Vegetarianism

Ever thought about becoming a vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian or maybe even that extremist of alternative diets the breatharian? (A breatharian survives on fresh air only...unfortunately adopters of this diet usually die within 10 day of “complications”). (BTW all these links go directly to WikiPedia and will not reroute you through any spam…porn…or swinging sites….Sooorrrrry.)

Well I have been giving it some thought lately...actually only since yesterday...you see in a bit of shameless self promotion I mentioned my Greenpeace post on the BlogMad forums (now there's a bit of shameless BlogMad promotion.) and someone posed the question "Wait, Greenpeace is a good thing?". Now it would have been easy to reply "Yes of course" but with millions of pages of information at my finger tips and a couple of spare hours between 1am and 3am I decided to do a bit of research....the result....Yes Greenpeace is a good thing because....blah, blah, blah....this is not the point of the post.

During the course of my research I was struck by the number of influential historical figures of various periods who were either vegetarian or spoke out in favour of vegetarianism...look I guessed the usual suspects such as Ghandi...but was rather surprised by Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. Here are a few of my favourites...and I have chosen this selection to illustrate whether you are a person of science, art, religion or politics some of your heroes where undoubtedly vegetarians.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. --Albert Einstein

I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. --Leonardo da Vinci

My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I have been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. --Benjamin Franklin (Politician, writer, scientist; 1706-1790)

A human can be healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore if he eats meat he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. --Leo Tolstoy

Wherefore I say to all those who desire to be disciples, keep your hands from bloodshed and let no flesh meat enter your mouths, for the Lord is just and bountiful; who ordains that man shall live by the fruits and seeds of the earth alone. --Jesus, Gospel of the Nazirenes, Chapter 38, Verse 4

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants. --Ghandhi

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. --Thomas Edison

Comments

[techchick]

Interesting.

[UH2L]

Great post. I encourage you to become veg. I eat eggs and dairy, but have been veg. for 16 years. It's a great feeling.

I have some famous vegetarian quotes on my computer if you're interested.