Struggling with moral purity?
Give up the struggle. Let it go. Throw it away.
After reading an interview with Derrick Jensen in Briarpatch magazine, it all became crystal clear to me. It's irrelevant whether a vegetarian is wearing leather shoes, or peak oiler owns a car. Why should the person's integrity get questioned when the point is that we're fighting a good fight, that needs to be fought?
I got the best quote from the editor of the magazine, which he got from CrimethInc:
"Purity is the opposite of integrity--the cruelest thing you can do to a person is make her ashamed of her own complexity."
After reading an interview with Derrick Jensen in Briarpatch magazine, it all became crystal clear to me. It's irrelevant whether a vegetarian is wearing leather shoes, or peak oiler owns a car. Why should the person's integrity get questioned when the point is that we're fighting a good fight, that needs to be fought?
I got the best quote from the editor of the magazine, which he got from CrimethInc:
"Purity is the opposite of integrity--the cruelest thing you can do to a person is make her ashamed of her own complexity."
Labels: Inspiration
posted by Claudia Davila (Fran) at 4:08 PM
4 Comments:
i agree with you! i couldn't possibly wear leather shoes today, but there was a whole period of my life where i wasn't yet ready to give up my old leather shoes and i didn't even really understand why i should. it took me a long time to really get it, and then it was easy to give them up. but i wouldn't have gotten to this point if i hadn't had the time to figure it out for myself. so i really dig the idea of allowing complexity - don't let the perfect be an enemy of the good...
Hello Fran - I stumbled on your blogs while surfing for ayurvedic recipes, and am very glad I did...
Just thought I'd say that is an amazing and resonant quote. It holds good for now outmoded 'traditional' moral codes as well as for more recent ones. I think we live in a culture which makes people generally, and women in particular, ashamed of their complexity. A reductive culture. Thanks for giving me something to think about today!
-Kate
arimoore and kate, I'm glad this makes sense to you! I've worried in the past of being labelled a hypocrite for doing something that goes against what I "preach", and it feels liberating to let go of that demeaning way of thinking. I hope complexity becomes a more accepted trait in people who are indeed trying to make the world a better place.
Eh. While I agree that not completely following through with your moral reasoning doesn't take away the fact that you're trying to make a difference, but I still say if you're being preachy towards someone they've got a right to point out your lack of consistency.
Eating vegetarian for moral reasons but still wearing leather shoes shows complexity and a lack of perfection, and is totally fine. Ranting at everyone ELSE that they should eat vegetarian for moral reasons but still wearing leather shoes is hypocrisy.
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