The Book of JoyLasting Happiness in a Changing World
Review posted December 7, 2018.
Avery (Penguin Random House), 2016. 354 pages.
Starred Review
Review written in 2016, from a library book
The authors speak at the front of the book to explain what this project is about:
To celebrate one of our special birthdays, we met for a week in Dharamsala to enjoy our friendship and to create something that we hope will be a birthday gift for others. There is perhaps nothing more joyous than birth, and yet so much of life is spent in sadness, stress, and suffering. We hope this small book will be an invitation to more joy and more happiness....
Our cowriter, Douglas Abrams, has kindly agreed to assist us in this project and interviewed us over the course of a week in Dharamsala. We have asked him to weave our voices together and offer his own as our narrator so that we can share not only our views and our experience but also what scientists and others have found to be the wellsprings of joy.
You don't need to believe us. Indeed, nothing we say should be taken as an article of faith. We are sharing what two friends, from very different worlds, have witnessed and learned in our long lives. We hope you will discover whether what is included here is true by applying it in your own life.
The rest of the book is told from Douglas Abrams' perspective, telling about the joyful meeting between the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop, and their discussions about Joy.
The book is beautiful, reflecting the Joy and Love and Compassion between these two men, but also reflecting thoughts on Joy both the Christian and Buddhist perspectives. It's lovely how complementary those perspectives are.
The two men met over five days, and the book follows their discussions through those five days. They covered "The Nature of True Joy," "The Obstacles to Joy" (Fear, Stress, and Anxiety; Frustration and Anger; Sadness and Grief; Despair; Loneliness; Envy; Suffering and Adversity; and Illness and Fear of Death), and "The Eight Pillars of Joy" (Perspective, Humility, Humor, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Compassion, and Generosity).
There's much wisdom in these pages, as well as a bit of a story of these two men from very different backgrounds and their friendship. I like the way, by using words from leaders of two religions, it has something for people of many different faiths.
Be sure to check some quotations I pulled from this book.