Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
The first step in this process is to ask ourselves, “are my choices an accurate reflection of who I am?”
In addition to being a therapist, I’m a humane educator, encouraging
people to think about the world’s animals in ways they might not have
considered before. This new blog, aptly named, Exploring Veganism, will
hopefully do the same thing. My fellow blog contributors and I also want to
help those of you who are not vegan gain a deeper understanding of what
motivates and triggers the vegans in your life as well as what factors led
them to go down that path.
Veganism is definitely gaining traction in the world but the majority of
people still consider non-human animals (henceforth referred to as,
“animals”) to be expendable objects not worthy of consideration. This blog
post will look at some of the reasons why this attitude still prevails
across large swaths of society and in the process, offer up the possibility
that this view of animals, and consequently the choices we make that impact
them, might not align with our conception of ourselves.
Just a personal choice?
It’s not unusual for non-vegans to bristle at the suggestion that they adopt
a vegan lifestyle because it represents the most humane way of interacting
with the planet and all its inhabitants. “Becoming vegan is a personal
choice” is a common response and one, which is both puzzling and triggering
to many who have adopted a vegan lifestyle. They can’t fathom how the people
they love and respect and who demonstrate remarkable compassion in so many
other areas of their lives, could have such a cavalier attitude towards
animals.
All choices are not equal
Each and every day all of us are making lots of choices. Many of these
choices are simple and benign like whether to watch a comedy or documentary,
or whether to hang out with friends or finish the book we’ve been reading.
Minimal thought is required when making these kinds of decisions because the
impact on others will be negligible. But there are other daily decisions
that do deeply affect others, even if those effects aren’t clearly
discernable. Many of those decisions concern animals.
Mindful or Mindless choosing
How much deliberation goes into choosing sausage for breakfast? Do thoughts
about pigs’ lives and deaths ever enter our consciousness? Are we mulling
over the fact it takes approximately 60 minks to make a coat, before buying
one? Circus time! How many of us first research the training protocols used
on the elephants and tigers who will be entertaining our kids? Seldom do we
ponder the implications of our choices where animals are concerned.
This is not surprising because historically, their lives never did merit
much attention. That is slowly beginning to change and people are becoming
more curious about animals’ lives. The result of that curiosity is that we
are now more cognizant of the intelligence and emotional capacity of these
sentient beings. Still, this newfound awareness and knowledge has not yet
fully transformed our relationships with the worlds’ animals. The reasons
for this are varied.
Driving our views and choices
As we can see, family, friends, and society definitely influence how we view
and treat animals. However, we mustn’t ignore the role of our minds’
powerful defense mechanisms which are pretty adept at reconciling opposing
parts of ourselves.
Defense Mechanisms at work
Are we our choices?
Whether consciously or unconsciously, we all make choices that satisfy our
desires. However, if we were to become more thoughtful when making
decisions, it’s possible that what we normally crave might begin to feel
less desirable and less in-line with who we really are. The first step in
this process is to ask ourselves, “are my choices an accurate reflection of
who I am?”
April Lang, LCSW, SEP is a psychotherapist based in New York City and has been in private practice for twenty years. Part of her practice is devoted to working with ethical vegans and animal advocates, as well as people who are suffering from the loss of their animal family members. She is also an animal advocate, humane educator, and writer. You can learn more about her by visiting HER WEBSITE.
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