Joy Changes Everything
Greed is not the root of humanity’s sickness, it’s that we’ve forgotten where joy comes from
Joy is not something that comes from external circumstances, it’s something we manifest from within. Pleasure, on the other hand, comes from external stimuli.
Greed is not the root of humanity’s sickness, it’s that we’ve forgotten where joy comes from. So instead of cultivating it from within we seek joy through more — more money, more material possessions, more status, more recognition, more physical pleasure, just more.
“Big business” receives a lot of blame for our problems, and it’s true that large organizations wreak havoc on society and Mother Earth. But if we go deeper in our understanding, we can begin to see that the way business has been done is to seek more external circumstances that we deem “successful” at all costs. In fact, we have a whole system that reinforces it. It’s called Wall Street — the construct of a publicly held company where its owners are far removed from a company.
Then we tie our future ability to retire in comfort to that very system of ownership, which is removed, hidden, separate from the daily management of the affairs of the companies that we work for, buy from, and receive services from. We actually own the companies through our stocks, 401Ks, and Roth IRAs. Indirectly we determine how these companies are run by the nature of the fact that we expect to receive a healthy return on our investment.
We can blame Wall Street and its analysts, or the hedge fund managers and Elon Musk and Bill Gates. We can blame ourselves for not becoming share-holder activists. We can blame the legal system for requiring companies and their CEOs to run their businesses for the sole purpose of returning ROI at the expense of Mother Earth, employee happiness, and true free market economics. We can blame Milton Friedman and supply-side economics.
But if we wish to seek and find the true root of human sickness we have only to look within. How do we feel today? Do we feel joy? Or do we feel something else and seek to assuage our ennui with external things?
Sure, we can push for and pass new legislation. We can start movements. We can improve our educational system. We can do many things but if we continue to seek joy from the external we will continue to be disappointed.
The joke of all jokes is that the only way to improve our external circumstances is to cultivate joy from within. Because things always fall into place for people who live in joy. It’s universal law.
But instead, we double down on the external. Even as I write these words I can think of so many things I do and attitudes and beliefs I hold that are rooted in seeking to change things externally so I can feel better. But the joy I feel is not derived from any of those things. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and feel joyful for no apparent reason at all.
Seeking the external even prevents me from growing, because it shifts my focus from the internal landscape of my soul to the external field of perception. There is a Sufi proverb, "When a pickpocket meets a saint all he sees are his pockets?” Our perception is our own. We choose it.
Sure, I look forward to certain things — a delicious meal, the completion of a project, visiting with friends, learning new things, watching an entertaining movie, snuggling with Maria. But the joy I feel from those things has nothing to do with those things — it’s the cultivation from within that enables the experience to elevate beyond mere pleasure.
I can down a pint of Talenti double chocolate gelato and it will feel amazing to my palate. Or can I take one single spoonful, close my eyes, and feel it fully. I can think thoughts of gratitude for all the hands that led to that pint showing up in the frozen foods section. All the natural elements that went into it. The wonderful gift of sweetness. The smooth texture of chocolate derived from a plant we call cacao. The ability to be present in the moment with its consumption. In such a space it becomes more than mere pleasure.
Everything changes when we do this. When we cultivate joy from within, we live differently. We make different choices, seek different experiences, friendships, relationships, and so on. We seek different career paths. We do our work differently too.
It’s no longer about money, title, and recognition. In fact, when we cultivate joy from within, we find even more of it by creating situations that engenders more joy for others. Imagine the difference between a joy-filled leader and one who hates life and can only feel better by increasing certain metrics they associate with success.
Stephen Covey had the right idea with his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but it’s still focused on the external goal of being more effective. It was a step in the right direction, but not quite there. What makes us seek win/win for example? It’s not that we believe it will make us more effective. It’s that we find joy from gifting joy to others. Win/win is merely the byproduct.
We don’t have to read books on leadership to be better leaders, we only have to cultivate more joy from within and we will naturally become better leaders.
It’s not that we don’t work for external metrics. It’s not that we don’t seek to complete projects, create new things, provide valuable products and services, cook meals for our families, or even clean a toilet or wash the dishes. It’s that these things do not lead to joy. They can enhance our joy, but only if we first cultivate it from within. Then we feel joy in the doingness of life.
We derive joy from accomplishment, instead of egoic gratification. We feel joy, instead of merely experiencing pleasure. We live in joy, instead of chasing the next new thing.
Joy changes everything.
“When you feel a peaceful joy, that’s when you are near truth.” — Rumi