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.