Meaning of life, to treat all humans and animals with love, compassion and nonviolence

To live a life of love, compassion and nonviolence to everyone.
To live after the principle ' “all breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away.” '

To fight against all discrimination and violence against all beings on this planet, all humans and all other animals:
"We do not object to speciesism in a vacuum. We reject it because it is like other forms of discrimination. What all forms of discrimination share in common is the use of an irrelevant criterion to exclude people from full membership in the moral community. Racists devalue those of different races based solely on skin color; sexists devalue women solely because of sex and gender; heterosexists deny full membership in the moral community to gays, lesbians, transgenders, etc. simply on the basis of sexual orientation. Speciesists deny full membership in the moral community based solely on species.

All of these forms of discrimination are morally unjustifiable. We reject speciesism because it is indistinguishable from these other forms of discrimination."
Quote: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/some-thoughts-on-the-abolitionist-approach/#.UbT_v5z_FLM"

Fighting against all violence, and spreading love and compassion, includes to stop inflicting unnecessary suffering and death upon all sentient beings, including nonhuman animals:
http://articles.philly.com/2009-08-14/news/24986151_1_atlanta-falcons-quarterback-vick-illegal-dog-dog-fights

A vegan healthy diet, the best for children

My reply to  person:
Kristen, Hello, I would like to comment on what you wrote.

It is not selfish to feed a child a vegan diet. A vegan diet is a diet of love and compassion and nonviolence. Children love animals and don’t want them to die and suffer. We should respect the lives of the animals, respect the purpose of the animals, and stop harming other sentient beings. They also have a moral value and a right to live, and we need to respect their rights and their lives. We need to teach children and everyone else to respect and love everyone. For further reading I recommend http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-note-about-michael-vick/ and www.vegankit.com

A vegan starch-based organic diet without GMO’s costs much less than a diet of animal products, both money-wise, and also for the animals and for our planets. One can learn more here: http://www.drmcdougall.com
An animal product-based diet is heavily subsidized, yet it is more expensive than a home cooked vegan diet with the bulk of potatoes, lentils, and other starches.
One can survive and thrive on a vegan diet – and it is much more healthy than an animal product-based diet both for us and certainly for the other animals who don’t get killed and abused because of someone's eating habits - of only potatoes and possibly an additional B12-supplement.

Why does many people abuse humans, dogs, cats and other animals?

Why are many persons cruel to human and other non-human animals?
I often try to think that what made a person become so destroyed that he/she feels it is justified to inflict so much violence against another sentient being; and lacks the capacity to feel empathy and love when it comes to the suffering of another individual.

I also think that if this person would have been taught love and compassion from childhood, instead of violence and apathy towards other individuals suffering that this person would have been completely different.

If we hurt another being, we hurt ourselves. In order to kill someone, we have to violate this individual's love and wants, we have to crush hopes, destroy a family and friend relationships; We have to sacrifice part of our inner love and compassion; we have to say to ourselves that 'I don't care' in order to take someone's purpose and life. And this has destroyed us, destroyed our society. The reason why people inflict violence and suffering upon others is the lack of empathy and love to others. If we instead would reinforce love and empathy at each meal by living a vegan lifestyle, instead of destroying parts of our love and empathy at each meal by hurting and killing someone for 'convenience' or taste, we would surely attain world peace. As long as we sow violence and wars by our eating choices, our society and culture will be absorbed in violence and wars.

So the problem is that our society destroys a person so much. The society inflicts violence upon a person, it teaches a person to practise violence, and the person loses more of his/her innate love and compassion. We will never reverse this destructive force and a persons lack of empathy, by feeling and practising violence and hate --- in our actions, speech and thoughts. If we feel violence in our heart, it will also effect our actions, and it will make us less efficient in our vegan advoacy. To show compassion, love and nonviolence in active vegan education of those we meet is the only thing that can make a people experience a revolution of their heart and go vegan.
That another one has abused an animal, doesn't justify a violent revenge action.

So when a person is hating and destryoing for other individuals, I don't feel hate. I feel a deep sorrow for the individual that has been hurt, and I also feel sorry for the individual that has been destroyed by the choices that our society to a large extent has enforced upon that individual. Of course we are all responsible for our choices.... But I know that the person would have been totally different if we had lived in a completely vegan society with no discrimination at all - not against humans and not against nonhuman animals.

