Where Can We Find Joy?

In Confucius we see that there is a lot of talking about where to find Joy. In the end this all adds up to a single thing, simplicity. Confucius insists that when one is wealthy and with a lot of power don’t necessarily are the happiest. But being poor doesn’t make you happy either. It is having virtues and being good what helps you find happiness in life. “The Master said, “The gentleman is self possessed and relaxed, while the petty man is perpetually full of worry.”” (p.22)

Today we are very stressed people because we have complicated our lives to such point it is inevitable. We reach such state of worry that we even have health issues derived from this. But why do we keep fighting for this? Why do we keep living a life style, with enough worry and stress to kill us? I believe we keep on going because society continually tells us that at the end of the road we will find happiness even though the trip there will be tough.

Confucius on the other hand tells us that we should enjoy the trip. How do we do this? Well we keep it simple and through this we can find joy. With this simplicity we will find happiness even in the most common of things. This was said through an anecdote here, “Zengxi the said, “In the third month of Spring, once the Spring garments have been completed, I should like to assemble a company of five or six young men and six or seven boys to go bathe in the Yi River and enjoy the breeze upon the Rain Dance Altar, and then return singing to the Master’s house.” (p.33)

Here, unlike the rest who left right after that, he stayed and continues to talk to “The Master”. He was the one who deserved to know what he thought. It was clear that it was through this aspiration that he acquired his approval. Also, his dream was the simplest of all, for he desired neither power nor land but simply to enjoy life.

Finally, through this teaching apparently they mention nature but as something given to them that would never end. Today this is disappearing faster and most likely rivers in which to bathe like this are polluted. It is always with the help with nature and the peace provided by it that we can find true joy and good within ourselves. If we destroy it and all that remains are cities of cement and clouds of pollution then where will we find peace? Where will we find Joy?