with the seductive qualities of thousands of different foods which suit all tastes. Somehow, each vegan must find a way of dealing with both loneliness and their determined avoidance of animal-based foods; with their unseducibility. 

Ah, but the loneliness!!

1766: 

What’s it like being an animal activist, someone who wants animals to have a life but whose words fall on deaf ears? With almost everyone chomping away on their meat and various animal secretions, nobody seems to be listening. No one is interested in anyone who seems to be denying them their pleasures.

         

As vegans, we know how it feels to be alone but perhaps it’s essential, because it lets us empathise more closely with animals. It helps us not to forget that domesticated animals are not only alone but at the mercy of violent humans. It’s no consolation though, for us personally, when we realise the apathy and silence of most people around us, with their hardness of outlook. It’s even noticeable in dear friends, when they’re trying to shield themselves from taking a ‘soft’ view. They’re harder than we might want them to be or even they want to be; they’re not communicating with their soft side for fear of what they might become.

         

From a personal point of view, in wanting to be an advocate for animals I still want to feel close to my friends. Do I sacrifice one for the other? It’s noticeable that the louder we speak out the sooner friends seem to turn away.

There’s a deal of pain in being marginalised. It’s dangerous to feel cut off from others. It might drive us crazy, but there are greater dangers if we need acceptance enough to turn us back to our old idiot-ways.

If we’re serious about addressing ‘the greater good’, we have to find ways of NOT feeling so alone that we fall into feeling that it’s all pointless. It helps to know other vegans, it helps perhaps to meet up with a whole bunch of animal rights activists on a regular basis. But in reality, we all live apart. We’re on our own. This is one big personal challenge for most vegans - not in the changing of our diet but in facing up to a diminished social life and the shortage of simpatico companions.

Diverting Away from the Ideal of Harmlessness

1765: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

In the best of all possible worlds, we would work for the greater good rather than for our own good. The conscience is spiritually motivated, so a strong conscience is good for the soul. But 'spiritual' goals often seem unreachable if they run counter to our 'wanting' natures. We can't pacify our yearning selves until we attend to our consciences. There are many far worse off than ourselves; many whose 'needs' outweigh our wants. As we approach adulthood, we realise that there are times when we need to address the greater good, put ourselves second and lay aside our fears because whatever fears we may have, they are nothing compared to the torments of those we may be deciding to help.

Ideally, the problems facing us should be seen within the context of others' greater problems, particularly when there's great suffering. Some suffering is part of Nature, but there's the other sort, the entirely unnecessary human initiated suffering and none is worse than that inflicted on those innocent animals that we humans like to eat. For vegans, it comes down to straight out empathy with these exploited animals. Be deflecting the focus away from our individual problems, we get a clear impression of the harsh reality of the animals' tormented world of imprisonment behind closed doors where they spend their entire lives locked up. This is where a great wrong happens, where none of us are allowed to look into or enter through. This is where animals suffer - badly - and where the suffering that's inflicted is considered quite 'legal' and condoned by the animal eating/animal using public. However passionately we want to help these beautiful, sentient beings, we can't rescue them without risking prosecution!

So our power is in protest. Vegans protest and boycott all animal products. But there is no power if no one takes any notice, if people don't want to know. It brings us back to the low level of priority most people place on the suffering of farm animals and the high priority they place on their own self interests. Self interest is the dead weight here. Life has only so much to offer and it seems that one's acts of kindness which might make us proud to be part of our own species, are reserved for close to home problems. As important as these problems appear to be, they also act as diversions. We'd like to get them fixed first before we take a clear run at 'The Greater Good'. But we usually don't get that far. We never quite clean up our own act to our satisfaction. We find plenty of reasons and good causes to be involved with to prevent us facing the causes we don't want to get too close to. This diversionary practice is part of the narrowing of our decision making process. We never finish cleaning up our personal issues before getting around to broader issues, principles and ideals which might be confronting us.

