Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. Sounds almost true, doesn’t it? Chasing the elusive joy atom, is like the race for the Koh-E-Noor. What is worse is, that the definitions, of what gives us pleasure, shift like the Arab sands. Balzac thought that ”In diving to the bottom of pleasure, we bring up more gravel than pearls”. The incessant desire to be happy, takes away completely from the gift of life.
A genial, jolly countenance, attracts more smiling people and more delightful encounters. An open heart and mind, usher in the romantic, fragrant breezes, from the garden of Eden. It is so easy to let go, just as easy as it is to say it. Yet we cling tenaciously, to that which is actually irrelevant, to blissful living. We put our head under stupid scanners, when we could be busy cavorting in a valley of flowers.
The beaming, gleeful, chortle of laughter that bursts forth like the Niagara Falls, can only come, from the insides, of a happy contented baby. To be like that is, of course well-nigh impossible, but it is not tough to glow with the radiance of gratitude for the countless mercies, we are bestowed with. The luminosity of a contented heart emits a special diffused aura, a peaceful, cheery, beatific, satiety.
Spontaneity is the essence of pleasure. The pursuit of joy can never be laborious or self-conscious. Ah, to let your tresses play with the wind, is not a wanton desire. It is just the yearning, to cut the strings of societal censure, and to ride the crest of that massive breaker in the ocean.
Lily Swarn is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist, author of 10 books. She is the 2023-24 International Beat Poet Laureate India and a Peace and Humanity ambassador. She can be reached at sukhish83@gmail.com.
