(*Photo  Credit: Double Cross Fanzine)

“ Awake at night…he tries to shake the thoughts…the  Spark of Life…His thought relentless…descend…submit…It all falls into place…it all…falls into place…it all…falls into place…it all falls…falls…Looking down at the ground…he’s not welcome as the spirit builds inside. All doubt…cast aside…no  more time…no more…no more lies.  Fly, fly…I can see what he is thinking. Fly, fly I can see what he is thinking. You got to keep your balance…or this world will tear you down. You got to keep you balance…or this world will tear you down. Ignite!!! Ignite the Spark, Ignite the Spark, Ignite the Spark, Ignite the Spark!!!” (Outspoken– Spark)

The Spark of Life

Rarely are there songs stay with you for more than a month, let alone over 20 years. Outspoken’s, Spark  is one that has. Released on the Anti-Matter compilation with other various hardcore and Straight-Edge acts, a lesser known song of the influential Southern California outfit provided the exact and perfect back-drop for the introduction for this piece.  I pondered over how to introduce this topic to the Straight-Edge and Hardcore community for several weeks and wondered what were the right circumstances and climate to do so. I feel now this is the best time and place to do so.

A person can embrace the Plant-Based Vegan path and lifestyle for various reasons (as we have spoken about before). But at the core of it all, it essentially revolves around one major idea: and this is the idea and concept of Liberation. I am not only speaking in terms of physical, but also mental and hyper-internal dimensions as well. What we are speaking of is the concept of the Vital Life Force.

Uncovering this important aspect of health and wellness, we find that getting our nutrition in correct order is just the beginning. The overall end result should lead us to be more energetic, more present as a participant in whatever happens in our lives and being conduits of and people of change for the greater good. Accessing and using your Vital Life Force energy is ultimately about having true vision, a certain sense of purpose and staying focused when it matters most.

Everything is energy. Everything, from the animate to the inanimate contains the Spark of Life; otherwise it would not exist. So having established this, we have to ask ourselves just exactly how are we nurturing and fostering our very own bodies, which are very much alive? What is our relationship to other living entities that too have sentient life force within?

While this may seem very philosophical, it is actually very simple. What we take into our bodies in turn vibrates and resonates with everything that exists outside of ourselves. Everything. So when it comes to our food choices, picking the best of them is the first step in enhancing and clarifying one’s own Vital Life Force. Choosing Plant-Based foods is one of the best and surest ways to accomplish this.

It is an established fact that our food choices not just only have an impact on us as a person, but in turn relate to the economy, can help sustain resources for the Earth, and can help to bring justice to those who are exploited: both to Human and to other Animal species. Liberation is not just a catchy phrase that has a senseless meaning; it is a real thing that occurs.

When we alter our eating habits toward plant-based diets, we in fact help to limit funds to the subsidies of factory farming, thus giving some animals the chance to live out their full lives naturally. A healthy diet also gives us the opportunity to be liberated from a lifetime of being prescribed unnecessary medications, many of which ending up causing us more harm than good in the end. And also it allows us liberate our true Third Eye: our inner mind to see clearly what direction our lives are going in. But are these the only things that happen?  I would argue that there are some more really profound things that happen to people when they choose to make a change, as I have seen this in my own life as well as in the lives of those whom I provide counsel to.

These four events have been known to happen to people when they become aware of and try to work on healing their own Vital Life Force:

• You begin to see all living sentient beings as a reflection of you.

In this stage, you become more empathic to others, regardless of your temperament. Many times you may hear about a situation that someone is going through and wish that you could provide some solution for them. Many times it can only be a thought about it, but you still feel that connection. You will find and believe that unnecessary killing is in essence… unnecessary. And this is where you value the sacredness of animal life as well as your own to the best of your resources and ability: you just cannot see yourself going back.

• You will find yourself having deep current of stored physical energy.

This is not to say that you’ll never feel the need to sleep, but rather that when you are awake, you find yourself more in the present moment. Almost in a third person sense you are able to look at your activities and have the physical vigor and endurance to do so. In this stage you find that your workouts take on a different meaning and that you want to stay active as much as possible.

• You will take on stress with a new perspective.

No one is free from having any personal trials; but embracing Life Force energy puts a different spin on the entire situation. In this stage you may find yourself finding happiness in meditation, silence, wanting to have fewer things, and seeking to resolve conflicts as quickly as possible in order to just have that moment of internal peace again.

• You begin to embrace your authentic self.

This is the most important of stages. I cannot tell you how many Clients have stated that they never truly knew themselves until they changed their diets and began to look within. Out of everything, what matters most is that people live true and not in consistent hopes of trying to please others. We presently live in a world that seeks to define us and place us into endless categories to be used and manipulated. When we begin to awaken, we regain control, outlook, and perspective on what it is we are living for.

Liberation is the ultimate goal and not just the focus on the outer forms of our food choices, our careers or even our own bodies. The more you explore, the more you may find that everything is always in a constant flux. Making the initial change to start to eat differently and with more consciousness will prove to have an even deeper impact, perhaps even deeper than what you were expecting.

With continuous health and love to you and your families.

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Daud Scott is a Certified Holistic Nutrition Practitioner and is presently pursuing his licensure as a Certified Naturopathic Doctor as well as completing a separate PhD in Alternative Medicine. Daud is the owner of Nature’s First Path, a Holistic Nutrition practice, and lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and son. To learn more about Daud’s approach to health and wellness you can visit him at: www.naturesfirstpath.com