Savvy Vegetarian Blog

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Tue, 15 Jul 2008

The Only Diet for a Peacemaker Is a Vegetarian Diet - by John Dear, for the National Catholic Reporter

Rev, John Dear S.J. is a Jesuit Priest, Peace Activist, Organizer, Lecturer, Retreat leader, and author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, including Living Peace, published by Doubleday. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

John Dear's gentle article, or rather, sermon, 'The Only Diet for a Peacemaker Is a Vegetarian Diet', starts off briefly documenting the environmental damages from the first world's meat based diet, the attendant animal cruelty, and the health issues.

Then Fr. John addresses the elephant in the room, which both herbivore and omnivore avoid - the moral issue: Our largely violent and destructive presence on this planet is an extension of our habit of enslaving and mistreating animals, killing and eating them, when there is no need to do so.

Fr. John Dear says, "A vision of a nonviolent world, all creatures nonviolent, children safely at play with them, and no violence anywhere. That is the peaceful vision of creation that we are called to pursue — in every aspect of our lives, from the jobs we hold, to our use of gasoline and alternative energies, to what we eat and wear, say and do."

"... for me being vegetarian boils down to peacemaking. If you want to be a peacemaker ... reflecting the sentiments of Leo Tolstoy, you will want to eat as peaceful a diet as possible. 'Vegetarianism,' Tolstoy wrote, 'is the taproot of humanitarianism.' Other great humanitarians like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer and Thich Nhat Hanh agree. The only diet for a peacemaker is a vegetarian diet."

When Fr. Dear's mild, peaceful article appeared in Common Dreams a few days ago, it not surprisingly polarized vegetarians and non-vegetarians, aka herbivores and omnivores.

There have been more than 90 intensely passionate comments posted to date, many of them as long or longer than Fr. Dear's article, with very strong emotion on both sides. Debate raged on the following topics: whether or not humans are natural herbivores or omnivores, whether the bible supports vegetarianism, was Hitler a vegetarian (no), people's individual rights to eat however they please, the insufferable moral superiority of vegetarians vs. the selfish greedy behavior of meat eaters.

Personally, I agree with Fr. Dear. BUT. For what it's worth, here's my view on vegetarian diet and peacemaking:

From my own experience and observation, lifestyle changes such as going vegetarian tend to follow from growth in consciousness, or spiritual evolution. Peace comes from within. Without that inner change, outer change doesn't get much support. When you become a more peaceful person, a more peaceful diet follows, easily and naturally, along with other more peaceful behavior.

I feel that it's futile to pressure people to go vegetarian as a way of changing their behavior. As John Dear says, "If you want to be a peacemaker ..." (my italics). Desire is the key.

To John Dear, being vegetarian is probably as natural as breathing, and that's how it should be. He became vegetarian as an extension of his spiritual path, when he entered the Jesuit order, after whatever personal evolution led to that step. I tried to go vegetarian at age twenty, with lots of confusion, doubt, ignorance, resistance - and malnutrition.

I had to go back to square one - eating meat. During that time, I learned to meditate (Transcendental Meditation). As my stress levels dropped, and body and mind became more clear, coherent, and peaceful, my desire to go vegetarian was naturally supported. My vegetarian knowledge and skills continue to grow without effort or conflict on my part.

Although it's clear to me that the world would be better off following a plant based diet, and I don't hesitate to say so, I don't want to make vegetarian diet into a religion (vegetarianism). Whatever a person's path, and wherever they are in becoming vegetarian, I try to offer practical vegetarian advice and support, based on what they need, from whatever knowledge I have, and quietly continue my meditation practice.

Read Fr. John Dear's article 'The Only Diet for a Peacemaker Is a Vegetarian Diet'