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January 8, 2013
joy (n.)
I recently came across a poignant excerpt from one my favourite author's new books - Zadie Smith's Joy:
"The writer Julian Barnes, considering mourning, once said, “It hurts just as much as it is worth.” In fact, it was a friend of his who wrote the line in a letter of condolence, and Julian told it to my husband, who told it to me. For months afterward these words stuck with both of us, so clear and so brutal. It hurts just as much as it is worth. What an arrangement. Why would anyone accept such a crazy deal? Surely if we were sane and reasonable we would every time choose a pleasure over a joy, as animals themselves sensibly do. The end of a pleasure brings no great harm to anyone, after all, and can always be replaced with another of more or less equal worth."
What an arrangement that is - both in literary as well as phenomenological terms. We often speak of "happiness" being a means to an end - but I wonder, what sort of happy we are searching for - one of joy or one of pleasure? (Deepak Chopra said "Happiness is divine discontent" after all...)
So, which pursuit actually yields more joy, happiness, contentment.. (call it what you will, as with Shakespeare's name-shifting flower)?
Should we fear joy in our pursuit ofhappiness life as it'll inevitably be lost?
On every side of joy is its negation, our loss of it. Yet we seek out the bright side and are often tempted to never turn the coin until it turns on us.
"Joy is such a human madness," said Zadie Smith. And what's wrong with that? Aren't the mad always laughing anyway?
"The writer Julian Barnes, considering mourning, once said, “It hurts just as much as it is worth.” In fact, it was a friend of his who wrote the line in a letter of condolence, and Julian told it to my husband, who told it to me. For months afterward these words stuck with both of us, so clear and so brutal. It hurts just as much as it is worth. What an arrangement. Why would anyone accept such a crazy deal? Surely if we were sane and reasonable we would every time choose a pleasure over a joy, as animals themselves sensibly do. The end of a pleasure brings no great harm to anyone, after all, and can always be replaced with another of more or less equal worth."
What an arrangement that is - both in literary as well as phenomenological terms. We often speak of "happiness" being a means to an end - but I wonder, what sort of happy we are searching for - one of joy or one of pleasure? (Deepak Chopra said "Happiness is divine discontent" after all...)
So, which pursuit actually yields more joy, happiness, contentment.. (call it what you will, as with Shakespeare's name-shifting flower)?
Should we fear joy in our pursuit of
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On every side of joy is its negation, our loss of it. Yet we seek out the bright side and are often tempted to never turn the coin until it turns on us.
"Joy is such a human madness," said Zadie Smith. And what's wrong with that? Aren't the mad always laughing anyway?
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