We have all been destroyed to a large extent, and more than 99% of the population still is regularly making non-vegan choices, hurting and killing animals on a regular basis. Our non-vegan friends are condemning dog abusers, but are abusing animals themselves: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-note-about-michael-vick/
I also recommend this wonderful essay on nonviolence: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-comment-on-violence/

Vegan peace and love for world peace between humans and all other animals

Cats, dogs, rabbits, cows, fish, koalas, wolves, bears, humans. Our society wants to make a difference and then justify our use, abuse and killing for taste, pleasure or convenience, based on this difference.

However, we are all one, we are all consciousness, we all love, we all feel, we are. If we sow suffering, we reap suffering. We all have a purpose, to serve, to be a light, not to hurt or use (all animal products and the treatment of animals as commodities are hurting animals).

We need to extend our love and compassion to everyone. Everyone wants to live. If we hurt another being, we hurt ourselves. In order to kill someone, we have to violate this individual's love and wants, we have to crush hopes, destroy a family and friend relationships; We have to sacrifice part of our inner love and compassion; we have to say to ourselves that 'I don't care' in order to take someone's purpose and life. And this has destroyed us, destroyed our society. The reason why people inflict violence and suffering upon others is the lack of empathy and love to others. If we instead would reinforce love and empathy at each meal by living a vegan lifestyle, instead of destroying parts of our love and empathy at each meal by hurting and killing someone for 'convenience' or taste, we would surely attain world peace. As long as we sow violence and wars by our eating choices, our society and culture will be absorbed in violence and wars. By stealing the purpose of nonhuman and human animals, we lose our own purpose. By hurting others, we hurt ourselves.

We should stop hurting our family. We should treat everyone with love, compassion and nonviolence, i.e. go vegan (i.e. stop using, exploiting, enslaving, hurting, killing and eating animals).

We already do believe in this, we already to believe it is unethical to inflict unnecessary suffering and death upon other animals [More reasoning in this article: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/what-michael-vick-taught-us/#.UZfcIMp5eWI ].

I highly recommend World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle, www.worldpeacediet.org

It is a very transformative book. I became vegan this autumn and this book has helped me alot. Also the website www.vegankit.com contains many good resources. A good vegan health documentary showing the benefits of vegan health, and how detrimental animal products are for our health: http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au/

What do you think?

Thanks for reading!!!

Peace, love and light <3

Being vegan is very easy, hurting and enslaving animals is hard and unjust

Farid,
I am glad you agree about that it is the right thing to do! :) Becoming vegan for me last autumn was an easy choice once I understood that I have no rights at all to exploit animals, including paying someone to kill them, steal their products, and domesticate/enslave them.

Being vegan is incredibly easy. It is very easy to always choose to be loving and compassionate in every decision that we make. It is our true nature. Our society wants to fool us that it is hard, but it is not true. It is hard to continue to live a lifestyle that exploits others. It harms others, and it harms ourselves. It is easy to become vegan, to treat all beings with love, compassion and nonviolence, to find our true purpose, to come home.
Not being vegan for almost 28 years has been hard. I enslaved animals and became slave to our cultural indoctrination. Finally becoming vegan I feel so free, so happy, so peaceful. It is just wonderful.

Study, fully comprehend who the animals are, and what our choices are causing them. To act in a loving, compassionate and nonviolent, to do what is the morally right thing to do and to REFUSE to participate in exploitation, destroying families, stealing individuals purposes, hurting, killing and stealing, is SO much stronger than cultural indoctrination, physical addiction to animal foods, peer pressure and any other "reason" of not being vegan.
Please go vegan, for everyone that is consciousness.
Why do you think it is hard?

Humans create myths in order to justify our abuse and killing of animals for foods

Speeking of Ancient Greece:
Pytaghoras of Ancient Greece said:
“As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”

"I won't allow any kind of fallacy when discussing subjects being serious."
Why do you think that the research that I refererred to is erroneous. Have you studied it?

"Pytaghoras was not the only Greek out there you know? There is a lot more Greek Thinkers and Philosophers out there."

I know Ancient Greece was also heavily influenced by the domestication-slavery-culture. So you will probably quite easily find thinkers from that time, or from any time of our 8000-10000 years old domestication-culture (where there are written records), which both praises eating animal products, justifies it and even do erroneous "scientific studies" which claim to "prove" that animal products are good for you.

You called this quote 'propaganda': " That animals products are healthy for us is a myth, which is propogated by our domestication culture, including the meat-milk-media-medical-political-complex."

Why do you believe this is propaganda?

