Article June 13, 1977 ISSUE

Unfailing Joy

ROLF WITZSCHE

Joy is a priceless gift of God, Life. How do we find it? How do we reach the source of unfailing joy?

Christ Jesus gave us a hint of the nature and origin of permanent joy. Speaking to the disciples after the Last Supper, he said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."^{John 15:11;} Material circumstances obviously had no part in the Master's joy. Based on Truth—on a consciousness filled with gratitude for God's all-inclusive perfect being—this joy sprang from divine Spirit, Love, which constitutes all being.

As Jesus demonstrated, real joy exists in a higher realm, where matter is unknown. Through Christian Science we learn to recognize the phenomenon called matter as a lie and a cheat—without reality. Thus matter could never be a basis for joy and satisfaction. All the fancied, materialistic pleasures—lusts, passions, appetites, ambitions, and worldly honors—must be recognized as deception and lies of matter. Just as matter cannot be part of one's true being, for it does not really exist, so the illusion of joy in matter can never be part of anyone's consciousness, for true consciousness knows only Spirit and spiritual things.

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