Veganism in a subjective reality

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by The Yarnist

I went vegan (for about 2 months) after being vegetarian for about 18 months. It was not good for me. Maybe I didn't do it the "right" way or whatever. However, when I went vegan, I truly believed that it was the healthiest path for my body. I developed chronic yeast issues which plagued me for years after that stint. Eventually I went back to eating chicken and turkey and that was when I felt the healthiest. Becoming vegan/vegetarian really opened up my palate though so it was a good experience.

So in my case, I believed veganism was the best path for my physical health but it didn't pan out that way. Or maybe it was the best path in that it opened me up to trying new vegetables etc... Now, I just eat what my body tells me that I need. Sometimes it's a salad with kale and cucumbers and tomatoes and sometimes it's steak. I do hold the intention that I'm extracting all the health benefits of what I'm eating and my understanding of subjective reality with regard to food choices is like what was quoted as being said by Hicks.

Now that's a paradox!

Hi Yarnist

You may or may not know this but of all animals reared for slaughter the chicken is the one with the worst deal. Most chickens are raised in awful conditions in cages or 'barns' with zero space to move around, are pumped full of growth inducing steroids (to fatten them quickly) and antibiotics (to suppress the raging viral infections in these animal hell-holes) - which humans implicitly digest when they eat the 'product'.

Result - cruelty and insufferable pain for the chicken: a compromised immune system and morality for the consumer.

If you can imagine the worst day you ever had. Multiply it by a zillion and you are somewhere close to the subjective and objective reality of a chicken raised for food or laying.

[The Yarnist]

You may or may not know this but of all animals reared for slaughter the chicken is the one with the worst deal.

Yes, I did know this. It was part of what led me to go veg in the first place.

[Brendon Colby]

Originally Posted by The Yarnist

I went vegan (for about 2 months) after being vegetarian for about 18 months. It was not good for me.

Same here! I went strict vegan for about two months. I felt pretty horrid for the last few weeks of that two months and ended up breaking down and adding white meat back into my diet. I may not have had the proper information at the time and probably wasn't getting some key nutrients. I listen to my body now so if that means having chicken, I eat chicken. I don't think anyone needs to defend a decision like this or feel guilty about it. The alternative for me right now is extremely poor health, almost to the point of not being able to function on a daily basis. I think it's sad what these animals have to go through, but I think we can only do the best we can.

[pylonian]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

Veganism may have its benefits, but physical health is surely not among them. Tell a Ayurvedic or TCM doctor you went vegan for health: they just might laugh at you!

While I know from experience and research that veganism has a huge range of health benefits, I have had to battle considerable resistance in my Classical Chinese Medicine education. However, there are many opinions on this within the Chinese medicine community, particularly where that community has moved into non-Asian countries. My experience in talking with my professors is that while they are quite admirable in their examining Chinese medicine theory with a critical eye and testing it out on reality before fully accepting it, they do have a few blind spots. Among them: sexuality and vegetarianism/veganism.

In my study of Chinese medicine theory (which is admittedly young, yet quite extensive as it is my future profession) there is nothing substantial to support many Chinese doc's wholesale rejection of veganism/vegetarianism. There are many foodstuffs discussed in Chinese medicine theory that adequately compensate for the factors that the theory believes would be missing from an animal foods inclusive diet.

Eric Grey

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Dolazy

Howdy Stephen!

Some suggest that reality is subjective, but that certain beliefs are so deeply rooted that they can be considered as objective physical reality. For me that's fine. But it means that they are still subjective and CAN be altered, it just takes a little more time. So from this I assume the answer must be YES. It IS possible to raise your awareness to such a level where even animals stop eating each other.

Or is there some flaw in my reasoning?

Francis

Francis,

You have to think of *everything* as subjective. Not just sometimes. For example:

I had an ex boyfriend who always caused me bad stress and heartache. After trying to reconcile things literally dozens of times, I decided that Paul wasn't going to exist to me anymore, becuase all he did was mess up my life and I didn't want that to happen anymore. So, I held the intention that Paul would cease to exist to me for the greatest good (I didn't want him hit by a bus or anything,) and in my reality that intention manifested. My actions matched what I said, I told Paul that we were negative influences on each other, that were couldn't be friends anymore, that we couldn't keep seeing each other, that we were going our seperate ways and I didn't want any more contact with him. And that's what happened.

Now, if I were to drive to Pauls house to see if he really existed objectively then I would be disbelieving in a subjective reality. I don't do that, because I believe in a subjective reality. So, because I believe in it Paul no longer exists in my reality. My intention manifested the way I needed it to, and Paul no longer exists.

Understand?

So, if you really believe in a subjective reality model you won't constantly hold it up against an objective reality. If you believe that all there is is your own experiences, you won't try to dispute that belief because disputing it by trying to find evidence to the contrary, would give you that evidence. Whatever you were looking for you would find.

It's easy for me to manifest a world where animals don't eat each other. I haven't seen an animal eat another animal for ten years or so. I'm pretty sure I'll never see one animal eat another in the future, beyond people easting meat I guess.

