Veganism: The Way of the Whole Person by Ilse Singer, VLCE

What, people ask (and argue) does what we eat have to do with leading an inspired and authentic life? With being awake, integrated, and…whole? My answer: Everything.

As Rilke said “I do not want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie”.

Each of us knows, under a multi-layered cloak of conditioning and denial and justification, that causing suffering, doing violence, oppressing, and taking life, is wrong. It goes against our innate sensibilities and the very value system by which we identify ourselves. We believe in protecting the innocent, acting with compassion, and the ideal of a just world.

Denying that knowing is to deny our true nature, our highest self, and so, a part of us remains folded.

Choosing to live as a vegan is choosing to become unfolded, to live in awareness, and to embody our highest truth. Where we are desensitized and in denial, or reaction, we are a lie. As we awaken and begin to live in greater congruence with our core truths and the essence of who we really are, veganism becomes a given. An obviousness. It is part of the path to becoming whole, realized, connected — to the higher self being made manifest. 

Any area of our lives that we keep from facing, or feeling, be it denying love, denying pain, or denying our compassion, is an area of contraction, of brokenness, and all parts of us are dulled. By deepening our awareness, acknowledging the ripples of our choices and our patterns of consumption, including what — and whom — we eat, we journey toward realization of wholeness.

Acknowledging those ripples is also acknowledging that we are part of the whole, inextricably linked, and so too, inescapably responsible.

To me, this is the elephant in the room in the current personal development/self realization dialogue. While being of service and the existence of something greater is often discussed, our fellow animals, the largest population on the planet, are left out of the conversation, as is the earth herself.

This is a glaring omission, for it fails to look beyond self (fulfillment and satisfaction) and extend the conversation to self as part of the whole: interconnected with and responsible for others. To recognize this calls for a deep examination of ethics and core values, and how our actions affect all beings and the world we share.

Veganism is a practice of wholeness, a choice to align soul with self, inner with outer. It is a reflection of our deepest values made manifest.

We shed the illusion of separateness and the right to power and dominance, and align with the truth of who we really are.

Whether one comes to veganism because of a desire to do no harm, as a social justice issue, a wish for environmental preservation, the recognition of same Divine spark, or all of the above, the result is the same. The choice reflects a formerly unaware part of us showing up and reaching toward authentic expression.

When we truly identify and embody the tenets of just-ness, compassion, liberty, and humanity, veganism becomes a given, an extension of the principles by which we almost universally identify ourselves. It is the way of the whole person.

Ilse Singer, VLCE, is a longtime whole foods vegan, rescuer, activist, Desire Map facilitator, and Transformational Coach, with passions for Deep Ecology, Heirloom Vegetables, and Questioning Conditioning. She works with people in a variety of mediums to identify and align their deepest core values, secret soulful wishes, and most authentic selves, with how they show up in the world. Her belief is that the world is a reflection of our own brokenness, and it is in becoming whole, that we will create a healed world. Find Ilse at IlseSinger.com an on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.