"Trust me, real joy is a serious thing. Do you think someone can, in the charming expression, blithely dismiss death with an easy disposition? Or swing open the door to poverty, keep pleasures in check, or meditate on the endurance of suffering? The one who is comfortable with turning these thoughts over is truly full of joy, but hardly cheerful. It's exactly such a joy that I would wish for you to possess, for it will never run dry once you've laid claim to its source."-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 23.4
("믿어라, 진정한 기쁨은 심각한 것이다. 매력적인 표현으로 누군가가 쉽게 죽음을 무시할 수 있다고 생각하는가? 가난으로의 문을 열어젖히고, 쾌락을 억제하며, 고통의 인내를 명상할 수 있을까? 이러한 생각을 편안하게 돌려볼 수 있는 사람은 진정으로 기쁨에 가득 차 있지만, 결코 쾌활하지는 않다. 바로 그런 기쁨을 내가 당신이 가지기를 바라는 것이며, 그 기쁨의 원천을 찾아내면 결코 고갈되지 않을 것이다." - 세네카, 도덕적 서신, 23.4)
We throw around the word "joy" casually. "I'm overjoyed at the news." "She's a joy to be around." "It's a joyous occasion." But none of those examples really touches on true joy. They are closer to "cheer" than anything else. Cheerfulness is surface level.
Joy, to Seneca, is a deep state of being. It is what we feel inside us and has little to do with smiles or laughing. So when people say that the Stoics are dour or depressive, they're really missing the point. Who cares if someone is bubbly when times are good? What kind of ...
