The Joyous State

Within each body there’s a purity of being which is neither up nor down but a joyous state of life. There’s no mistaking the sense of freedom when we unite with this wondrous source within, a place of equilibrium that is totally fulfilling. Every form of life lives for the pleasure of being alive as a sensory body. But in human beings the pleasure is broken up by opposite polarities that arise from our emotional way of life. Consequently, pleasure turns to pain, love to hate, and peace to war. The joyous state is then overwhelmed by the oppressive force of negative emotions.

From an early age, children are taught to identify with their emotional feelings as a barometer for their personal happiness and sense of self. The emotional body of self is a condition of unhappiness and always looking for something to assuage its perennial discontent. Consequently, as the child matures into an adult they are never content for long. The switchover to a more conscious way of living happens when someone has suffered enough through experience in the world to have questioned the purpose of life.

The perfection of life in everyone’s experience is the period of gestation within the mother’s womb. In this place of embryonic love we are never more content or untroubled. Ejection into the cold, divisive world is so traumatic that, from then on, existence becomes the search for anything that reflects the original state of love within the womb. However, the compassion of life ensures that, somehow, we are able to go on; for the joyous state is always available to support the external challenges we all must encounter in one way or another.

It’s a common expression to be ‘overjoyed’ which, from the perspective of self-knowledge, means unable to contain the joyous state of being. People are encouraged in some spiritual practices to give vent to their elation by getting excited and trying to share their experiences with others; this tends to degrade the spiritual virtue. When in the joyous state, there’s a natural emanation from the being which communicates in a spiritually productive way without any outward projection of the personal self. Such a being is recognised by their absence of moods and an openness which conveys a presence that’s uplifting to be around.

Life is joyous in its purity; but living in separation from this divine state of being brings all the problems in the world. To realise the joyous state uninterruptedly – and then to live without compromise as a fearless man or woman of the earth – is everybody’s destiny. The more someone practises being grateful for their life and the good things provided, even in the most humble surroundings, the greater the resource of spirit in times of adversity. This is an important point because no negative emotion can endure in the presence of the joyous state of life.