Success and joy
06
Jan
Anselm Grün begins this chapter making a counterpoint, as both the German
Jewish philosopher Martin Buber who said “Success is not a term from God”, and the famous psychologist Carl Jung who said that success is the greatest enemy of the transformation of the human being is a life full of successes, the monk ends by saying that “success is part of life” and we should be happy about it (Grün, 2014, p. 73).
He considers that we can “enjoy the moment”, a joy of gratitude, a “free gift, not a merit, it is something that I perceive and am happy knowing that it happens and passes” (Grùn, 2014, p. 74).
Then he corrects and says that joy is mainly associated with creativity, quoting Aristotle and Erich Fromm, “we are satisfied with a job well done and when we realize that we have accomplished something today” (p. 75), and completes that artists are “great connoisseurs of this joy”.
Thus, there is a difference between Euphoria and true Joy, what is sought today at concerts, gyms and beauty clinics is a fleeting, fleeting success, especially when one is not looking for health and well-being. this joy that remains, I would call joy.
Recognition is also important, but it will not come from the powerful, greedy or vain, they look for spotlights and committed or even purchased success, it is not wrapped in true joy because it arises from ephemeral values and truths and therefore, that pass, but that wise minds and hearts know how to find.
In the biblical passage, the birth of Jesus, in a humble place in a small town of Bethlehem, and the recognition first by humble shepherds from the countryside and later by “kings” from the east, a clear allusion to distant peoples and of other beliefs, which announces a real joy, a jubilation and what we should remember at Christmas and the year that begins, this that can give us real joy.
This day is Christmas in Russia and declare stop war for this days.
Grün, Alselm (2014) Viver com Alegria (Life with joy). Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
