If you want to become more conscious about why veganism is just a baseline of morality of how we should live the following will help you learn just that!
Maybe you want to go vegan because you learned about the health benefits of veganism. Most people would call that “plant-based”. Veganism, however, is mostly focused on the ethical aspects of abstaining from using animal products.
I will break it down to the three different ways to enter this “vegan world” aka becoming more conscious of your surrounding and the resources you will need to help you make that change.
For ethical rise of consciousness:
Watch the documentary Earthling. (Honestly this is what did it for me! If you don’t want give up meat completely at least it will help you see things differently for sure!)
Look up activists: (click on their names to learn more about them)
- James Aspey– a chill peaceful activist dude
- Gary Youroskfy– more aggressive vegan, with an eye opening message
- Earthling Ed– very calm and informative in his approach
- Gary Francione– speaks to a philosophical perspective of why veganism is inherently a moral baseline in our society (makes sense to me.. )
For environmental rise of consciousness
It’s not a secret that the environment is struggling. When I first became a Christian I would often hear, well God is going to make the world new anyways, and while I get that.. and I am far from super spiritual Christian that can hear God’s voice (which I’m sure I am.. we all are to some capacity or another.. anyways!) Jesus also mentions that when he comes backs we will not know:
Matthew 24: 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
English Standard Version
To me this means that Jesus is saying we don’t know when he is going to come back and we also shouldn’t worry about it too much. We should be however, living a life that he calls us to live, which is to love one another and to spread the gospel through that way, and for me personally that means being compassionate to humans, considerate of the planet God calls us to steward, and of course being compassionate to each other. Either way, why would God just comes back if we are killing the planet ourselves, don’t you think he deserves more glory than that? Here are some sources for the environment for you to check out!
- Richard Oppenlander -he talks about the “Uncomfortable truth” of our bad habits on the enviornment
- Cowspiracy– an awesome documentary that explains why the vegan approach is the best way to address the enviornmental issues on our society.
For health rising consciousness
What I think is a funny coincidence is that a vegan lifestyle is not only ethical, in terms of taking better care of our animals, which God does call us to do.. and not only is it better for our environment… but it is also best for our health… go figure! Here are some of the best sources for you to check out:
- Dr. Michael Greger, the author of How Not to Die
- Dr. Neal Bernard, he is the President of the Physicians Committee and he also promotes a plant based lifestyle for health
- Dr. T. Colin Campell- he is the author of The China Study. This book describes a study conducted in China and impressively shows the substantial impact a plant based diet positively effects our health. After reading the course you can also become certified in plant based nutrition where can you gain further insight on how to support your health on a plant based diet.
- Dr. Sebi- learning about Dr. Sebi is also incredible. He is very much on the holistic side if you are into that and he is definitely worth a google search. His focus on a alkaline vegan diet. He talks about how our bodies at an alkaline vegan level offers us the most optimal support.
These are just some of the many different types of ways to enter the “vegan world” and learn more about how you can make a difference for the animals, planet, and your health.
I think the foundation of going vegan is education really. The more you are aware of why you should go vegan the more that it will be easier to sustain this lifestyle or at the very least make more conscious decisions. Veganism is essentianlly based off compassion, which is a fundamental truth that most of humanity agrees upon. When you learn about the benefits and effects that meat eating has on the world, it’s more than just what we are doing for the animals, but what we are doing for humanity as a whole. It truly comes down to a human rights issue that you will learn over the course of your research.
And as always if you have any questions please let me know.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life 