I hope to keep this entry relatively short, though I may not succeed since it taps into a lot of really deep concepts and feelings.
Last night I had what I call a "vegan dream". I call them this because I never used to have these dreams before I became a vegan... or if I did, they didn't have the same effect on me. These dreams usually have to do with either someone being unconscionably cruel to animals and acting like it's perfectly normal... or else they have to do with eating something which seems to be made of plants and finding that it has turned into meat... or being forced to eat meat. For example, in one dream someone was forcing me to eat an entire can of tuna by itself. In another, I was meeting with a group for school at someone's house, and I opened the microwave to find that one of the guys had put a live chicken in there and turned it on... the chicken was alive but charred horribly and I knew it was going to die a slow and painful death.
My dream last night wasn't quite so VISUALLY disturbing, but it still left me feeling terrible when I woke up. I was staying with a family I don't know... there was a young man in the family who I was hanging out with, and we were tromping around in the wilderness. We passed a pool and the guy grabbed a fish and slammed its skull against a rock, killing it. And then he discarded it. And then later he was joking about killing otters for fun. In the dream, I was so upset I was yelling tearfully at him. I remember asking "how can you see them as objects?" but it was as if he didn't understand my question. There was a cultural disconnect between us. He just thought I was being completely weird and couldn't see why I was upset.
Now, you may look at that and say "well, if being vegan causes disturbing dreams, why would I want to be vegan?"
I'm writing this journal entry as a disclaimer for anyone who might try veganism and find that it is difficult. I hate telling people "it's hard being vegan" because that will scare them away faster than anything. I enjoy being vegan, and honestly, I don't have that much trouble finding the foods I need. That is not the issue. The hardest part is definitely the sadness of realizing that the world is not the way you thought it was, and knowing how the actions of good people who you know and love are still causing suffering. It's the sadness of knowing that it will be a long time before a significant percentage of the world is convinced that they can make a difference for animals and be healthier for it.
I know that people will probably look at what I've just written and call me a militant vegan for saying that non-vegans are causing suffering. I don't want to be militant. I have wrestled with guilt for making people feel guilty without meaning to. I don't want to guilt anyone into changing because then it's not a real change, and it denies them the spiritual benefits of making the choice on their own, out of love and compassion. But if I do not speak out then I feel even guiltier, because I am not doing my duty as a voice for the silent.
It is a hard transition. It changes the way I see seemingly innocent daily activities. An invitation to go get ice cream at Dairy Queen is no longer just a social opportunity, it's a moral choice... a choice of whether or not to support the treating of animals as objects without rights or feelings. Of course I can go to Dairy Queen and just not get any ice cream, in which case it becomes merely a social opportunity again, but that conflict will always be there. With it comes an opportunity to remind myself of why I chose this path. Which is more important... refusing to cooperate with violence, or indulging in yummy stuff to make things less awkward in my group of friends?
In the process of becoming more open to a connection with animals and their suffering, as well as their own intrinsic value, I inevitably exposed myself to a lot of sadness. It is the same as when I choose to engage in a relationship with a person. If that person is suffering, I feel sad. If I feel like a part of a community, or if I am sympathetic toward a community that is not my own, I am saddened when something happens to negatively affect that community. It's even more potent if I know someone in that community. So, 9/11 affected the people who died and their families the most, but it also created a huge effect within the hearts of other Americans, because other Americans feel a connection to the people in New York as fellow citizens of this country, as well as simply being fellow human beings capable of loss and emotional suffering. I began to feel that connection with the animal community, and inevitably it gives me a certain weight in the back of my mind.
I begin to see the world differently, just how prevalent violence is as a form of pleasure, fun, and scapegoating. People don't even realize it because the recipients of their violence have become objects in their minds--they don't make the connection, they don't realize that their victims have a right to happiness just as they do, that they have the same desires for love, safety and survival as they do. But it's still doing harm... because it blinds us to the obvious truth of what is right and wrong.
There were lots of times I had to let myself cry because of what I knew was going on in the world. But the good news is this... my conscience regarding animals is clear, and I feel a deeper and more fulfilling connection with them. I feel more confidence in my own conscience, my own ability to discern what is genuinely harmful to the spirit, and what I should be striving for, as well as what I should not settle for. I am learning to take the compassion I feel for animals and apply that commitment of "do no harm" to my interactions with other people, including when we are talking about points on which we disagree. That is why I feel so guilty when I unintentionally make people feel guilty for how they are living.
