Yesterday evening I went out with one of my eco-hosts to a gig in de Blauwe Kater, a jazz and blues pub. On our way to the pub we were, not so coincidentally, talking about Spinoza. She studies philosophy and had to write a paper on this philosopher. When we arrived at the bar it was almost completely empty and the band was testing the equipment. We decided to talk further about Spinoza outside for a while because of the loud testing. Soon we were joined by another nationality. An Italian guy, I recognized from a party before. The three of us went inside after a while, because the pub was slowly getting more crowded and we wanted to sit down. We ordered our drinks. They got beer, while I ordered a fruit juice. I've stopped drinking alcohol a short while ago, but maybe you still remembered that from one of my previous posts. After my second drink my host suddenly said something along this line: "I don't think you should deprive yourself from too much stuff." She was talking about me not drinking alcohol in combination with the vegan cooking and other things I do.
Well, I certainly understand her point of view, because I also loved to drink a pint or two, maybe three, until my recent decision. I still really like the taste, but there are other things involved here which make me chose otherwise, which I'll explain with a little story.
Imagine yourself sitting in that bar next to me and suddenly a starving, little, African kid stumbles into the bar, walks in your direction and stops right in front of you staring with his big white eyes right into yours. Let me help you imagine that little kid:
Now, with those big eyes staring right into yours he opens his mouth and with a soft, crumbly voice he asks you a question: "Can I please have that glass of beer in your hand? It would feed my family for at least a week..."
You're probably thinking the thirst and hunger got to him and he's talking gibberish. How can a glass of 25 centiliters feed his whole family??? Well, he's not talking gibberish. In fact, he's completely right. That glass of beer of 25 centiliters you're holding in your hand needed 75 liters of water to get produced. More than enough to have produce and water to feed his family for a week.
Now, I ask you, are you able to look him straight into his eyes and say "No, I will not give you your 75 liters of water you need so desperately. I am going to drink my glass of beer because it's fun and it tastes good." Are you capable of doing that? I am not. And that is one of the main reasons why I don't drink alcohol anymore. Every time I want to order a beer I see this little kid's image in my mind and I just simply can't order beer because of this.
I guess this is something Spinoza meant with at least one of his higher types of 'knowing' as he called it. To think in function of yourself as a part of a bigger whole instead of just thinking in function of yourself. The latter comes from the ego and creates the illusion that you are separated from the rest of the world. You aren't. Every action you take has an impact on your environment, be it a negative or a positive one. It's that simple. Every time you chose for beer or wine, you are taking water away that could have been used to give a little kid in Africa the food and water he needed. It's that simple. And if you thought beer, with its 75 liters of water, or wine, with its 120 liters of water, are bad, 1 kilo of grain-fed beef equals 15.000 liters of water!
Like the taste? Maybe find something that replaces it. More than enough tastes to choose from in my opinion.
Like the fun that comes from drinking alcohol? Well, if you find your life dull without alcohol, maybe turn around your life so it becomes fun, instead of going for the temporary fun that alcohol gives.
If you're still thinking I'm depriving myself from these things, then let me tell you how I experience it. First of all I do this out of free will, no one is forcing me to do this. It is my own choice and I don't feel obligated to do this.
Secondly, I find it enriching. I find myself becoming happier and happier because I constantly reduce the things I need out of free will. The fewer things I need, the fewer things I need to be content.
Lastly I am happy that I can give more this way. What would you do? TAKE a glass of beer of 25 centiliters or GIVE 75 liters of water to those who need it? I prefer the latter and I know that I'm making a difference by making that choice even though I may never see the direct result with my own eyes.
The gig in de Blauwe Kater wasn't my cup of tea, too much of the same in my opinion, which is good thing for some genres but not for this one, so my philosophical companion and I went back home before the second set started. It got pretty cold compared to a couple hours earlier. We talked about the dialects from Belgium as well as those from Germany (she's from there). Apparently her grandmother speaks something called Plat, which some say is a dialect, while others categorize it as another language. When her grandmother speaks it, my host can't understand it. Apparently it even has some Dutch influences! I really find it interesting how connected we are to the rest of the world even if we don't know it at first.
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