Jamila (thesoulfulveganista.com & @Jamila_Anahata) is an activist, blogger & holistic lifestyle coach. She is aso Marketing Director of the Afro-Vegan Society. Sign up for their NAVCON2021 summit on Nov 13th - open to all!.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
0:00 Welcome
01:12 Jamila’s Intro - Soulful Veganista & the AfroVegan Society
- Community, creativity, connection to resist oppression and help others
- "All the isms & justices". Veganism, racial justice / food justice / climate justice...
- AVS: Veganism through a black lens
02:45 What’s Real?
- Growing up in Maryland in the Southern US
- Raised Southern Baptist Christian. Bible study, daily church, Sunday service
- "I used to down religion... that industry"
- The church as a powerful community for black southern people... "throwing our pain at the altar"
- Experiencing deep racism... beyond bias
- A hunger for something beyond the suffering of "this realm"
- "I was always a gothy kid... a punk kid"
- "3 seconds after I went vegan I decided I wasn't going to be Christian any more"
- "If I can open my mind about veganism... I can do anything... it was so liberating"
- Leaving religion because of evidence, ethics or rebellion
- "My dad is a natural activist... he reminds me of Malcolm X"
- Learing the painful history of Christianity
- Not wanting to support the religion or animal product industries
- Empathy as a moral compass. I didn't need religion for that
- Keeping the compassion & community
- Looking within for ethics
- Spirituality. Connection & oneness
- "There's more to life than my own suffering or flourishing"
- Languages, class, religions, castes, hierarchies, status & how they separate us
- "I swiped away all the titles"
- Eckhart Tolle
- "I am not what they think I am... I am divinely guided"
- "If we wiped away all the oppressive things from Christianity that's what we'd be left with"
- "I feel like I receive intuitive messages from my spiritual team"
- Scepticism & believing in science... but that can't be all there is
- Other planes or dimensions
- "I was that faith based person where science was the enemy"
- "This pandemic helped me... I learned that medicine is OK..."
- Believing in 'what is' doesn't make me a less of a spiritual person
- Naturalism on this plane, spiritualism for the others?

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube.
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
Thanks Graham.