If I have made you feel guilty, I apologize. If I have encouraged you to think, and if I have made you feel sorrow on behalf of another creature, I do not apologize.
Traveling as a Vegan
Hello all. I just started my last quarter at Western Washington University, and I'm glad to be back in Bellingham where I know where I can get the kinds of foods I need. I was traveling with my friend Danielle and her family into Oregon and Northern California for a couple of weeks and I was expecting it to be a little difficult to find things to eat on the fly. I packed a loaf of bread, some cereal, some crackers, and a couple of apples to hold us over the first day on the road.
But, I was pleasantly surprised! Granted, it is still Oregon and California, so some of the things I found might not be available everywhere, but it's a start.
First of all, natural foods markets. Chances are you can find one most places, at least in the places we were traveling. We had the help of a GPS, so that was nice. One morning we found a place in Salem, OR, right next to where we were staying. It was small, but it still had a little soup bar, and we split a sort of sandwich wrap (I think it was called Merv's Happy Field Roast Sandwich) which had lots of vegetables (including beets o_0) in it and a small helping of field roast faux meat. It must have been a local thing because I can't find the company anywhere online. As for the sandwich itself, it was okay... it needed some dressing or something but it was nice and satisfying. We also bought some peanut butter and jelly, some Dave's Killer Bread, and some Sunny Hemp granola bars (I love Nature's Path's granola products).These provided nice improptu meals at least twice on our journey, once at a rest stop and once at a place called Clam Beach.
Staying with someone who knows what being vegan means was extremely helpful. A big shout out to you, Sharlott, for making us vegan bread, buying us Earth Balance buttery spread, making us delicious rice and veggie dishes, vegan desserts like chocolate chip cookies and pineapple upside down cake, and delicious veggie chowder with coconut milk!
Sharlott is not a vegan, but she went to the trouble of finding out what we could and could not eat. That means a lot!!
While we were out on the town, far away from any delicious homemade foods, Trader Joe's was a godsend. We stopped there twice for some very satisfying meals during our trip, which essentially consisted of a banana apiece, Jalapeno Hummus and baby carrots (their Jalapeno-Cilantro Hummus is DELICIOUS), vegan sushi and some vegan wraps from their refrigerator section. There were three kinds if I remember correctly... one with some sort of lentil curry thing, one hummus wrap, and one roasted eggplant wrap. I had the hummus and the eggplant, and they were both delicious. These meals were pretty filling too.
Last on the list, we stopped at two restaurants, one Thai restaurant, and one Mexican restaurant. The Thai restaurant was in Crescent City CA, near the Redwoods, and we had a delicious soup and vermicelli there. The Mexican restaurant was somewhere between there and Salem... I have no idea. It was some tiny town in the middle of nowhere. We asked the waitress a) if the beans were vegetarian (sometimes beans have lard in them), and once that was answered yes, we asked b) if we could have a chimichanga without any meat, cheese or sour cream. The answer to that was also yes, and it was DELICIOUS.The fried tortilla was really good....
So, there you have it... what I've learned from this trip is
-Bring something for easy meals if you can't find anything on the road (like peanut butter, jelly, and bread)
-Look for Asian or Mexican restaurants and ask for special orders if there's nothing on the menu. A lot of the time they won't even charge extra if it's just a matter of leaving out the meat, cheese or sour cream.
-Keep an eye out for natural foods markets and places like Trader Joe's
-Look in deli sections (I just filled up on Haggen's Jo-Jos a few days ago!), soup bars, and the refrigerated sections for ready-made food.
-If you can, stay with someone who understands veganism and is sympathetic (this one's a little difficult to do most of the time... but if you can, AWESOME FOR YOU).
Happy trails... (trail mix is another good thing to pack for snacking along the way!)
But, I was pleasantly surprised! Granted, it is still Oregon and California, so some of the things I found might not be available everywhere, but it's a start.
