From Pepperdine’s campus head out on Pacific Coast Highway until you reach Topanga Canyon. Make a left and cruise down the winding road until you reach Old Topanga a quirky little town nestled squarely in the middle of the canyon. After you pass the Bhutan shop you’ll see on your right an old house with secondhand clothing racks out front and the words “Hidden Treasures” scattered brightly and chaotically upon the roof. If you walk through those doors chances are that you’ll meet a wonderful woman behind the counter who goes by the name of Gemini Ferrie. After you decide to purchase a retro polyester shirt or say one of her freshly baked vegan cookies she’ll hand you a little card containing a positive affirmation of joy.
To a mind still recovering from an upbringing saturated with traditional Western notions of sensible rationality (or from being pent up too long in the CCB a similar plight) such a card may appear trifling and absurdly childish. Indeed when such a gift was offered to me it took a few seconds to process its true value.
“Are you a joyologist?” I asked. The question took her off guard. You see Gemini could never have guessed that I had previously encountered a heavily goateed Australian joyologist (one who has devoted a lifetime to the study of joy) while itinerantly couch-surfing in the ancient Scottish university town of St. Andrews. But that’s a story for another day.
“Yes!” Gemini replied with a passionate and beaming smile. A new friendship was born one that eventually led to taking her insightful joyology class with a fellow Pepperdine student. Had this relationship (appropriately founded upon joy) never occurred I would never have known that there exists a communal eco-village right off of Old Topanga Road would never have learned that in many respects the ’60s never died. The vibrant youthful enthusiasm that characterized an entire decade was certainly stifled by the shallow solidification of social norms during the Reagan era but still quietly lives on if you know where to look. And trust me it’s just waiting to re-emerge with a bang.
If you’ve read this far you’re probably wondering how this letter connects at all to a Perspectives section filled with dense articles on academic rankings environmental awareness and health care. In fact your own rationality radar is probably beaming a code-red alert signal. You see however joy affects everything! Just as you’ll read in this section that humor has the power to heal joy has the power to join to create anew. The existence of true joy within us breathes life into our actions our opinions on human nature and our deepest of emotions.
The joyful life is about connecting on a positive level with the people you meet during even the most mundane of errands and having a passionate appreciation for the beauty that exists all around us. It’s about generating the willpower to just be content with breathing and being alive. Joy is not induced bubbly happiness but is an indwelling of divine contentment that can be cultivated inwardly and spread outwardly. I can declare wholeheartedly that possessing such a joyful perspective is also of the utmost importance for anyone who desires to penetrate more deeply the intellectual mysteries of the universe whether it be the opportunity cost of opening a nacho stand or the impact of Neoplatonic philosophy on Julian the Apostate. (God bless him!)
The ability to fling joy as rapidly as a contagious disease right in the face of a pessimistic apathetic world – let that be our desire. Maybe a world full of budding joyologists would be a silly place but wouldn’t it be a better one than we have now?
