What about Love???

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VGnizm
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What about Love???

Post by VGnizm »

Before I explain I would just quickly like to put the question into context. Little over 2 months ago I went straight from Omnivore to Vegan. At that point I asked if Vegans did not eat animal meat for ‘Life Loving or Cruelty Free’ reasons - http://philosophicalvegan.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3048 . That thread directly led to an analysis of Life followed by a long process about understanding Sentience all the way to artificial intelligence and existential consciousness. It hit some quicksand but the process did improve my understanding of Sentience very much which helped me share it with others. In the meantime the launch of our LifeLovingFoods project required a total engagement from me and I could not find the time nor space to share about my experiences and my questions.

Today I have decided to make use of a little break to sit and write about some conclusions and observations. First I would like to make note that as for myself I have noticed that I feel different. I can say I feel much ‘lighter’ not by physical weight but rather as a state of body and of mind as well. It is not easy to explain but let me say that after eating during my omnivore days the end of a meal would often be accompanied with a feeling of tiredness, a low energy point so to speak. This is no longer the case even after eating a hearty and often full of carbs meal. My energy is not so much affected by my food intake. This is something I appreciate very much. So in my case I can say it is definitely out of Life Loving reasons and mainly my own life actually. I would be curious to know of an explanation and would be grateful if someone can share an explanation for this physiological effect.

As for the positive effect on my state of mind it is very similar. But in this case I have more of an analytical explanation. The fact of becoming Vegan has extinguished the quest for food pleasure. Now it has become that I enjoy eating because it satiates my hunger much more that pleasing my palate. So as soon as I am no longer hungry I go back to my life and its challenges. Actually by being on the road very often these days I snack on nuts and dried fruits during traffic light stops; so actually not interrupting my life much at all. It is interesting that when I am hungry in the street I no longer think of a restaurant or sandwich, I think to find the first grocery store and buy some fruit juice and some easy fruit such as bananas or apples or even nuts. Really amazing! Even some close friends who were critical of my Veganism have been so impressed by the effect they are now starting to say they plan to soon become likewise. Not sure if they mean Vegan or the to have positive energy part? :)

This has made me think that an easy slogan to promote Veganism might be to speak about the many personal benefits of changing ones way of life. There are some who would rather not provoke others by saying they are Vegan for fear of generating resentment and a judgmental attitude. As for my part I do not say to stop eating animal food I simply say that I feel great and I would not give this feeling up for anything; Especially not for a piece of animal meat :) It is similar to when I stopped smoking. Likewise it was from being a chain smoker to non-smoker in zero time. I recall back then my biggest worry was how I would survive one day without my coffin nails. Well what happened was that on day 4 I was already feeling sad for other smokers who were unable to stop. Likewise I do not miss cigarettes rather I Love my smoke free life :)

So what about Love? I would say that I do not eat animal meat surely out of Love for Life. It makes more sense because it is comprehensive. If it were only out of refusing cruelty it would not cover the Love of my state of mind as well which is a very essential part for spreading this message. People are much more receptive to a ‘I feel great‘ message than an it is ‘ cruel to eat meat’ message. And quite frankly it is the truth in my case.

I am wondering if others can remember if they had this same type of experience after becoming Vegan or if it was different. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the early body and mind effects of Veganism.

PS - This thread was to introduce the subject and my early question and attempt to share my conclusions. There will be a future thread that will philosophically discuss ‘ Love ‘ in the same way that we discussed ‘ Life ‘ :)
Be Strong Be Vegan !
Life Loving Foods™ ! - https://www.LifeLovingFoods.com/index.php :)
Life Loving Foods™ - Twitter! - https://twitter.com/LifeLovingFoods :)
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: What about Love???

Post by brimstoneSalad »

VGnizm wrote: Sun May 21, 2017 11:26 am So what about Love? I would say that I do not eat animal meat surely out of Love for Life. It makes more sense because it is comprehensive. If it were only out of refusing cruelty it would not cover the Love of my state of mind as well which is a very essential part for spreading this message. People are much more receptive to a ‘I feel great‘ message than an it is ‘ cruel to eat meat’ message. And quite frankly it is the truth in my case.
I think you're right that it can be a strong message which will not offend people as greatly. If we include love of our own lives and living (instead of feeding hedonism) AND love for others, the combination could be more subtle.

Trying to live for hedonism is inherently damaging, there is a paradox there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_hedonism
We could say that when people love pleasure, they can not love life, because life is not about pleasure. It's a distraction from fulfillment.
Living as a slave to pleasure is not the way to live. We must life for purpose, and the greatest purpose is to help others. Even under great physical hardship people can find true happiness when they're pursuing something with meaning.
In this way, going vegan can help break the habit of hedonism.

About the lightness after eating... Meat is quite greasy and dense without fiber. But people also report mock meats which are high in protein and more oily vegan meals to be less heavy, so maybe it relates to other components of meat, like the structure? Or perhaps because these contain more healthy forms of protein and fat. It's hard to say, I don't think there's much study on this experience.
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VGnizm
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Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:31 pm
Diet: Vegan

Re: What about Love???

Post by VGnizm »

-Thanks so much as always for the excellent reply.

-I am quite interested in the idea of how helping others provides self happiness. I make note of the same but it is the analytical explanation that strikes my curiosity. I will explore this further.

-Another interesting slogan that comes to mind is the notion of sentimental betrayal. To note that often children who are omnivores refuse to eat the flesh of domesticated animals in rural areas. For example they will eat chicken meat but will not accept to eat the chicken meat from animals kept close to them that they helped raise. They do not feel that way about fruits and vegetables. I think the emotional exchange creates a bond that gives a sense of betrayal in harming a source of affection. It is possibly a very sincere and soft message ( love and affection ) rather than shocking children with scenes of tortured animals.

-I will open a thread about effective slogans because as i had mentioned earlier the effort to introduce Vegan menu's into school lunch services is gaining momentum and effective marketing and communication is more important than product quality in bringing adoption of new products. So our continuous efforts to improve the nutri-content and taste coupled with effective marketing should help accelerate change.
Be Strong Be Vegan !
Life Loving Foods™ ! - https://www.LifeLovingFoods.com/index.php :)
Life Loving Foods™ - Twitter! - https://twitter.com/LifeLovingFoods :)
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