Why spirituality requires veganism

[Veganism]

Whenever I hear about supposedly spiritual people who are not vegan, I can't help but doubt whether their spirituality is "real" or "genuine."  I'm sure their intentions may be good, but I feel that unless they realize and accept the thinking behind veganism, they are not fully spiritual.  Here's why.

First off, spirituality and enlightenment, as I understand them (please keep in mind that I, as an India, am thinking about spirituality in Indian terms and drawing on Indian tradition, which I don't think Westerners fully understand), is about transcending the flesh. Yet, those people who consume meat, dairy, eggs, and honey (not to mention use leather, wool, down and accept animal testing and circuses, rodeos, etc.) sustain themselves off the exploitation of the flesh of other beings.  In other words, they have not transcended flesh and indeed rely the exploitation or possibly benign use in the case of rural farmers 1000s of years ago who took minimal amounts of milk and eggs from cows (or other mammals) and chickens, respectively, without any of the egregious abuses of modern agriculture.  Even in such cases of possibly benign use, however, I think the mentality still exists that the cow or chicken is seen as a resource for or producer of milk and eggs, and the animals' identities become tied their production of those items for humans, so the reliance on the exploitation of flesh is still there.  I think spirituality and enlightenment require veganism, also because veganism involves recognizing that the animal is an individual with interests and a possessor of life, which is almost always as valuable to her/him as a human's life is to that human.  Finally, spirituality (at least in the Indian sense) requires not taking that which is not yours, and milk is not humans' but a baby cow's, and chicken produce eggs for themselves (of course there is the situation of abandonment of eggs, but let's look past that for now, for I don't even know how common that is).

What do you think?  Do spirituality and enlightenment require veganism?  Maybe I'm asking the wrong audience because most people on this site are already vegans, or maybe you haven't thought in these terms.  In any case, I'd be interested in your reactions.

[Kerry Baker]

Hi Pranav.  I personally believe that veganism and becoming more enlightened do complement each other.  I guess in my belief in reincarnation, I believe everyone is a 'spiritual being' in the sense that we are all on a path.

I suspect what it means to be 'spiritual' is different to many people. These days there are so many I see who want to be gurus, or those who attach themselves to a guru. But becoming vegan I agree is linked to becoming more aware and living a life such as what you describe.

People are for the most part masters as self-delusion, and one hears the same old lame excuses all the time about why a person isn't vegan. I think Melanie Joy describes why people eat meat very well in her video posted on this site about the psychology of eating meat. To become vegan requires I think great self-awareness, and a recognition of ourselves as being linked to all life. 

I have thought about some of these questions that have been posted on this site, for example would you eat an animal if you were starving and lost. For myself I would hope not as I do not regard my life as more valuable than that of a sheep or a pig and so on. These things are probably evolutionary.  I understand even Buddha wasn't vegetarian, it was only in the reign of Ashoka ? that the idea of being vegetarian for humane reasons was first proposed.

But the good news is veganism is growing. Perhaps there's hope for us all yet (-: