What is joy? The Cambridge Dictionary describes it as ‘great happiness’ and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as ‘the emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune or the prospect of possessing what one desires”. Joy and happiness appear to be synonymous in this world where joy, for the most part, is a fleeting phenomenon experienced when we achieve success or experience a life event that affects us in a positive way. It is a heightened level of happiness that is transient. We expect to experience it occasionally but for life to then revert to mundane, everyday existence at best or sorrow and misery at worst.
Since I became a student of A Course in Miracles, my view on joy changed. Early in my study, I found a prayer that I connected with deeply:
I have been unwilling to recognise that this quest is one of joy.
Instead of reacting with anguish at times, and a feeling of frustration and futility, I will to see myself only as I truly am.
Nothing else can matter but this.
The Kingdom is entirely filled with peace and joy, and I am an essential part of it.
Therefore, I must be unwilling to recognise what is already obvious, even in my conflicted state.
I will only for God and His Kingdom.
This is the only message that is meaningful, because it is my reality.
All else is illusion.
I will be helped as I offer help to others.
I will know myself as I recognise my only relationship with all my brothers.
(A Course in Miracles CE Edition, Text Chapter 6 Section VII: The Lessons of the Holy Spirit, C – Be Vigilant only for God and His Kingdom)
Initially, all I saw in this prayer was my familiar reaction to the vicissitudes of life – with anguish and a feeling of frustration and futility. I saw that I am meant to be joyous and wondered how this could be. It gave me hope but I was still confused about what joy was in the Course’s terms. I questioned how I was supposed to feel joy when I was trapped in a body where the ego ruled the roost. Where relationships were at best amicable and at worst war zones. Where each day seemed to be about getting through the day.
In my continuing study of the Course, I came across repeated references to the joy of God, to the point where I started to believe this might be true, that true joy may not just be possible, but is my birthright. The ego countered with questions such as: How could I be joyful in such a horrible world? A world in which countries are at war with each other; where the internal conflict in some countries had people fleeing persecution, often being met with more violence or many years of living as refugees, sometimes in appalling conditions; where natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires kill many people and displace thousands? How could such a world be viewed with joy?
Once I really started to understand that this world is an illusion, it became easier to also understand the joy of God. In his article ’16-Point Summary of The Teaching of a Course in Miracles’ Robert Perry provides a succinct summary of the Course, including an explanation about why the world is not real. The first point he makes is: “Our home is reality, Heaven, the Kingdom of God, a spiritual realm of pure oneness and boundless joy which can never be threatened”.
The Course’s joy as I currently understand it is not the jumping-up-and-down joy from having achieved success, love or longed-for material possession. It is not the joyful anticipation of a carefully planned holiday. It is a state of consistent bliss; it is gentleness, stillness and peace which is inherent in me, in all of us because we were created in joy. I have to be willing to give up fear, give up my belief that I am an ego, and accept that God’s peace and joy are mine (Workbook Lesson 105). A big ask, but I can make a start.
I am willing to recognise that this quest is one of joy. Being willing is a start.
Recently Robert Perry and Emily Bennington covered ‘The 10 Traits of the Spiritually Advanced’, of which Joy is one, in the podcast series Exploring a Course in Miracles. Their discussion on the traits of gentleness and joy can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF_hGOlC0eQ
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