"Joseph Campbell, when asked the reason for myths by Bill Moyer, said that the main reason for myths and stories is to somehow reconcile our abuse and killing of animals for food. We create enormous rituals with religious significance because I think we feel guilty about confining animals. The worst thing you can do to a being is put them in prison; putting someone in jail is a punishment. These cows are owned. Their sovereignty is stolen from them by human beings so they can have their milk. They are not allowed to live their lives freely in nature and we would all like to be able to live our lives freely. I think there is no need, personally, for ghee to be healthy. Certainly there are many cultures that survive without having ghee. In the fullness of time, hopefully this will be seen to be something we can let go of. I would like to see cows returning to sovereignty again, how they lived for millions of years."

[Quote: http://layogamagazine.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=638 ]

How to transition to veganism if you have children who likes milk and meat

Yes, indeed, dairy is very bad for human health. This is true for all animal products: http://www.forksoverknives.com/

Children wouldn’t want to eat milk products or any  other animal products, if they knew how much slavery, suffering and death it caused to animals. See e.g. these movies: http://www.vegankit.com/why

Children much more easily understand the importance of living a vegan lifestyle. When we grow up, we continue to lose parts of our innate love and empathy, by sacrificing it at our meals and what is required in order to make these meals.

We need to extend our love and compassion to everyone. Everyone wants to live. If we hurt another being, we hurt ourselves. In order to kill someone, we have to violate this individual's love and wants, we have to crush hopes, destroy a family and friend relationships; We have to sacrifice part of our inner love and compassion; we have to say to ourselves that 'I don't care' in order to take someone's purpose and life. And this has destroyed us, destroyed our society. The reason why people inflict violence and suffering upon others is the lack of empathy and love to others. If we instead would reinforce love and empathy at each meal by living a vegan lifestyle, instead of destroying parts of our love and empathy at each meal by hurting and killing someone for 'convenience' or taste, we would surely attain world peace. As long as we sow violence and wars by our eating choices, our society and culture will be absorbed in violence and wars. How can we ever hope for peace as long as we inflict this violence and suffering?

Domestication of animals is a violence, it is slavery, and it also has resulted in human slavery, oppression against women, and other forms of oppression that is rampant in our society. Learn more in this book: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15188-7/animal-oppression-and-human-violence#.UZAIageHrdk.facebook

As for replacements: There are many, for drinking, e.g. almond milk and rice milk. For cooking, coconut milk is very, very tasty. Dr. Neal Barnard refers to research which says that our taste buds is renewed within some weeks when we change diet. But even if there was no replacements, there still would be no justification of inflicting suffering and death to our precious sentient and feeling non-human brothers and sisters.

Hope this helps and motivates you to transition to the lifestyle of non-discriminatory love, compassion and nonviolence to everyone who is consciousness!! :)

Ahimsa, nonviolence and compassison to all animals

Presenting a logical argument, and arguing for that our love, compassion and nonviolence must extend to all living beings is not being “passive aggressive”.

Standing for Ahimsa (non-violence and compassion to all living beings) requires us standing up against injustices and violence against other sentient beings, regardless if they happen to be humans, fish, cats, dogs or of any other species. Standing silent only perpetuates the status quo of injustices, violence and slavery perpetuated on a massive scale against innocent sentient beings; and makes the bystander guilty for not standing up and defending the defenseless and oppressed.
Only a spiritual awakening to the so simple fact that all beings are consciousness (fish, dogs, cats, humans and all other beings) and that all equally has the same right to live as humans, and that all should be treated with love, compassion and nonviolence, will transform our violent culture that is so filled of injustices, oppression, slavery and suffering.
I recommend this article: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/the-religion-of-non-violence/#.UY6v48pafh4

Vegan, vegetarian, evolution? Humans are herbivores

Nicolle,
I believed before what you do believe now.
“Being a vegan is something I would consider ..” Thanks!

“I don't mean to make people angry, it is just a personal opinion”
Don’t worry. I won’t become angry. I believed like you did for almost 28 years. We eat meat because of our cultural indoctrination. That we can justify killing another sentient being, who values his/her life as much as we value our own life, for “taste”, habit, tradition or convenience, is something that we do because we have been bombarded with this propaganda since we were born. Anthropology shows that our ancestors mainly ate a starch based-diet. Some hunted some of their food. At least some of our ancestors. At some point humans decided that it was right to kill another sentient being, maybe someone moved to a cold place and did it for survival. We don’t know. However, we do know, that humans to a large degree follow their ancestors behaviors based on our cultural indoctrination.

