As you know, I was on my final year project for the past 3 months.
I had a great time doing the project although i had to stay in school from Sunday to Thursday on the 3rd last week, Monday to Saturday on the 2nd last week and Sunday to Friday on the last week.
As in overnight.
So i guess now you could understand why i did not blog for the past few weeks/months.
Anyway, to redeem myself, i've prepared a very good post!
I decided not to continue from the previous post because i realised that i do not have ample research to write a great post about that topic.
So sit back, relax, forget about Rickson not updating his blog for months and enjoy this post!!
Oh, and prepare yourself for a paradigm shift!!! (change in thinking due to being able to see in a new point of view)
Here Goes..
I've realised that not much people has given this a thought.
Is Fun the same as Joy?
Why is there an extensive use of the former but the later used only in certain circumstances?
In the world today, everyone is seeking for Fun.
Upon recieving invitations to parties, to new places where they haven't been to, the first question that pops out from their mouths is...
" Is it fun? "
While on the other hand, I've yet to hear anyone asking "Is it joyful?" or "Will I feel joy?", etc, etc...
So what do they really want?
What do we really want?
Does having fun gives you joy?
The answer behind this question....... is no..
Fun does not equals to Joy.
Having Fun does not equals to having Joy.
Now let me give you a few important points about the difference between Fun & Joy.
1) Joy lasts long, but Fun is temporary.
A common question asked is "Was it Fun?" (not was it joyful)
Another common phrase is "I had Fun that day" (not joy again).
Did you see it?!
Fun is commonly used with "was" and "had", which means Fun is often assisiated with the past.
Fun can fade away easily.
I come to a conclusion through different analysis and research that:
Fun is TEMPORARY.
What about Joy?
A common way to use that vocabulary is "I have joy in my heart."
Joy is seldom assisiated with the past tense.
Phrases such as "I have fun in my heart" and "I had joy" is almost never used. (unless your English isn't very good).
Try to understand the two important sentences I am going write next.
Fun is for the today that will become a yesterday.
Joy is for the tomorrow that will become a today.
Allow me to break it down.
Men today pursue fun all day all night long.
But fun fades away so quickly.
You could be having fun one moment and totally lose the fun the next moment.
But for Joy, it is the opposite.
Joy is something to be pursued for the future.
Joy is like a dream, a vision, a goal that people pursue but will not recieve it immediately, unlike fun.
But upon strong pursuit, we will recieve Joy, and Joy usually lasts long.
thus,
Fun is for the today that will become a yesterday.
Joy is for the tomorrow that will become a today.
2) Joy is e state of heart. Fun is the activity of the heart.
What i mean is that Joy is in the heart, if you have it, you have it. If you don't, then you don't.
But Fun is more of an activity.
That when you are doing something, you feel the fun.
When you stop doing that something, you stop feeling the fun.
Let me give you an analogy.
Having Joy is like saying "I am healthy!"
Having Fun, is like saying "I love to play sports!"
So Fun, though associated with Joy, can be present in total absence of it.
Fun can be present in the absence of Joy.
But Joy cannot be present in the absence of Fun.
Why?
Because the presence of Joy, having Joy in your heart causes you to do things with enjoyment, leading you to experience fun in doing little things that might not seem fun to others.
Joy is like Spectacles to one who has myopia.
When you wear your spectacles, you'll see everything clearer no matter what you are doing.
But for Fun, its like a person with myopia squinting his eyes.
Only when he is squinting his eyes can he see clearer, but when he stops squinting his eyes, he sees a blurer vision again.
And squinting your eyes can never give you as good a vision as wearing your spectacles if you have myopia.
In other words, having Joy is a higher level of having Fun.
Fun is found in the activity.
Joy is found in the person, that causes whatever activity he does to be fun.
3) Fun dies in the presence of pain. Joy can live in the presence of pain.
When arguments appear, when conflicts arise, when wounds are felt, Fun will run.
Simply because Fun and Pain are the opposite.
When you have the pain of rejection, the pain of regret, etc, etc, you would not have the mood to have fun.
Becuase Pain is an emotion.
It affects you mentally
Whereas Fun is just the activity.
Thus when we are affected by such emotions, we won't feel a desire to participate in activities that produces fun.
But, like how humans can live breathing oxygen and carbon dioxide together, Joy can live in the presence of pain.
As mentioned earlier, Joy is the state of heart, pain is an emotion and fun is an activity.
Having the right state of heart can allow you to control the emotions that pounce towards you which therefore will affect the activities that you participate in.
Let me break that down for you
Joy = state of heart = spirit
Pain = emotion = soul
Fun = activity = body
The spirit is a level above the soul which in turn is a level above the body.
In other words the spirit is in a higher position than the soul which in turn is in a higher position than the body.
Thus having the right spirit (joy), can control your emotions (soul), which in turn can control what you do (fun)
let me break it down further.Lets take it that:
Spirit = State of Heart = King
Soul = Emotion = Prince
Body = Activity = Slave
The prince can give orders to the slave who has to listen.
Emotions can command the body to do things as it will.
So when you're feeling down, when you're feeling pain, Fun is commanded to leave by your emotions.
Which means you'll lose the mood to have fun and enjoy life.
On the other hand, the slave can't command the prince to do what he wants.
Which is the problem that the people in the world is experiencing today.
We try to take part in activites to cover up the hurts and brokeness of our hearts.
We try to ask a slave to command a prince.
In reality, it is impossible!
You would say "Maybe the slave can use violence to threaten the prince.
Yes, in reality that might work, but eventually the prince would try to escape, along with the help of his father and his followers.
We try so hard to cover our feelings and emotions by doing things that makes us seem like we're doing okay
But one day the prince will escape!!!
The solution then becomes obvious.
How do we command the prince.
Go for the King!!
The answer is the state of your heart!!
Our state of heart ultimately decides how we think and what we do.
Even when there is pain, negative emotions, etc, etc, having the right state of heart, namely Joy, will drive us to think positively, to know that emotions are just temporary, and to do things positively too.
So go for the King.
Don't ask a slave to command a prince.
Stop blindly pursueing Fun!!!
PURSUE JOY INSTEAD !!!
Have the right state of heart.
Have Joy!
Don't have sympathy on your emotions.
At times we might feel down, sad, hurt, etc, etc.
But if you listen to your emotions and continue doing things that will deepen those emotions, if you continue harbouring and focusing on such emotions, you'll be dragged further down each day.
The smart thing is to control yourself .
I'm not saying that we deny that we feel sad or hurt.
I'm saying that we should make decisions that will minimize the harm that negative emotions can have on your soul and body.
When you're sad, don't have self pity on yourself and keep listening to music that will make you even more sad.
Becuase you will end up being worse than before, you might fall into depression or feel even more pain.
Instead, tell yourself that everything will be alright.
That None of us are perfect, we still make mistakes.
That at least you have experience now on how to handle things better and not get hurt in the future.
I shall summarize all this post in two sentences.
PURSUE JOY, AND FUN WILL FOLLOW!!!
Because pursueing joy instead of fun is more beneficial to you.
This post has great value in view of time.
Upon learning this principle that fun does not equals to joy, you will seek and pursue for the right thing which has beneficial results and gain to you on earth.
This post also has great value in view of eternity because by understanding these principles will your character strengthen, will you have joy in your heart and will you enjoy your future allowing you to not waste time thinking of the wrong things but focusing on doing great things.
Now that you see that seeking Joy is the better choice, the next question is "How do we seek for Joy?"
I shall blog about it the next time
This is Rickson Tan.. out.. (camera zooms out and pans out to show the audience in the live studio chattering)
