Endorphins interact with opioid receptors in the brain and that’s why they reduce our perception of pain, like morphine or codeine act in the same way. But the happiness that comes through the Beatitudes, the happiness that comes through deep prayer, is different. We also know from research that if you have endorphins for too long and you get addicted to endorphins – to that happiness that comes from shopping for example, or any of those other things – too many endorphins makes you anxious. You begin to fear this can’t last. You begin to fear that something bad is going to happen. So that kind of happiness isn’t really happiness and it doesn’t last. The brain itself rejects it. The happiness of the Beatitudes is holiness. The Greek word for ‘happy’ – happy are the poor in spirit – is makarios which can also be translated as ‘blessed’ or ‘holy’. Happiness is the holiness of the spiritual journey.
Christian Life in the Light of Christian Meditation 2: Holyness by Laurence Freeman OSB