We can’t look at other species, and justify our behavior, just because there are predators that hurt and kill other beings. There are many behaviors that some predators do that we would never justify, and if we use this methodology almost any human behavior can be justified. We could justify cannibalism with the same argument, but we have evolved and do understand that it is morally wrong to kill other human beings.

Put a small bunny in the same room as a small child. She will not try to hurt and kill the bunny. Hurting and killing other sentient beings is something that is contradictory to our inner nature, our loving, compassionate and nonviolent nature; and is something that is only learnt by the indoctrination of our culture, which has reduced animals to being commodities. Doing this as a regular habit, we disconnect ourselves to the animals, and we lose some of our capacity to understand that it is wrong to take the life of another being - who is consciousness just like us. Just because they have been given another body than us, doesn't mean that there is any essential difference. This is also discussed in the wonderful book World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle (www.worldpeacediet.org). If you visited a slaughterhouse you would see that the animals don’t want to die and that they suffer tremendously when someone is taking their precious life. Can’t we respect this. Can’t we respect their lives, their purposes, their families and their friend relationships?

We should respect that animals want to live, and not cause them any harm

Thomas,
Peace and love to you and everyone else!

I am not forcing anything. I am sharing what took me 28 years to understand – that it is wrong to take the life of another conscious being for a “taste experience”. My purpose is only to help everyone – to spread a message of love, compassion and nonviolence towards everyone! The reason why people eat animal products is because of our cultural indoctrination since childhood that teaches that animals are “resources”. When we take the life of another being who wants to live, we must either consciously or subconsciously sacrifice a part of our love and empathy. Because if we use our love and empathy, we would listen to the animal, show mercy and compassion, and spare his/her life. This is very destructive to sacrifice our love and empathy.

Respect is important. We must respect the lives of all conscious beings. They all have a moral value and an interest of living.

We know that animals don’t want to die (see the videos e.g. at www.vegankit.com), we know that they love their family and that they love their friends. We know that we are causing harm and misery by taking their lives. We know that the consumption of animal products are destructive for our health: http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au/ ; and causes poverty, starvation, massive deforestation, eviction of our human brothers and sisters from their dwellings, enormous injustices: http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/expert_testimonies_oppenlander.htm

Animal products are causing cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, and other diseases, so advocating cutting them out will help millions of our human brothers and sisters. Millions of people are dying because of this destructive diet: http://www.thechinastudy.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DId_xJxbemQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqKNfyUPzoU , http://www.forksoverknives.com/

Mutual benefit is wonderful. The animals don’t benefit of being confined, harmed, domesticated and killed. The domestication of animals started about 10000 years ago. Since then our culture has lost its respect for the animals and their lives.

This is a wonderful article discussing this: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/what-are-the-roots-of-freedom-and-slavery/

We also know that it is morally wrong to cause animals unnecessary suffering and that all use of animals is causing them unnecessary suffering: http://gooseberryproductions.com/

I can’t see how a benevolent, compassionate and loving Creator would advocate a diet and use of animals which is causing such tremendous misery both for humans and non-human animals.
Regarding plants, I recommend this article: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-frequently-asked-question-what-about-plants/#.UXxE-srSlI0

The way to transition to veganism is not through "lacto-ovo-vegetarianism"

Hello dear vegan friends,
How do we encourage our friends transition to veganism??
I think if we ever give a challenge to a person that is not ready  to go vegan directly, that it shouldn't be a challenge to go e.g. ovo-lacto-"vegetarian" first, but to challenge them to make some vegan meals, and then progressively increase the number of vegan meals (see below).
Because if they are continuing to eat animal products at every meal, they are still participating in animal exploitaiton at every meal, and may even increase their exploitation by buying more animal products than before (e.g. removing meat, but buying much more milk products).
They are still participating in animal exploitation and won't be able to feel the real, true experience of making loving, compassionate and nonviolent vegan choices; and getting the understanding that comes from this.
I agree with the following great suggestions:
Many people fail because they get distracted by the common misconception that if you either go vegetarian first, have meat-free Mondays, or switch to free-range animal products; that you will be on the path to being vegan … eventually. These approaches are doomed to fail as they have absolutely nothing to do with being vegan.

