Despair and joy are different emotional forms of the same creative energy.
Despair is only the absence of joy. Despair is joy that is obstructed. Joy is our natural state.
We feel despair when people we trust betray us, when we don’t know which way to turn, when our creative energy is blocked because we’re afraid. What is it we fear when we feel despair? Are we afraid that we’re not good enough? That we’ve failed? Do we fear the future? Do we fear what other humans will think? What they will say? When we feel despair, life feels like a terrible prison, with no way out except death. Our energy is horribly contracted and turned inward. Our minds are thinking negative thoughts. Despair is a living hell.
Joy is free and spontaneous expression, expansion, and explosion of our creative force field. There are no prison bars, no blockages. We’re joyful when we’ve accomplished something new, when we’ve helped a friend, when we’re immersed in nature, when we’re making love with our beloved, when our negative thoughts have shut themselves down and turned themselves off. Joy is a heaven on earth.
Perhaps we can only appreciate joy when we’ve experienced despair. Perhaps we can only be truly compassionate when we ourselves have suffered the depths of hell. Perhaps there is a reason for despair. It brings us to our knees and humbles us. It helps us realize we can’t do it alone.