Joy With the Accompanying Idea of an External Cause

By Heber Longhurst

April 26nd 2022

Her name was Joy, she had a sister named Verdriet and a brother named Onske. They lived in a mystical and magical world of chemicals, neurons and electrical impulse. This land of magic and reason was governed by an all-encompassing being who permeated all essence and existence and by some was called Nadair.

Nadair is the free cause of all things and all things are in her and depend on her. Without Nadair they can neither be, nor be conceived. All things have been conceived by Nadair, not from freedom nor from absolute good pleasure, but instead, simply, from her absolute nature, which is to say, her infinite power.

All mankind sought for Joy and the core motivation of all their dreams, waking thoughts and actions was to find her. Often when seeking her they would encounter Verdriet instead. But they did not love Verdriet, they hated her and tried to avoid her. Wars, genocides, rapes, thefts, deceptions, and calumnies were committed in their quest to avoid Verdriet instead of just learning to allow her to come and go in peace. For Verdriet whom they avoided knew and understood her sister better than they could imagine. A very select few discovered that by peacefully accepting one sister they could also find Joy.

Onske was also among them, motivating and agitating them. Sometimes to noble deeds of valor, innovation and progress and sometimes to base acts of calumny and destruction, but always enlivening the heart and mind to agitation and action.

The wisest among them, those who were governed by reason learned to pay the hatred, anger, or contempt of others with love and generosity. Those who sought to avenge injuries by hating in return, lived miserable lives while those who strove to drive out hatred by love fought joyfully and confidently with equal ease resisting one man or a multitude, often needing no assistance from fortune. Those who were vanquished by the wise who fought hatred with love did so cheerfully and found that their strength was increased instead of decreased in yielding to love.

The wise ones who sought to understand the essence of Nadair abandoned their prior ideals of perfection vs imperfection, primitive concepts of good vs evil and in so doing found truth and liberation from the human bondage to the strength of the affects.