On the Cusp of Joy

"We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy."  Joseph Campbell

If for one reason or another you feel bad most of the time, it's important for you to know that it's possible to feel good most of the time. The Buddhists have a concept called "basic goodness."  Think of it as original goodness instead of the Christian concept of original sin. But the Christian perspective is not much different from the Buddhist concept if the Christian goes back past the forbidden fruit. It's as if for many Christians, the world began at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with sin, when it fact it began in the Garden of Eden. And just after placing the crown of His creation there He said, "It is good. It's all good." The was nothing in the Garden of Eden that was bad, including Adam and Eve. Perhaps Adam and Eve had been in the Garden of Eden for years before Eve tasted the forbidden fruit.  Even the fruit was not bad; it was just forbidden. An oven is a good thing, but we have to keep our children away from it. If the child touches it, no one else has to punish her. And she didn't sin. She just burned herself.

When I wake up every day, I wake up into a world of goodness.  I am not so insensitive and naive as to not be aware of what's going on.  I understand that there are things happening that could destroy the lives of those I love and destroy the world. There are plenty of things for me to be anxious about and even get depressed about if I wanted to.  I just don't want to.  I choose to feel good instead of feeling bad.  And as Joseph Campbell said, it is in fact a choice.  I make that choice in the first few seconds of any given new day. And if you want to feel good instead feeling bad, you will have to make the same choice.  If your default emotion is sadness, you have to choose another emotion.

I could tell you what's going on with me and you would say, "No wonder you're so happy.  Anyone in your situation would be happy." And I would say that's partially true.  But you would have to understand that "what's going on" is less the circumstances of my life and more what's going on between my ears. Anais Nin said, "We don't see  things as they are, we see them as we are."

Black Elk, a holy man of the Lakota Sioux said, "Draw a circle of power around yourself, and stand in that circle."  Whatever else you keep in your circle of power, keep goodness and joy."  One could do worse than to view the world through rosy tinted glasses. Your joys and your sorrows will take on the colors of a sunset. The sorrows will  still be there, you just won't see them.