July-August 2018 (Vol. XXXI, No. 7)
Dear Friends ~ In our quiet little forested niche amid a uniformly gray sky, it has been raining for enough days to wonder how Noah might have felt waiting for dry land. So much of what happens in the world bespeaks sorrow and loss- parents and children wrenched apart, floods and volcano eruptions, fathers and sons taking their own lives in despair. Yet into this mire, Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama have dared to offer THE BOOK OF JOY. This is no "self-help 10 steps to happiness" manual. Between South African apartheid and Tibetan exile, these two have honed their wisdom in a crucible of painful reality. It is wisdom well worth pondering, rooted in deep compassion and liberally sprinkled with humility and friendship. If we are made for joy, how do we live it?
Joy establishes us so securely in itself, and in the remembrance of its presence, that we can cope with whatever life has to throw at us.
~ from MEDITATIONS ON JOY by Wendy Beckett
Joy is a piercing desire, a mystical longing both painful and sweet: a kind of homesick-ness for a home we scarcely remember.
~ Deborah Smith Douglas, in Weavings, XV:4
The true source of joy is love—love of God, love of beauty, love of wisdom, love of
another human being, it does not matter which. It is all one love: a joyful awareness of dissolving boundaries of our ordinary
narrow self, of being one with reality
beyond, of being made whole.
~ from The Door to Joy by Irma Lalecki in "Heron Dance"
The most visible joy
can only reveal itself to us
when we've transformed it, within.
can only reveal itself to us
when we've transformed it, within.
~ Rilke
The holy life is concerned with the journey, not the goal..In truth it is the spiritual
journey that brings great joy because it is a path of the heart . Discipline is needed; we need to put forth effort. The effort must be light-hearted. We can't be attached to our mistakes or any particular way of doing or being...We bring a sense of equanimity to all life's challenges; we learn to laugh at ourselves, to not take ourselves so seriously, and to get back up when we stumble. This brings us joy. Joy makes life whole and holy.
~ from OPEN MIND by Diane Mariechild
"I have no name:
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!
~ Wm Blake
With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony and by the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
~ William Wordsworth
This is the true joy of life: being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one...I am of the opinion that my life belongs to others, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for them whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live...Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
~ George Bernard Shaw
Why is it always easier to anticipate God's wrath than to perceive God's joy? Ever
expecting to be shot, we're invariably dumbfounded by a grace we can't conceive...God plays rough before breaking into laughter.
~ Belden Lane
Authentic joy is not a euphoric state or a feeling of being high. Rather, it is a state of appreciation that allows us to participate fully in our lives.
~ Pema Chodron
"We are meant to live in joy," the Archbishop explained. "This does not mean that life will be easy or painless. It means that we can turn our faces to the wind and accept that this is the storm we must pass through. We cannot succeed by denying what exists. The acceptance of reality is the only place from which change can begin."
~ from THE BOOK OF JOY, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams
Solitude is the human condition, the universal vocation to be human. It is the
willingness, with Love indwelling, to go to the heart of pain to find new life and share it with the world even though you may be separated from it physically. From this
commitment to be focused through the narrow gate of solitude, self-emptying love is outpoured, and the heart of the community, the heart of pain, is transformed into the heart of joy.
~ Maggie Rose
In life's trials, little by little we realize that the source of joy does not lie in
extraordinary abilities or great expertise, but rather in the humble giving of ourselves in order to understand others with kind-heartedness. Joy is always there lying in waiting for us when simplicity is united to
kind-heartedness in our daily lives.
~ Brother Roger of Taizé
The truly wise have a inner joy that is like a fire; it warms the world.
~ the Dalai Lama
I charge the sun, the blue of the sky, the light to give you joy every day.
~Simone Weil
Joy is a sudden and miraculous grace beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
I support you;
You support me.
I am in the world to offer you peace;
You are in the world to bring me joy.
~ from "CALL ME BY MY TRUE NAMES" by Thich Nhat Hanh