Less meat, less junk, more plants

In December 2007, Mark Bittman – a NY Times food journalist and renowned chef & author, made a presentation connecting the downfall of our planet and people to meat-eating. What is especially notable about this is that he himself is a meat-eater.

If prominent meat-eaters are pushing vegetarianism, there is an cultural revolution and redefinition about to happen. And it’s about time.

Few days ago at work, sitting at my desk, I sparked an interesting discussion with a colleague of mine has been flirting with vegetarianism for quite some time. She and several of her family members are convinced about the merits of a vegetarian lifestyle but can’t yet take the leap. I wanted to know why and so I turned my swivel chair around and asked one question:

What are your greatest obstacles in moving to a vegetarian lifestyle and diet?

Her responses validated my initial thoughts on this:

1. Association – While several of her family members were also in the same boat, other family members never really encouraged them (rather discouraged them) to have more vegetarian meals
2. Knowledge – She grew up in meat-eating family. No one really knows any vegetarian cuisines so she had to spend too much time researching.
3. Culture – This is connected to the above. Vegetarianism is something new and unknown to her and her family. It’s a break from what they know, enjoy and are habituated to. Change is hard.

I have several insights on this. I shared some of these with her as well:

• Association is everything especially when we are in minority and especially during times of change. From association, comes the encouragement and enthusiasm to push through the initial resistance to a new set of habits and culture. Food is such an elemental aspect of our lives. Changing our food habits can be one of the toughest things we have to do. Social support is essential to make this transition smoothly as possible and minimize fall downs.
• If you have to research it, the common person won’t do it. It needs to be simple and straight-forward. I told my colleague that this made sense. My wife has been vegetarian for life and mainly because it was simple and easy for her. It was simple and easy because she was trained from childhood to cook this way. The fact that you have to research is already an impediment because it takes lots of time and energy. And in the beginning, you won’t get it right. Therefore, training is essential.
• It has to taste goooooood. Many  Westerners don’t go for vegetarian lifestyle because when they think vegetarian they think boiled vegetables (probably lot of propaganda from meat industry).

If you think about it, these are some of the essentials for making spiritual progress especially in the beginning stages. It’s really about cultural revolution and evolution.

‘To pen or not to pen.’ No longer a matter.

I wish I could remember the last time I was wielded in the hands of a romantic, a connoisseur of writing, or a stubborn traditionalist. How beleaguered my existence has become? Bills, to-do lists, Post-its. Will my ink blot no other medium? The letter, the greeting card, the soft ‘I love you’ note.

Emails, e-cards, blogs. Blah! Where are Premavatar das’ meandering expositions jotted on cheap lined paper? How about the sweet strokes of that 16 year-old journaling her heartaches?

Oh age of Kali I have come into existence by the mercy of Vyasadeva and now I am being penned out. Humans are so anxious to become faceless masses. Computers and instant communication just means no patience to put pen to paper – to put thought to words. How I miss the eloquence of the great Rupa Goswami. Surely the perfection of my creation! An instrument in the hands of the great saint.

Mass produced but underused, I am now simply taunted by my potential. When again will I pen the flat earth with the hearts and minds of the great ones?

Social engineering…anybody can do it!

“Civic Ventures has opened nominations for the 2008 Purpose Prize. The Prize provides five $100,000 and ten $10,000 awards to U.S. residents over 60 who are creating innovation solutions to address society’s most pressing problems – domestically and abroad.

 

We’re looking for adults in the second half of life who are combining their creativity and experience to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.”

I subscribe to this non-profit list serv where members post any grants, scholarships, jobs, volunteerships, etc. related to the non-profit world. Saw a interesting post where youth would be rewarded for creative social engineering.

On one level this is certainly empowering for those who wish to open pathways for the socially disenfranchised where only roadblocks exists. The poor, the minorities, the women, the diseased all have a social burden to carry in civilizations around the world. It is human nature and the soul’s nature to extend ourselves and our advantages to others less fortunate.

On another level I understood that this kind of encouragement is dangerous and all too pervasive in modern society. Many times in the form of altruistic activist movements. The danger lies not only in the potential harm that can be done in producing the wrong solution (see Third Reich and Communism), but the assumptions on which they are founded can cause tremendous spiritual damage – more specifically leading us to major identity crisis.

The assumptions that these modern altruistic endevours encourage are:

-Successful social and life is a product of human ingenuity

-We in modern society are qualified to institute social change

-There is no relationship between the spiritual and social

-There is no benchmark for social progress or lack thereof (i.e., there is no ideal social system)

-Social problems can be solved through patchwork and don’t require major transformation of value systems

These are just some thoughts rattling in my head on this subject for quite some time. I believe the Vedas or that body of knowledge and science manifested in Indo-Aryan civilization provides a completely alternative and time-tested means to understand social problems, the assumptions and qualifications required to implement a healthy social body and the values required of citizens to sustain it. Maybe sometime later I will get into that a bit more.

That being said, I don’t proclaim at all that there is no place for social change and entrepreneurship in Vedic culture. Every principle has to be applied to time, place and circumstance. However the underlying assumptions and ultimate purpose must be immutable and perfect and must always be at the forefront of social adjustments otherwise our solutions will only serve to agitate the problems or ‘engineer’ new ones.