Joyous Immediacy of the Human Experience

"Both [Dionysus and Jesus] upheld what has been called a hedonic vision of community, based on egalitarianism and the joyous immediacy of human experience – as against the agonic reality of the cruelly unequal and warlike societies they briefly favored with their presence."  ~Barbara Ehrenreich,in Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy ©2006

If Jesus does come back, it will be to save us from His followers.

That's kind of ironic.

 

Joy

I was given a copy of The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, and I looked forward to reading it.  I admire both of those men, and was sure they had insights I would find helpful.

Their days are striking similar.  Tutu begins his day with five hours of meditation, the Dalai Lama six.  Then a servant brings them a breakfast prepared by a chef.  When the plates are cleared a way, a driver appears to take them where they need to be that day…

And at that point I stopped reading.  These are not lives I can emulate.

I'm going to wait and read the book by the waiter, the driver, or the cook.