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One universal principle of religion and spirituality is compassion. We are taught to treat others the way that we want to be treated, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and to abstain from killing living beings. How does our treatment of animal-people and our food choices play a role in compassion?“I mean, that is really demonic to actually have billions of animals, millions of animals born into slavery. Quite honestly, in a certain way, only slaves would ever tolerate living in such a society that does that, because that’s so horrific. And then not only to cause that slavery, but then to eat it and feed it to our children, we have to be disconnected and unconscious. So, what we’re really talking about here is just becoming conscious, becoming aware. And then compassion, which is the highest form of love, it’s the yearning to act to relieve the suffering of others, begins to get activated. And then we can live a life where we’re actually contributing to the solutions rather than being just part of the problem. And that’s why this book, I think, is so beautiful, because that is the solution ‒ love, compassion, is the solution. And it means not just for those close to us, or those of our nation, or our race, or our in-group, or our tribe, but for all beings, radical inclusion, include all living beings within the sphere of our kindness and concern.”“This Earth can support all of us on a fraction of the land. There’s nothing stopping us except for fear, and for this habit that we just don’t want to stop, this inertia that has [been] ten thousand years. But now’s the time. This is it, to give up that bad habit, and go forth into a new world and actually live this and exemplify this and do everything we can to share this message in a positive and loving way. Because that’s really what veganism is, it’s love, not just theoretical, but actually love in action, actually living it and not just talking about it.”This last question is for all our panelists. During these turbulent times of unprecedented natural disasters and unseen diseases, what’s the significance of reading and understanding the messages presented in Supreme Master Ching Hai’s book “Love Is The Only Solution?”“Yeah, the title says it all. And I really think that if you read the book, you’ll see every angle covered, whether it is the angle from an environmental perspective or human health or spiritual aspect. She (Supreme Master Ching Hai) has talked about all different angles and showing why compassion is the only solution.” “I cannot emphasize to you, overemphasize to you, how urgent it is. In fact, I think the vegan world has to happen today. But I’m saying let’s do it by 2026, at the minimum. So, 2026 to me is just like a minimum requirement. The science is saying do it as quickly as possible. That’s what the science is saying. So, if you’re rational about it, you’d be going vegan today.”“So, it’s the inner work, I think, that’s really called for, more now than ever. For the vegan movement to be successful, we can’t just go around hitting people over the head with this message. We need to embody this as love and live it. And it’s because it’s not what we say, it’s how we say it and it’s really who we are, as we’re saying it. We need to transform ourselves so that there’s congruence in our message. And that will make our movement just take off, like more than ever before. And that’s why I really appreciate the whole Supreme Master movement because they’re living this. They’re meditating every day for two and a half hours. They’re doing the inner work and this is an expression of spiritual yearning, which I think is really the key to everything.”“When I first went vegan, like 27 years ago approximately, I’d go into a vegan restaurant, I was the only one there. I knew the waiter, I knew the chef, I knew the maître d’. Now, I can’t get a table! And I’m so happy! And what was exciting about going to the Vegan Women’s Summit was that there were all these fresh faces. I do feel that we are going to see some really radical shifts very soon. And hopefully we’ll all go vegan by 2026!”
