Do you want to improve the world?
I don’t think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can’t be improved.
If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.

-Lao Tzu

The basic rule is to ‘be here now’… to start from exactly where we are at this moment… to be able to say about oneself and the universe with all of its horror, with all of its beauty, with all of its imperfections, Kali and all her manifestations, “It is all right. It’s all OK.”

-Ram Dass

Consider, for a moment (each):

The horror of slaughterhouses.

Our children eating toxic, antibiotic-laden flesh.

Environmental devastation and species loss as a result of industrial meat production.

With these held in heart and mind, who could argue against veganism?

***

There are some movements – veganism among them – occurring around the world* and throughout my community which, I believe, support a fundamental direction and contemporary resonance:

• the practice of yoga, kirtan, qi gong, tai chi, meditation and martial arts (at an all-time high and increasingly accepted among the mainstream)
• the explosion in ‘plant medicine’ availability (esp. ayahuasca & san pedro) and improved guidance around their consumption
• the rise of wholistic, mutually supportive entrepreneurship and global collaboration
• the improvement and balancing of education systems (as exemplified by the attempts of Steiner Schools and some nordic institutions); also, the return of singing, strength-training and nature-connection to the learning environment
• the increase in food/nutrition awareness; taking responsibility for one’s own health through self-knowledge, study, wholism and intuition
• the integration of regular exercise into capitalist work culture. I believe that a healthy, self-connected human physiology is fundamental to peace on earth
• the louder voice afforded to the oppressed, to environmental activists, minority groups and children.

*I wish to acknowledge my understanding and perception are shaped/restricted by my experience as a white, western male with a red beard and wild hunger for truth.

Yes, each of these threads can also be followed to its ‘negative’ side.

And yes, we still have much work to do.

But what do we work with? From the Tao Te Ching:

Yes, the human mind wreaks a wretched hell across much of the earth’s surface.

Yet I perceive that we are becoming more open to feel it, to begin where we actually are; more aware of the darkness which lives within each of us; living bravely but without blame; determined to change the world, but starting with the (wo)man in the mirror.

To paraphrase Jung: “Peace on earth will be found not by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

For perhaps our bodies are fundamentally interwoven with the rest of life; that what hurts one, hurts all.

This may be why, to quote Eisenstein, “To care deeply for another is no less valuable than leading a global activist movement, writing best-selling books or protesting deforestation”. 

I also perceive us growing in the acceptance – duty, even – of our sensitivity; unable to ignore or scroll past; not satisfied by clicking ‘like’ when told, for example, that the Great Barrier Reef is in mortal danger or that the majority of recorded species will be extinct within 5 years, but instead driven to action, to go deeper in self-knowledge, to act from the heart and to change – ourselves, our communities and thus the world.

Does this sound fanciful, hopeful, unrealistic? I sometimes disbelief it myself, returning to the old story of separation, allowing my breath to become shallow, my belly tight…

But when I come back to Love – that is, to feeling what is already here, now – I see the path in

front of me, and what I must do to play my part in creating heaven on earth.

Now, the evidence and experience of horror – or heaven – on earth is becoming so great that for many, it has proven impossible to ignore. And what matters not is if we respond by travelling to Standing Rock or the Sacred Valley; or by joining a yoga class, by spending time alone with nature and heart, or by lifting weights and strengthening boundaries. What matters is that we listen at all, and find our own way to answer.

Where does veganism fit into this?

As a belief system or lifestyle, I see the vegan movement (of which I am, in my own way, a part) as a rivulet in our shared movement towards peace on earth. One resonant wave to ride in the search for self.  

Those of us who try to create a vegan world, whether violently or through gorgeous, revolutionary intent… we may need to consider those indigenous cultures – revered for their wisdom by many a western seeker – such as the australian Aboriginals, certain tribes in the Amazon basin and the Native Americans, who freely hunt and raise animals for consumption.

Haven’t they heard that veganism is the only way? 

Perhaps human harmony with nature is not what is suggested by dogmatic veganism (zero animal husbandry), but is in fact a level of connection with Self, with Source. 
Can a man be filled with compassion as he takes life?
Can a man be twisted with delusion as he protects it?

