There are, and have been, moments in my life when a thought comes to me like a vision rather than just a passing idea. When they hit me, and I mean it almost figuratively, it takes some processing to accept it as something meaningful and not just another sign of my “crazy”.
The first time I recognized these moments as having significance was in University.
I used to be good at math, not like a genius, but above average. It was enough that I started my freshman year in a sophomore level course to meet my minimum math requirement. Since math was not that interesting to me, I went through the motions half-aware of its applications to the world. The idea of using math to affect the world was not satisfying to my more creative urges, despite initially wanting to go into international business. Looking back, though, it was probably one of the only classes that kept my attention in terms of challenging me intellectually….
Then, one day it happened.
We sat in groups working on a math problem, applying it to some scenario and I looked up over all the bowed heads. The only sound that could be heard was the quick movement of the pencil lead as my fellow students scratched away at solutions. My out-of-body experience left a voice that said, “This could be your future.”
It was a revelatory experience.
I let my “A” grade slip to a passing “B” by the end of the semester and never took another math class in my life.
While many more minor occurrences have happened since then, I have also suppressed that part of my brain – until recently. Then, it happened again.
As you may know, I have thought a lot on, and written before about, veganism or vegetarianism. Although I have mostly disagreed with the idea of both from a nutrition and health perspective, I am respectful of those who choose this way of eating. However, the other day, I had one of those unexplainable and seemingly crazy out-of-body thinking experiences.
I saw a future out of a science fiction novel, where food (fruit and vegetables) was made in factory-like buildings, not outside on lush green land as one would imagine if there were no animals being eaten. Instead, because we were no longer eating animal meat, there was no need to maintain the land because fruit and vegetables are faster produced in a factory to meet the consumption demand. Despite our desire to move away from processed food, the meat alternatives for burgers, sausages, etc. were created “naturally” by machine production….
Yes, I was fully awake when this hit me. No, I had not taken any drugs or read or seen anything remotely related to this. Quite on the contrary, I had been searching for some new vegan/vegetarian recipes to incorporate more regularly into our diet.
However, now, I am actually a bit unsure quite what to do. The voice left inside me now is saying, “Eat animal meat to prevent this kind of sci-fi reality from coming to fruition”. Yet, I struggle with the desire to not promote harmful animal farms and also maintain a balanced nutritional diet.
So, for now, I not any closer to giving up meat – in fact, I feel a little bit more of an ‘activist’ the other way….
~T π
