Once upon a time, I was a troubled youth. I had lost my center of gravity in early childhood.

Everything I trusted was subject to vacillation. Strong personalities tore at the fabric of my tenuous values. I had to be careful of my surroundings and associations. I trusted none including immediate family members.

In my early twenties, I discovered astrology as a fact that was indisputable to my own judgment. Astrology not only worked, but it validated my own perceptions. It became my closest friend. I discovered that the people most associated with astrology (religious meditators of Asia) tended to embrace veganism.

I compared the philosophy of ethical veganism with that of capitalism (a philosophy embraced by Western religions), and I decided that any ethos that did not include adherence to veganism was morally inferior to those that promote veganism.

In the Eight-Fold path of Yoga, there is a technique of purification called Neti in which one’s perception is refined through negation. One removes everything that is incompatible with one’s center. In the process, one becomes increasingly aware of the center.

My first major removal was any religion that did not promote veganism. Any religion that claimed moral and spiritual superiority while failing to embrace non-violence was viewed by me as hypocritical and nonsensical.

This removal (declaration of Neti) was a cornerstone of my evolution as an independent being. Gradually, my center strengthened, and my personality grew around this center.