At the other extreme, we have vegans who have addressed the very important principle of the ideal of harmlessness. But it's likely we have our own diversions keeping us away from this ideal. Obviously vegans aren't involved in any way with the harming of animals. But we don't always apply that principle universally and comprehensively. We shouldn't do anything, either physically or mentally, to harm animals or humans. We might be angry with the farmers and the proxy farmers (the consumers). But if we truly aspire to our ideal, then we must nevertheless be active in trying to help the consumer too.

What help can vegans be to non-vegans? It isn't only to win them over to our way of thinking, but to help them see our ideal by not aiming harmful thoughts at them. This is a tricky path we follow since we have to be watchful to not inadvertently feel harmful or be seduced by our own good deeds. Sometimes we engage in ineffective action in order to feel better about our commitment to the cause. If this is the case, others will pick up on it, suspect our motives and not be inspired by our 'words'. They might agree with what we say, yet feel uneasy about the way we say it and not be convinced that we are as we want to appear to be - advocates of harmlessness.

The Style in Conscience

1764: 

Conscience may call on morality as a reference point, but it’s not its driving force, especially since the idea of morality has so many ugly associations with god-botherers and goodness-preachers. Conscience works for the greater good and pesters entropy and indifference. Conscience has an independent, intelligent and instinctive role to play in forming our values. Where the private conscience is multidimensional, morality is more one dimensional - its doing 'good' smacks of insincerity and earning brownie points, which is not as interesting or constructive as it could be. Conscience is sophisticated enough to make 'good-doing' into a quiet and anonymous activity. In fact, overall, conscience has style. A vegan lifestyle, based as it is upon the dictates of personal conscience, needs a smooth operating style, where mind over matter comes easy, and where the body is functioning smoothly on clean plant foods and the brain is directing us away from the poisoning effects of abattoir products.

Our conscience lets us ‘do right’ more easily without the need for it to be noticed. The conscience is our higher self, happy to be in a gentle relationship with the environment, and just as happy if one's fellow humans are gentle with each other. The gentle nature of Conscience is able to hold back when necessary, not to be self-denying but to prevent any harm coming to others. A vegan lifestyle is the outward expression of a mature conscience, in that it allows us to step beyond the tempting world of those material commodities which necessarily cause harm. And the more sensitive our thinking and attitudes, the freer we are to develop a pleasing style. And with style comes a natural avoidance of all those grubby attitudes and guilts that prevail today. The benefits of taking on a gentler style are greater than any benefit we may draw from indulging in our favourite foods made by the Animal Industry. In this way, vegans are gentler people than the average, if only because they have less weight crushing the conscience and cramping its style.

Now, it's all very well to talk in these terms, but when vegans talk this way it sounds as though we are ‘up’ ourselves, whereas we are merely suggesting how it might be for anyone, to have a lighter conscience. If we are vegans and are advocating for animals, we are surely attempting to fix a certain ‘style’, rather than wishing to polish our own haloes. However developed our style becomes, we can't ever neglect the one dimensional values espoused by old fashioned morality. But we might do well to think of morality as a stepping stone to more interesting things, as well as to some basic rules, like the guidelines you have to have when playing a sport.

There are certain rules to keep us honest. The honourable sports-player plays a straight game and enjoys playing by the rules. But the problem, as I see it, is that sometimes the rule book can be swallowed uncritically, and stifle the free-flow of the game. Likewise, with some of our favourite morality-rules. These are beloved of evangelical preachers, who advocate an unvarnished morality, but in doing so kill all the enjoyment of life. Vegan principle might seem like a rule book too, but it confines itself to one principle - that of striving towards harmlessness. In this, it is really a passport to greater freedom, and one that is therefore universally attractive.

Morality, ethical upbringing, values, they can guide us in the right direction. But today we’re heading towards a sophisticated way of living that has a huge variety of choices and many opportunities for decision-making. And it's no longer enough just to spell out the obvious - “Thou shalt not eat meat”. Instead the mature conscience inspires us to “Lighten up and be vegan”, which is more attractive and just as moral.

