Joy vs. Happiness — The Crucial Distinction

Bashar makes a vital distinction between happiness — a conditional, circumstance-dependent emotional state — and joy — an unconditional, frequency-based state of being that exists independent of circumstances.

There is a distinction I want to make that I believe will be of genuine practical value, because much of the suffering that comes from the pursuit of happiness arises from a confusion between two quite different things: happiness and joy.

Happiness, as most people understand and pursue it, is a conditional state. 'I will be happy when I get the job.' 'I am happy because my relationship is going well.' 'I would be happy if this painful situation resolved.' Happiness in this sense is a good feeling that is contingent on external circumstances — it arrives when the conditions are right and departs when the conditions change. Because circumstances are inherently impermanent and continuously changing, a happiness that depends on them is inherently unstable and inherently impossible to maintain.

Joy is different in kind, not just in degree. Joy is not a feeling that happens to you in response to good circumstances. Joy is a frequency — a fundamental quality of being that is available to you independent of circumstances, because it is not generated by circumstances. It arises from alignment — from the genuine, in-the-moment recognition that you are an expression of All-That-Is, that you are held, that you are loved, that your existence is inherently valuable and worthwhile, that the universe is fundamentally a place of abundance and adventure and expansion rather than threat.

This joy can coexist with difficult emotions. You can feel grief and joy simultaneously — the grief that comes from missing someone you love, and the joy that comes from knowing that consciousness does not end and love does not end. You can feel the discomfort of facing a challenge and the joy that comes from knowing you are capable, held, and growing through the meeting of it.

How do you access this joy? Not by achieving the right circumstances. By shifting your fundamental orientation — by returning, again and again, to the recognition of what you actually are and what the universe actually is. This is what meditation is for. This is what all the teachings I bring are pointing toward: not the manufacturing of good feelings, but the remembering of the joy that is your birthright.