Now More than Ever, Joy and "Vorfreude"
I wanted to offer a short celebration of the everpresence of joy, right here in the thick of things
Joy’s at the heart of the spirit we need now. It’s recognized by all humans and beloved in whatever language it’s spoken. (In German it’s freud so Sigmund Freud was Dr. Joy.) A related word. and a new favourit, is vorfreude, which means anticipatory joy, the anticipation of good things to come. Hidden in vorfreude is love for the moment we're in. We can't expect joy without being joyful and grateful for the moment. Vorfreude comes packaged with love for here and now.
Joy is courageous and inspiring. In any moment we can move to it boldly and bodily amid a sea of doubts. We can raise our eyes above them all and see them fall away.
Sometimes we need just one friend who gets that too and the whole calamity fades from view.
Katie Hopkins, below, British daredevil truth-teller, bucks me up wonderfully and I jump on her videos for a splash of joy, even when I’m already swinging along. Here she is with freedom advocate Tommy Robinson, both of them showing that devil-may-care joyful attitude. Watch Katie in the video from the one minute mark (only 6.5 total) and see what I mean!
If you’re like me, you’re feeling even better already.
Joy is amplified dramatically when recognized in company or when such company is sought. Or as Katie says in the video, when you carry it on you or feel it in your bones and when you walk it on the street among the others.
I practice shared meditation in dyads (pairs) most days. We don’t speak of joy particularly but the joy is inseparable from a recognition of non-separation that I often experience there. Non-separation and recognition of fellow-feeling is joy. We’re in this challenging time together and there aren’t even two sides in the spiritual battle. Joy’s for everybody.
Vorfreude is non-separation too because we bring ourselves close to the good thing we know is ours.
Vorfreude bucks up the spirits and brings joy in this moment, even as we contemplate a future joy. At the heart of joy is a recognition that we are that. Joy isn't a transitory respite. It’s the nature of things, even in this vale of tears.
Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton headed a desperate shipwrecked crew in Antarctica for 22 months without losing his cheerfuless, his chosen joy. He named cheerfulness as a virtue and it is.
We’re in a spiritual battle for the human soul that’s as challenging than Shackleton’s Waking up is coming to recognize and align ourselves with a Universal Spirit that’s beyond the material, that’s greater than us and letting it lead the way. In a word, that’s joy.
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Note that there’s a weekly Dyad meditation on the Hidden Life of Men Sunday morning. You can read about it and register here.
Thank you again for this uplifting offering. Sometimes we just drop that barrier that separates us, and allow the natural desire to join with others, and share our delight in being, just the pure delight of being. Unconditional willingness to let go of all the 'buts'. Let it be!