This way to the level playing field

1763:

If we aren’t sure about our direction in life we usually do what we see others doing. But if what we see doesn't feel right, then we have to work things out for ourselves, or follow people who seem like us, who are doing things a little differently. We might see that they're doing things by consulting their conscience, even to the point of doing ‘good’ all over the place. But, ugh, it starts to look sickly sweet, so we retreat away from what others are doing and start to examine our own feelings and priorities. We bring in conscience.

If there are any possibilities for humans in the future I think they lie here, in restoring the balance between being too clever and being too heart-driven. The conscience, the guiding instinct, is elevated to a position which is taken more seriously. We in the West have dumped conscience in order to get ahead; we are ‘first worlders’, oblivious of the damage we cause and the exploitation we’re involved with, and this is what has led us towards the fuller consciousness of what we’ve done. The conscience isn't just the judge but the advisor, making us aware of our potential to repair.

Our potential is for destruction but also for creation. If we decide to be more creative and constructive it will mean we have to start all over again. Once we accept the need for a complete reappraisal of our daily habits, however much that might mean we have to suffer, in the end we’ll be better able to strike out in a new direction because of the greater awareness of what’s been happening in our decision-making. We're better able to strike a balance between the genius of intellect and the guidance of conscience. When our conscience is elevated to its rightful place, we can reach to where each of us wants to be.

Better than operating grudgingly, trying to 'be good', instead we find a pleasure in having things going in the right direction but also working more smoothly. Our 'released' conscience keeps us honest in order to keep us on our toes, in order to help us manage our lives more efficiently. It simply encourages us to ‘give and take’. If we are still at the stage where we are thinking about rewards, we'll expect things to fall from the sky. If we can get beyond that point it will be to move towards the potential-self where we can see the ‘strings attached’, where there's a level playing field, where all interests are taken into consideration, because not only our own interests are important.

Experimenting

1762: 

Imagine what it would be like to ‘go vegan’, trying to give up a lot of our favourite foods but always finding it to be an effort - if it turned out to be like that, we’d feel like giving up and going back to easier ways.

But isn’t that the characteristic of any experiment – finding out whether it's worth putting in the extra effort to eventually reach a point where it’s no longer such an effort? Once over that hurdle, then an experiment becomes interesting enough to stick with.

I remember when I first contemplated veganism I wondered whether I'd find it worth it, to get over the initial inertia. But it’s a double hurdle, because there’s a huge weight of opinion set against vegans. People we mix with try to drag us back to conventional ways. They don't want to be reminded every time they see you, that you've made such a big break away from where they are.

In an ideal world we’d be pioneers, discovering new ideas, following them, setting an example and others inevitably following, lightening our load. But it's not like that when you switch over to vegan eating. So our daily practice needs depth-of-thinking. It needs our own take on the philosophy behind it, linking self development with self discipline. Which means making the practical changes in the true spirit of experimenting, by not needing outside help to confirm our decisions or to keep us on track.

Unimaginativeness

1761:

Consider, if you will, that disease, illness and pessimism are symptoms of a deep-seated unimaginativeness. Imagination may be thriving amongst small children but it's either lost altogether or it's only deemed useful for the arts and entertainment industries; as the held-hand, guiding us into our future, imagination is thought to have little relevance. Perhaps imagination seems too open-ended, too mischievous, tripping us up when we get above ourselves, pushing us beyond our comfort zone or just not much use as a problem-solver. But not everyone thinks this way. To some it's the creative driver, to others it's the safety net, and for others imagination acts like an elder who is demanding in order to keep standards high.

If we recognise its power, use it to 'imagine' ideas into reality, we can watch new ideas grow until they’re independent of imagination and can be allowed to grow on their own. And if these ideas are to stand the test of time, it will be because we've launched them, held them together with a focused imagination, until they're ready to initiate change; and to bring about as major a change as moving away from speciesism, we need that exhilarating burst of fresh energy from a lively imagination.

