my website at https://anirudh.fi
blog: being better
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---
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template:
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slug: better
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title: Being better
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subtitle: My epistemic breakthrough to better living
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date: 2024-12-19
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---
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A year and a half ago, I decided to go completely vegan. Actually,
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scratch that -- completely *plant-based*. I only went vegan about a year
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ago[^1]. It took six months for the reasoning to actually *click*. It's
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kind of like an optical illusion: you know it's an illusion because it
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says so, but it still takes you a while to actually *see* it.
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[^1]: I use the term "vegan" to describe ethical vegans.
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When it did click, I couldn't unsee it; I couldn't unthink it. Total
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paradigm shift. *Why* contribute to suffering when we -- those with
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privilege, living in modern society -- can completely do without it? Of
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course, most people have yet to even look at this particular optical
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illusion, let alone experience the [illusory
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unravelment](https://gappa.atharvaraykar.com/atharva/vocal-fry-and-illusory-unravelments)
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that follows.
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Vegans, and to some extent, vegetarians reading this, may already know
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what I'm talking about. I'm choosing to describe the moment this
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epiphany occurred, as when I started "being better". To be clear, this
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isn't in a "better than you" sense, but rather, a more holistic
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betterness -- for myself, other beings, and the planet as a whole.
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This has by far been the best decision I've made for myself -- one that
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has not only improved both my mental and physical health but also opened
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up my mind to entirely new epistemic frameworks like effective altruism,
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transforming how I reason about moral responsibility. I have learned to
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*think* more deeply.
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There's a lot more I can say, but I've found the most powerful lever was
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moral consistency. Most of us already live by a shared set of moral
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principles: we condemn abuse and believe causing unnecessary suffering
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is wrong. Moral consistency is simply about extending that compassion
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beyond pets and charismatic wildlife to all sentient beings. The values
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are already there; we just need to align our actions with them.
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