Ok…
Sorry…
I’ve been distracted by life.
VIRTUOUS FELICITY:
The Pursuit of JOY!
Have you been thinking about it?
I have – and it’s funny – as I focus on it –
I find affirmations that the pursuit of JOY
IS
EVERYTHING.
So, as I am working and living,
I am reading.
And, I just started the book,
“The Power of Kabbalah”.
It was recommended very strongly by a man I find very curious and well read. So, I bought it. I don’t know enough about it to speak to it intelligently, but the cover says,
“This book contains the secrets of the universe and the meaning of our lives.”
It seems worth reading ;-)
As I understand it – the concepts were developed 2500 years ago and is potentially the basis for many religions. I will share more as I learn.
I have only started it, but the first part of the book is entitled,
“WHO ARE WE?”
And, the answer is simple,
DESIRE.
This ancient wisdom starts by concluding that EVERYTHING we do,
Is driven by desire…
And, I don’t know many who desire suffering.
Our motivation is a DESIRE for JOY… for HAPPINESS.
“A slave is never more than his master.” Kabbalist Rav Ashlag
And, our “master” is the DESIRE for JOY.
What would happen if we all embraced the reality of that – more deliberately?
If we stopped making the purpose of our life so complex or hard to discover?
"The primary objective of our desire is uninterrupted happiness. In fact, desiring continual happiness is the one unifying link of all humanity." Yehuda Berg
If we simply embraced that our CORE reason for existing is to pursue JOY…
How would our lives change?
Clearly it’s oversimplified.
But, I would argue it’s also TRUE.
If we declared our mission in life – the pursuit of happiness,
Would more people line up to help?
Would we be less likely to embrace and get lost in “suffering”?
Would we be more DELIBERATE,
And possibly less ashamed to discuss more explicitly what gives us JOY?
I think many of us are embarrassed to discuss what gives us joy…
NO,
Not because it’s necessarily KINKY or anything…
But, because it feels selfish and self serving,
and we have been taught so clearly that it can’t be that much about us.
If we felt more free in exploring, defining, aspiring to JOY,
Would we get better at it?
I believe we would.
So many of us are educated with guilt…
GUILT for DESIRING more or better for ourselves.
OR, so very often, GUILT for desiring DIFFERENTLY from others...
in our dreams, in our behavior, in our aspirations...
Think about it...
in order to provide more for others, we have to in some way achieve more for ourselves first!
Here is the kicker that I find amusing…
I think if we were truly encouraged to embrace our pursuit of JOY, our essence of DESIRE…
We would become better at understanding it, achieving it & importantly SHARING it!
In fact, I am fairly certain that the vast majority of people would reach a conclusion that true JOY cannot be found without sharing!
Do YOU realize that you are motivated by DESIRE at your core?
Do you ACCEPT it?
... DESIRE for JOY...
And, if we don’t figure out what brings our JOY, then do we spend our lives randomly bouncing between impulse and fear?
If we fail to define our joy deliberately, we are at the mercy of our random desire...
Is that what gives drugs, social media, television, sugar, noise so much power over those without a clearer, greater purpose?
If inately we desire joy, but we don't define it for ourselves, what captures our attention?
How clear and deliberate are you about what brings you joy?
How well and honestly do you share it with those you love and care about?
And, if you are not clear, how is that lack of clarity confusing or convoluting your pursuit of it?
We must accept that each one of us gets to define for ourselves what gives us JOY… so we must be careful and gracious with what we define as necessary from each other to achieve JOY. (This is why parental, spousal and partner relationships of all types are so precarious, sensitive and challenging.)
When my definition of JOY requires something specific from YOU… then our pursuit of JOY becomes interdependent (so much to explore in this single thought).
Is it a higher level of enlightenment to define JOY as a uniquely personal thing?
Does knowing true joy require fantastic empathy – to accept that the joy of others may require us to be or show up differently?
Can we achieve joy by simply working to create joy for others? Sure...
Can we achieve joy by devoting ourselves fully to a faith, a believe, a purpose? Sure...
We must all find our balance for JOY, by experimenting with it... And, there is a continuum of achieving JOY from contribution versus JOY from collection... altruist versus selfish joy...
We are all motivated by different things…
That is what makes the world so very interesting…
And yet, we are all similarly driven by DESIRE at our core.
DESIRE unites us... THE OBJECT of our desire defines us as individuals.
In order to know true joy, must we accept the “IS” of our lives in the moment?
In order to know true joy, must we be moving our “IS” toward our want in the moment?
How could you ever achieve true joy without starting from a point of acceptance and gratitude?
Starting from any other place would bring you suffering.
DESIRE…
JOY…
Do you know clearly the life that you are pursuing?
In harmony,
Nestor