At a certain stage, if change is too slow it will whimper along, never building up enough momentum. It will always be being held back by our making mistake after mistake. We'll start to see imagination scuttling our ideas. So imagination has to be focused, to get past the stumbling blocks, in order to consolidate change and let it do its work to bring about change. Society's attitude to animals, for instance, will only change when enough individuals have been able to imagine change into their own lives, and go on to impress the majority to get with the same idea. And that, as an idea, is where Animal Rights needs to get to.

That level of change, affecting human nature on such a scale, needs far more than one isolated idea (being vegan, for instance) to succeed. It needs to take the idea of being vegan as the beginning of a much greater change ahead. It's got to cover everything connected to animals, and then start on it's long journey towards bringing about personal change, societal change, and exchange violent-thinking for non-violent-thinking.

For this to happen, we need a vibrant imagination. Without that, our species will surely die from unimaginativeness. And no doubt drag the other species and biota down with us.  

Imagination let-rip

1760: 

The struggle to stand firm in the face of temptation isn’t merely one of disciplined decision-making but of finding a reason to be disciplined. For me, this reasoning is based upon the prioritising of issues in my own mind, where I sort out what is the most urgent thing needing my attention - “What am I going to do about it?”

Animal Rights figures large. Is it the horror of claustrophobia, imposed on innocent little creatures, that leads us to want to defend imprisoned animals? If it is, then we don't just want to improve their confinement, we want them out of there. For us, it's an aim that's very clear and strong and urgent. Initially, it leads us to boycott anything to do with cruelty to animals - that's the strong and urgent part. But we also have to be fairly certain about why we are doing this. A vegan doesn't want to fail at making the big gesture of going vegan but going in so hard that we might risk not being able to continue with it.

As vegans, we tend to forget how having high ideals has to live alongside food-based weaknesses. I remember that when I ‘went vegan’, I feared it would drive me crazy, craving so many ‘prohibited’ things - not allowing myself any of them. When we're asked if we're “allowed to eat” certain things we always say, “We can eat what we like. It’s our own choice. There’s no authority watching over us”. And that makes it very different to religion, since we are our own authority. Indeed we are our own harshest judges; we know what we want to be and know what we want to do, and we also want to talk-out our stated principles. We say "I'm vegan", but we have to actually be it and know that we can remain vegan for the rest of our lives. That's quite a commitment which can only be made by those who really do know themselves.

I stay vegan by having a sense of purpose which includes a picture of a future where there's harmony between humans and animals. But I stay vegan for other reasons too. It’s an opening up of all the barriers, allowing in all the suggestions of great possibilities up-ahead. There's nothing more exciting to look forward to, to help bring that possible future into reality, but only on condition that one is ‘clean’ (i.e. vegan). With the doors open, the imagination is free to look ahead, and show a different type of human, living in a world where human nature no longer falls back on violence. Pioneering into a violence-free world starts by stepping through the barriers into a world that doesn't yet exist outside the imagination. That's all we can have at this time.

If there are others who can’t or won't open up to this 'imagined world', not only are they denied the image of that more harmonious world, but they also can't condemn the abusive world of the present, because much of what they do is condoning it. They’re caught up in it. They think in a 'hard' way, they possess an unprotectable self-image, and of course they perpetuate this image with the animal-based foods they eat. It's likely that they've never seriously contemplated going vegan, and in fact think the whole idea is absurd. They couldn’t even allow ‘such absurdity’ to enter their heads, so they opt to stay where they’ve always been.

These omnivores love their animal products and tell any vegans they know, “You don’t know what you’re missing”. But we're glad to be away from all that, from the cheap temptations of the omnivore world. We know they can’t hear the voice of their own conscience, and aren't attracted to that world which, to them, is ‘possible-though-seemingly-improbable’. Nor are they capable of projecting anything that would benefit their children’s’ generation and their welfare. They simply conform to convention.

I wonder why it isn't obvious that since conventional ways have gotten us into today’s mess, surely the opposite way is the obvious way to get us out of it. 