The solution is simple: if you want to go vegan, then be 100% vegan.
Even if you start with 1 meal a week.
Many people discover the truth about animal exploitation and become ethical vegans immediately. That is often the easiest solution as going vegan is really easy! If you have realised that the only way to live in alignment with your own moral compass is to stop eating animal products, then don’t let anything stand in your way, go vegan right away. Start making a difference in your life today and you will receive the benefits of health and peace of mind immediately. However, if you would like a more gradual approach, try one of the following methods to get you started on your vegan journey.
Before you start… remember that the disadvantage of transitioning to vegan and not doing it right away, is that people will pick on you for not being consistent. They will question you on why you are so inflexible about not eating one animal product and yet you eat another.

    Never allow anybody to undermine the efforts you are making to go vegan. Every time you refuse an animal product, as long as you are replacing it with a vegan option and not another animal product, then you are saving someone’s life.

Your goal is to be vegan and you are moving towards your goal at your own pace. Just because you cannot do everything, does not mean you must do nothing.
Ways You Can Transition
    Vegan Meal 1-2-3-4
    Vegan Days 3-5-7
    Vegan Mondays +1
    Vegan Substitute
    My Favourite Things
    Vegan at Home
    Vegan Challenge
http://elated.co.za/transition-to-vegan/
---
What do you think?

People eating animals are not "morons", they are just heavily disconnected to animals and indoctrinated by our animal exploiting culture

There are no "morons". Just a bunch of people, like more than 99% of the world's population, who are very disconnected to the animals and who have lost alot of their inner empathy and love to all beings because of choices and indoctrination made since their childhood. Just like most vegans were before they made the connection, and understood the purpose of the animals and how unethical it is to exploit animals. It is hard to make the connection, when most people are heavily indoctrinated each day about that it is okay to use, kill and eat animals.

Non-vegans usually do not intend to be mean to animals, they are just heavily disconnected to the animals. By their actions they become desensitized and lose their intelligence and connection with animals. It is possible to demonstrate love and compassion towards non-vegans and at the same time not compromising veganism = love, compassion and non-violence toward all living beings. E.g. this former non-vegan who slaughtered many animals: http://www.farmkind.org/
We should practise nonviolence, and not judge other people and call them "morons", judging their motives and inner intentions.

More of my thoughts on this: http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/04/veganism-love-compassion-and-non.html ; http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/04/hatred-violence-and-judging-peoples.html
I highly recommend the wonderful book World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle
(www.worldpeacediet.org)

Nonviolence, love and compassion to all beings, including all animals

Hello Jak Watts,
I agree with you that we always should show unconditional love to everyone. I also agree with you that violence is never the solution (including not wishing anyone anything violent to happen), and that it is not a solution even to those who commit big atrocities.
Here are more of my thoughts about judging, and showing love, compassion and nonviolence to everyone: http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/04/hatred-violence-and-judging-peoples.html

Non-vegans usually do not intend to be mean to animals, they are just heavily disconnected to the animals. By their actions they become desensitized and lose their intelligence and connection with animals. It is possible to demonstrate love and compassion towards non-vegans and at the same time not compromising veganism = love, compassion and non-violence toward all living beings. E.g. this former non-vegan who slaughtered many animals: http://www.farmkind.org/

I challenge you to read the World Peace Diet, available here:

www.worldpeacediet.org (which also contains many wonderful lectures).
Let me know what you think!
I like your commitment to nonviolence, love and compassion; and hope that you also should take it seriously when it comes to non-human animals - i.e. go vegan.
Re. B-12: I recommend you to study this article: http://drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/nov/b12.htm
Peace, Anders

-------

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

Vivisection of primate and other sorts of animal abuse occur because of non-vegan choices

This happens because animals are treated as property and not as individuals in our society. For each non-vegan choice this property-status is sadly perpetuated. The most effective way to end all animal abuse is to spread a consistent vegan message. Companies will continue to exploit animals as long as their is a demand.

People doing this have been brainwashed by our culture, and their daily choices since their childhood. They have lost their understanding, compassion and love for animals. They are prisoned and are suffering because of this. They don't understand the pain they are causing. However, if we educate them and treat them with love and compassion, eventually they can wake up.

Nice quote: "Like other animals, we are not fundamentally physical beings; we are essentially consciousness. We are all expressions of the infinite creative mystery force that births and sustains the universes of manifestation, and our bodies and minds are sacred, as are the bodies and minds of all creatures.

Like us, animals have feelings and yearnings; they nest, mate, hunger, and are the conscious subjects of their lives. They make every effort, as we do, to avoid pain and death and to do what brings them happiness and fulfillment.