So, in my reality, animals don't eat each other. Nothing in my experience tells me otherwise. And since my experience is all that there is, that's that.

[november]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

So, if you really believe in a subjective reality model you won't constantly hold it up against an objective reality. If you believe that all there is is your own experiences, you won't try to dispute that belief because disputing it by trying to find evidence to the contrary, would give you that evidence. Whatever you were looking for you would find.

While this sounds reasonable, I think your post adequately described delusion, not subjective reality.

Subjective reality will take objective reality into consideration, b/c it exists. In order to know what you want for yourself, what you want to manifest in your life (subj. reality), you will look outside yourself (objective reality) at some point.

Simply pretending other things don't exist is not what subjective reality is about. In order to truly practice subj. reality, one embraces it all. Everything. Whether or not one agrees with it all is a moot point, b/c there is no emotional attachment to reality. "Subjective" and "objective" are really judgment calls (as they pertain to "reality"), and neither term is necessary in order to create one's own reality.

To answer the OP: Nothing is necessary. We choose what we choose simply b/c we are able to have and exercise choice. A person can give you a million and one reasons why veganism is good for him or her. It doesn't matter if it is true or not (and veganism isn't something that can honestly be proven as good or bad, that's why there is so much evidence for each side), what matters is that the person has chosen it and allows that choice to influence other choices in his or her life. I would say that veganism is a symptom of a much larger issue(and I don't mean anything negative by that). It may be a jumping off point for other things, but in and of itself...it is of no consequence.

[JoaquinFox]

One point I think I see missing from this discussion is about congruency. Steve mentions in his podcast that you can't deny the state of reality that you currently are perceiving.

Whether or not veganism is the answer I think you have to first look at the question of factory farming and decide if factory farming is really congruent with your beliefs and ideals. Go to themeatrix.com, veganoutreach.org or peta.com and learn a little about factory farming. This is what is happening right now in your current reality...you wouldn't have come across this information any other way. So form your answers on subjective reality from an informed, conscious perspective and then decide what your best response will be. Maybe it's you'll find that it's eating organic, going vegan, or doing nothing at all, but you can't skip the step of informing yourself on the subject matter and fully understanding what you are currently getting from the universe before you choose a response to it. A state of blissful ignorance simply won't get you the results you seek (like the hypothetical child who believes that meat is good for them). That child does't exist...you do and you have to form your reality on the information that you are getting from the universe.

[Dharma]

So, in this subjective reality, Vegans are also choosing factory farming, or it wouldn't be in their experience.

[Dolazy]

Originally Posted by Dharma

So, in this subjective reality, Vegans are also choosing factory farming, or it wouldn't be in their experience.

Yes, if reality would be 100% subjective.

However "choosing" is not the best word because there is not really a conscious choice that was made, but nonetheless it would be a creation of their mind.

[Wreck]

Originally Posted by Stolper

“…You move through your world and the experts say to you, if you eat this food, which contains this fat, you will be fat.

This is incorrect.

Fat is stored energy. Eating more calories than you burn makes you fat. You're more likely to store fat from eating too many (and the wrong kind) carbohydrates than you are from eating fat.

I think dietary fat is more related to heart health.

[Dolazy]

Originally Posted by Wreck

This is incorrect.

Fat is stored energy. Eating more calories than you burn makes you fat. You're more likely to store fat from eating too many (and the wrong kind) carbohydrates than you are from eating fat.

I think dietary fat is more related to heart health.

Well I think you'd disagree with a lot of the Abraham teachings. How about Growing a third set of teeth?

However, if you believe that reality is created from thought then all is possible.

[Wreck]

Originally Posted by Dolazy

Well I think you'd disagree with a lot of the Abraham teachings. How about Growing a third set of teeth?

However, if you believe that reality is created from thought then all is possible.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what that has to do with the way your body processes and stores carbohydrates and fat.

Not only does eating fat not make you fat, but your body needs fat. Nuts, avocado, olives, etc.

[Dharma]

Originally Posted by Dolazy

Yes, if reality would be 100% subjective.

However "choosing" is not the best word because there is not really a conscious choice that was made, but nonetheless it would be a creation of their mind.

IMO it's all choice, either conscious or unconscious. Some part of me is choosing, else I am a victim of another's choice. Which isn't possible, because there is no 'other'.

[Dolazy]

Originally Posted by Dharma

IMO it's all choice, either conscious or unconscious. Some part of me is choosing, else I am a victim of another's choice. Which isn't possible, because there is no 'other'.

Ok. It's a matter of definition of 'choice' then. Is a subconscious choice really a choice? It's something we could discuss about, but it doesn't really change my original point that if a vegan observes factory farming in his reality then he created it. (According to the subjective reality theory of course.)

[Dolazy]

Originally Posted by Wreck

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what that has to do with the way your body processes and stores carbohydrates and fat.

Not only does eating fat not make you fat, but your body needs fat. Nuts, avocado, olives, etc.

The discussion is about veganism in a subjective reality. You seem to argument from the objective reality perspective. This would be helpful if this thread really were about veganism and health, but it is more about the theory of subjective reality and how veganism fits in.