First of all, natural foods markets. Chances are you can find one most places, at least in the places we were traveling. We had the help of a GPS, so that was nice. One morning we found a place in Salem, OR, right next to where we were staying. It was small, but it still had a little soup bar, and we split a sort of sandwich wrap (I think it was called Merv's Happy Field Roast Sandwich) which had lots of vegetables (including beets o_0) in it and a small helping of field roast faux meat. It must have been a local thing because I can't find the company anywhere online. As for the sandwich itself, it was okay... it needed some dressing or something but it was nice and satisfying. We also bought some peanut butter and jelly, some Dave's Killer Bread, and some Sunny Hemp granola bars (I love Nature's Path's granola products).These provided nice improptu meals at least twice on our journey, once at a rest stop and once at a place called Clam Beach.
Staying with someone who knows what being vegan means was extremely helpful. A big shout out to you, Sharlott, for making us vegan bread, buying us Earth Balance buttery spread, making us delicious rice and veggie dishes, vegan desserts like chocolate chip cookies and pineapple upside down cake, and delicious veggie chowder with coconut milk!
Sharlott is not a vegan, but she went to the trouble of finding out what we could and could not eat. That means a lot!!
While we were out on the town, far away from any delicious homemade foods, Trader Joe's was a godsend. We stopped there twice for some very satisfying meals during our trip, which essentially consisted of a banana apiece, Jalapeno Hummus and baby carrots (their Jalapeno-Cilantro Hummus is DELICIOUS), vegan sushi and some vegan wraps from their refrigerator section. There were three kinds if I remember correctly... one with some sort of lentil curry thing, one hummus wrap, and one roasted eggplant wrap. I had the hummus and the eggplant, and they were both delicious. These meals were pretty filling too.
Last on the list, we stopped at two restaurants, one Thai restaurant, and one Mexican restaurant. The Thai restaurant was in Crescent City CA, near the Redwoods, and we had a delicious soup and vermicelli there. The Mexican restaurant was somewhere between there and Salem... I have no idea. It was some tiny town in the middle of nowhere. We asked the waitress a) if the beans were vegetarian (sometimes beans have lard in them), and once that was answered yes, we asked b) if we could have a chimichanga without any meat, cheese or sour cream. The answer to that was also yes, and it was DELICIOUS.The fried tortilla was really good....
So, there you have it... what I've learned from this trip is
-Bring something for easy meals if you can't find anything on the road (like peanut butter, jelly, and bread)
-Look for Asian or Mexican restaurants and ask for special orders if there's nothing on the menu. A lot of the time they won't even charge extra if it's just a matter of leaving out the meat, cheese or sour cream.
-Keep an eye out for natural foods markets and places like Trader Joe's
-Look in deli sections (I just filled up on Haggen's Jo-Jos a few days ago!), soup bars, and the refrigerated sections for ready-made food.
-If you can, stay with someone who understands veganism and is sympathetic (this one's a little difficult to do most of the time... but if you can, AWESOME FOR YOU).
Happy trails... (trail mix is another good thing to pack for snacking along the way!)
What's LfE About?
Hello there! Welcome to my Vegan blog. At the suggestion of a friend, I have decided to start blogging about life as a religious vegan. Part of this decision comes from my observation that there are very few blogs or websites about the experience of Vegans who are of my religious denomination (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and many Vegan blogs are full of snark due to the nasty nature of today's world.
I became Vegan because I love animals, was horrified by how they are treated, and was amazed at the incredible spiritual journey I experienced as I learned to think differently about the relationship between humans, animals, and God. Therefore I want to focus mainly on how being a Vegan has made my life better and contributed to my spiritual growth. Inevitably, I will have to share bad news on this blog as well, since the world has a long way to go before all violence against the innocent is eliminated.
At the side of the page you will see links to many websites. These are all websites which I have found helpful, informative, encouraging, inspiring, or amusing, in my journey toward greater compassion in Veganism, so I am sharing them with you in hopes that they will be helpful to you as well.
Being Vegan, to me, ties into a greater sense of conscience and social justice. I will be focusing mostly on animals, and particularly on "food animals" since they get the worst end of the deal and are the most ignored (people are much more horrified by abuse of a puppy than a piglet, even though a piglet has the same capability for pain and sorrow and is probably actually smarter than most puppies). However, I may end up posting things which have to do with greater issues of human and animal rights, environmental issues, health issues, and cultural sensitivity. I believe all of these things intertwine and they are all important. They will only change if people's hearts do.