'Me'-centred Enlightenment

1759: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

When we try to establish 'Rights' for animals, we won't get far if we abuse the abusers (they only get off on it!). But what about the consumers? As vegan animal activists, we need to avoid the temptation to harangue or trap customers into agreeing with our vegan philosophies. Even if they say they agree with us, it's likely they just want us to shut up about 'animals' and let them enjoy the foods they're used to. If they do listen to our side of the story and take some action, it's likely they'll slip back into their old habits after a while. People aren't easily convinced about the need to make a major lifestyle change based on ethical considerations. They want acceptability from their families, friends and colleagues with whom they like eating and socialising. They seem to want to think for themselves and show some individuality - but not too much! Becoming vegan (especially in a world where there are so few) seems like one huge social risk to them. 

The main personal and practical challenges in becoming vegan are taking on 'Normality' and moving away from our own comfort zones. It's a struggle because we're so familiar with having unencumbered choices in clothing, in the people we choose to mix with and in the food we choose to eat. But these choices are often based on weaknesses which force us to accept low levels of self esteem. To our peers, we might seem tough, healthy and acceptable, but our self-esteem can be fragile. It's affected by the guilt of being involved in anything we don't really approve of. On the one hand, we value our sensitivity and conscience but on the other, we're trying to meet the demands of personal comfort. The choices we make come down to the value we place on having a clear conscience as opposed to the pain of feeling guilt.

It seems that these days, we're being made to feel guilty about everything - from smoking tobacco (self-induced harm) to being wasteful and polluting (indifference towards the collective good). We take steps to avoid feeling guilty. We cleanup some habits in order to feel less guilty about those we're trying to avoid dealing with. We start to recycle. We buy 'green'. We conserve energy and feel quite self-satisfied that we're making substantial efforts. To include 'Going Vegan' in the cleanup might seem ambitious, even foolhardy, so we try to leavethat guilt alone despite the relief we know it would bring.

Maybe that's what life teaches all of us in the end - that there's a consequence to whatever we decide to do. Sometimes it shows up immediately. Other times it's delayed, but it does catch up with us eventually. Whereas if we make a bold move and ditch our animal dependency, very likely we'll start to feel much better about ourselves immediately. Self-esteem is boosted. There are many world issues to address and we have to decide why we feel so strongly about one thing and less about another. It comes down to priorities and human nature. What can be changed to make all humans more intelligent?

The 'animal' question might not at first seem detrimental to our own human development. The animals aren't rebelling against human authority (yet).  But when we look a little deeper, we see some frightening connections. The foods we eat from animals ARE making us ill and human violence and violation ARE the causes of warfare and pollution. And it all stems from our violent treatment of animals! If we are honest enough to look closely at cause and effect, the picture becomes clearer. The 'animal issue' is a metaphor for the human condition. Billions of humans are suffering the consequences of violent natures. It's simply a reflection of the billions of 'useable' animals being made to suffer for our convenience. This connection, alongside the sheer numbers involved in the many ugly useages of animals, makes the 'animal issue' a high priority. 

By totally ignoring animal issues, we show ourselves to be blind to the obvious links between how we treat one another and how we treat animals. The bottom line is that we are afraid of becoming gentler or becoming vegan. There is a battleground between guilt and comfort. We can feel enlightened in one way, but not enough to confront our comfort zones. If you know any enlightened people, try asking them what they eat! Unless they've addressed this matter of animal slavery, their enlightenment doesn't amount to a hill of beans!   

Animal Ingredients Concealed in Food Packaging Labelling

1758: 

In England, where I've recently visited, there are many vegan-friendly foods on the market, but here in Australia, many food manufacturers are slow on the uptake. They don't realise that there's a growing market for those of us who are vegan.

Either it's a conspiracy against us to discourage people from becoming vegan or, more likely, they don't really understand what vegan means, or why vegans avoid animal products, or how important the ethics of food are to some people. Perhaps they think that if they make things too obvious they might put even the omnivores off their products, or perhaps they don't realise what constitutes an 'animal product'. Either way, there are so many products on the Australian market which seem to be 'vegetarian friendly' but NOT vegan friendly. We find 'good quality' ingredients, intended to appeal to the health conscious, like Quinitos (quinoa and rice snacks) which may be full of attractive organic ingredients but contain honey.

