Vaughn's Journey to Vegetarian

 

Vaughn’s Journey To Vegetarianism

Introduction

Let me start by saying that everyone is on their own journey in life regardless if you’re discussing relationships, food, religion, politics or whatever the case may be.  I have NEVER been a fan of labels, even good ones, because they create separation.  I never wanted to call myself a “vegetarian” because it creates certain bias, judgments and labels.  I prefer to say I just choose not to eat meat.  But I guess according to the world, I am a vegetarian; for spiritual, emotional, moral, ethical and health purposes.  There are hoards (probably the majority) of unhealthy vegetarians out there.  I know this.  I am not saying I might not need to add a little something back in down the road in 1, 5, or 10 years.  I don’t know.  And that’s ok.  Life is a journey.  If you’re dogmatic, you’re trapped.

I know exactly why many vegetarians are sick and weak, and I know vegetarians that are strong, muscular and healthy like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life.  Many vegetarians don’t eat meat, but eat everything processed, caffeinated and sugar-filled on the planet.  Your label doesn’t make you healthy.  Your education, intelligence, daily choices and awareness of yourself and your body make you healthy.

I don’t like labels because I don’t like one group of people thinking they are different, better or superior to another.  We are all children of God and labels mean nothing.  I say that because I don’t want you to think that people who eat meat are “bad people.”  Or that I am now somehow better than anyone else.  I’M NOT!  And I ate meat my entire life, lots of it!  MY journey, MY path has changed.  Anyone who knows me even a little knows I love every person I meet, without exception, regardless of their thoughts or beliefs.  There is no other way to be in my opinion.  

I never tell people in my classes or any other venue that you should or should not eat a certain way.  If you are sick, if you have a disease, if you have an infection I will absolutely make recommendations that you should follow.  That is my job!  But ultimately, that is up to each individual person.  However, our thoughts, worldviews, awareness and consciousness changes based on influences in our life.  So maybe this will influence you, maybe it won’t.  Only you can make that decision…

Chapter I – Truth and Consciousness

I lived completely unconscious for the first 30 years of my life.  Of course, I didn’t realize it.  Wait! That IS the definition of unconscious.  You know, I was just “living life.”  There is nothing wrong with living life.  In fact, that is what most Americans are doing.  

The problem is, when you are just living life, you are mostly focused on looking out for yourself.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t look out for yourself.  You should.  I’m not saying that people aren’t doing great, wonderful things like helping their neighbors, charity work, donating time and money, opening doors for strangers, smiling, laughing, loving and encouraging others.  At the end of the day however, it all comes back to what is in your own best interest, whether you “consciously” realize it or not.  This is the definition of an unconscious life.  Living in the world, but truly knowing absolutely nothing ABOUT the world. 

You see, I speak from experience.  I had a great life being unconscious.  In fact, when I finally woke up, life got more complicated and more challenging.  People don’t like to be challenged.  People don’t like the truth.  Screaming in my mind is Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men, “You Can’t Handle the Truth!”  And it’s true, most people can’t handle the truth.  They don’t even want small doses of the truth for fear that it may leak inside their brain and actually challenge the normal day to day course of their knowingly imperfect, yet complacently perfect life.

One of my favorite quotes is the three phases of truth

1.  First, it is ridiculed

2.  Next, it is violently opposed

3.  Finally, it is accepted as self-evident (oh, everybody knows that right?)

Often times, when you are doing something right, the rest of the world sees it as wrong and vice-versa.  Often times, when you are in the minority, you’re on the right track.  

Chapter II – The Awakening

I don’t think I can attribute my awakening to any one particular event or moment in time.  But I will tell you that it started with God.  Please read my complete Testimony on my website for the full story on that.  As a former Atheist, finding God was the beginning of discovering truth.  The truth that almost everything we are doing in this world is a false reality.  God is truth, and therein you will find the truth.  But not just any Gods, or multiple Gods, the one true living God.  

It was long journey just to find the truth about God, again read my testimony.  This awakening completely changed my way of thinking.  I am a spiritual creature more than I am physical.  There is a major battle going on this world of good vs evil.  There is a LOT of deception and lies in the world, to which most people are completely oblivious.  With new awareness comes new responsibility, and that is the last thing most people want.

Out of the hundreds of perceptions I had changing in my mind, the biggest was my selfishness.  I was living life for myself, bottom line.  I don’t think most of my friends or family thought I was selfish in any way.  However, it was my new spiritual core that made this clear to me.  I am not who I once was.  I am born again.  I switched careers, and knew that I needed to dedicate the rest of my life to serving other people.  Health was my passion, so the choice was easy. 

Chapter III – Personal Journey to Health

 Another time, when complete, I will write my complete healing story.  Now, as a vegetarian, I still have some work to do in achieving that perfect, glowing, vibrant level of health that I am seeking.  The difference is, I’m not seeking it for myself or for vanity, I am seeking it for God’s purpose, for the benefit of God’s kingdom.  

 Why do most people want to be healthy?

