I use the word JOY in the way mystics have traditionally used it across many traditions.
It doesn't mean happiness or silliness or any sort of BIG expressed, giddy sort of emotional state. It's the ground of your being. It's the ground of all existence.
It's the feeling that we have when we are centered and residing in the space in ourselves that knows it is a good thing to be living this life no matter what is happening. It's actually quite... calm, steady, abiding... it feels a lot like long deep breathing.
There are as many ways to access this state as there are human experiences and that is where tantra comes in for me. Tantra is an understanding of life that says that every single thing you take in via your senses is a gift that we can learn from, that we can grow from.
So tantra never denies bodily needs and desires like so many paths do. There's no "transcending." There's being right here IN THIS.
This does NOT mean that SHIT doesn't happen. It doesn't mean that SHIT isn't SHITTY. It doesn't mean there aren't UBER SHITTY humans on this planet making UBER SHITTY choices.
It means that if we are settled in our joybody we can, after processing and being truthful and expressing what needs to be expressed, we can find even just a small something of value for ourselves. After the fact.
The universe and life aren't here to "teach you lessons." Open minded and inquisitive people turn life INTO lessons.
So when I ask you about joy even in this current context of craposity, I mean, dig a little under that. Are you breathing today? Then there's something for you under the crap.
THIS is LIBERATING your joybody.