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.
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