Guest guest Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Hi everyone Someone posted the question "are you happier being vegan"? I think you all gave some good answers. After seeing Peaceable Kingdom Friday night I pondered this question a lot Saturday. PK is a wonderful film with joy...but obviously because they do show some factory farming...it was traumatizing as well. But it is still worth it and they don't shock you with it. Anyways...I think this is the burden vegans feel...the burden of knowledge. Saturday I was still thinking about it and was still feeling the shock of it all (new images in my mind I can't forget). I thought, this is the hard part about being vegan. That and fitting into the world, working harder at making/finding suitable meals and negotiating relationships with family, friends, co-workers re: your diet, and dealing with being a minority in a meat centered world! No easy task! No wonder so many people don't want to know the truth...it complicates your life and burdens you with knowledge you have to do something about. But aside from all that, at least for me, there is a joy in eating this way that is subtle and good. I wouldn't have it any other way...it IS me... and I am really glad to be living the way I was meant to live even if it is a challenge at times. We vegans may still have the regular problems of life...relationships, job, money, etc....but I think we carry less burden, spiritually or psychicly speaking, than meat eaters. I do believe the Buddhists and Hindus are right when they say that we take on the animals fear and pain and suffering when we partake in the whole ugliness and it effects us on some subtle or sometimes not so subtle way. There is the karmic factor as well. If we participate in killing, even by just paying someone to do the job for us...we incure negative karmic debt. To those who believe in this, it is serious. There is also the belief that eating meat causes more mental distubances. For these reasons, I am very glad to be vegan/vegetarian. So I think vegans have as many problems as meat eaters..but I think we lesson our karmic burden and have a greater chance at experiencing a peaceful mind because of our diet. Our diet won't save us...if we don't other things that cause disturbance and bad karma we will feel it...but with out diets we will be lessoning it a lot. So, in a sense, being vegan can and does bring a subtle form of happiness not available to those who eat animals. I am just expressing my thoughts here... I know many of you aren't into religion...just expressing my thoughts on the matter. Have a great day Kristina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 Kristina, I loved what you had to say and I couldn't agree more. Though I am very new to veganism - going on about a month - I am feeling a peace of mind and spirit that I didn't realize I needed and wanted. Someone not spiritual could attribute it to the antibiotics, hormones and chemicals one consumes when they eat all of that meat and cheese that the typical American ingests, day in and day out. I think that's part of it, but I do think subconciously I was taking on the pain and suffering of the animals I was eating, or at least having a very underlying self-loathing knowing deep down that what I was eating went through pain to be put on my plate. And that was when I didn't even know the half of it. Now that I've seen "Peaceable Kingdom" I am ready to go from "I think I'm going to cut back tremendously but I'm not ready to say that I'm going to be a vegan completely" to making the permanent change. I've never felt so liberated in my entire life! Jen lv2breathe wrote: Hi everyone Someone posted the question "are you happier being vegan"? I think you all gave some good answers. After seeing Peaceable Kingdom Friday night I pondered this question a lot Saturday. PK is a wonderful film with joy...but obviously because they do show some factory farming...it was traumatizing as well. But it is still worth it and they don't shock you with it. Anyways...I think this is the burden vegans feel...the burden of knowledge. Saturday I was still thinking about it and was still feeling the shock of it all (new images in my mind I can't forget). I thought, this is the hard part about being vegan. That and fitting into the world, working harder at making/finding suitable meals and negotiating relationships with family, friends, co-workers re: your diet, and dealing with being a minority in a meat centered world! No easy task! No wonder so many people don't want to know the truth...it complicates your life and burdens you with knowledge you have to do something about. But aside from all that, at least for me, there is a joy in eating this way that is subtle and good. I wouldn't have it any other way...it IS me... and I am really glad to be living the way I was meant to live even if it is a challenge at times. We vegans may still have the regular problems of life...relationships, job, money, etc....but I think we carry less burden, spiritually or psychicly speaking, than meat eaters. I do believe the Buddhists and Hindus are right when they say that we take on the animals fear and pain and suffering when we partake in the whole ugliness and it effects us on some subtle or sometimes not so subtle way. There is the karmic factor as well. If we participate in killing, even by just paying someone to do the job for us...we incure negative karmic debt. To those who believe in this, it is serious. There is also the belief that eating meat causes more mental distubances. For these reasons, I am very glad to be vegan/vegetarian. So I think vegans have as many problems as meat eaters..but I think we lesson our karmic burden and have a greater chance at experiencing a peaceful mind because of our diet. Our diet won't save us...if we don't other things that cause disturbance and bad karma we will feel it...but with out diets we will be lessoning it a lot. So, in a sense, being vegan can and does bring a subtle form of happiness not available to those who eat animals. I am just expressing my thoughts here... I know many of you aren't into religion...just expressing my thoughts on the matter. Have a great day Kristina To send an email to - Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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