On happiness. Joy does not fall from the sky.

This week one of the brave opponents of the apartheid system and a most respected journalist, decided to end his life. He shot himself, having told his friends that he was fed up with what was happening in our country. His death was front page news, with some of our most distinguished leaders appealing to those in power to understand that his death signals to hem how crime and corruption are driving people to acts of extreme desperation. There is in our land deep depression as our social fabric falls apart.

The journalist’s death affected me deeply. As a young man, I often felt inspired by his fearless stand against apartheid. When others in high moral positions supported a devastating racist political system, cut off all debates and ostracised those who dared to express dissent and opposition (him included), his lonely, brave voice gave us hope and strengthened us in our own opposition to the system. I respected the integrity with which he wrote and fought an often lonely battle against injustice – something he did throughout his life.

But I am writing this because of something else I read yesterday. I was reading a book by Anselm Grün on spirituality in which he writes about joy. He writes about the fact that our society knows so little joy and that we perpetuate and intensify our feelings of misery by our constant negative attitudes and pronouncements.

I kept on reflecting on what he writes – especially because joy is so vital. Joy in life is not just an emotion that makes our existence a pleasure or provides us with good feelings. Joy is a key to survival. If we lose our joy in life, we often arrive at a point where we completely give up on life.

As a contrast to this miserable situation, Grün draws attention to the fact that the Bible is full of feasts which are celebrated with much joy. For this one only has to read the Psalms. The deeper life of which the Bible speaks, is a life of joy.

But, and this is the point, life, even in the Bible is not merely about joy. The best Biblical symbols of this is the slavery in Egypt, the wearisome journey through the desert to the promised land, the cross and the suffering of the first Christian witnesses.What is true of the Bible, is simply also true of life. We experience in our everyday existence wonderful moments of joy, but then, in a moment, it can be taken away from us by one negative word, a news article, an angry look, a word of criticism or a seemingly insignificant event – all of which can makes us sad and miserable. Life has its beautiful moments, but also its moments of sadness.

Life does not only consist of joy. And religion has nothing to do with a permanent state of joy. Life is also sad. There are the moments, also for those with faith, that one wakes up and does not want to face the day ahead.

There are days when we have no courage, that we are lost in emotions of despair and fear. That we are angry, upset, violent. There are times that we get ill, fall in debt, worry about the future – all of which make us sad. There is no one who can escape this darker side of human existence. Even the most happy people experience moments of sadness.

The difference between the Bible with its happy and sad moments on the one hand and contemporary society with its misery, is that some people become victims of their sadness. When they look at life, sadness dominates and overshadows all moments of light – to the extent that the good no longer exists for them.

Others understand that life is much more than sadness. Why should one let the darker moments overshadow the moments of fulfillment, of joy, of meaning - however fleeting or small they may be? Why should one be conquered by fears and unhappiness? Life is ultimately about much more. It becomes a matter of perspective: does one look at sadness as the end of happiness or does one look as sadness which happens, but which is ultimately overshadowed by happiness.

One can become so obsessed with darkness and depression, that one succumbs to them and is destroyed by them. Despair becomes a spiral movement in which one is constantly drawn deeper and deeper. In Biblical times believers somehow managed in their darkest moments to hold on to the light, the deeper things that really matter. In jail, engulfed by darkness, Paul and Silas sang songs of joy at midnight, the darkest time of the night. Their secret was that they sang hymns “to God” (Ac.16:25). They were aware of the divine presence in their midst – something which transformed their situation.

It was the same Paul who advised his readers to be joyful. But he knew he had to add, quite tellingly, that they needed to rejoice “in the Lord” (Phil4:4). And, finally, he also added, that they should rejoice “always.” It was a challenge to them – he knew such joy has to be sought. It does not fall from the sky.