I chose the name Longing for Eden as the title of this blog because, as a Christian and a "Mormon", I grew up hearing about the harmony between humans, animals, and God in the Garden of Eden before the world fell into sinfulness. "Be the change you wish to see in the world", says Gandhi (one of my heroes), and that is what, as a Vegan, I am trying to do. I am trying to live the ideal way, the way we would all be living if the world was still like the Garden of Eden. Some people may say that this is a futile effort, because the world fell when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, and people's (and animal's) natures are such that there cannot be harmony or nonviolence in this life. I disagree.
I believe that humans were the ones who broke the peace between themselves, animals, and God. Therefore, we humans are responsible to put it right (with the help of God, of course). We broke it, we fix it. Some LDS people believe that when Jesus comes again, the world will magically be changed into an Eden-like paradise and no one will want to hurt anyone or anything anymore. But we also believe God will not force people to change or take away their agency. Therefore, the only way we will be ready for a world of compassion and peace is if we try right now to change our own hearts and the state of the world.
I would say more, but I'll save it for later blogs.
In any case, that's why I picked the title. Also, I like the initials: LfE. They make me think of "Life". Or "Leafy" (leafy greens being something we should all eat more of). Or even, if I say each letter, it kind of reminds me of the word "Elephant" (okay maybe that's a stretch)--Elephants are amazing animals.
It could also stand for "Living for Eden", "Loving for Eden", "Love for Everyone" "Life for Everyone", something about Eating... because we all love Eating...
Well, anyway. This is my first time doing a focused blog, so you might have to bear with me a little bit as I learn the ins and outs. I will be sharing good Vegan products I find, perhaps some recipes, book reviews, Vegan news, and thoughts on current events.
Thanks for reading!
I became Vegan because I love animals, was horrified by how they are treated, and was amazed at the incredible spiritual journey I experienced as I learned to think differently about the relationship between humans, animals, and God. Therefore I want to focus mainly on how being a Vegan has made my life better and contributed to my spiritual growth. Inevitably, I will have to share bad news on this blog as well, since the world has a long way to go before all violence against the innocent is eliminated.
At the side of the page you will see links to many websites. These are all websites which I have found helpful, informative, encouraging, inspiring, or amusing, in my journey toward greater compassion in Veganism, so I am sharing them with you in hopes that they will be helpful to you as well.
Being Vegan, to me, ties into a greater sense of conscience and social justice. I will be focusing mostly on animals, and particularly on "food animals" since they get the worst end of the deal and are the most ignored (people are much more horrified by abuse of a puppy than a piglet, even though a piglet has the same capability for pain and sorrow and is probably actually smarter than most puppies). However, I may end up posting things which have to do with greater issues of human and animal rights, environmental issues, health issues, and cultural sensitivity. I believe all of these things intertwine and they are all important. They will only change if people's hearts do.
I chose the name Longing for Eden as the title of this blog because, as a Christian and a "Mormon", I grew up hearing about the harmony between humans, animals, and God in the Garden of Eden before the world fell into sinfulness. "Be the change you wish to see in the world", says Gandhi (one of my heroes), and that is what, as a Vegan, I am trying to do. I am trying to live the ideal way, the way we would all be living if the world was still like the Garden of Eden. Some people may say that this is a futile effort, because the world fell when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, and people's (and animal's) natures are such that there cannot be harmony or nonviolence in this life. I disagree.
I believe that humans were the ones who broke the peace between themselves, animals, and God. Therefore, we humans are responsible to put it right (with the help of God, of course). We broke it, we fix it. Some LDS people believe that when Jesus comes again, the world will magically be changed into an Eden-like paradise and no one will want to hurt anyone or anything anymore. But we also believe God will not force people to change or take away their agency. Therefore, the only way we will be ready for a world of compassion and peace is if we try right now to change our own hearts and the state of the world.
I would say more, but I'll save it for later blogs.
In any case, that's why I picked the title. Also, I like the initials: LfE. They make me think of "Life". Or "Leafy" (leafy greens being something we should all eat more of). Or even, if I say each letter, it kind of reminds me of the word "Elephant" (okay maybe that's a stretch)--Elephants are amazing animals.
It could also stand for "Living for Eden", "Loving for Eden", "Love for Everyone" "Life for Everyone", something about Eating... because we all love Eating...
Well, anyway. This is my first time doing a focused blog, so you might have to bear with me a little bit as I learn the ins and outs. I will be sharing good Vegan products I find, perhaps some recipes, book reviews, Vegan news, and thoughts on current events.
Thanks for reading!