Don't Worry About Joy
[Asked to say something about joy.]
There’s no reason to be attached to anything. If you attach to anything you have a problem. This idea of: if this doesn’t give me joy there’s something wrong with it — that’s ridiculous. Everything is exactly what it is. What is your correct relationship to it? What is the actual situation? What is your correct function? And if joy comes up that’s nice, that’s a side effect. It’s not anything to aim for. No feeling is anything to aim for. Even compassion is not anything to aim for if it’s a feeling. If it’s an action, maybe you feel the feeling of compassion, maybe you don’t, it doesn’t matter. What are you doing in this world? What is the direction of your life? What is the purpose of your life? Is it only for you? Then you have a problem. It’s not only for you. Then no problem. So don’t worry about joy.