Vegetarianism: A Means to a Higher End
The
word vegetarian, coined by the founders of the British Vegetarian Society in
1842, comes from the Latin word vegetus, meaning "whole, sound, fresh, or
lively," as in homo vegetus-a mentally and physically vigorous person. The
original meaning of the word implies a balanced philosophical and moral sense
of life, a lot more than just a diet of vegetables and fruits.
Most
vegetarians are people who have understood that to contribute towards a more
peaceful society we must first solve the problem of violence in our own hearts.
So it's not surprising that thousands of people from all walks of life have, in
their search for truth, become vegetarian. Vegetarianism is an essential step
towards a better society, and people who take the time to consider its
advantages will be in the company of such thinkers as Pythagoras, Socrates,
Plato, Clement of Alexandria, Plutarch, King Asoka, Leonardo da Vinci,
Montaigne, Akbar, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Emanuel Swedenbourg, Voltaire,
Benjamin Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Lamartine, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw,
Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Albert Einstein.
Let's
examine some of the advantages of becoming vegetarian.
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