Article March 21, 1914 Issue

Everlasting Joy

LUCY HAYS EASTMAN

From a human standpoint, joy is based upon that which is temporal, upon persons, things, and events, upon beliefs rather than facts, and thus it is at the mercy of both chance and change. The belief that joy is to be gained through material ways, ways without rather than within, leads to the mistaken conclusion that man's happiness, regardless of Principle, may come today but go tomorrow. This belief arouses emotions and hopes, while at the same time it excites fear lest these hopes be torn to pieces without fulfilment. Mortals build anticipations upon a foundation of sand, or plan for the fulfilment of some personal interest, and thus deceive themselves with a counterfeit sense of joy; counterfeit because they strive to attain the desired end only to find that, even if realized, it seldom yields satisfaction. And why? Because they have been looking for it in matter instead of in Spirit.

Through the teaching of Christian Science we learn that mortal existence is a dream. Therefore to believe that anything within human experience can of itself produce joy, is a false belief. To illustrate: Suppose a man who placed wealth above all else, suddenly discovered that what he had believed to be his fortune consisted of counterfeit money. During the period in which he had believed the money to be genuine, was not his pleasure based upon a false belief, which, when the truth was discovered, revealed his satisfaction to be without a true basis, and therefore mistaken and temporary? Similarly, the so-called joy of human experience is made up of beliefs in the reality of the unreal, until we learn that true joy is found wholly in God. Never, until this great fact is realized, do we experience permanent and unvarying joy.

Joy is a vital element of life, of which it expresses the spontaneity and freedom. Because life is, joy is; and the very fact that we have life, means that we have joy also. This is the joy which the Master said "no man taketh from you." It is the joy that sparkles and radiates with the glow of unselfed interest and spiritual beauty. It is the joy of Soul, that is never found in meat and drink, but in righteousness and peace. It is the joy which is dependent upon that state of consciousness which knows no evil, and which is filled with the understanding of Love and Truth. Clearly, then, there can be neither ebb nor flow to sinless joy; rather is it a continuous experience of the progressive unfoldment of good and the bliss of living it.

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