The natural jubilation of being
What would LUX be without gaiety? Gaiety, a much neglected adjective, describes an emotional state of joyous lightheartedness. It is the lightness of being that those who are the most serious may find unbearable. Is your face sagging? If you maintain your usual facial expression 50 more years, what permanent record of who you are, will those years carve into your flesh?
Are you aware of the constriction between your eyes as you ponder your problems? Are you aware of the weight of your mouth, equivalent to the gravity of your preoccupation? Gravity is indeed the opposite of gaiety. One is the invisible force that pulls us down. The other is the invisible propulsion allowing us to bubble up in effervescent delight. What extraordinary counter-gravity is manifest in that slight lifting of the cheeks when you smile with heart-felt authenticity! You cannot fake an authentic smile. There is no buttox to save you here.
What can you do then if you do not feel like smiling?
Do you believe that your emotional state is an external reality to which you are subject? It is your thoughts that are causing your emotional state, and nothing else. There is nobody other than you who can be responsible for your thoughts.
Your mind and body are integrated by countless feedback loops. If you start to smile for no reason, your body will trigger certain hormonal reactions that match the emotional state you are mirroring. This is not talking yourself into happiness, it’s simply letting go of your totalitarian mind long enough to let your body do what it does naturally. Your natural state is not misery.
The well-known Rosemary Clooney song interpreted by Bing Crosby makes you irresistibly want to get up and dance. The lyrics go as follows: “I ain’t got nobody. I’m so sad and lonely!” When your body is jumping around, it’s more of challenge to feel sad than not.
Sam Cooke sang in 1962 “let me tell you about a place where people are so gay, twistin’ the night away.”
Maybe most of these people are frivolous and superficial, but a few are endowed with the authentic gift of feeling and expressing delight through their bodies. Not concerned about success or failure, past or future, life or death, they are alive in the pulsating moment, and this is the nectar from which ecstasy can be distilled.
Some reading this may wonder why we have chosen this word “gay” that most use in reference to homosexuality. Let’s make a connection, even though none is necessary. Homosexuality has given rise to homophobie, a spectrum of beliefs that range from disapproval to disgust to despite. The most technologically-advanced country in the world is home to millions who believe it is their religious obligation to oppose homosexuality. It is indeed written in the Bible that God hates homosexuality, and who can argue with the Bible? There is a deep-seated contradiction within the great religions of intolerance. Both Christianity and Judaism teach that God endowed humans with free moral agency. Simply put, freedom to make choices and experience the outcomes of those choices. The rule of law has been necessary to prevent people from violating other’s rights. But homosexuality is a free choice between consenting adults that does not harm others. Yet, both of these religions continue to condemn it. Were it not for the balance of power within secular states, things would certainly be a lot worse off for homosexuals.
What association can be made between gay and gay? If you are person who judges homosexuality (because your God does too), take the following “gay” experiment: try for one day to suspend your moral judgement. Make a sincere attempt to see a homosexual without any form of discrimination. Look upon the person as a human without any defect greater than your own. Pay attention to what it feels like not to judge. Maybe you don’t feel true to your beliefs. But what does if feel like to see another as very much the same as yourself, despite their differences? If you repeat this experience, you will at some point feel increasing lightness, even gaiety. There is weight upon the heart when you dislike, and lightness when you like. When leave aside the burden of having to judge because your religion has taught you to judge, you will feel lighter.
Now, the final “gay” experiment is smile to yourself, every single day, at a moment when you do not feel like it. Smile alone, then experiment with smiling in public. We are not talking here about the smile as a mask, the survival technique you have been taught so that others will like you. No, this is entirely different. This is a smile upon yourself and upon others that is not intended to get something from them, but to give of yourself. On the surface, there is almost no distinguishable difference between the two forms of smile. Only the heart can detect the true intent.
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