Mostly, the products in health food shops containing 'whole food ingredients' also contain milk. Presumably, if this isn't an anti-vegan conspiracy, then they use animal by-products because they are cheap and effective in making for 'better taste'. If egg is used, making the product non-vegan, it is for its binding quality. The egg used is more useful to the sale of the product than un-useful because a handful of vegan consumers who might buy it if it were NOT containing that egg. Sometimes the by-products are hidden by the unfamiliarity of their names.

Thanks to Jadeite Vegetarian Singapore for the following useful list, below:

Unexpected animal additives, like dairy products, poultry or beef broth/stocks, eggs and so on. Several brands of veggie hamburgers, for instance, consist of eggs, and some soy cheeses are manufactured together with dairy. Deciphering animal ingredient from the labels is usually a challenging task. How can you know if something’s vegan if you ever don’t understand what it is? 

Listed below are a list of 12 animal ingredients in disguise:

1) Albumin – water-soluble proteins produced by milk, egg-whites or blood from animals.
2) Albumen – Sometimes wrongly identified as Albumin, Albumen is an egg white, or the protein contained in it.
3) Bone char – Derived from charring animal bones as well as animal bone ash, used to process white sugar. Primarily produced from cow and cattle bones.
4) Casein –The main protein in cow’s milk, it comes in several forms, which may be listed as ammonium, caseinate, calcium caseinate, potassium caseinate, or sodium caseinate. Casein is commonly used as a major part of cheese, it’s also used as food additive to further improve the texture of foods, including cereals, breads, and chocolates.
5) Carmine or cochineal: Red pigment produced from crushed beetles, used in foods, makeup, and nutritional supplements.
6) Gelatin – Common ingredient accustomed to make treats like Jell-O, gummy bears, and marshmallows, gelatin is created by boiling the skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones of cattle and pigs (kosher gelatin is created from fish).
7) Lard – It is created from pig fat. Sometimes included in many cuisines as a cooking fat or baking.
8) Lecithin – Some Lecithin is derived from animal fat and egg (soy lecithin is constructed from soybeans); it’s is normally found in salad dressings to prevent separation of oil and vinegar.
9) Methionine: Essential amino acids made from eggs or cow’s milk
10) Pepsin: Enzyme Produced from hog stomachs
11) Rennet – An Enzyme obtained from the stomach of calves, rennet is commonly used as a coagulant during the cheese-making process
12) Whey – Made from milk, the remaining liquid after milk curds are segregated out, whey is commonly used to make cheese and is usually found in protein energy drinks and bar.

Jadeite Vegetarian

Misinforming the public

1757: 

The dangers of an omnivorous diet are well enough known by the food producers. That's why essential information is suppressed and why people are swamped with ‘misinformation’. The Animal Industry's only interest is to make money from producing and selling foods which aren’t necessarily good for health (mind-body-spirit, etc). They have no idea what level of responsibility they have!

We must assume they are either stupid or besotted with making money, otherwise it's difficult to imagine what it is driving them. What can allow them to do what they do? But that's another story. For whatever reasons they have to be as they are, it's probably all about perception. As sentient beings humans sometimes get the impression that feel very strong. They know they're on the winning side. And it's because they're are so well established that no one can touch them. The Animal Industries, their advertising companies employ legions of psychologists. And it's down to them, with all their 'advertising wisdom', to guarantee products, that will make for a thriving animal industry. Naturally, there can't be space for sentiment. They do what they do despite causing deterioration in human health and worsening the state of animal welfare.

You’d think, by now, that we humans would have wised up. With such advances made in food technology, we should have embraced the potential of real food which is also cruelty-free. By now we should be demanding healthy food, 'proper food', but the animal business is so persuasive that nothing ever changes for the better. Mass-taste and mass-sense-stimulation calls for mass production to respond to mass demand. And it must be low cost.

