Monday, April 13, 2009

What does Eating Rice support?

I am in UBUD, Bali with my parents. We are enjoying some quality time together. I am fortunate to have my parents alive and healthy enough to fly to Bali and stay with me for one month! My mom loves Ubud area for all the culture, dances, classes. While I am enjoying the change of scenery and activities, I am a surfer so I feel like a fish out of water in Ubud sometimes. My dad seems to enjoy the beach a little more also, so we easily get transportation to the beach every few days (30minutes).
When I have alone time in Ubud i enjoy jogging/walking through rice fields, doing yoga and/or meditation classes, working out at the open air minimalistic Bali Ubud Gym ($1), finding durian and juicy fruits (papaya is best here and cheap, mangosteens are $3.00/kilo!) at the local market, meeting other travelers from around the world at some of the cafes that attract the healthier mindset, attending Raw vegan potluck (a couple I have met here named Mark and Gabrielle have been expanding the rawvegan mindset in Ubud with his website and classes http://rawfoodbali.com/)

The other day I was at 'the Yoga Barn' taking a morning yoga class with my father. the first 10 minutes of the class was breathing and getting warmed up. Directly outside the class is a huge ricefield. Some workers were preparing the soil with a machine, like a Rotateller machine, very noisy and uses Gasoline to power. Most of all the emissions and carbon monoxide and other toxic smells were rising up into the open air Yoga Barn. Meanwhile 20 plus people including my dad and I are doing yoga. I smelled the smells and saw the smoke coming in as I am sure everyone else did. I began to get pissed off and angry, then I thought what can I do?? I can change my Procedure or change my perception (as I learned from Tony Robbins Seminars in the past)..I chose to change my Procedure and left to speak to the Manager.

The manager said they cant do anything about it, so I took a refund and went 50metters away from the pollution and did my own yoga/meditation.

After the class I waited for my dad and told him why I left. Nobody else from this class left the pollution.

I chose not to support a yoga class that takes place in a polluted environment.

I was thinking about Rice after this. Although I have been eating a raw fruitarian diet for about 6months, I have eaten very much rice in the past. If I eat rice, I support massive pollution from all the machines used to rototel the soil and prepare it for growing rice. I support this 100% if I choose to eat rice. This is now fully ingrained in my mind how eating rice is unethical for a true environmentalist, which I am striving to be. Also, what about all the wildlife that is killed when they chop down trees to grow rice? So can true VEGANs really eat rice if many animals are killed from growing rice?

I may eat rice again someday, but I will not be in integrity or congruent with what I know is 'right' and what i choose to do. I feel sooo amazing when My life is congruent with my knowledge. I am practicing daily to make my life congruent with what I believe to be best. These days, I feel I am more congruent then ever before. Closing the Gap is a practice and a never ending journey that requires massive patience and acceptance with where I am today and the direction I am heading. ITs ok for me to have setbacks and failures, but I must keep moving forward in the right direction and realize there is no perfection and keep remembering it is all practice!

peaceful Vibes,
D

2 comments:

Balazs said...

yes, I totally agree with you. But eating rice is not the worst thing that we can do, you know this. We both had worse things.

Growing rice for animals and eating their flesh is much worse. Just imagine the the amount of grains that is wasted for animal feeding and then the lifes that are taken... its a sad story.

But what you said is true. If you Eat rice then you support this. This pollution and deforestation.

Every dollar we spend is a vote for what we believe in. I think about this when I decide what to eat or what to buy.

peace&love

keep up

Vagabonding RawVEGAN said...

Its so nice to hear your thoughts too and have someone see the big picture with me, thanks Balaz...