*JOY - also see BEATITUDE, BLESSED, GARDEN, HEAVEN, PARADISE
also see SORROW
Enjoy the world as long as we are aware that it is God Himself. (Buddha, Christ, p111)
How quickly we weary of earthly pleasures! Desire for material things is endless; man is never satisfied completely and pursues one goal after another. The "something else" he seeks is the Lord, who alone can grant lasting joy. Outward longings drive us from the Eden within; they offer false pleasures that only impersonate soul happiness. The lost paradise is quickly regained through divine meditation. After the mind has been cleared by Yoga of sensory obstacles, meditation furnishes proof of God. (Yogi, p153-4)
How can you be a creative being if I am dictating what you shall be/do/have? My joy is in your freedom, not your compliance. (Conversations, p166)
Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and spiritual joy, you have not yet begun to live...The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls. (Thomas Merton, Wisdom, p276)
The contemplative way is a way of painful purification but also of profound inner joy and security. By its very nature it is a pure gift. Very often it (joy) takes place in moments outside the time of prayer (contemplation). Our eyes may be opened [light bulb experience] as we read a verse of Scripture or a melody, a sound, or the sight of a flower or a landscape becomes the immediate stimulus. (Contemplation, p30)