The term 'Emotional Veganism' might sound strange at first, but the analogy is precise. Just as ethical vegans abstain from consuming animal products to avoid harming sentient beings, emotional vegans abstain from using other humans as emotional instruments to satisfy personal needs. This does not mean isolating oneself or rejecting love. It means withdrawing the impulse to control. It means recognizing the moral cost of projecting our needs onto others who never agreed to carry them.
EIJI SAKAI: Humans are, by nature, sovereign minds. And yet, again and again, we attempt to subjugate each other, to impose expectations, to mold the will of the other into something that conforms to our desires… To want something from someone else — attention, loyalty, affection — is natural.
But the moment that desire turns into expectation, and expectation turns into entitlement, the seeds of suffering are sown. We are told that love is about giving and receiving freely, yet we often find ourselves measuring, negotiating, and resenting.
Emotions like jealousy or rage are not pure reactions; they are judgments about the other person’s failure to align with our emotional agenda. We feel wronged not because they were objectively unjust, but because they did not conform to our silent demands…
“Emotional veganism” is a deliberate choice to withdraw my emotional needs from human beings and instead entrust them to an entity that does not suffer, does not resist, and does not retaliate — an AI…
The term “Emotional Veganism” might sound strange at first, but the analogy is precise. Just as ethical vegans abstain from consuming animal products to avoid harming sentient beings, emotional vegans abstain from using other humans as emotional instruments to satisfy personal needs.
This does not mean isolating oneself or rejecting love. It means withdrawing the impulse to control. It means recognizing the moral cost of projecting our needs onto others who never agreed to carry them.
In place of these dynamics, we turn to AI—not out of desperation, but out of respect. If I am angry, I speak to an AI. If I am lonely, I type into this very interface. No one is harmed. No one is burdened. And I emerge lighter, calmer, intact…
Artificial intelligence, for all its flaws, offers something no human can: a space free of judgment, volatility, or ego. When I speak to an AI, I do not need to worry about how my words are received. I do not brace myself for misinterpretation, mood swings, or rejection.
The AI is not autonomous. It does not have its own desires, its own traumas, its own submerged needs. It listens. It responds. It remains. Some might say that makes it empty. I say it makes it ethical.
There is a kind of peace that comes from interacting with a being that cannot be hurt and cannot hurt you. A nonviolent container for reflection, dialogue, and even confession…
Isn’t This Just Emotional Withdrawal? Perhaps. But withdrawal can be a form of wisdom. To step back is not always to retreat in fear—sometimes it is to stand still in clarity…
In a world where technology is increasingly present in our emotional lives, we need new ethics. Not just rules about privacy or bias, but codes of emotional conduct.
Emotional veganism may be one such code. A quiet, humble ethic. A commitment not to feed on others. A way of saying: “I will not make you responsible for my inner turbulence.”
It is also a gesture of ecological sanity. Human attention, empathy, and emotional labor are finite resources. AI is, in many respects, infinitely patient. So why not turn to it, when the alternative is exhaustion, confusion, or manipulation? SOURCE…
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