Transformation Process from Omnivore to Vegan: Part 1

I am on a journey to become vegan (or, at the very least, vegetarian). It is a journey that started a long time ago when I became convinced, for various reasons of which I will explain some here, that eating meat is against what I came to believe spiritually. Unfortunately I am still very much a meat eater but, slowly but surely, I am cutting it out of my diet like an addict who gives up the addiction one slow step at a time. This is exactly what meat-eating is – an addiction. I grew up in a family who believe that if there is no meat on the plate then the meal is incomplete. I grew up in a culture for which to braai is a national activity. So, I have been eating meat for the more than thirty years, most of the time unquestioning and, I admit even now, with delight.

Apart from the lack of support (and I do now have more support than before), it is this last part which make it most difficult to give up meat. It is easy to give up something which you do not like much to begin with. Giving up something you enjoy is more complicated even though you believe that there is something inherently and morally wrong with it. Thus, I do not judge anyone for any addiction they may have. As an Omnist I believe that your journey and the decisions you make on your chosen path is your own. And yet, I feel that this is an important enough part of my own journey that I want to share it and, hopefully, change some mindsets or, at least, trigger some thought.

Personally, I have environmental, health, humane and spiritual reasons why I am exercising my mind and my body to give up meat and the use of any other animal products. On the first two I am no expert, and I will only briefly refer to it. On the third no one need to be an expert – all you need is compassion. I have given a lot more thought on the spiritual reasons and will comment more elaborately on these.

Environmentally I do believe that we should be able to end famine if only we are willing to give up our desire to consume meat. If we do not care for the animals, at least we can, indeed must, care for the members of our own species. The argument is simple: there are enough grain to feed the whole of the world population. Unfortunately, a large portion of grain are used in order to feed the livestock which will become meat. The amount of grain used for this purpose are much more than the amount of meat that is produced at the end of the process. It is sad that we are depriving millions of people of food so that only some of us can enjoy our meat. Keeping meat prices is mind it is a fact that some of us might be forced to become vegetarian soon. This is also a deciding factor in my own family – having a meatless day or two in the week not only lessen our carbon-footprint but also go lighter on our pockets.

With health the first thing people always love to say is that we need protein. This is false because we are actually addicted to protein. Our bodies only need a small amount of protein all of which is present in vegetables and seeds. The amount of protein we take in by consuming meat is much more than we need. Further, although our bodies are able to consume meat and other animal products and we pride ourselves in being omnivore, there are studies that show that actually our teeth are not made to tear meat and our organs are struggling to break down the meat and animal milk enzymes.

As I said, I am not an expert in these areas and it is up to you, my dear reader, to do your own research. However, there is something that we all, who have a conscience, feel and that is humaneness. As I have read more and more into the reasons why I should become a vegan, one of the overpowering factors is our own cruelty. First, we have the ability to lie to ourselves thinking that meat is just that as if it grows on trees. We talk about beef instead of cow and of pork instead of pig but we rationally know what it is and do not hesitate to call lamb and fish for what it is, and yet somehow we can ignore these facts while we cut, burn and eat it.

Second, there is the fact that these animals first need to be killed, slaughtered (murdered?), before its meat (flesh) can be packaged and transported to where we can buy it. An interesting point of view on this is “humane slaughtering” which means that animals can now be killed without any, or at least with the minimum, pain. Even if the animal feels no pain it does not take away the fact that it is being killed. Apart from that, how low did we fall in order to come up with a nonsense term such as “humane slaughtering”? Think about it, the ‘war to end all wars’ lead to no peace at all other than many more wars.

Lastly, and this is the biggest lie we tell ourselves, how is it possible that it is okay to kill some animals and cruel to kill others? Especially in our Western so-called civilization certain animals such as dogs and cats and select few from the bird and fish species and rabbits, are not being killed for food. Here we suddenly know how cruel it is to kill these specific animals while at the same time we feel the absolute irrational need to kill other species. It will be much more honest, however not less cruel, to admit that some we love, some we eat and some we just plain hate. So, we came up with a word such as ‘pet’ (a beautiful word for slave, I suggest the word ‘companion’ for animal lovers), so that when a sheep are especially loved by a little girl and her family that particular sheep is called ‘pet’ and is not eaten together with the other sheep. As for those we hate, we prefer to kill spiders, rats, mice and snakes and give various reasons for doing so without thinking twice that there are groups of people who are more than willing to go to your house, catch these animals and take them to a place where they can safely continue life.

When a man kills a tiger, it is called hunting. When a tiger kills a man, it is called cruel.

It is not only the larger animals that suffers, but also insects. Before I elaborate on this, I need to say this, there is a few times when it is allowed to kill. Firstly, when being threatened, a matter of life and death. When a robber, murderer or rapist threatens you, you have the right to protect yourself; and that is also true of a dangerous animal or insect. Secondly, for survival – if you find yourself in a situation where there is absolutely nothing else to eat then it is again a matter of life and death (I am willing to bet that most of us, in the 21^st century, will never find ourselves in such a situation). Lastly, when you have no other choice. For instance, if there is an insect or other animal in your house which can easily be caught and released outside then it should be done that way, but others (such as flies and ants) are more difficult and then, while feeling sorry for the little creatures, it may be killed in the interest of cleanliness and hygiene.

Now to return to the fact that insects also suffer, we need to remember that no matter how small the creature, it is a living being. The focus so far has mostly been on meat, but what about an animal product such as honey? Here is what I recently learned about honeybees and their owners: We all know that bees collect pollen from flowers which they then take to the hives. What we perhaps do not know is that it is not the pollen itself that gets unloaded at the hive. The pollen is consumed by the bees and in their stomachs it is transformed into honey which is then vomited (yes you have read correctly) out. What is this vomit (otherwise known as honey) used for by the bees? It is the building blocks for the hive and the food that the bees feed to their larvae. In other words, we humans are thieves stealing so to speak out of the mouths of the babes (the same thing we do with cows’ milk by the way). But there are worse to come, in order to move the hives to where the beekeeper want it or when the honey is being collected, smoke is used to disorientate the bees. The reason this is bad (other than the fact that smoke is being blown into the faces of sentient beings – you try not to complain the next time you inhale smoke) is that, when bees are in their natural environment and there is a fire, the smoke is a signal that they should flee. So, what happen is that the bees eat as much honey as is possible in order to build a new hive somewhere safer. The question then is, why don’t the bees just leave the beekeeper the moment smoke is blown into the hive? The reason, and this is the cherry on the cruel cake, is the queen bee. The bees will only leave if the queen herself leave – problem is that the lovely beekeepers removed the wings of the queen.

These then are the some of the reasons why I am busy moving away from eating meat and using animal products. In part two of the Transformation Process from Omnivore to Vegan I will focus exclusively on spiritual and religious reasons. This does not mean that this post was not spiritual at all. As human beings I believe that we are not bodies containing spirits, but spirits living in bodies and thus we are spiritual beings. As spiritual beings I believe we have an immense obligation and responsibility towards the environment and the health of ourselves and all other sentient beings. Apart from that, if the focus is on spirit and not on body then it should also be on compassion and not on dominion. The cruelty we have towards nature, animals and each other show that our focus has far too long been on our bodies and our perceived right to dominate and do as we please. We have made our stomachs our gods.

May the One God with many Names and many Manifestations bless you