The nature of joy

The whole reason for any spiritual practice is to release joy, to discover our full capacity for joy, in discovering the real nature of joy or the real nature of happiness. The mistake every human being who has ever lived has fallen into is to think that happiness consists in the satisfaction of our desires. There is nothing wrong in getting what we want, provided it doesn’t do harm to anybody else or do harm to ourselves. It’s not that pleasure is bad or getting what you want or fun is bad really. It’s just that the nature of joy is not fully experienced in getting what you want.

Grace at Work by Laurence Freeman OSB