Let's talk about joy

The search for a path through life

Photo: My wife Neal Harris, with Phoebe Nefersweetie, aka The Chocolate Swirl Girl.

To be joyful is not so much a choice.

One cannot make one’s self be joyful; either one is joyful, or one isn't. It's that simple. One might generally say, in the style of Swedenborg, that we feel joy from forming relationship with what we love; and of course, this is true. Yet when we don't feel joy, the question sometimes arises, "why am I not joyful?”

The greater that Joy becomes, the more that our thought becomes still within us. Our thought is like silt that muddies the water of the river of joy; if the mind is still and the silt settles out, then we see joy more clearly, and even begin to feel it in ourselves. The more still we are, the more joy calls us directly to itself. If we are completely still inside (insofar as as possible) we may even be called to joy directly in this immediate moment without any detours.

Some things are not joyful; and some people are not joyful as well. Yet joy calls to everything at all times; and celebratory hymn has recognized this since time in memorial. Despite the sometimes solemn nature of its tone, in many cases the music of de Hartmann and Gurdjieff also expresses joy, although mostly in an understated and intelligently respectful way.

I've reversed these two names intentionally in order to, for a change, recognize Thomas de Hartmann’s extraordinary and vital contribution to this body of work.