I posted this recently elsewhere on Gaia and thought I'd like to share it here. I think it's a fun little story. Enjoy.

One night in February, in the peak of summer, I got back from recording at the radio station at 10 pm (it's just a half hour stroll along the beach and up the hill to the studio where I record my Voices from the North radio shows). It was pitch black outside. Our youngest, Asha (16), said, "Dad. Do you want to go for a swim?" I said yes before she could back down, so off we went.

It was high tide, with water lapping up to the Pohutukawa trees growing on the shoreline. We slipped into the water, one enthusiastically, the other not. "Dad, this is freaky," she said. It was overcast so there was no distinction between the water and the sky, no visible horizon at all. The first rogue wave rolled in, catching us both off guard.

I dove into the warmest water you'll ever experience in the sea here - maybe 24 degrees Celsius (74 degrees F).

"Dad, this is freaky. I can't see you." I could see her because a few houses cast an eerie light through the trees. But visibility was only about 15 feet.

I flipped over on my back. "Come on in Asha. There are no sharks at night." I'm just kidding about the sharks. She'd have never gotten in the water if I'd said that.

I floated in bliss, lifted slightly with each passing wave.

"Asha, come on in sweetheart. You've got to see this." There were little pinhead-sized green phosphorescent lights all over me.

She approached and dipped her head under the water. "I'm in Dad. Wow, that's cool...I mean, that's freaky."

I've seen phosphorescence on a number of occasions when walking barefoot at night on the beach in summer. But, this was my first time to experience it in the water.

Asha and I got out, feeling refreshed and cooled off. This is just another reason why I absolutely love living by the sea.

http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24434005-Sun-and-Light-The-Future-is-Vegan

In this Voices from the North interview recorded at Shangri La in New Zealand's far north, John engages Gentle World co-founders Light and Sun in a wide-ranging philosophical discussion on the ethics of a vegan non-violent lifestyle.

Sun and Light are celebrating forty years from the day they decided to do everything in their power to stop being part of the violence in this world. On that day they stopped eating meat. Becoming a vegan is an ethical decision. For some this decision is lasting. This couple have not strayed from the course they set in motion all those years ago.

Despite making the choice for ethical reasons, they have found their health has also improved. But as Light points out in the interview, "Even if becoming a Vegan made me limp, I'd do it." Obviously, that depth of commitment comes from someone who feels deeply and compassionately about all beings, not just human beings. Light has been known to give an interesting twist to the Golden Rule. "Do unto animals as you would have them do unto you."

Light tells the story of veteran broadcaster Paul Harvey having the chimpanzee Washoe on his show. In 1965 Washoe was taken from her home in the wilds of West Africa by the U.S. Air Force for space research. This is the chimp that had learned to sign over 250 words in American Sign Language and taught them to other chimpanzees. The three words she signed to Paul Harvey were, "Let me out!"

These three words changed Paul Harvey's life. Washoe had spent her life in captivity so that humans could do research on her. All she wanted was to be free.

Sun wraps up our interview by way of a heartfelt appeal for humanity to deeply consider the possibility of evolving individually and collectively to ‘non-violence' as a way of life. She says, "The next evolutionary step for humankind is to move from human to kind." And she asks each of us to expand our compassion beyond the bounds of our families, or our race or our religion or even humanity to embrace all beings with love.

The move to let go of our old patterns of eating may seem difficult for many. Listen to these two deep thinking and acting people to receive the inspiration required to make another step towards stopping being a part of the violence in this world. They have demonstrated by their living examples that change is possible at any time. They'd be quick to point out that we are each a ‘work in progress'. Each individual simply needs to be the changes they want to see in the world, one small step at a time.

The day will come when the lion sleeps with the lamb.

Links:

http://www.gentleworld.com/

http://worldpeacediet.org/

http://soundspeaceful.gaia.com/blog/2009/3/butterflies_and_the_vegan_lifestyle

In a few hours time I'll be interviewed by Theresa Chaze on Blog Talk Radio. The links are below. Obviously, it's possible to listen to the recorded show later if you can't tune in live.

Enjoy,

John

Until You Walk the Path, You Don't Know Where it Goes

The number you call in at is (347) 324-3745. The show page is at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze

Dr. Michael Klaper has been a physician for 37 years and a vegan since he was 34 years of age. He was my recent guest on Voices from the North in another interview I recorded at Shangri La, an amazing place here in New Zealand's Far North.

Dr. Klaper has had great success treating various maladies using a nutritional approach. In our talk he speaks of the amazingly quick response certain ailments have when patients switch to a plant-based diet. Lasting relief of symptoms for rheumatoid arthritis and asthma begins, in some cases, after only a few days on a new diet. Back in the 1980s, Dr. Klaper recorded a series of instructional tapes outlining how a vegan diet could help those suffering from obesity, cancer, diabetes and more.

Michael sees the expression ‘arrogant physician' as an oxymoron. He says the moment a physician stops listening and becomes arrogant is the moment he/she stops being a physician. From his perspective it is a great privilege to be a doctor and it is important to listen deeply to patients and to admit that the doctor doesn't always get it right.

Part of Dr. Klaper's training included tutelage under esteemed Chicago paediatrician, Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, author of How to Raise a Healthy Child...In Spite of Your Doctor and more inspiring books. Robert Mendelsohn was a courageous modern pioneer who advocated home births and discouraged the overuse of vaccinations and medicines.

Dr. Klaper is unable to separate his being a vegan from being a doctor. As he says, "Being vegan is doing actions where no one gets hurt." That seems to tie in nicely with Hippocrates' edict: Physician Do No Harm. Dr. Klaper goes so far as to say that all physicians should be vegans.

In our hour long interview we cover a broad spectrum of issues including Dr. Klaper's take on some possible benefits that can arise out of the ashes of our current global financial woes. This eloquent man has worked tirelessly for decades in support of the creation of a gentler, more compassionate world. He compares the resistance people have to adopting a plant-based diet today to the resistance our forefathers had to slavery one-and-half centuries ago. He paraphrases the words of a friend of his Keith Akers (author of A Vegetarian Sourcebook: The Nutrition, Ecology and Ethics of a Natural Foods Diet and The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity),

‘The world will become vegetarian, one way or another."

For the complete interview go here:

http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24518305-Dr-Michael-Klaper-Vegan-Physician

For a nine minute excerpt follow this link:

http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24518304-Dr-Michael-Klaper-9-Minute-Excerpt

Here's a link to some of Dr. Klaper's books, The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals, Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple and Pregnancy, Children and the Vegan Diet:

http://www.amazon.com/Cookbook-People-Who-Love-Animals/dp/0929274180/ref=sr_1_2/180-7580018-1856412?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241038009&sr=1-2