-  They want to feel good (for themselves)

-  They want to look good (for themselves, for vanity and for others)

There should be a purpose behind everything that you do.  It’s called LIVING ON PURPOSE!  

With my new awareness and consciousness I began making changes.  I eliminated dairy, cut way back on meat, stopped eating fast food completely.  I quit drinking alcohol and eliminate soda from my life.  It was progressive, not overnight.  These were all great changes, but I still wasn’t where I wanted to be.

The main reason?  Sugar.  I was addicted.  People think of drugs, alcohol, etc. when they think of addictions.  Nope, food is worse than all of them combined, and for me it was sugar.  I would cleanse and go for an entire month without sugar, no problem.  Then go right back.  The only thing I would think about while cleansing is when I can start eating junk again.  I would justify it by fooling myself.  I would tell myself “You’ve made so many great changes and you are putting amazing things in your body now, you deserve a treat.”  That is fine for a super healthy person.  I’m not hardcore 100% never enjoy anything in life.  In fact, just the opposite.  Everything in life SHOULD be enjoyable, food should taste amazing!  However, I was NOT healthy and there was the problem.  An unhealthy person should not continue to abuse their body with unhealthy foods!

Even though I had the “awareness” that sugar was not good for me and damaging my body, I couldn’t stop myself.  It took some time, but I finally discovered the root cause of my addiction.  The ONLY way for me to overcome it (and I tried EVERYTHING) was to give it to God.  Again, I “knew” that God wanted me to care for his Holy Temple while on this earth, but my selfishness to eat and do what I wanted trumped God.  No more…

Chapter IV – Getting Off the Meat Wagon

So part of consciousness and awareness is caring for those around you, right?  I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.  Problem is, we’re mass consumers.  How much do we think about who and what in the world is affected by our consumer choices?  I cannot believe this never even occurred to me throughout life, but of course, before I was just buying and doing what was pleasing to my unconscious soul. 

With a new light and understanding, I began to question things.  How does marketing and advertising affect me?  Does it affect me without even knowing it?  What makes more sense, conventional medicine or natural medicine and why?  Where does our food come from and how does it get into the grocery store and onto our plates?  Am I conscious about what I am putting on my fork every day and the effect that it has on my body?  What is going on with our government?  What has changed since our founding fathers laid the ground work?  Why are these wars being fought and are they necessary?  How does the jacket I buy impact the rest of the world?  How do my food choices affect others?  When I spend my dollars, who are they supporting?  Why am I here on earth?  What is my purpose?

So many questions, but all questions many people don’t want to ask, and certainly don’t want to know the answers to.  However, they are questions that we should all be asking!  

So when it comes specifically to meat, here is the low-down.  With my new transformation and the fact that my spiritual eyes have been opened when it came to meat, this is what I realized.  All my discussions about meat and my studies were focused on studying what is best for the health of MYSELF and my clients.  Never once did I think about the animals.  I felt I was being selfish and there was a whole new consciousness that started to resonate within my soul.  Consciousness is progressive, but only if you allow it to change you and don’t fight it.

Out of sight, out of mind.  It’s so true.  Again, we don’t WANT to know the truth.  Why?  Because it might change our way of life.  It might make us think.  It might make us uncomfortable.  It might force us to think about our moral and ethical standards.  

So is my new choice to become vegetarian for the benefit of my health?  Absolutely!  SELFISHLEY yes! But also for God and being as clean and healthy as possible while on this earth.  Here is a real quick version on the health aspect, than back to the moral implications.  The majority of the longest lived cultures on the earth are vegetarians.  Not necessarily 100%, maybe 95% or 98%.  They may have some dairy, or even eat insects.  Vegetarians do enjoy a healthier lifestyle, with less illness and diseases and a longer life span.  Enough studies have been done to show this.  I poured over this information, but was always trying to figure out was best for myself and my clients when it comes to health.  Being vegetarian absolutely 100% will improve my health and the health of others, I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

What is more important however is the moral and ethical implications.  My consciousness grew leaps and bounds when I realized that I was being selfish.  Oh, how true.  I had pets all throughout my life growing up.  But I ate meat!  Does anyone see a problem here?  Maybe it's just me, could be.  But who am I to choose which animals to love, care for and share my life with, and which animals are allowed to be raised in confined prisons and torture chambers and slaughtered for my food?  Seems so obvious, but it was a truth I was never ready for.

I would enjoy the pleasure of animals in my life and watch nature shows and see animals running free in the wild and go to the zoo and enjoy watching animals for my enjoyment, and I was eating meat.  For the first time, I realize that didn't make sense.  We are making the choice which animals live and which animals die, and we are showing superiority over an inferior animal or species.  We are choosing which animals are worthy of your admiration and love, and which are only worthy of our fork. 

Ok, so we may say well cows and pigs are dumb.  Dogs are smart.  Really?  Do we know that or does it just make us feel better?  Even if that were the case, does that give us the power to dominate and eat one, yet love the other?  Have you ever seen a cow up close in the pasture?  Or is it out of sight, out of mind?  Have you seen a slaughterhouse?  They say if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarians.  They say if we all had to kill our own meat, we would all be vegetarians. It’s intense information I know.  My road was long, but I have decided on this for now.  I'm not saying things won't change, I learn and grow daily.

