The Pursuit of Joy: A Journey Beyond Reason

Joy is not a fleeting emotion or a momentary reward — it is the radiant reflection of good deeds, a shimmering echo of our alignment with a higher purpose. Most of us live our lives governed by a “reason” rooted in the raw soil of our emotions and feelings, a tangled web of desires and instincts that shape our every choice. This reason, though familiar, is fleeting and fragile, tethered to the temporary and purposeless existence of our egocentric, selfish, and subjective nature. It offers no lasting fruit, no enduring fulfillment — only a hollow chase through a life that fades like a shadow at dusk.

Yet there is another way, a path that calls us upward, toward a “spiritual reason” — a conscious, luminous comprehension of a higher state, one that blossoms through our growing similarity with the Creator, reality’s singular, benevolent, and omnipotent force. This spiritual reason is not born of our inherent desire to receive maximum fulfillment for ourselves alone. Instead, it emerges when we fuse that desire with an intention of pure, selfless, unconditional love and bestowal — a radical shift that lifts us beyond the confines of our present intellect and emotions. To walk this path is to surrender the aimless drift of our earthly reason and to seek the fruit of spiritual attainment: a connection to the eternal, a resonance with the divine.

This journey demands focus — a relentless aim that rises above everything we experience, every tumult of feeling or twist of fate. It requires a unique cooperation, a sacred bond forged within a special, closed, and methodical environment where we support one another in this ascent. For it is only through such unity that we can hold fast to the burden of spirituality, choosing to enslave ourselves to the Creator’s governance forever — not out of compulsion, but out of longing, even when our hearts quake and our minds rebel. This is the essence of “above reason” — a total subjugation of our current intellect, mind, and emotions to the higher state we yearn to embody.

In this surrender, we do not lose ourselves; we find ourselves anew. By allowing the Creator’s system to inform us, to lend us the intellect, mind, and emotions of that desired higher state, we are reshaped. This transformation flows through the complex and radiant system of the Torah, a living conduit of divine wisdom. Through it, we receive an upper illumination — a gladness that dawns like the first light after a long night. This illumination, sparked by our “good deeds,” corrects us, adjusts us, and prepares us for the requirements of the next spiritual level. It fills us with the mind and emotions of that higher state, drawing us ever closer to the Creator’s qualities.

What are these “good deeds”? They are not mere acts of charity or kindness, though those have their place. In this context, they are the prayers we raise — the conscious, heartfelt cries that signal our willingness to surrender before the Creator, to let Him do with us whatever He deems necessary. Prayer is our lifeline, the only way we can connect to the divine and declare our readiness to become like Him, against the grain of our inherent nature. Through this acquired similarity, we attain, verify, and justify the Creator as the single, benevolent force weaving the tapestry of reality. And in that justification, we find joy — a joy that pulses with the sensation of our growing connection to Him.

But this path is not static; it is a ladder of ascent, each rung demanding a deeper deficiency, a sharper yearning, an ever-growing need for the next sanctified state. We must grow accustomed to living in this tension, this constant ache for greater similarity with the Creator, whose love and bestowal know no bounds. Only through such a relentless hunger, sustained by prayer, can we maintain the momentum that elevates and refines us. This “supernatural” existence requires an unshakable mutual support system — a circle of souls bound by a shared purpose, adjusting one another, complementing one another, holding one another up in the face of doubt or despair.

Here lies our truest freedom: the choice to anticipate the next state the Creator has prepared for us, to ask for it proactively and consciously rather than waiting for it to descend upon us unbidden, forced upon us without our consent. When we align our desires with what the Creator wishes to give, we stand in harmony with His will. And when we achieve that harmony — when we reach the next rung and bask in its upper illumination — we enter a state of joy. In that joy, armed with the “borrowed” upper reason of the higher state, we must delve into the Torah. This is not a passive study but an active, methodical process of self-correction, a way to recognize how far we stand from the next desired level and to draw down the “light of the Torah” to adjust us further.

Yet this joy is not ours to hoard. In this elevated state, we become conduits, transparent pipelines through which the illumination and reason we’ve received flow to others in our sacred environment. We cannot cling to it for our own sake; to hold it selfishly is to lose it. Instead, we match our intentions to the goal of the upper system, passing on what we’ve been given, ensuring the gateways of divine light remain open. This is how we sustain the state of joy — by becoming vessels of bestowal, mirrors of the Creator’s own nature.

The verification of this process is the joy itself, a living testament to our increasing similarity and connection with the Creator. It is a joy laced with paradox, for even as we revel in it, we remain in constant deficiency, forever praying for yet greater closeness, yet deeper recognition. This is the heartbeat of the spiritual path: a dance of fulfillment and longing, of illumination and yearning, of surrender and ascent. And through it all, we are held by the promise that the Creator sentences one where one is — meeting us exactly where we stand, offering the perfectly measured treatment we need to rise.

So let us take on this burden, this glorious yoke of spirituality, and hold fast to it above reason, beyond feeling, through every storm and shadow. Let us seek the upper illumination that flows from our good deeds, the gladness that crowns our prayers, and the joy that heralds our transformation. For in this pursuit, we do not merely live — we become alive, woven into the eternal fabric of the Creator’s love.