I have heard a sentiment from many people over the years which I would like to respond to in a clear, concise way. It boils down to people’s feelings about the purpose of life. In many ways, I hear it said that our goal in life lies in preparation for the future. This might mean a life after death, the future of society, or a future state when our higher self is perfected. Whatever the form, the essential statement is: “The purpose of living in the present is to prepare for the future.”
Now, if this kind of purpose leads to joy, happiness, and a better world, I am nothing if not for it a hundred percent. But after all seeing all the burnt-out, tired, weary people, and hearing them tell me that joy is not a valid goal, but rather working for the future is where it’s at… to this, I respond. I have nothing against progress whatsoever; I even feel it is the natural outcome of joy. Does a musician, in love with music, just sit before his guitar and do nothing? Joy makes our potential real. So I do not mean to confuse these ideas with noble goals of progress. It is only when progress is made primary, and joy secondary, and preparation for the future the dominant view, that I have seen problems come about. “Preparing” has been expressed as: building structures, developing programs, extending the reach and depth of knowledge, improving ourselves, making ready for changes in society, etc. It can be very much a “hurry up and get there” state of mind, because none of the preparations can happen too quickly.
Being so involved with a “better future”, one can begin to view the present less favorably, because it doesn’t contain these improvements. Hope for the future even interferes with our relation to the present. If, for example, one spends all their time working toward a better society (a fine thing, if built on the right foundation), every kind of present failing becomes irksome, because it proves the hoped-for future to be unreal. Everything in the present is seen as “not yet” that future. It so is always disappointing. How can we learn to love what is, if we spends all our time dreaming about what isn’t? But the future never arrives, because there’s always further to go down the path of perfection. The more ardently we hope for perfection, the more imperfect the present must seem. Until the present is rather hated for its stubbornness in frustrating the ideal.
And what if the imagined perfection were achieved? What then? If all the structures were built and flaws removed, what would the resulting life be? The path of “perfecting” cannot answer this, because imagination can never have the same quality as what is real. It is not alive, in the same way as the present. And if the present relates to what it means to be alive, then perhaps the purpose of life must be looked for in relation to the present.
When the mind dwells longingly on the future, it departs the present, leaving behind only a body – and that often unwillingly. People with such ambitions might have no time for the now, since their imagined future never ceases to demand more and more of their time and energy. Ultimately, because they have eyes only for what will be, they give everything to that unreal future. They sacrifice the present that a different present might be. Because they have no time for the present, they have no time for what is in the present: namely me. Relationships can suffer, families, society – all in the name of creating a better social order! People who work strenuously for mankind, but who haven’t time left to spare for the actual man.
I used to espouse this philosophy, always wondering why happiness remained elusive. I built and built, perfected and perfected – but nothing changed. Nothing fundamentally changed. Because there was always more to build, and just as far to go on the path of perfection. I lived the life of one who hunts the Will o’ the Wisp, with the constant promise that it was worth the cost, which was the very essence of my life.
It took a long while to find a different goal, one that is actually achievable because it can be found in the present: happiness. This past year, all my writing has been on this theme: that the goal of our lives is to know happiness, to worship it, to communion with its essence. It is that which cannot be named, forced, or planned. One can only head in the direction of joy, and by that very fact, there it will be found.
I often use the word “joy” to explain this philosophy. By “joy”, I do not mean pleasure, or just what puts a smile on your face. I do mean “joy” in that, where there is no smile, there is no joy. Joy is the proof of happiness. Even if there is sorrow, on the other side there is joy again. Where there is perpetually little joy, there is little happiness. Joy is the standard. Joy is the tangible, irrepressible response of a happy life. It is what to aim for, because what brings joy – true joy – will lead to happiness.
With joy as a personal goal, it also becomes a universal goal. What we want for ourselves, we wish for everyone. It is a goal which concerns people and their lives. Abstract goals concern abstractions. If the goal of life were progress, the sight of decay would prompt me to action. The goal of progress is a negative life, because it lives for fixing what should not be. And it is never finished. The goal of progress cannot find its fulfillment in this world.
The goal of joy, however, is self-realizing and self-serving. If it encounters sadness, it wants to replace it with itself. It strives to make more of itself in the world. The life of joy is a positive life, because instead of undoing wrong, it creates right. It even fuels its own undertaking: an increase of joy leads to more joy. It spreads naturally, easily, willingly. It is the easiest thing in the world, since it provides the very energy needed to sustain it. Ask any mountain climber if they force themselves up the mountain; rather, joy gives them wings.
The goal of progress always lies in the future; joy is only and always in the present. Joy is something I can succeed at, right now, under any circumstances. It depends only on me, my attitude and my understanding, not on what other people choose to do. Quantity is not even a factor. A little joy is as much a triumph over sadness as a lot of joy. Every bit is cherished, and “enjoyed”.
What happens in the plan of seeking joy in the world? As I become joyful, I want others to know joy. It creates a natural surplus of energy, and the desire to share it. Isn’t that our mission: to see the people around us smile, to improve their lives whatever way we can. Isn’t this the truly religious life? Where there is joy, aren’t people more willing to cooperate, to overlook faults, to be more patient, to act lovingly toward each other? Doesn’t joy aid progress more than the fight against decay? Joy is creative. It shines light into the dark places. It is warm against the cold, and energy against torpor. It provides fuel for our spirits to soar; and thus soaring, better able to see and understand our problems.
What else is as creative as this, that fills the present with a palpable radiance, undeniable in its effect on the heart? Progress as a purpose feels very cold to me; joy is warm and immediate. Joy is universal, and universally available. It depends on nothing – though everything may serve it. It is the life of the world of man; it is what makes us love being alive.
I see joy as very much connected to love. If joy is the adjective and happiness the noun, I would call love the verb. We love what brings us joy, and to be happy is to love. All that is good in the world – beauty, brotherhood, unity, quality – are what bring us joy, and are what we love. If you see something in life and begin to feel happiness spreading over your soul, you are loving something in the present which is causing you joy.
The more we adventure in life, the more deeply we plumb the well of joy. Deeper and deeper, until we approach certain realities that can only be felt, not explained. Deeper and deeper – until we start to sense a common Source to these things, Whose very nature might be the reality of all happiness, love, and joy… of all that is Good and Most Glorious.
There are higher and deeper forms of joy, but all of them are real and alive, and all of them are good in the present, if not always in the future. The purpose of education becomes to seek out these fuller causes of joy, to make them more easily accessible. And every new height that we achieve is always the current best we’ve ever known. In this scheme, the movement of life is always from best to best! There is no “not enough” or “too much”. Compare this to the life where imagined perfections are forever sought, but not a one of them lastingly achieved.
I think the path of joy contributes most to the well-being of mankind. I never want a person to feel that I overlooked their present being because I was too busy working for their future benefit. Only if people are happy now do I consider myself successful. I want a world, not of perfection, but where people are happy. It is their souls that matter to me, and what will uplift those souls. Can the pursuit of unattainable perfections do this? It hasn’t for me. But joy… Joy is the one thing which, if I had naught else for all eternity, I could ask for nothing more.
Look for joy in your life by listening deeply to your heart, and to what makes it sing. The soul knows the response of joy intimately. Prayer can help to make this voice more audible. Find joy where it is natural, spontaneously, self-increasing. Joyful friendships are those that endure for their own sake, and not for any imagined ideal. Ideas are what make the waters seem so cloudy, and our lives so complicated and difficult. Stillness, meditation, awareness: The cause of joy is so simple and direct – even childlike – that it is more a matter of discarding false ideas, than of learning anything new.
