The Gray Life
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10 ESV
Everlasting joy – “Joy is fundamental to human existence and well-being, yet it is an elusive phenomenon that resists definition. For more than two millennia, the articulation and cultivation of joy was at the center of Jewish and Christian scripture, theology, and practices—an articulation and cultivation that in turn was grounded in and evolved over centuries of lived human experience, observation and discernment. Notwithstanding the importance of joy to human well-being and the deep, ancient religious foundations for understanding and cultivating joy, the very idea of joy has all but disappeared from modern theological reflection, is all but ignored by the social sciences, and is increasingly absent from lived experience. The consequence is a ‘flattening out,’ a ‘graying,’ of human life and communities and a sharp bloom of individual and communal dysfunction.”[1]
Do you find this disconcerting? I don’t mean that fact that there is so little theological expression about joy or that the experience of joy is absent from contemporary life. I mean do you find it disconcerting that we don’t even know what joy is, that we can’t really define it? Do you know why?
The Hebrew samah is the word most often translated “joy.” But that doesn’t mean it is what we think joy is. You see, the Hebrew idea of joy is not an abstract concept floating around in a world of ideas. Almost always samah is expressed in concrete actions, not in theoretical definitions. So joy is the experience of frisking about, clapping, dancing, shouting, experiencing the rewards of patience, finding peace, doing justice, producing righteousness. In other words, in Hebrew thought joy does not exist independently of the experiences that bring about the feelings of joy. Joy is in the frisking, clapping, dancing, shouting. It can’t be defined as something in addition to the experience. It is the experience.
So try it. Feeling discouraged? Dance a bit. Feeling anxious? Clap and shout. Feeling rejected? Exhibit hesed. Feeling concerned? Fulfill a mitzvah. Joy is attached to the act, not separate from it. It’s disconcerting to see that the Greek world even attempts to understand joy apart from the intensity of life. Do life. Do it with all the energy you can muster. Do it deliberately. And feel life flowing through you. Ah, was that a smile I saw on your face? Are you tempted to laugh, to shout, to jump up and down, to make a little move? Joy isn’t a definition. It is an experience—and one that we need a lot more of. So set aside your theology today and let your light shine. The world won’t mind at all.
Topical Index: joy, samah, Isaiah 35:10, simhat ‘olam
[1] From the introduction of “Theology of Joy” from Yale Center for Faith & Culture. http://faith.yale.edu/joy/about
This one made me smile.
Even in the popular secular world, this is now an acknowledged ‘fact’. We now ‘know’ (established by our current secular religion: Scientific Studies) that a good way to feel included is to go to the effort to include others, and a good way to feel confident is to act like you are (duh). I was glancing through a woman’s magazine a short while ago which was advising its readers that a good way to increase endorphin release was to act happy: jump up and down, sing, smile even if you don’t feel like it, and for goodness’ sake, stand up straight and tall because science has now proven that if you stand up and stick your chest out and hold your head up high you will subsequently feel confident! I had to laugh. We have now come full circle; in my lifetime, no less. I can remember reading in my youth somewhere that the effort by adults to ‘make’ children correct their posture was a subtle form of attempting to destroy their sense of self esteem, for it gave them the message that they weren’t ‘good enough’ just the way they were!
I am still snorting. Sorry.
Laurita,
Just the other day, I stumbled across this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are?language=en
OK. Got it. LOL!
One word: nephesh. Back to the Beginning. It is all me. Equally. It is significant to me that salvation is for the entire nephesh. Body, mind and spirit. Otherwise, what’s a Resurrection for? Apparently eternity needs all of me to have any of me. Just ’cause we think we can separate (fracture) ourselves into neat little solitary fragments and give those fragments Names doesn’t mean that we have succeeded in separating them in their function. I think sometimes there must be no greater folly than that which we have foisted upon ourselves in thinking that we can actually succeed in separating the parts from the whole. It may not be considered quite kosher to include the body in all those mental or spiritual conversations or activities; we may still want to act like the body is more humiliating or unmentionable, but, it is as much me as the rest of me. Puts a new light on all those health and cleanliness, purity and kosher regulations for me. They all say “include the body”. Because it already is.
When I ended up in Alanon where I was told “fake it ’til you make it”, and “it works if you work it, so work it”, I got as mad at that as I got at everything else I got told, so I went where I found myself going a good deal in those days, to my Bible, to ‘prove’ that one wrong. Well, the Good Book said the same thing. Paul, in Romans 13:14 counseled to “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ”. Play dress up. Dress up in His Mind, His righteousness, until the day I wake up and find that I have. Let me tell you, it feels strange to fake trust! LOL! It feels strange to refuse to be anxious when everything is screaming at me that I am going to be irresponsible if I don’t worry. It seems very strange, when I know that I do not know what to do, to hand it over and say “Father, know for me”. But every time, I find one thing. I find myself standing still in the place Einstein gave up looking for: the place of Absolute Rest. And, I like it. Einstein, I would like to say one thing to you: you were right, but I think you may have been looking in the wrong place!
The link was tons of fun, Rick! Have a great day filled with testosterone!
As I read the scriptures and know the revelation of Truth, of Messiah and am overcome with wonder and praise at the Wisdom, Love, Glory of YHWH, as I find myself included in His purposes, His plans from the foundation of the earth and am swallowed up in amazement I am overjoyed, I cannot sleep, it is all consuming and invigorating. I cannot be silent, joy has overtaken me. Hallelujah! That is the joy, not something conjured up in my own flesh. The Joy I know from my Saviour comes from the very presence of His being including even me. How wonderful and how gracious is His Chesed that He could choose the likes of me, and then even to reveal His plans and purposes to me. Hallelujah.
Big grin for me today!
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/04/smiling-changes-how-you-view-the-world.html