Joy

Joy BY NEPHI JENSON

After studying long and profoundly, Epicurus concluded that "Happiness is the supreme good." The Greek philosopher came very near to the truth about the object of man's existence. But a greater than Epicurus gave the true and complete answer to the old, and yet ever new, question, "Why are we here?" in the words, "Man is that he might have joy." This is the text of texts. There is more of sound philosophy in this simple Book of Mormon gen-

eralization of the purpose of human existence, than is to be found iii volumes of the vaunted speculations of the sages.

This little word "Joy" is the name of the goal towards which we should strive with all our might of brain and strength of heart. There is only one way to this goal, and it is "straight and narrow" said the One who traveled it. He is the wisest of the wise, who really finds the way to joy and is never turned there- from by vain illusions. But what is joy? It is more than content. It is more than pleasure. The mirth that lingers in the eye of the contented is pleasure; joy is the golden glow of the mellow soul. Pleasure is the rippling laughter that dances on the lips of the gay ; joy is the deep, lasting glory of the soul. Pleasure is the light that Mashes from things that sparkle because of their splendor; joy is the dew that distils in the soul in which the goodnesses of good- ness, purity and beauty reside. Joy is the music of the heart that beats true to heaven's symphony. Joy is the glory of the soul so full of peace and melody that it cannot speak. Where is joy? It is not in the heel of the gay dancer. It is not in the joke of the jester. It is not in the sparkling wine. It is not in the ease of the idler. It is not in the revel of the dissolute. It is in the heart of the toiler who struggles to make others happy. It is in the heart of the mother who sees heaven's light in the eyes of her child. It is in the heart of the poet who weaves, of the warp and woof of truth and beauty, words that inspire and thrill. Tt is in the heart of the prophet who sends down the ages the white light of truth to lift souls up to God. It is in the heart that is glad when others are glad, and sad when others are sad. It is in the heart that is great enough and true enough to beat just mid- way between tears and gladness. Joy is the most elusive thing in the world. When we seek it, we fail to find it and often when we are not seeking it, we find it. ;

We cannot buy it. It cannot be brought from afar. He has found

232 IMPROVEMENT ERA the way to joy who lias learned that there is glory in working, and sadness shirking; that the heart of the burden-bearer is light, in and the heart of the care-free is heavy; that ease and idleness is vanity; and struggling and striving is sanity. In a word he has found the way to joy who has learned that the full and successful life is a "Gift and benediction." The saying of the master, "My yoke is easy, my burden is light," is the greatest paradox in all the literature of the world. It is one of the strongest sentences ever spoken by poet, sage or prophet. It contains the hardest lesson any one ever tried to learn. Only one Person ever really knew the full truth that simple sentence holds, and that was the One who spoke it. He knew it and lived it. The vain, abortive human striving to become light-hearted without bearing burdens, and to get ease of soul without wearing the yoke of service, is the saddest and most enduring tragedy of human history! There is joy in the acquisition of power. But strength does not come from inaction. In the development of power of mind or soul the law of equivalents holds inexorably true. The use of strength develops strength. We cannot have robust minds and strong hearts if we evade the solution of the stern problem of political wrong, social injustice, and human misery. "Ease is for dolls steep and craggy is the path of the gods." ; All the songs that have lived and thrilled have come from hearts almost crushed with their load of care. All the poems that have made the heart beat faster have been written in tears. There is not, in all tongues of the race, an oration worth the name that did not come from some great heart made strong by the weight of human woe and what it carried. There is not a name on the roll of fame that is not the name of someone who in some way was a burden-bearer. He alone receives strength and joy who faces the stern world with its more stern problems with invincible resolution, and gives to the full of his heart and brain for the defense of the weak, the righting of wrongs, the eradication of evil, the glorification of truth, the protection of purity, and the establishment of righteous- ness. Weare as strong as the total weight of all the burdens we have borne. There is joy in living the purposeful life, the life which sees in the sunset what the artist sees, that sees in the star what the astronomer sees, that hears in the bird's plaintive note what the singer hears, that is stirred by the truth as the orator is stirred, that grows towards the light as surely as the needle finds the star. There is joy in giving. A thousand times you have heard someone say, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," but not one in a thousand knows what profound truth lies hidden in those simple words. "He who saves his life shall lose it." The