Can Calm And Electric Joy Coexist In The Same Person?

General request to everyone reading or replying:
Please take a moment to read through the earlier responses. At this point, I think the main question of this thread has been clearly laid out. The topics of peace and calmness of mind are deep and meaningful ones that many of us enjoy discussing. That said, I’d really appreciate it if we could try to stay focused on the specific question I raised: after one has achieved the ability to be at peace amid hardship, might that same ability also quiet or lessen the intensity of life’s greatest joys?

Thanks for all the thoughtful engagement so far!

 

If you’re feeling unsure about why your response didn’t quite land, you might consider putting both my question and your answer into ChatGPT and asking why the original poster might have felt it wasn’t addressed. You can use your longer first response or the shorter second one (My conclusion is ....) ChatGPT could offer some helpful perspective. Frankly, I’ve found it useful myself at times.

Whatever you decide, thanks for responding.

 

That’s definitely possible. When someone reaches a state of total peace, calm, and neutrality, the way they experience joy or sadness might not matter at all. Maybe the idea of "does it lessen the intensity of joy" doesn’t really apply to those who’ve fully reached that state. It may be more like a question for regular people who are still on their way there.

That’s another deep question, especially when we’re already wrestling with one here. Personally, I see "peace of mind" as an ongoing journey rather than a final destination. Honestly, the idea of reaching an ultimate state of peace feels a bit unsettling and almost a little scary. I’d prefer to be progressively getting more calm than before, but always remain in maybe the top 10 percentile of calm people in a crowd, and not the top 1%, so it still feels natural. I don’t want to become a stranger to myself.

 

True. For most of us regular mortals, I think we can only hope to be moving towards that state with occasional detours and getting back to track as soon as we realize.

We seem to have almost a consensus on this - our response to joy changes, evolves or transforms.

Yes, gamma mentioned that. I see that as the net total intensity etc of feelings remains the same, they just redistribute into a state of more equanimity.

This gets close to where I wonder/worry a bit. The achievements of the loved ones, in particular the children, also evoke a different set of reactions. When a similar achievement by a different child evokes a different kind of joy due to being further along in the journey towards equanimity, I feel a bit guilty.