Prayer Circle for Wednesday
Today let us send our prayers to all animals vivisected in laboratories and classrooms.
May compassion and love reign over all the earth for all animals used in experiments. Dear primates, dogs, cats, mice; rats, pigs, lambs, rabbits, frogs, and all of you who are imprisoned in cages, tortured in useless experiments, separated from your loved ones, and suffering constant pain, fear, and loneliness, sometimes for many long years.

Dear ones, we bear witness to your suffering, we take action to permanently end it, and we continually send out an energy field of love and compassion to comfort you and to transform the hearts and souls of those who support this violent oppression.

We send our tears and our prayers on wings of love to you. Our love is all around you.
Compassion encircles the earth for each of you and for all beings.
( 7 daily prayers by Judy Carman www.peacetoallbeings.com)
www.worldpeacediet.com – our daily VegInspiration For The Day
www.circleofcompassion.org – our Prayer Circle For Animals Weekly Update
www.worldpeacemastery.com - our online self-paced WPD Facilitator Training
www.facebook.com/groups/worldpeacediet – our WPD Facebook Group"
Another helpful website: https://www.facebook.com/abolitionistapproach

Veganism = Love, compassion and non-violence towards all living beings

Non-vegans usually do not intend to be mean to animals, they are just heavily disconnected to the animals. By their actions they become desensitized and lose their intelligence and connection with animals. It is possible to demonstrate love and compassion towards non-vegans and at the same time not compromising veganism = love, compassion and non-violence toward all living beings. E.g. this former non-vegan who slaughtered many animals: http://www.farmkind.org/

Persons whom are exploiting animals, e.g. non-vegans whom are exploiting animals by their dietary habits, suffer a lot because of what they eat and because of other ways they exploit animals. It is sad. Instead I hope their consciousness will be awakened -- and to a large extent it will be caused by vegans spreading information.

I love these words by Will Tuttle who have written the wonderful book called World Peace Diet (www.worldpeacediet.org ):
” I will say that I think, again, that the whole concept of good and evil are part of the herding culture's guilt complex and I think for the most part these concepts create a lot more heat than light. In the Buddhist tradition, for example, there is an emphasis on "skillful" versus "unskillful" behavior rather than "good" vs "evil" - in the sense that skillful behavior leads to a reduction in misery for oneself and others, and people who are "evil" are perhaps better seen as unskillful because, make no mistake, we do not have to punish anyone or send anyone anger or curse them; everything boomerangs eventually. In the herding culture that we're born into, though, only the material level is recognized because beings are systematically reduced to objects to be eaten, and we see ourselves the same way - as mere things that are born and will die; this is the greatest illusion. It's like dreaming a dream and thinking in the dream that myself, as the actor in the dream, is the true "I" - we see when we awaken that the dreaming I and its world is set within a context that it can't see but we can. Our entire culture is in a trance. The nontheistic religions seem to grasp this better than the theistic ones for some reason, as a general rule. There's a wonderful teaching from the Taoist tradition for example, but it's difficult to understand without meditation. There's a man on a lake, lying down in a boat, enjoying the beautiful sky and clouds as he looks up. Suddenly he is jolted hard as another boat rams into him! He's furious. Who could be so stupid and/or malicious to aggressively slam into him so! Jumping up, he is ready to righteously express his anger, but instead he starts laughing - the boat is empty. It was just drifting, propelled by wind and currents. This has been an enormous help for me. In many ways, it's all empty boats. The wounds people receive, even just being born in this society and ripped from one's mother and slapped around and vaccinated, already shuts people down at a deep level, and it goes from there, with the competitive and damaging education and other institutions. Having compassion for wounded people who hurt themselves and others and don't know better, driven by winds and currents they don't understand and are not aware of. As vegans, we are on a path of awakening, and though it's painful to become aware in this society, we have a lot to be grateful for and to give thanks for. I have found it's important for me to also make a discipline of sitting in silence for at least an hour a day, just listening attentively, beyond the chatter of the mind. And also to take time every day to consciously see beauty and to appreciate it and give thanks for it... and to give thanks for the precious opportunity of a human life to grow and awaken from the ignorance of believing that what I am is an object that is essentially separate. As long as any being is under this delusion of separateness, he or she will act in ways that appear "evil" - out of fear and desensitization and trying to keep away, and trying to get, and always, even if wealthy and powerful, profoundly ill-at-ease underneath it all... The vegan revolution is a revolution of love and awakening from the cultural trance-- all aspects of it.”