Transcendent experiences are vital to well-being. Of course, “feeling part of a whole” can be achieved in lots of other ways (devoting yourself to a worthy cause, belonging to a community), but here I’m interested with the tangible, sensory, somatic ways a secular person might elicit these feelings. And it’s this feature, the feeling of belonging to something bigger than yourself, that attenuates death anxiety. Both fulfill a critical role: making us feel like we’re part of something bigger, something more. Self-transcendence is often cited as a way to achieve “quiet ego,” and mystery is a feature of wonder, that enchantment with the universe that feels too big to hold. Let’s turn now to the aesthetics of transcendence and mystery ( click here for why I’m interested in these themes).
Joy is not excess icing on the cake of life, it’s the difference between surviving and thriving. According to Fetell Lee, joy evolved for the purpose of steering us toward conditions that would help us flourish. “Joyful” covers the evolutionary basis for why we love sprinkles and rainbows, how lively colours can get people to pay their taxes, why we’re drawn to sparkles, balloons, and googly eyes, and ultimately how joy can be cultivated from the outside – counter to the mainstream belief that joy is an inside-out emotion. Renewal: blossoming, expansion, and curves Celebration: synchrony, sparkle, and bursting shapesġ0. Play: circles, spheres, and bubbly formsħ. Freedom: nature, wilderness, and open spaceĥ. Abundance: lushness, multiplicity, and varietyģ. This year I’m interested in self-transcendence and mystery, so the chapters on transcendence and magic are what drew me in, but the overall concept – of joy as a tangible, renewable external resource – is exhilarating.įetell Lee identified 10 aesthetics of joy, sensory properties that elicit feelings of delight and flourishing:Ģ. What are the sensory elements of harmony? Is freedom tangible? What are the visual features of play and surprise and celebration? And how do all these components assemble to create a joyful experience?
I picked up Ingrid Fetell Lee’s “Joyful: The Surprising Power Of Ordinary Things To Create Extraordinary Happiness” not for the joy, perse, but because she examines the aesthetics of joy. Positively brimming with the stuff (perhaps a bit of an oddity for someone who has a death blog?).
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