The Backlash on the Road to Self-Improvement
Someone whose opinions and general attitude on life are very positive wrote the following to a Yahoo! group we both belong to:
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2004-04-01.htm
The Atlantic has an interesting interview with a guy who wrote a book
about agriculture and civilization. It does seem like it would be
agood read although he does make some odd comments about
vegetarians: "But religion also gets into display behavior. Part of
that is the self-denial that goes with religious observance. People
fast because it's the opposite of what normal people would do, so
it's a display of fealty. And though I don't mean to disparage
vegetarians, we've all seen that kind of display behavior there, too:
the vegetarian who orders very loudly in a restaurant so that
everyone knows he is morally superior in some way."
Her response to the quote is:
"self-denial. . . fast" So, is a vegetarian diet some sort of life-
long fast? I don't feel that I'm denying myself anything, not
struggling to avoid meat, not in any 12-step program.
"normal people" I do hope he's using that term in its
mathematical/statistical sense,and not the popular meaning as
in "those who think correctly". Am I really abnormal?
"we've all seen that kind of display behavior. . ."Oh, have we now? I
will at times question a waiter about the ingredients of a dish, but
never in a loud voice and never with anattitude of moral superiority.
I would suggest that if this guy feels that way it's more an
expression of his own latent guiltfeelings than of my sense of
superiority.--
To which I responded:
B"H
I'd like to request permission to copy your post below and myresponse
to it on both my Yahoo! group The Moral/Spiritual Substrateof Eating,
which is located on: http://tinyurl.com/27gfy and on my new BLOG by
the same name, which is located on: http://tinyurl.com/2or5f
These are just the kind of questions that I entertain in those fora.
In response I should like to say that there is truth in what the man
has observed both about the religious and about vegetarians.
However, he lacks understanding of the matter. What he has not taken
into account is that there is always an avalanche of spiritual faults
that we get buried under when we embark on the journey to bettering
ourselves. Some of the character faults that one can invariably
expect to be aroused in force on the road to improving onself are
pride, superiority, smugness and self-satesfiedness, even as we are
struggling valiantly and sincerely to acquire a measure of humility.
Those who do not actively exert themselves to improve themselves morally/spiritually are not assailed by all this. It is one of the classic spiritual tests and is well nigh inevitable, as has been elaborated upon in every
spiritual discipline in every culture.
Doreen
Someone else on the group responded with a lovely endoresement:
That is terrific, Doreen. thanks for the
insight.
I asked her if I could publish what she wrote and my response to it on my Yahoo! group and on this blog. She not only answered in the affirmative, she also joined my Yahoo! group The Moral/Spiritual Substrate of Eating.
she also did us the privilege of joining our group as well.
Welcome! It's great to have you aboard.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
posted by Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat @ 4:04 PM
<< Home