Can You Be Vegan and Not Be an Animal Rights Activist?
Jim Moore • April 28, 2020
As personal experience, yes.
Speaking as a many-decade long vegan I can say that I do not consider myself an animal rights activist. Speaking frankly, I am not an activist of any stripe. My intention is to live my life as an “attractavist” - attracting others to the health, joy, and kindness with which a vegan lifestyle arises.
A certain humility accompanies the realization that regardless of how benevolent I think my actions are they adversely impact some being somewhere. That humility prevents me from advocating for that any particular behavior be practiced by anyone else.
- Do my actions as a vegan result in less impact on animals than do those of a non-vegan? Unknown.
- Do I feel more joy, more health, more peace when I am living a life that aligns with my intention to do as little harm as possible to all beings with whom I share the planet? Yes.
- Do I think that I should advocate for you to adopt my intention? No
- Do I think that if you feel like you could be healthier, happier, and living a more fulfilling life if you examine your own intention and then align your behaviors to support your intention? Yes.
The wheel of karma turns - every action (when done by a “doer”) includes a result. That result impacts the field of existence and that impact is the cost of the action. Everything I do has a cost to some being. That cost may not be as visible as animal abuse or exploitation, but its lack of visibility does not make it less detrimental.
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