“The
Book of Joy” by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, shares about
teachings on how to cultivate joy in life. The two authors are well known spiritual leaders
and are both Nobel Peace Prize recipients.
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source: amazon.com |
It
was mentioned in the book that suffering is a core aspect of human life and
that pain and suffering can actually be fruitful and constructive. An example
that was given is childbirth, since every mother knows how painful it is but
mothers accept the pain necessary because of the tremendous joy that a new
child brings.
In
life, people sometimes experience suffering that is beyond their control and
one always has a choice on how to respond. Just like building our body’s
immunity to sickness by being healthy, one also needs to build mental immunity.
In order to build mental immunity, it is important to understand that fear and
frustration are facets of the mind, not of reality. Thus, one should not have
them control one’s life and one can opt to find joy in any situation.
One
occasion mentioned that was unexpected was when the Dalai Lama had a canceled
flight and he had to make a six-hour long journey to the next closest airport
with filmmaker Peggy Callahan. Instead of getting frustrated with the
situation, they just made the road trip more enjoyable by sharing funny travel
stories along the way.
The
book also featured the importance of the 8 Pillars of Joy:
(1) Perspective
- It is important to observe circumstances through a wider lens and realize that any given moment cannot last forever.
- It is good to sharpen one’s focus on the present and bring joy and hope in one’s life.
(2) Humility
- One must not view oneself as more superior than others.
An
example given is how the Dalai Lama used to get nervous when he was a young man
since he viewed himself as above his audience before when he was providing spiritual
teaching. Today, he just sees himself as just another person and this
dissipates his anxiety when he teaches others and makes his experience more
relatable.
(3) Humor
- Humor and acceptance can defuse tense situations and set you at ease.
An example given was how Desmond Tutu
was able to use humor to speak to two warring ethnic groups. He told a
fictional story about a place where the big-nosed people discriminated against
the small-nosed people. Apart from making the audience laugh, Tutu was able to
make them understand the absurdity of prejudice.
(4) Acceptance
(4) Acceptance
- One must accept that life has its hard moments and most of which one does not have control over.
(5) Gratitude
- Gratitude as a virtue is to take nothing for granted and to be thankful for everything that you have and all that you have experienced.
(6) Forgiveness
- Forgiveness lets one move on from the past and enjoy the present.
(7) Compassionate concern
- Being compassionate fills the heart with joy and can grow one’s happiness.
(8) Spending time on others’ happiness
- One can become happy by helping others feel happy.
For pillars 7 and 8, an example given is an act of altruism by James Doty, the founder of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. He earned his fortune as a medical technology entrepreneur, donated USD 30 Million to a charity and opted not to follow the advise of his lawyers to withdraw his charitable donations when he lost all his wealth in a stock market crash since it made him happy to help others.
The
book teaches us that suffering is part of life and that cultivating joy is
possible even if we encounter challenges. By having a better perspective of a
situation, having humility, humor and gratitude, accepting situations that are
beyond our control, being able to forgive and responding with compassion and
generosity to others, we can achieve true happiness.
