Sunday, September 26, 2010

Joy

What is Joy?  Do you recall a moment of Joy?  What were the characteristics of that moment?  Everything just seemed ok - everything was good - at that moment all previous problems were gone.  All possible future problems aren't there.  There is just what IS.  And that "what IS" is a fullness, a wholeness, a completeness.

How did you get that Joy?  Did you go to the market and buy some Joy?  Give me one pound of Joy please...  did you take it home, slice it up into little bits, putting each one in it's own ziplock bag?  Put one in your pocket and take out each time you need some Joy?  Open the bag, take a whiff - mmmmm Joy...

Did that Joy come from some accomplishment?  This is where it gets tricky.  Because the fulfillment of a desire is often accompanied with Joy, yes?  So we attribute the attainment of desire with Joy or happiness.  But is it true?

That attainment or acquisition - if it brought Joy - why does it not continue to do so?  You may still have the object or position or title or relationship.  But that Joy is short-lived.  Why?

Maybe it is because the Joy doesn't come from the accomplishment or the acquisition.  The goal or the object isn't the reason for that Joy.  It is the very fulfillment of the desire itself which brought Joy - in other words, the ending of desire.  The ending of WANTING.  It is WANTING which obscures Joy, is it not?

So without wanting, we would have Joy.  But wanting Joy is just more WANT.  Trying to get rid of WANTS is more WANTS.  This is called bondage.

What is the way out?  How to find Joy without wanting it?  We can continue to pursue objective goals, experiences, acquisitions to reach this Joy - or we can realize that we don't need to FIND Joy.

If the ending of wanting results in Joy, then Joy must be innate.  Joy must already be there.  Joy must be ready to spring forth, once the wanting is gone.  Joy must be like the sun behind the clouds - once they part the bright rays of Joy come shining through.

So there is no need to find Joy, to reach Joy, to get Joy.  There is nothing that is needed - nothing objective can ultimately bring a permanent Joy because we're always wanting something else.  This moment is never really good enough.  There is always something more we want.

So recognize that Joy is not found but revealed in the absence of wanting, in the absence of conditions.  Joy is your natural state, shining forth in the absence of wanting.  The only way to find it is not to look for it, not to seek it, not to need it, not to WANT it.

In Vedanta, another word for Joy is Ananda.  Ananda is what you are.  You don't have to WANT it.  You ARE it.  We find the root WANT isn't the object, the accomplishment, the acquisition.  The root WANT is Joy or Happiness or Peace or Love.

Therefore all wants stem from this primary want - the want of your Self.  It isn't in need of finding.  It is ever-present.  Joy is always your own Self.

11 comments:

No One In Particular said...

"Just chill out" could encapsulate this post. Chillin' may, indeed, arise unbidden.

Mary said...

Wow, love this post, Randall, fantastic!
Thanks for sharing.

Love,
Mary

Eleanor said...

Often it seems a point is reached where this is realised; yet it does not necessarily translate into diminished desires, just a recognition that 'desire programmes' are still running. It may be known that 'I' do not desire anything; I have awareness OF these desires, aware OF the feelings & experiences which arise, come and go, and which are not mine personally. And yet, whilst this delivers freedom of personal attachment to the desires/wanting change/seeking it has not brought bliss or joy, just acceptance….

The search then can be perpetuated by seeking to end desire, or seeking the joy that others describe so frequently as their permanent state… I am yet to hear of enlightenment described as contented resignation to the fact that there is no I to do anything but be awareness of. And yet WHO is there to either continue searching or cease wanting anything to be different? This is the interesting situation (bondage?) I find my illusory identity entangled with.

Unknown said...

Joy is innate, our nature.

Yesterday, In a moment with intense pain, it was seen that there is silent seeing of the pain (extreme headache and nausea) The pain was strong this seeing was clear to see the "person" resisting the pain, and an allowing of what is, pain just a feeling in the body. Looking back on this, Joy would seem to be another state, like the pain of the headache? There is the feeling now of simple Joy, just this. It looks that the naked seeing is just empty, yet full of life, vibrant! This can be called joy then? It does seem joyous, and yesterday's seeing was just seeing, yet pain was in the body experience. What can you say about this Randall?

benjamin said...

Ultimate emancipation! :)

Randall Friend said...

Hey Suzanne - right on sister.

Randall Friend said...

Mary - good to hear from you again my friend. Love to you.

Randall Friend said...

Eleanor,

Hello my friend.

Yes, it doesn't mean no desires will ever arise again. Just the opposite! Desires are free to come and go, yet there is no continual self-reference - nothing to pin it upon your Self. Ultimately Joy is found not as a result of these desires but as the freedom from the self-reference inherent within desires.

So desires come but it's an activity of the whole, a natural play, it isn't identified or tied to a small part. Your Self is all there is - Joy is another word for the absence of conditions. Desires come reflected in that conditionless-ness.

love
randall

Randall Friend said...

Satya,

Joy, happiness, love, peace - these are all words for one "thing" - the absence of conditions. Conditions is wanting. That naked seeing is conditionless - all comes and goes without any condition, just like a mirror doesn't prefer one reflection and resist reflecting the next.

The naked seeing is always there - the mechanism of desire comes but is reflected without condition. Therefore Joy or love or peace is not a time-bound state, not a result of anything found or accomplished. It is just your natural "state", your "self" is naturally unconditional. That is just noticed.

When you say "I AM" - aren't you ultimately pointing to that naked seeing?


love
randall

Randall Friend said...

Hi Benjamin,

Ultimate emancipation is emancipation from the idea of your self, for your self is always here. It is only ever believed to be separate, to be a "thing among things".

Therefore emancipation is always here. It does not come in new. Emancipation is your true nature. Wanting emancipation is the only thing obscuring it.


love
randall

benjamin said...

Sure, i can't disagree. Emancipating from emancipation.