079: On Joy
Joy is in the being. It is not a consequence visited later. It is not a premeditated thought to be planned and pursued. It is simultaneous instance that occurs with an action.
You can remember past joy or anticipate its appearance in planning, but to capture that good feeling you can only encounter it. You must do life and bump into it along the way.
What we are collectively guilty of is thinking that the joy is over there or it was already here. And where ever we are in the moment is just life, separate and distinct from the good. It is the mundane means to the worth-it-after-all end. While life is full of busy seasons and deep work, depression and anxiety, it is in those exact things that life is found. Change is how we know we alive. We are so addicted to change. We crave it. Even corpses decay.
The art of life is how to harmonize the changing with a stillness. One without the other is impossible and terminal. One then the other is too sequential and linear to be relevant. Both, integrated, is what we are after. It is why we are here. Thinking and Action. Art and War. Disagreement and Understanding. That is Oneness. That is the higher state. That is where God is, and where He invites us to be.
The pursuit of more disagrees with the contentment of enough. The wisdom of Proverbs imploring us to that the righteous man leaves an inheritance conflicts with the preached meekness and thanksgiving of the Gospel. How can we be both? Humble and hungry? Ambitious and grateful?
That is the question worth answering. Not to be one over or before the other. But how to be both, together. The marriage of tomorrow’s goals and yesterday’s accomplishments. The cocktail of proactive planning and confident acceptance. Control and trust.
And in that dance, that weaving together of the two divines, that is where we feel joyful. Not complete control where everything is on us. Not complete trust were autonomy is outsourced. The euphoria of concentrated effort turned into a welcomed detour that created a memory that becomes a part of you is what it means to live. It is what it means to be.
In it is where the joy is: “En-joy”
Stimulant Corner:
Caffeine: ON | OFF
Nicotine: ON | OFF