It really bothers me that you would consider my friend to be "a nut" simply because this is one way she expresses her vegan ethics.

I think we're all aware if we think about such issues very much that our lives are a collection of compromises. Our very day-to-day existence means that other beings have died either directly or indirectly.

What's important, I feel, is that people try to become better educated about the impact of their choices upon other beings and that we attempt to choose products and ways to live that are less harmful than others we might have chosen.

As for the idea that people have dominion over the Earth, I interpret that to mean that humankind needs to be more aware and more sensitive to the fact that all earthly existence is interdependent.

I think this is an AWESOME topic!  I have actually put some thought into this.

I absolutely refuse to buy cut Christmas trees.  I'm also iffy about purchasing unnatural, chemical-laden plastic trees, so a few years ago I came up with the perfect solution.  I purchased a medium-sized baby Blue Spruce.. potted!  I kept him for a few years (my husband and I even named him Patrick Nos'tree'domas), then when he got too big for my little porch, I donated him to a local park to be planted.

Doing that sort of changed my perspective on cut flowers, as well.  Why cut something when you can keep it perpetually growing?  I have a few potted plants/flowers in my home, and I much prefer that over cut flowers.  I wouldn't necessarily compare cut flowers to a "corpse" (I've had a lot of death in my life, and looking at a cut flower is NOT the same to me as seeing my mother's dead body).. but I do view it as an unnecessary waste of the plant's life essence.

I absolutely agree with Dot that everything on earth is interdependent, and that humans' stubborn refusal to recognise this fact is what has led to all our climate and environmental problems over the centuries.  Hubris has always been considered the worst of the seven deadly sins, and our thinking that we humans are superior to all other life has caused so much grief for other living things on this planet.

I also agree with sirius that the Christian-based religious ideas - that humans are the 'superior' species - that so permeate Western society have been horribly destructive for us all, and especially our fellow animals.  I, too, have come to have a much more pagan perspective on life, extending to a belief in pantheism and a true respect for the natural world.

When you move off and away from religion and give up its foolish concepts, including a belief in some sort of deity, this is a very life-affirming feeling.  You feel free, which is exhilarating.

As my thinking has evolved over the years, I have come to realise that I want cause as little disruption of the natural world as possible, and this means that I would not pick flowers or use cut flowers at all anymore.  I have a very hard time even pulling a weed, because what we think of as a weed is just another plant living its life as best it can.

 

My guess is it has a lot to do with how much one tends to honor that spark of "life" that is in another. Meat eaters as a rule at best tend to honor that spark of life only in themselves, or in their friends. One can be vegetarian for a number of reasons. One possible reason is enlighten self interest. That is still caring about one's self the most. I believe when one truly crosses into the Vegan realm their is more value place on that thing we call "life" in all forms. Not just man and animal. Would all Vegan see it this way, no of course not, just as it does not require one to be a Vegan to appreciate that spark of life in all things. I chose not to display cut flowers in my home. Just my 2 cents...




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