I attended an audio recording of one of my qigong teachers who is now in a one to two-year-long silence. I’ve never met him, but I learn from the teachers in his school. He talked about joy versus happiness. Here are some of his thoughts.
Joy is the emergence of something that has been hidden. Finding that hidden magnificence requires courage. Joy comes from your transformation. It comes through doubt and risk and a sense of vertigo. You don’t know the outcome. When you are afraid of something grand, face it. The more you turn toward it, the more joy you have.
Happiness, on the other hand, is the fulfillment of something that you wanted. The object of your desire is something known. Going toward it is pleasant…a delicious dinner, a new pair of shoes, a new car.
And, here is how he defines grief. Grief is the excess of happiness in the total absence of joy. If you only live with the known and deprive yourself of mystery, you will feel grief because there was no risk and no inner transformation.
I think that these are interesting thoughts. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about his writings on the fire within us. It’s really inspiring!
Interesting, I never thought about how it takes courage to experience joy, something to think about. <3
Love this!!
I enjoyed reading this. Can you give your teacher’s name? I love what you shared about joy.
Yes! His name is Zhenzan Dao and he is the founder of the MogaDao Institute in Santa Fe.
http://www.mogadaoinstitute.com