Want to know the movies that flipped my world upside down?  I saw Food, Inc.  It was great, but wasn’t the trigger.  But the consciousness was growing.  I saw a documentary called Eating.  Wow, now that made me think hard about becoming vegetarian, but I wasn’t there yet.  Then the grand daddy of them all, I saw EARTHLINGS.  This is the movie everyone in America is afraid to watch.  This is the movie that will make you question your moral and ethical standards in life when it comes to animals.

Earthlings teaches us that everything on this planet was created by God.  We ALL have equal opportunity to live and create for us the best life we can within our environment.    What makes one species inferior or  “expendable?”  Are “meat” animals expendable?  In Asia they eat dogs, is that gross to you?  Some people eat horses.  Why is eating a cow or pig yummy and eating a dog or horse disgusting?  We just never truly thought of it that way.  I never did. 

Now I would say it would be different if you were hunting to support your family, and it was your only way.  Many people and cultures have done this throughout history.  Survival is quite another “animal” so to speak.  But we don’t.  We eat meat because it brings US pleasure, because WE enjoy it!  Because we are rich!  We don’t even think about the animals, mainly because we don’t have to see them being tortured.  It never used to be this way!  If we hunted and raised our own animals and ate meat once in a while, that would be fantastic!  It's the way things have always been until now.  But fast food, grocery stores and mass consumption has created factory farming.  If only we could get back to a farm based lifestyle this would not be a problem! 

I will say again, things might change for me as I learn and grow!  I may need to eat some fish, or a deer that a friend shot during hunting season.  That is FINE! I don't have a problem with people who hunt for food, I really don't.  Why should I?  Who am I to judge anything that anyone does, not my place.  People have hunted for their food for thousands of years.  Most of my friends hunt.  That's awesome!  Maybe this whole vegetarian thing will just be some sort of "phase" for me.  (-:  I don't know for sure, but I know it resonates with me on a deep level.  I believe it was God's original intention for us in the Garden of Eden to be vegetarians.  We know we did not have rules about meat until after Moses.

Regardless, even if people just "cut back" a LITTLE and ate local food and meat, we could solve the torture and factory farm issue, simple as that!  There are many options to improve your choices besides going hardcore vegetarian!   That is if you think being vegetarian is hardcore.  I will find out!  (-:

But we would like to think that animals are somehow treated well and killed humanely.  Watch the movie.  We would like to think that the slaughterhouse is clean and sanitary.  Watch the movie.  We would like to think animals can’t feel pain like humans do.  WATCH THE MOVIE!  

All that being said, it was out of sight, out of mind for me until I actually SAW IT!  When you watch Earthlings you will shake and cry.  You will turn away from the screen.  It is TRUTH!  You Can’t Handle the Truth says Jack!  It is all live footage.  It is a miniscule fraction of what is happening in our crazy world.  It shows us how we dominate and abuse animals for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and supposed “medical” experiments.  It will open your eyes and your heart and if you’re not careful, it will open your mind and level of consciousness.  

Life is a journey.  Seeing is believing.  Being selfish is so EASY!  Ignoring what is really going on the world and hiding in our own little cubicle is so EASY!  Serving others is challenging physically, emotionally, morally and ethically.  That includes serving animals.  Watch the movies, but don’t miss Earthlings.  I challenge anyone to watch those three movies and not at least have a strong change of heart about the choices they make on a daily basis.

More than anything, I want people to understand that the choices they make do have an impact on the rest of the world.  It is easy to get lost in a sea of billions of people.  I will never tell people eating meat is bad or wrong!  But I will tell people they eat too much, and I will make people aware of the reality of the meat industry and what is happening.   I give people my 5 steps to healthy meat eating, so here they are for you, go at your own pace.

Step 1 - Make intelligent meat choices.  No anti-biotics or growth hormones.  Buy from local farmer's.  Buy grass fed beef.  Do not buy fast food or support grocery stores.  That is why we have factory farming because of the excessive fast food burger places!

Step 2 - Decrease your portion size to what fits in the palm of your hand

Step 3 - Decrease your frequency of meat consumption to no more than once per day

Step 4 - Decrease your frequency to twice weekly

Step 5 - Be a vegetarian

You notice I did not say everyone needs to become a vegetarian over night!  But I think both the health benefits and the ethical benefits will be appealing to a lot of people as they continue on their own journey. 
 

I bring you this testimony because I love people and animals both.  I always have.  Many people say they love animals, but have ignored, or maybe just not been introduced to the reality of this world.  Just because you eat meat does not mean you don't love animals, please do not imply anything like that!  I'm not promising I will never eat meat again, because well I just don't know!  Just be aware of the choices you are making.  I care about you and your health and the health of your family.  I care about the conscious decisions you make every day.

Most of all, I love GOD.  I know God has a purpose for YOU and I hope your consciousness is ready for it! 

Love,

Vaughn