How Vystopia Changed the Focus of My Work

For the last thirty years as a psychologist, I trained and consulted individuals and teams all over the world. My focus had been on result-based communication, enhancing individual potential and principles consultancy.?Everything I have done has been underpinned by the importance of “having the conversation that matters”.?This means “speaking the unspeakable”, “voicing the unspoken”, and looking beyond what one is told to understand what lies beyond what one hears and understands to be reality or desirable.

Sixteen years ago, something profound happened to me. I discovered something I hadn’t known about, something that affects everyone.?I became acutely aware of where our food comes from, and the hidden costs of food production and our consumer choices.

I learnt about the systematised cruelty that happens to animals behind closed doors, a system of which the vast majority of us are unaware. This system is kept firmly in place by our consumer choices.

I learnt that over 160 billion animals per year are killed by humans. It was hard to take in such a high number, and I questioned why I didn’t know before.?Like many people I hadn’t asked questions.?I’d removed meat from my diet in the early 1980’s after reading about the reality of abattoirs, but I didn’t look any further.

In 2008, when I finally discovered what happens to those 160 billion+ animals each year, I became a vegan.?Veganism is a philosophy of the non-use and non-exploitation of animals. It seeks to exclude, as far as possible, the use of animals for food, clothing, or other purposes.[1]

Far from being a lifestyle choice, I realised it is a moral imperative.?I chose to no longer contribute to what Jane Valez (2018) calls “sadism on a global scale”; an industry which exists to enhance profit margins and responds to engineering demand.

Then I learned about environmental destruction caused by animal agriculture, ocean dead zones, and the intense suffering of animals in factory farms, testing laboratories and more, and realised I could no longer be a part of the system if I wanted to call myself an ethical human being.

At the same time as going vegan sixteen years ago, I became a passionate animal rights campaigner, speaking out at rallies and festivals about animal protection, and helping animal protection groups to collaborate and communicate for greater effectiveness.

At that time, I had a private psychology practice which had always attracted individuals for executive coaching. Almost overnight, a new category of individual sought me out. They were vegans, struggling to live the enormity of discovering the institutionalised animal suffering, and after seeing hundreds of vegans both privately and at events, a pattern started to emerge. Vegans were talking about their anguish and showing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and a sense of alienation and hopelessness.?Increasingly, GPs referred people to me they believed were suffering from eating disorders, social adjustment disorders, and self-harming behaviours. However, I discovered they’d witnessed footage about the institutionalised cruelty towards animals, and although in some cases their diagnosis was justified, in most it was related to the discovery of what goes on behind closed doors.

They talked of their anguish being intensified after telling people about their discoveries, because they were criticised as being self-righteous, conspiracy theorists, or preachy.?I realised that their anguish was not pathological in nature but existential, and a normal response of any feeling individual upon learning about the scale and extent of the systematised cruelty towards animals.?I called this phenomena Vystopia.

Vystopia is the existential crisis experienced by vegans, which arises from the awareness of a trance like collusion with a dystopian world. In other words, it’s where vegans become aware of the greed of industry and the extent of animal exploitation, and begin to question the world around them.

Those experiencing vystopia may feel anger, mistrust, grief, and a deep despair, along with symptoms of depression, anxiety, frustration, or anger.

I too have had and continue to experience Vystopia, but unlike many people who initially came to me, I possess the strategies to transmute that pain into powerful action for change.

Vystopia has impacted the focus of the work I now do, and I realis that the need for widespread, global change affects everyone, professionally and personally.

We are faced with enormous social, economic, environmental, spiritual, and health challenges at this time in our history.?Whilst it’s tempting to dismiss this, the words of Philip Wollen OAM, ex General Manager of CitiCorp, challenge us to wake up.?He says, “It is a mathematical impossibility for a child born today or under the age of ten years, to live to see retirement” (Animal Matters, 2014).?In 2018, it now refers to an individual of twenty years or under.

A substantial number of scientists agree that the best thing we can do to save our planet is become vegan. [1]?As we learn that our consumer lifestyles are contributing to this problem, the evidence is all too clear that we must change our focus on animal agriculture with its costs of animals, people and the planet.

Veganism is rapidly increasing[2][3] with its related benefits to our health, the environment, and our conscience.?I have never shied away from having “the conversation that matters”, and in order to best assist people to live more meaningful lives, have better relationships, and get better results from their endeavours, the conversation about the non-use of animals must be part of that.

The first part of this for me was to write the book: Vystopia: The Anguish of Being Vegan in a Non- Vegan World (2018). It’s a handbook not only for vegans to help them understand and work through their anguish, but an invitation to non-vegans to understand what veganism is as a philosophy and not a lifestyle choice.

The companion to this book has since been published namely, Myths of Choice: Why People Won't Change and What You Can Do About It. This book helps vegans to understanding the complexity of human behaviour that results in resistance to a non-vegan aligning their actions with their espoused values of not wanting to contribute to cruelty towards animals.

As veganism grows, the experience of vystopia is likely to become more prevalent, and the need for communication between individuals, businesses and industries will increase.?As part of my contribution to a world with veganism as a moral baseline, my focus has shifted from corporate success, to a corporate conscience.

I look forward to working with other leaders towards a kinder world for all.

[1] https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

[2] https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/vegetarianisms-slow-but-steady-rise-in-australia-201608151105

[3] https://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/study-shows-surge-in-Aussies-eating-veg.php