[youngnostic]

Hey die's and gents...
I have somewhat of a controversial thought and this may or may not take long to put into words, but I feel like this is the right place for me to share my thoughts on it:

I've been raised as a "theoretical" vegan from birth.
My father told me early on that eating meat was bad for you but he also condemned the consumption of milk, which made sense to me, since he used very cunning logic that made it seem like it's only suitable for baby cows.
I hopped back and forth from many diets, including strict vegetarian to vegan to eating only grains, fruits and water, (a diet I called "breadafruitarian") to going completely raw, to being a mono-fruitarian (mono meaning: eating on kind of food per meal) and never settling on one diet, until...

I met a certain person that I consider a Spiritual Master/Guru who simply told me he was "vegetarian"... I didn't follow him immediately even though he striked me as a balanced, harmonious and "peculiar" fellow because I was an Orthodox Christian (raised by my mom) at the time, and he was wearing a turban and had a beard and was wearing a hare-krishna like garments.

So anyways, it wasn't until I was doing some soul searching that I remembered that individual and could clearly remember him telling me: "I'm vegetarian" to which I responded: Why not try it? because at the time, I couldn't maintain a vegan diet because it always felt malnourishing and so I decided to give vegetarianism a try and the first thing I did was pour myself a glass of milk and drink it guilt free, out of confidence and, dare I even say, "faith" in my new Teacher.
Lo, and behold, that glass of milk was so nourishing that I realized I should cut out meat and fish and go vegetarian. It's now been 4 years and I haven't swayed nor thought of changing diets, (unlike when I was vegan and couldn't fill my belly with enough nutrients because all I was consuming were carbs, and soy milk never did it for me)

Now here's the tricky part, that I'd like to assertain:
my justification, on a moral/ethical level for drinking milk, is that there is no murder involved in the consumption of cow milk.
In fact, the milk a cow provides is a gift, a virtue, from the cow, and to consume it, is to sacrifice your own ideals for the gift it has to offer... so even if it does harm you somehow as vegans believe; by you receiving that gift you are accepting the cow's virtue and not telling it go to waste, but rather circulating it.

Now, for those of you, who believe in a raw food diet and have happened to read the spiritual classic "Essene Gospel of Peace" -- even there, the author states that "the milk of beasts" is permissible to humans.
(In case you don't know what the Essene Gospel of Peace is, it's a must read for anyone interested in diet from an esoteric perspective that is highly idealistic and even states that cooking your food is denaturizing it; claiming that raw fruits and herbs of the field are best, but as for that, I see it as an ideal for the Golden Age.

Now that aside, this is what I wanted to share regarding why I'm vegetarian and how it seems to be a longevity based diet that is perfectly balanced and seems to be the middle way of diets where you don't feel malnourished like on veganism and you don't constantly seek on something to munch on.

Now in case you're wondering; do I consume eggs?
The answer is yes; and here's why:
Eggs are simply the ovaries of a chicken and if they are not fertilized they do not contain a conscious being within them so they are simply the period of a chicken. They contain nutrients that are meant to feed the chick enclosed therein but also to be used for food by humans if that is preferable.

I also see vegetarianism as a lot more compatible in this day and age if you like to go out with friends and they are not vegetarian as it is far less restricting unlike veganism where you're forever left empty due to high carb intake and not enough fats that you can get through milk and eggs.

Also I've done several blood tests and I've never come short in any nutrients unlike my sister who was temporarily a vegan and was lacking in iron and vitamin B's.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts.