CONCLUSION

’However much thou art read in theory, if thou hast no practice thou art ignorant,’ says the Persian poet Sa’di. ’Conviction, were it never so excellent, is worthless until it converts itself into Conduct. Nay, properly, Conviction is not possible till then,’ says Herr Teufelsdrockh. It is never too late to be virtuous. It is right that we should look before we leap, but it is gross misconduct to neglect duty to conform to the consuetudes of the hour. We must endeavour in practical life to carry out to the best of our ability our philosophical and ethical convictions, for any lapse in such endeavour is what constitutes immorality. We must live consistently with theory so long as our chief purpose in life is advanced by so doing, but we must be inconsistent when by antinomianism we better forward this purpose. To illustrate: All morally-minded people desire to serve as a force working for the happiness of the race. We are convinced that the slaughter of animals for food is needless, and that it entails much physical and mental suffering among men and animals and is therefore immoral. Knowing this we should exert our best efforts to counteract the wrong, firstly, by regulating our own conduct so as not to take either an active or passive part in this needless massacre of sub-human life, and secondly, by making those facts widely known which show the necessity for food reform.

Now to go to the ultimate extreme as regards our own conduct we should make no use of such things as leather, bone, catgut, etc. We should not even so much as attend a concert where the players use catgut strings, for however far distantly related cause and effect may be, the fact remains that the more the demand, no matter how small, the more the supply. We should not even be guilty of accosting a friend from over the way lest in consequence he take more steps than otherwise he would do, thus wearing out more shoe-leather. He who would practise such absurd sansculottism as this would have to resort to the severest seclusion, and plainly enough we cannot approve of such fanaticism. By turning antinomian when necessary and staying amongst our fellows, making known our views according to our ability and opportunity, we shall be doing more towards establishing the proper relation between man and sub-man than by turning cenobite and refusing all intercourse and association with our fellows. Let us do small wrong that we may accomplish great good. Let us practise our creed so far as to abstain from the eating of animal food, and from the use of furs, feathers, seal and fox skins, and similar ornaments, to obtain which necessitates the violation of our fundamental principles. With regard to leather, this material is, under present conditions, a ‘by-product.’ The hides of animals slaughtered for their flesh are made into leather, and it is not censurable in a vegetarian to use this article in the absence of a suitable substitute when he knows that by so doing he is not asking an animal’s life, nor a fellow-being to degrade his character by taking it. There is a substitute for leather now on the market, and it is hoped that it may soon be in demand, for even a leather-tanner’s work is not exactly an ideal occupation.

Looking at the question of conviction and consistency in this way, there are conceivable circumstances when the staunchest vegetarian may even turn kreophagist. As to how far it is permissible to depart from the strictest adherence to the principles of vegetarianism that have been laid down, the individual must trust his own conscience to determine; but we can confidently affirm that the eating of animal flesh is unnecessary and immoral and retards development in the direction which the finest minds of the race hold to be good; and that the only time when it would not be wrong to feed upon such food would be when, owing to misfortunes such as shipwreck, war, famine, etc., starvation can only be kept at bay by the sacrifice of animal life. In such a case, man, considering his own life the more valuable, must resort to the unnatural practice of flesh-eating.

The reformer may have, indeed must have, to pay a price, and sometimes a big one, for the privilege, the greatest of all privileges, of educating his fellows to a realisation of their errors, to a realisation of a better and nobler view of life than they have hitherto known. Seldom do men who carve out a way for themselves, casting aside the conventional prejudices of their day, and daring to proclaim, and live up to, the truth they see, meet with the esteem and respect due to them; but this should not, and, if they are sincere and courageous, does not, deter them from announcing their message and caring for the personal discomfort it causes. It is such as these that the world has to thank for its progress.

It often happens that the reformer reaps not the benefit of the reform he introduces. Men are slow to perceive and strangely slow to act, yet he who has genuine affection for his fellows, and whose desire for the betterment of humanity is no mere sentimental pseudo-religiosity, bears bravely the disappointment he is sure to experience, and with undaunted heart urges the cause that, as he sees it, stands for the enlightenment and happiness of man. The vegetarian in the West (Europe, America, etc.) is often ridiculed and spoken of by appellations neither complimentary nor kind, but this should deter no honorable man or woman from entering the ranks of the vegetarian movement as soon as he or she perceives the moral obligation to do so. It may be hard, perhaps impossible, to convert others to the same views, but the vegetarian is not hindered from living his own life according to the dictates of his conscience. ’He who conquers others is strong, but the man who conquers himself is mighty,’ wrote Laotze in the Tao Teh Ch’ing, or ‘The Simple Way.’

When we call to mind some heroic character a Socrates, a Regulus, a Savonarola the petty sacrifices our duties entail seem trivial indeed. We do well to remember that it is only by obedience to the highest dictates of our own hearts and minds that we may obtain true happiness. It is only by living in harmony with all living creatures that nobility and purity of life are attainable. As we obey the immediate vision, so do we become able to see yet richer visions: but the strength of the vision is ours only as we obey its high demands.