With sophisticated scientific ingenuity, including the psychologists and chemists, they make foods addictively tasty and socially 'acceptable'.

Wealthy people identify themselves by the rich foods they eat, and the aspiring classes emulate them. The poorest people eat the cheapest foods available, which are mainly plant-based foods, but whenever circumstances improve for them, they increase the animal protein content of their diet. That unfortunately brings them closer to a whole range of deadly, diet-related diseases common amongst wealthier people.

But for all their faults, the great food producing industries who exploit animals, the "evil industries", don't do as much misinforming as we do to ourselves. For the benefit of our own comforts we employ lots of lying. We fool ourselves royally, specifically in regard to what we put in our mouths. Oh! how we are driven off-course by the power of taste sensation and prospects of stomach filling!!

It's like the sex drive when it's so strong it leads you into a situation which restricts your freedom, more than you ever wanted or imagined. Same with food, and the lifelong assault on our bodily systems, the chemical side, the physical energy side, but also the evolved side. That huge sophisticated being we each have inside us, in choosing to misinform itself leads inevitably towards trouble. And it comes out in many ways. If not in obesity then in callousness or, worse, indifference. And when the three year old child asks about the killing, there's nothing can be said, unless we choose to misinform them.   

Safety from being farmed

1756: 

What I think has happened is that ‘animal groups’ have compromised their aims in order to keep in with the majority of vegetarians. Instead of protecting all animals they have decided to concentrate on ending factory farming. In that way they will maximize their support base. And no one could argue against that focus, to end the very worst of conditions animals suffer. But it never goes any further, to advocate the ending of all farming; if intensification is boycotted we will have just as many people eating dead animals and condoning the enslavement of animals, even though the living conditions of some farm animals improve. 

The 'cancer' is in the attitude of using animals - it's the speciesism behind the exploitation. All the time we regard animals as fair game, we will find ways to get what we want from them, with the least regard for them as individual beings. It’s like sending the kids down the mines but giving them safety helmets and lamps and it not affecting coal production. We need to get to the root of the problem, as to why humans still see it as acceptable to enslave animals.

I think we should go right out there to the extreme, to spell out the ideal. To some a world without animal farming might seem impractical, but the argument about a ‘no-use-animal’ policy goes further than just improving animal welfare. It goes past seeing them as commodities and human property. It sees them as we might see those of our own species who are exploited, as irreplaceable, sovereign individuals who need to be released from slavery. We need to think about them as we would an abused child in need of safety from a child-abuser.

For animals, who can't bring any pressure to free themselves it's up to us to ensure their safety from being ‘farmed’. 

Getting others to hear what we are saying

1755: 

When I get to thinking about my own self-development, I must first think about the repairs I need to make which opens the door to being a much more creative, constructive, caring person. The person I want to be.

I have two things going on in my head at the same time here - I’m wanting to do something for myself and something for the greater good. It starts out with self-discipline and turns into enjoyment. It's like keeping fit. It works in the same way. I don't want to end up with a body that doesn't work. Perhaps I need to lose weight or tone my muscles. I do the training, which is hard work. I end up proud of my efforts, and with a working body. In the same way, working for the ‘greater good’ sounds grim until we begin to feel the rewards of our efforts - the selfless becomes self-benefitting. What we want for others is what we want for ourselves. What I do for myself benefits others at the same time. So this might be true altruism - a self generating energy which is neither me-centred nor you-centred but a balance of common interests.

This sort of altruism is the intelligent way of organising one's life. It fits my own needs and is also useful to others. Maybe I can help only in the smallest way but it’s a start, and who knows where it will lead? But in order for altruism to work I must be optimistic - "Damage has been done, but it can be fixed”.

Optimism ‘ups’ the energy all round. If I'm optimistic it's not because it’s right but because it’s meaningful and heading towards something that’s ultimately satisfying. Satisfaction and meaning are the big drivers here. As soon as I think I’m making a difference, for example by going vegan so that animals won’t be killed on my behalf, I've taken a step in the right direction.

