THE THREE MAIN THEMES OF THE WORLD PEACE DIET

This text is my answer to Dr. Will Tuttle’s challenge to name what are the three most important themes in his book as I was taking his course in 2011. I would love to hear your take on it if you have read his book. If not, go grab a copy of the World Peace Diet as it is maybe the most important book you will ever read.

1.        How to bring back Sophia As we have seen when reading the World Peace Diet, the link between the treatment of animals and the treatment of women is undeniable. As was seen also in the book “The Chalice and the Blade” written by Riane Eisler, we used to have more equalitarian societies in which women had positions of power but didn’t act like Amazon warrior princesses (the type fantasized by men on television). What will bring back Sophia? First education of women is I believe a number one priority particularly in the developing world as women are exploited and taught to have a lot of children. It is a fact that women who have education choose to have less children and gain control over their own bodies which had before been dominated by men. Raising women’s consciousness raises the world’s consciousness. It also brings more compassion and therefore less cruelty to animals in the process. Women were the original gatherers; they should lead the way to a peaceful cohabitation with animals away from the male hunter mentality which has brought animal suffering, human suffering and environmental destruction. Restoring the female qualities of compassion and nurturing will bring about a better world. Women have to rise above men’s conception of them as just a piece of meat and in some countries inferior beings. When women do that, they also help raise consciousness in men and therefore in animals too.

2.        Cruelty to animals and science and religious reductionism

Humans have to cultivate compassion to all. There is nothing in religion or science that justifies pain to animals. It has been showed many times now that most “research” in laboratories on animals are totally unnecessary and barbaric. There is even less excuses nowadays to experiment on animals when so many alternatives are available. Most drugs that have been tested on animals and considered “safe” have been showed to be harmful to humans in the end. Being on a vegan diet should also reduce the need for medication and bring back sanity in science. At least, it is my hope that this happens one day. As long as there is a large money incentive to torturing animals in labs, it will not change. As for religion, all of them proclaim a message of compassion. Jesus is thought to have been vegetarian as well as the Prophet Mohammed. Buddhism and Hinduism are religions that technically include vegetarianism in their philosophy. But we know for a fact that humans love to interpret religion to meet their own agendas. So just like religious authorities (Christianity) used to say that women had no soul, they still don’t accept that animals also have a soul and a karma as well. We see here in both science and religion that there is a need to extend compassion beyond the so-called needs of mankind and stop seeing animals as just inferior machines here on earth to serve us.

3.        Social programming

What I think is the most important aspect taught in the World Peace Diet is how social programming and what we have been told since birth affects everyone on this planet. This is the recurring theme of the book. We are programmed, and we need to deprogram ourselves to free ourselves and therefore free the animals too. Veganism is a total rejection of the status quo, of the ingrained values of society at large. When we go Vegan, we make a statement that we will not accept cruelty to animals, we will not accept the lies of the medical community regarding health, we will not accept the brainwashing we get constantly from our piers, our families, the government, etc… When we eat animals, we eat pain, fear, torture, and chemicals from this and from what we inject in them and that makes us sick. This is the most powerful statement of the book. It teaches us to be free. And by being free, we help free animals and other human beings as well. It is a win-win situation. We also free the planet from our greedy polluting habits, whether they are physical or psychical. I believe that emphasizing the liberating aspect of Veganism to people is the most rewarding aspect of being a World Peace Diet Facilitator or being a Vegan in this society. I think the most brilliant thing I’ve read recently is your quote of Chuang-tzu. I love your take on it when it comes to people:

“This is the same with us. The people we get angry with are empty boats. There is a karmic wind propelling them, and their words and actions, and it is essentially the programming of our culture. Why yell at or be angry with someone who is propelled by the cultural program?” So thank you for that. It will remind me NOT to get angry with people at my job every day.

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