Robert McLune:
I mean, if it were me I'd be dancing on the roof. Or does seeing the true nature of reality make roof dancing mundane and ordinary?
Clearly I've confused things with that tricksy word "joy". It was kinda beside the point, so let me try once more.
Suppose someone came along and said you could become extremely successful in your job if you recited the alphabet backwards. And suppose this was credible -- maybe they'd made similar pronouncements in the past and had proven themselves to be legit. That would be pretty impressive, no?
Suppose someone else came along and described a cure for obesity. The cure involved reciting the alphabet backwards, and then counting in two from 2 to 100. Again, assume credibility. Now that would be *really* impressive. They'd get known pretty quickly, and fat people would love him.
Suppose a third person produced the cure for cancer. All cancer. Now we're hitting the big time. If you asked cancer sufferers the world over how they felt about this news, they'd be ecstatic.
But now enter Siddartha Gautama. He appears to be offering not a better career, or a cure for obesity, or a cue for cancer, but rather a cure for the Whole Shebang. His cure is the removal of the very thing that makes bad job, obesity, cancer, and every other shitty thing shitty. He appears to be offering the end of suffering.
Did you read what I just said?
This is mind blowing. The end of suffering. It's at the heart of every yearning of every human. It is the point of running the good race and fighting the good fight. It is the pearl of great price. Through attaining an true understanding of reality, thereby removing fear, greed, and delusion, the message seems to be Game Over, where the game is dukkha -- shitness-a-go-go. And to get this majestic attainment the central thing one must do is simply sit on one's ass on a cushion and train one's attention inwards. The words "impressive" or "ecstatic" don't seem to do it justice. But, to avoid going off on another tangent can we at least agree that the message of Gautama is somewhere north of "rather noteworthy"? :-)
So forget "joy" or "excitement" or whatever. But for something as "rather noteworthy" as the end of suffering, I would have expected *some* kind of reaction from those who had attained it or felt they were coming close. Or no. Let's not beat around the bush. This message -- the "end of suffering" -- is arguably the most important message ever heard by anyone in our species. It dwarfs *everything* else.
So when considering those who have made it all the way, or those approaching it, why aren't y'all doing the chicken dance, while wearing balloons, letting off fireworks, and singing "For Buddha's a Jolly Good Fellow"?
What, if anything, am I missing?