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Many religious traditions have beliefs about vegetarianism. They teach that killing animals for food is wrong. Others see carnivorous behaviour as a natural part of life and eat meat cheerfully. However, there is also a large group of people who believe that eating meat is wrong, and yet continue to do so anyway. Similarly, there are people who may be against sweatshop labour but continue to buy clothing produced under these conditions, and so forth.

It is up to each of us to decide our stance on vegetarianism, sweatshop labour, and the like. Each issues has its set of pros and cons. However, once we have made our decision, it is very important to follow through with our beliefs. Otherwise we lose our integrity.

In addition, we must be ready to change our actions and beliefs should our original premises prove false. For example, we may buy fair-trade coffee, believing this to be beneficial to Third World countries. Then a new study may show that it is somehow harmful to their economy. If this were the case, we would have to change our beliefs. There is no point in stubbornly clinging to a belief if it is proven invalid.

In short, our beliefs have little meaning if we do not act upon them. Furthermore, they will soon become flawed if we are not courageous enough to change them when new evidence comes to light.

In the Dalai Lama’s book The Art of Happiness, the premise is that the goal of our life is happiness. Although I recommend this book extremely highly, I do have to question this premise, which many people take for granted as true. What is happiness, and why should it be our goal? If you could take a pill that made you perpetually happy, would you do so? If you could be put into an eternal but happy dream, as in the movie Vanilla Sky (or in a Utopian version of the The Matrix), would you do so? You would be happy, but your life would also be meaningless.

Rather than seeing happiness as a goal, I prefer to see it as a sign that we are on the right path. When we are at peace with ourselves and compassionate to those around us, we are generally happy. When we are selfish and greedy, we generally become unhappy. Hence, happiness and unhappiness are indicators that we are either on the right track, or that we need to adjust our behaviour. Both emotions are important. If we were to take some magical pill, or enter some lucid dream, then we might be perpetually happy, but we would no longer have indications as to how we should live.