The World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony

292 / the world peace diet
go by, a sense of gentleness and of purpose. Becoming vegan is not so
much a decision made with our intellect as it is a natural consequence
of inner ripening. While it’s certainly helpful to comprehend intellectually
the vast mandala of negative consequences of eating animal foods,
we find that we are propelled into veganism by our intuition. As our
intuitive heart opens, it opens to understanding our connection with
others and to including them within the sphere of our concern.
In our culture, which is so permeated by the mentality of domination
and exclusion, veganism requires a spiritual breakthrough. This
breakthrough cannot be forced in any way by others, but it can definitely
be encouraged. Looking behind the curtain to the horrific suffering
inherent in animal foods, asking questions, contemplating spiritual
teachings, cultivating the higher knowing of intuition, and observing the
example of other vegans all contribute to the ripening process. Once we
can clearly see the universal law or principle underlying veganism, we
can experience a spiritual transformation that allows greater possibilities
of freedom and happiness. Once we see and understand, we become
a voice for the voiceless, a note in the glorious chord of healing and
awakening that is unfolding in our shared consciousness.
From Obsolete Exclusivity to All of Us
Our inherited meal traditions require a mentality of violence and denial
that silently radiates into every aspect of our private and public lives,
permeating our institutions and generating the crises, dilemmas,
inequities, and suffering that we seek in vain to understand and effectively
address. A new way of eating no longer based on privilege, commodification,
and exploitation is not only possible but essential and
inevitable. Our innate intelligence demands it.
Vegan congressman Dennis Kucinich said in a speech in 2002,
I have seen groups of people overcome incredible odds as they
became aware they are participating in a cause beyond self and sense
the movement of the inexorable which comes from unity.
Violence is not inevitable. War is not inevitable. Nonviolence and
peace are inevitable. We can make of this world a gift of peace which