I believe so.

Yet on some level, these words are hollow – after all, I feel animals deeply yet don’t devote my life (or even my spare hours) to protecting them.

Maybe in the future, no-one will eat animals. Or maybe we will. But is that the most important question we can ask each other in service of a more beautiful world?

Is asking ONLY that question actually hindering our efforts?

Those people having deep, unique or revelatory experiences in any of these movements – from qi gong to steiner schools and veganism – share a common thread.

When asked to describe what heaven on earth means for her, Marianne Williamson replied simply, “an awareness of oneness”.

And from this awareness we may be guided to follow a deeper sense of what is right, of what truly creates heaven on earth for us – even when it contradicts our world-view, culture or peer group.

Yet I will say that any ideology, when not grounded in daily, direct experience, risks losing touch with reality.  Returning now to where we started – slaughterhouses, toxic meat and environmental ruin – it may now be time to re-acquaint myself with the squeals, brutality and avarice I claim are just a part of Life unfolding.

***

Now, regarding our second topic: why you should measure your coffee:

Coffee is potent*. Like the topics above – like anything – it can be used to balance or abuse. 

 

I have experimented widely with caffeine-containing plants: sweet, vegetal Maté; fruity Guarana; Cacao (everything from sacred, hand-processed criollo beans to industrial-scale forastero) and many variants of Camellia Sinensis (Pu-Erh, Green, White, Black, Oolong etc).

In my journey, the unique composition of coffee – even when organic and well handled – delivers a brew (at typical doses) more likely to disrupt healthy human physiological function than any of the above.

More than almost anything else we consume on a daily basis, it can be a medicine or a poison. 

Not to alarm you (Be afraid! Coffee wants you dead!) but, for some humans, the difference between 200mg and 400mg of caffeine can be the difference between hormonal balance and adrenal fatigue.

 

If you find coffee intake is affecting your health, mood or other life-area (and it may not), try these:

Find Your MED (minimum effective dose): If 10g of coffee gives you the desired result, why continually ingest 30g? Experiment at home with a digital scales! (Who said pampering your adrenal glands was boring?)

Drink Water First: Ingesting a pint of good water before coffee can help to disperse its undesired effects and smooth the trajectory of caffeine in the system. Interestingly, in traditional european coffee houses an espresso is usually accompanied by a glass of water.

Add Fat: This will come as little surprise – the ‘BulletProof’ coffee saga swept through the industrialized world half a decade ago. Although – in doses of 1-2 tbsp fat – I find it to be less effective than the above points, it is nonetheless a useful addition for our purpose here (to reduce the harm from coffee consumption). Try one of my recipes (templates)::

200ml fresh coffee (from 10g beans)
200ml warm water
3-4 dates
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cinnamon

⅛ tsp black pepper

1 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
1-2 tbsp coconut oil

Pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients for 1min. Taste. Be pleasantly surprised. Consume remainder. Feel smug about eating turmeric before breakfast. Do chores at 5x speed.

Intermittent Coffee Fasting: Go 20 hours without caffeine every day, or 2 days per week, so that the adrenal system (which caffeine activates) and other body parts have a chance to recover from its stimulating, cortisol-elevating properties.

Strengthen Kidneys and Adrenals: By strengthening the body as a whole (and the kidney/adrenal axis in particular) one becomes better able to absorb and excrete potentially harmful compounds in coffee while still receiving the stimulation. Some ways to do this would be: learn more about these organs from the perspective of Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine (and apply your learning); repair and invigorate your endocrine system (through proper exercise, deep sleep etc); bolster the kidneys through specific yogic, sexual and energetic practices; by minimizing or intelligently dealing with stress; and by reducing where possible the toxic load passing through the kidneys (such as pesticides, alcohol, household chemicals, chlorine etc).

*To those of you who drink the decaffeinated stuff: I can only hope you have access to the same depth of flavour and ambrosial scent as the rest of us…

That’s it! If there is anything useful you could share on this, do so in the comments!