The ‘I’ steps closer to the collective wanting for animals to be liberated. Once I can clean up my own act at home by establishing a vegan kitchen, then I can see myself as others might see me. NOT as a complaisant vegan, NOT as a figure of fun for others to mock, just as someone being who they want to be. If I'm now vegan that's a private matter which might mean very little to others, but still others can identify with me as a likeable, self-effacing person who is clear about some important personal aims.

Naturally, vegans will want to talk about animals, food, abattoirs, etc., and naturally we'll want to build a strong support base for animal liberation, but we also want to be acceptable. Ideally, we want others to be able to identify with the way we can balance passion with outrage, enough to hold back if the time isn't right to communicate any of this.

I know it isn’t enough to simply pass on information to others. Everyone today is saturated with information and indeed misinformation, so why believe anything I have to say? But there are facts which can be referenced, and if they're indigestible or unattractive so be it; I still try to encourage others to listen. And for others to listen, I must try to be a likeable person. Unlikeable people give the listener a great excuse to dismiss any information we want to communicate. 

‘I’ is the new ‘we’

1754: 

Everything the human race has so far achieved has grown out of imaginative ideas, and been implemented to see if they work. Sometimes they really do work and we benefit from them always. Sometimes ideas work only for a time and end up doing more harm than good. In that case, hopefully, we see the error and fix it.

But who is ‘we’? On a personal level I can dream up ideas and fix them when they go wrong but I can’t change anything on a global level. I can try to be useful, however.

How to be useful? If it’s an idea that needs fixing I can at least not take part in it. I can boycott animal products, for instance, and go towards an alternative. Using animals in this day and age is not only unnecessary but soul corrupting. It’s also damaging the planet, as cars are too.

Take the internal  combustion engine, for example. It was such an asset at first but, a century down the track, it’s contributing to the death of our planet. The car is a big problem, but it’s unlikely that you or I are going to give up our cars because they’re so useful. If you give up your car (for the greater good) I won’t necessarily give mine up.

         

Our modern day lifestyle includes many of these damaging habits, damaging for myself, for the planet, for the future, very damaging for the animals, and this ‘out-of-control’ damaging is a worry for us. It makes us afraid and pessimistic, and makes for a grim- looking future. And it’s all the more depressing to know that most of us haven’t even started addressing the damage or tried to shed our worst habits; our own daily lifestyle is still cranking up the machine. We are either too obstinate or too impotent to change.

We say to ourselves, “I’m reluctant to take the lead if you won’t join me”. There’s nothing to bring us together on the worst habits which we share - we won’t act together and we won’t be self-sacrificing. Sell the car, use less electricity, give up meat – all very brave and noble. But will you follow my lead? Will you be so impressed that you will follow suit?

If you don’t join me, then my own efforts could make me feel resentful - why would I give up things on principle and make my lifestyle more uncomfortable? Perhaps I won’t change my habits after all, perhaps wait for you to change first, and then I’ll follow you. It seems that most of us follow fashions, we don’t lead them. Perhaps this is the most dangerous habit we have.

Now, what if all I want to do is be useful. Change according to principle with not a care what anyone else does? Imagine acting from conscience only, the norm no longer affecting my decision to do what I think is right.

This isn’t as unrealistic as it might seem. It brings us to the possibility of enjoying the process of change, finding new ways to self motivate without needing the approval of others. These damaging habits are springboards towards finding better ones, connecting personal fulfillment with practical repair work. Learning how to make change be less painful, even to enjoy the hard work involved.

It’s like that when you decide to become vegan. Even though others aren’t doing it, the rightness of doing it is obvious. There’s the bonus of improvements in health and energy. But perhaps it’s our ethical health we come to here, helping to get animals off death row. This level of change boosts self esteem, if nothing else. It’s rather as if we have taken the first steps in regaining control of our own lives AND our own world.