Oh what a feeling
Recently I again heard someone state that he was awash with happiness whilst reciting Tehillim (psalms), at a time of great personal danger. He said and that’s what happiness is, after all, the sense that you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing at the exact moment you are meant to be doing it.
happy face...s
All well and good. I can understand this. It makes sense. It is the perfect convergence, like the fingers of lovers intertwining perfectly and effortlessly as they begin to walk hand in hand down the road.
But this is a state of mind that I would imagine can be decided upon. That is, if you decide that what you are doing is correct, you will feel happiness.
So one might argue, ah, yes, but one occurs when you consciously force it, whereas real happiness comes naturally. To which I would argue well, not so: it would occur on the back of previous inputs and shapings to your psyche. Many, if not all of which we’ve similarly chosen, simply at different times over a long period. Example, if you decided at age 5 that archery is good, then when you are engaged in anything like that when you are 25 plus any number of other inputs over that time, you may feel happiness.
Religion is perhaps no different. So when you decide that your religion is right, then when you do something in accordance with it at the time encouraged, you will feel that same sense of happiness. Truth is, during our time on Earth, the game demands that we never know if what we are doing is what we are meant to be doing.
Go ahead. Make my day.
Regardless, this puts the ball back in our court. If we want to be happy, we can forcibly decide that what we’re doing right now is correct. Religious rituals provide a plethora of opportunities, therefore, for happiness. As they are from On High, rather than from a human being, including your own mind, it is easier to abandon adequate or thoughtful decision-making and just fling yourself into happiness.
A girl once intimated her uneasiness at a ruach session (spirited session of songs and playful mayhem). My guess is that she never went to a youth movement, yet here we were watching the stock standard expression of youthful joy take place. A dining hall event of delightful proportions, one table’s inhabitants feeding off another, passing the ball of exuberance from one table to the next. She said: “I always get nervous when I see mass gatherings of unthinking crowds towards a purpose”. It was a mindless mob to her. To me, it was like a hive-mind, in typical Jewish fashion. We are, after all, interconnected to impressive degrees.
I retain respect for the one that consciously decides to do so, over and above one that, at any instant, will jump right in. Perhaps this, then, is the Jewish concept of Kavanah, intent or concentration, and why many say that without it, you haven’t properly fulfilled your obligations (if at all).
But is this all happiness? Does it matter if it’s the real definition or one we’ve conjured for ourselves?