[Dolazy]

Originally Posted by JoaquinFox

One point I think I see missing from this discussion is about congruency. Steve mentions in his podcast that you can't deny the state of reality that you currently are perceiving.

Whether or not veganism is the answer I think you have to first look at the question of factory farming and decide if factory farming is really congruent with your beliefs and ideals. Go to themeatrix.com, veganoutreach.org or peta.com and learn a little about factory farming. This is what is happening right now in your current reality...you wouldn't have come across this information any other way. So form your answers on subjective reality from an informed, conscious perspective and then decide what your best response will be. Maybe it's you'll find that it's eating organic, going vegan, or doing nothing at all, but you can't skip the step of informing yourself on the subject matter and fully understanding what you are currently getting from the universe before you choose a response to it. A state of blissful ignorance simply won't get you the results you seek (like the hypothetical child who believes that meat is good for them). That child does't exist...you do and you have to form your reality on the information that you are getting from the universe.

Your "little point" is a strong point IMO JoaquinFox. If I understand correctly I could paraphrase your message like this:

1. I created my reality.
2. In my reality I see that eating meat causes suffering.
3. Therefore I choose not to eat animal products anymore in order to reduce the suffering in my reality.

I like this reasoning and it's a strong answer for defending veganism for ethical reasons in a subjective reality.

However, it does not answer the question about choosing veganism for improving your personal health. I think my original claim holds that the results will only the manifestation of your current beliefs.

Francis

[Wreck]

Originally Posted by Dolazy

The discussion is about veganism in a subjective reality. Your seem to argument from the objective reality perspective. This would be helpful if this thread really were about veganism and health, but it is more about the theory of subjective reality and how veganism fits in.

Ah, okay, got it.

I surf multi-tabbed in Firefox and lost track of which thread I was in. Sorry for crapping up the thread.

To add something of value to this thread...

If your subconscious is a result of your past conscious choices and experiences, and how you interpret them, I don't think conscious or subconscious would make much of a difference from a subjective viewpoint. If it comes into your relative, be any means, it can only be there because you brought it there.

However, I'm noticing two issues within veganism; one being an unethical treatment of animals and the second being excess and waste. The suffering caused to animals by the eating of meat could be reduced by veganism, but excess and waste isn't really a vegan-only issue. But I guess either way it would be dealt with by a subjective reality system just as any other issue would.

The funny thing is though, from a subjective view point, is that trying to convert others to veganism isn't really trying to change another's subjective reality. You're still dealing with yourself since other people are just a manifestation of your own reality.

Arguments arise from two conflicting realities "is so," "is not," "is so," "is not." From a subjective viewpoint, it would be only one reality, your own. So the conflict would be within yourself. Am I getting this right?

So then, how does one deal with inner conflict in a subjective reality system? Would the answer be to raise the awareness (of veganism in this case) within yourself so that it would be made manifest elsewhere in your reality?

[november]

The fact is that factory farms are not the only source of meat and meat products in the world.

If a person uses factory farming practices as a major reason to be vegan, I wonder about that persons ability to think logically and/or expand his or her personal awareness.

[alexanderbecker]

Originally Posted by Dolazy

However, if you believe that reality is created from thought then all is possible.

This about sums it up.

Hypothetical question: Is veganism only an answer to factory farming or to eating meat in general? I ate strictly vegan for a year and I benefited greatly from the experience because I intended to do so.

Now I am back eating meat and it doesn't impair my spiritual awareness at all. Of course do I think that factory farming is cruel, but how about the hunter who kills an animal and eventually eats it? What's so cruel about animals eating animals?

Bliss depends on one's own reality which is supposed to take place beyond denial but with a congruent enough setup... all is possible (see above).

-Alexander

[alexanderbecker]

While the discussion revolves around the consequences of eating vegan, the question can be extended: Is eating herbivorous required to achieve the peak of spiritual awareness?

Are we hunters or gatherers, do we intend to be predators or not? Isn't the absolute taboo of killing (animals) a somewhat limiting belief?

I try to include and extend this discussion within my own subjective reality

Can a predator feel bliss? Once a predator accepts that he is a predator what would hold him -- or her -- back from achieving and experiencing bliss?

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Brendon Colby

Same here! I went strict vegan for about two months. I felt pretty horrid for the last few weeks of that two months and ended up breaking down and adding white meat back into my diet. I may not have had the proper information at the time and probably wasn't getting some key nutrients. I listen to my body now so if that means having chicken, I eat chicken. I don't think anyone needs to defend a decision like this or feel guilty about it. The alternative for me right now is extremely poor health, almost to the point of not being able to function on a daily basis. I think it's sad what these animals have to go through, but I think we can only do the best we can.

Hi Brendon

I think people do have to defend their decision to eat animals. I think your last sentence sums it up that you admit that it is sad that animals are exploited and killed just to satisfy human taste buds, when there is no need to have animals in your diet.

If you couldnt eat your pet cat or dog, then eating a pig or a chicken should be off limits to. There is no difference bar the part where you have been socially conditioned to follow a certain diet.