THE BOOK OF JOY
Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Abrams
The Book of Joy came out of an amazing one-week meeting in 2015 when Archbishop Tutu traveled to India to celebrate his good friend, the Dalai Lama’s, eightieth birthday. With the author Douglas Abrams as witness and scribe, these two iconic figures reflected on the question: How can we find joy given life’s inevitable suffering? Each of these men had endured their own incredible stories of suffering. The Dalai Lama, having been named by the Tibetan people to be the reincarnation of the former Dalai Lama, by age fifteen found himself the spiritual and political leader of six million people. The Chinese invaded Tibet in 1950 and despite trying to fend them off and negotiate a peace, was forced to go into exile to India. At the time The Book of Joy was written, he had been in exile for more than fifty years. Archbishop Tutu had lived most of his life under the racist system of apartheid in South Africa. He too knew the realities of suffering. Although not imprisoned himself for any long period of time, Tutu was very involved in the ongoing protest movements against Nelson Mandela's imprisonment.
Abrams offers his readers a truly magical look inside these two heroes’ hearts and minds as they share their beliefs about what it means to experience joy and some spiritual practices that can help you find it. The two friends begin by discussing the obstacles to joy, such as fear, stress, anxiety, grief, loneliness, envy and the fear of death. From there they move to the positive qualities we can cultivate in order to experience more joy. Four are what Abrams identifies as “qualities of the mind: perspective, humility, humor and acceptance.” And four are “qualities of the heart: forgiveness, gratitude, compassion and generosity.”
The Book of Joy is quite different from what I normally recommend as a good read. But I wholeheartedly believe that every L&L reader will find this gem of a book thought-provoking, uplifting and a salve in these unsettling times. (Liz)
