Joy Is A Sure Sign Of Bestowal
A question I received: Why does spiritual work always have to be done joyfully?
My Answer: Joy is a sign that you are acting for the sake of bestowal and that you are not doing it by coercion, because you have no other choice or because you are afraid of bad things happening to you. We know how happy a mother is when she succeeds at feeding her child well, because she receives pleasure from this. Bestowal that comes from love, like with the case of the mother, always comes with joy. Joy is a sign and a consequence of good deeds (bestowal).
However, if a person is under the power of his ego, he feels tense and is angry at the Creator. Therefore, the force of kindness and faith is expressed through serenity, rejection of oneself in the face of the Upper Force, a willingness to receive its influence and its correction, which will change your qualities to bestowal. Then the Upper Force comes and gives you strength, and all of this is accompanied by joy.
A true plea to the Creator cannot occur without joy. If a prayer is heard by the Creator, it is called “the gate of tears” (Shaar ha-Dmaot), which means that a person wishes to be similar to the Creator (from the word “Dommeh” – similar). Therefore, he “cries,” meaning that he really wants to become similar to the Giver. However, these are not tears of sorrow; rather, a person feels joy because he has reached this great desire.
An appeal to the Creator cannot be sorrowful. If you cry, it means you blame Him for arranging all of this for you and are unhappy about your path, which you follow out of hopelessness. Then you cannot be righteous. Therefore, if a person does not feel joy in every state that comes to him (be it the greatest state imaginable or the worst possible state), this means that he is in his egoism and has no way to appeal to the Creator.
A person has to ascend in order to always remain in joy. Then he won’t care what is happening to him, since his only request is to acquire the force of bestowal. In that case, he will receive it.
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Dear Rav,
despite many years of searching, and an intense desire to enter into spirituality I still find i am tense and angry, I cannot seem to convince my heart even though my mind longs for UNITY and equivalence.
I am wondering if JOY is different from the corporeal understanding?
Is JOY the desire to attribute all to the Creator? Coupled with the determination to recognise ones opposition?